Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic and biochemical strategies for regulation of L-ascorbic acid biosynthesis in plants through the L-galactose pathway

Vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid, AsA) is an essential compound with pleiotropic functions in many organisms. Since its isolation in the last century, AsA has attracted the attention of the scientific community, allowing the discovery of the L-galactose pathway, which is the main pathway for AsA biosynthesis in plants. Thus, the aim of this review is to analyze the genetic and biochemical strategies employed by plant cells for regulating AsA biosynthesis through the L-galactose pathway. In this pathway, participates eight enzymes encoded by the genes PMI, PMM, GMP, GME, GGP, GPP, GDH, and GLDH. All these genes and their encoded enzymes have been well characterized, demonstrating their participation in AsA biosynthesis. Also, have described some genetic and biochemical strategies that allow its regulation. The genetic strategy includes regulation at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. In the first one, it was demonstrated that the expression levels of the genes correlate directly with AsA content in the tissues/organs of the plants. Also, it was proved that these genes are light-induced because they have light-responsive promoter motifs (e.g., ATC, I-box, GT1 motif, etc.). In addition, were identified some transcription factors that function as activators (e.g., SlICE1, AtERF98, SlHZ24, etc.) or inactivators (e.g., SlL1L4, ABI4, SlNYYA10) regulate the transcription of these genes. In the second one, it was proved that some genes have alternative splicing events and could be a mechanism to control AsA biosynthesis. Also, it was demonstrated that a conserved cis-acting upstream open reading frame (5’-uORF) located in the 5’-untranslated region of the GGP gene induces its post-transcriptional repression. Among the biochemical strategies discovered is the control of the enzyme levels (usually by decreasing their quantities), control of the enzyme catalytic activity (by increasing or decreasing its activity), feedback inhibition of some enzymes (GME and GGP), subcellular compartmentation of AsA, the metabolon assembly of the enzymes, and control of AsA biosynthesis by electron flow. Together, the construction of this basic knowledge has been establishing the foundations for generating genetically improved varieties of fruits and vegetables enriched with AsA, commonly used in animal and human feed.
Rising to the Occasion: The Importance of the Pandemic for Faculty Adoption Patterns

Technology adoption patterns, in general, have been shown to have a common set of predictive factors such as performance expectancy, social influence, voluntariness, effort expectancy, and facilitating conditions. However, the significance of such factors varies dramatically by situation and conditions. In the faculty adoption of online teaching modalities, three conditions were investigated in a university case study with 180 faculty respondents. Using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model, participants were asked to respond to questions about these factors prior to the pandemic, their perceptions about continuing pre-pandemic use in the future, and their perceptions about increasing pre-pandemic adoption of online teaching in the future. Critical to prior expectations were performance expectancy and level of effort. Continued use relied on all five factors, but only the negative aspects of social influence were significant. Factors affecting increased adoption (assuming voluntariness) were performance expectancy and facilitating conditions. Findings suggest that increased exposure to online teaching may not be as crucial as the quality of faculty experiences during the pandemic. The rationale for these factor shifts is provided, the effects of institutional support are discussed, the threats and limitations to generalizability are reviewed, and the ramifications for institutions trying to enhance faculty adoption are summarized.
Comparison of antibiofilm activity of low-concentrated hypochlorites vs polyhexanide-containing antiseptic

Chronic wound infection is highly associated with morbidity and endangers the patient's life. Therefore, wound care products must have a potent antimicrobial and biofilm-eradicating effect. In this work, the antimicrobial/antibiofilm activity of two low-concentrated chlorine-based and releasing solutions was investigated on a total of 78 strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida albicans, using the cohesive spectrum of in vitro settings, including microtiter plate models, biofilm-oriented antiseptic test, cellulose-based biofilm model, biofilm bioreactors and Bioflux model. The antiseptic containing polyhexamethylene biguanide was used in the character of usability control of performed tests. The results obtained by static biofilm models indicate that low-concentrated chlorine-based and releasing solutions display none to moderate antibiofilm activity, while data obtained by means of the Bioflux model, providing flow conditions, indicate the moderate antibiofilm activity of substances compared with the polyhexanide antiseptic. Considering in vitro data presented in this manuscript, the earlier reported favorable clinical results of low-concentrated hypochlorites should be considered rather an effect of their rinsing activity combined with low cytotoxicity but not the antimicrobial effect per se. For the treatment of heavily biofilm-infected wounds, polyhexanide should be considered the agent of choice because of its higher efficacy against pathogenic biofilms.
Chain graph models and their causal interpretations

Chain graphs are a natural generalization of directed acyclic graphs and undirected graphs. However, the apparent simplicity of chain graphs belies the subtlety of the conditional independence hypotheses that they represent. There are many simple and apparently plausible, but ultimately fallacious, interpretations of chain graphs that are often invoked, implicitly or explicitly. These interpretations also lead to flawed methods for applying background knowledge to model selection. We present a valid interpretation by showing how the distribution corresponding to a chain graph may be generated from the equilibrium distributions of dynamic models with feed‐back. These dynamic interpretations lead to a simple theory of intervention, extending the theory developed for directed acyclic graphs. Finally, we contrast chain graph models under this interpretation with simultaneous equation models which have traditionally been used to model feed‐back in econometrics.
Modeling Global Vegetation Gross Primary Productivity, Transpiration and Hyperspectral Canopy Radiative Transfer Simultaneously Using a Next Generation Land Surface Model—CliMA Land

Recent progress in satellite observations has provided unprecedented opportunities to monitor vegetation activity at global scale. However, a major challenge in fully utilizing remotely sensed data to constrain land surface models (LSMs) lies in inconsistencies between simulated and observed quantities. For example, gross primary productivity (GPP) and transpiration (T) that traditional LSMs simulate are not directly measurable from space, although they can be inferred from spaceborne observations using assumptions that are inconsistent with those LSMs. In comparison, canopy reflectance and fluorescence spectra that satellites can detect are not modeled by traditional LSMs. To bridge these quantities, we presented an overview of the next generation land model developed within the Climate Modeling Alliance (CliMA), and simulated global GPP, T, and hyperspectral canopy radiative transfer (RT; 400–2,500 nm for reflectance, 640–850 nm for fluorescence) at hourly time step and 1° spatial resolution using CliMA Land. CliMA Land predicts vegetation indices and outgoing radiances, including solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), and near infrared reflectance of vegetation (NIRv) for any given sun‐sensor geometry. The spatial patterns of modeled GPP, T, SIF, NDVI, EVI, and NIRv correlate significantly with existing data‐driven products (mean R2 = 0.777 for 9 products). CliMA Land would be also useful in high temporal resolution simulations, for example, providing insights into when GPP, SIF, and NIRv diverge.
Rhetorical Analysis of King Abdullah's English Speeches during the Covid-19 Pandemic

This paper analyses King Abdullah's II English speeches during the Covid-19 crisis in a corpus-based study. It investigates the rhetorical techniques employed by the King to convince the audience. The data include 14 English speeches (8,694 words) delivered by King Abdullah II of Jordan during the Covid-19 crisis, from January 2020 to August 2021. The rhetorical analysis is based on the classical Aristotelian classification of rhetoric. It examines one canon of rhetoric, invention. In the analyzing invention, the speaker's ethical appeals (ethos), emotional appeals (pathos), and logical appeals (logos) will be examined in detail in a corpus-based study. The analysis reveals that King Abdullah II employs ethical appeals to identify himself with the audience and create a rapport with them by using first-person pronouns and lexical items like "my friends". The quantitative analysis shows that the inclusive pronoun we and the pronoun I am used for rhetorical reasons to convince the audience. Direct and indirect emotional appeals are also used to stir the audience's emotions to call them to action. King Abdullah II uses logical arguments such as an argument from statistics, quoting from the Holy Quran, and an argument from a dilemma, inter alia, to convince the audience of his viewpoints and persuade them to do specific actions.
Asymptotic properties of randomly indexed sequences of random variables

Conditions are given for a randomly indexed sequence of random variables to converge weakly. The key concept employed is the so-called generalized Anscombe condition. The results give a method of determining sequential stopping rules, which have the required accuracy of estimation of an unknown parameter in the case when the observations are not necessarily independent and identically distributed.
Antibacterial Potential of Microwave-Assisted Extraction Prepared Hydrolates from Different Salvia Species

Salvia is a widely used herb that also contains essential oils and other valuable compounds. In this work, the hydrolates of five Salvia sp. were evaluated for their potential antimicrobial and antioxidant activity against four bacterial strains. The hydrolates were obtained from fresh leaves by microwave-assisted extraction. Chemical composition analysis by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry revealed that their major constituents were isopulegol (38.2–57.1%), 1,8-cineole (4.7–19.6%), and thujone (5.6–14.1%). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the plant hydrolates was tested by the microdilution method at concentrations ranging from 1.0 to 512 μg/mL. The hydrolates prepared from Salvia officinalis and S. sclarea showed inhibitory activity on the tested Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, taxon Salvia nemorosa showed inhibitory activity only partially. The hydrolate of S. divinorum had practically no antibacterial effect. Enterobacter asburiae was the only bacterium for which we found sensitivity to the hydrolate of S. aethiopis, with a MIC50 value of 216.59 µL/mL. The antioxidant activity of the hydrolates was low, ranging from 6.4 to 23.3%. Therefore, salvia hydrolates could be used as antimicrobial agents in medicine, cosmetics, and food preservation.
Adaptasi Alat Ukur Revised - Suicide Ideation Scale (R-SIS)

ABSTRACT: ADAPTATION OF REVISED-SUICIDE IDEATION SCALE (R-SIS) INSTRUMENTSuicide is the second leading cause of death for college students in the world. Suicide is influenced by various factors, such as negative behaviour, feelings, social and economic conditions. This study aims to adapt the Revised - Suicide Ideation Scale (R-SIS) from Rudd (1989) as a short screening instrument consisting of 10 items. This instrument is divided into two dimensions, resolved plans and preparations; and suicidal ideation. The output of this instrument measures the presence or absence of suicidal ideation in an individual and how serious the suicidal ideation, if any, is. The participants in this study were 106 students consisting of 30 men and 76 women. This study is a quantitative research that uses non-experimental quantitative methods. The results of Cronbach's Alpha on both dimensions and on the overall numerical measurement tools are very good, and show the reliability of this measuring instrument is acceptable. The results of the CFA calculation indicate a good-fit model, which internally supports the validity of the instrument in measuring Suicide Ideation. From these results, this measuring instrument can be declared internally supporting the validity of the instrumen. Thus, hopefully this instrument can help in capturing individual with suicide risk, especially college students for further treatment. Keywords: Suicide Ideation, College Students, Adaptation, Instrument Kasus bunuh diri merupakan salah satu penyebab kematian terbesar kedua pada mahasiswa di dunia. Bunuh diri dipengaruhi oleh berbagai faktor, seperti perilaku, perasaan negatif, serta kondisi sosial dan ekomi. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengadaptasi alat ukur Revised Suicide Ideation Scale (R-SIS) dari Rudd (1989) sebagai instrumen skrining singkat yang terdiri dari 10 item. Instrumen ini terbagi dalam dua dimensi, resolved plans and preparations; dan suicidal desires. Keluaran dari instrumen ini mengukur akan ada atau tidak adanya ide bunuh diri pada suatu individu dan seberapa serius ide bunuh diri tersebut jika ada. Partisipan yang terlibat dalam penelitian ini sejumlah 106 mahasiswa yang terdiri dari 30 orang laki-laki dan 76 orang perempuan. Penelitian ini merupakan studi kuantitatif yang menggunakan metode kuantitatif non-eksperimental. Hasil cronbach alpha pada kedua dimensi dan pada keseluruhan alat ukur menunjukkan angka yang sangat baik, dan mengindikasikan reliabilitas alat ukur ini dapat diterima. Hasil penghitungan CFA mengindikasikan good fit dari model, yang secara internal mendukung validitas intrumen dalam mengukur Ide Bunuh Diri. Dari hasil tersebut, dapat disimpulkan bahwa alat ukur ini dapat dinyatakan valid secara konstruk internal. Sehingga, diharapkan dapat membantu dalam menjaring individu berisiko, utamanya pada mahasiswa utnuk diberikan penanganan lebih lanjut. Kata kunci : Ide Bunuh Diri, Mahasiswa, Adaptasi, Alat Ukur
Genomic Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus in Wildlife

Simple Summary Staphylococcus aureus is both a commensal and opportunistic pathogen that colonizes human and animal skin and mucosal membranes. It is widely acknowledged that livestock can act as a reservoir for human strains and genetic traits, but less is known about the epidemiological significance of wild animals. In the present work, the S. aureus isolated from wild animals, hunters, and hunting auxiliary animals of Eastern Spain are described and characterized. The genomic structure of the population of the sequenced isolates showed a significant degree of diversity, raising the question of these strains’ origin and evolution. In addition, genomic characterization revealed the presence of relevant genes in the isolates belonging to wild animals, including resistance genes, as well as superantigens implicated in the pathogenicity of certain human S. aureus infections. These findings highlight the role of wild animals as a reservoir for some clinically relevant S. aureus strains and the importance of wildlife surveillance because the environment-animals-humans interaction impacts the transmission and evolution dynamics of S. aureus. Abstract Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic multi-host pathogen that threatens both human and animal health. Animals can act as a reservoir of S. aureus for humans, but very little is known about wild animals’ epidemiological role. Therefore, in this study, we performed a genomic characterization of S. aureus isolates from wildlife, hunters, and their auxiliary hunting animals of Eastern Spain. Of 20 different species, 242 wild animals were examined, of which 28.1% were S. aureus carriers. The common genet, the Iberian ibex, and the European hedgehog were the species with the highest S. aureus carriage. We identified 30 different sequence types (STs), including lineages associated with wild animals such as ST49 and ST581, multispecies lineages such as ST130, ST398, and ST425, and lineages commonly isolated from humans, including ST1 and ST5. The hunters and the single positive ferret shared ST5, ST398, or ST425 with wild animals. In wildlife isolates, the highest resistance levels were found for penicillin (32.8%). For virulence factors, 26.2% of them carried superantigens, while 14.8% harbored the immune evasion cluster (IEC), which indicates probable human origin. Our findings suggest that wild animals are a reservoir of clinically relevant genes and lineages that could have the potential to be transmitted to humans. These data support the notion that wildlife surveillance is necessary to better understand the epidemiology of S. aureus as a pathogen that circulates among humans, animals, and the environment.
Toward a robust 3D-model-based ground target classification system for airborne platforms

Future target acquisition missions of military aircraft require a robust classification and tracking system of ground targets. In combination with onboard ATD systems, a fast "Find, Fix, Track" cycle for airborne platforms using EO, IR and SAR imaging sensors should be achieved. For EO/IR image sequences, a 3D matching and pose estimation method was developed by EADS internal research. The approach determines the resemblance between rendered 3D CAD models and sensor images to identify the best-matching object pose by optimizing different similarity measures. In order to assess the suitability of this method for real-world military aircraft missions, the present paper introduces a number of robustness requirements w.r. t. sensors, scenarios, object classes and environmental conditions and systematically evaluates the proposed method on a set of image sequences ranging from purely synthetic over laboratory conditions to real-world recordings in a rapid prototyping environment using graphics cards acceleration techniques. The outlook shows possible extensions of the system e.g. tracking and hypothesis management modules as well as the necessary steps to implement and integrate the selected method into a real-time embedded onboard mission system.
The first chromosome-level Fallopia multiflora genome assembly provides insights into stilbene biosynthesis

Abstract Fallopia multiflora (Thunb.) Harald, a vine belonging to the Polygonaceae family, is used in traditional medicine. The stilbenes contained in it have significant pharmacological activities in anti-oxidation and anti-aging. This study describes the assembly of the F. multiflora genome and presents its chromosome-level genome sequence containing 1.46 gigabases of data (with a contig N50 of 1.97 megabases), 1.44 gigabases of which was assigned to 11 pseudochromosomes. Comparative genomics confirmed that F. multiflora shared a whole-genome duplication event with Tartary buckwheat and then underwent different transposon evolution after separation. Combining genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics data to map a network of associated genes and metabolites, we identified two FmRS genes responsible for the catalysis of one molecule of p-coumaroyl-CoA and three molecules of malonyl-CoA to resveratrol in F. multiflora. These findings not only serve as the basis for revealing the stilbene biosynthetic pathway but will also contribute to the development of tools for increasing the production of bioactive stilbenes through molecular breeding in plants or metabolic engineering in microbes. Moreover, the reference genome of F. multiflora is a useful addition to the genomes of the Polygonaceae family.
Cascading effects of seed-stem-individual spatial patterns along a grazing gradient

Studying the seed trait–stem trait–individual spatial pattern system is helpful for understanding the developmental direction of plant dynamics and populations under grazing disturbance as well as the antagonistic relationship between animals and plants, but few systematic analyses of this spatial pattern system have been carried out. Kobresia humilis is the dominant species in alpine grasslands. We studied K. humilis seed traits and their relationship with K. humilis reproductive individuals, the relationship between reproductive and vegetative stems, and the weights and spatial patterns of reproductive and nonreproductive individuals under four grazing treatments: no grazing (control), light grazing, moderate grazing and heavy grazing. We explored the relationship among seed size and seed number with reproductive stems and vegetative stems along the grazing gradient and assessed the spatial pattern changes between reproductive and nonreproductive individuals. The results showed the following: (1) Seed size increased with increasing grazing intensity, and the coefficient of variation for seed size and seed number in the heavy grazing treatment was greater than 0.6. (2) The structural equation model showed that grazing treatment had a positive effect on seed number, seed size and reproductive stem number and a negative effect on reproductive stem weight. (3) Grazing treatment did not affect the resource allocation to reproductive stems and vegetative stems per unit length of reproductive K. humilis individuals. (4) Compared with the number of reproductive individuals in the no grazing treatment, the number in the heavy grazing treatment decreased significantly, and the negative correlation between reproductive individuals and nonreproductive individuals changed from a full-scale negative correlation to a small-scale negative correlation and a large-scale positive correlation. Our study showed that grazing could activate and change the resource allocation pattern of dominant species in a grassland and have significant positive effects on reproductive stem number, reproductive stem weight, seed number and seed size. Along a grazing intensity gradient, with the increase in distance between reproductive and nonreproductive individuals, the transformation of intraspecific relationships from a negative correlation to a positive correlation is an ecological strategy conducive to population survival.
On the size of the energy-containing eddies in the outer turbulent wall layer

Abstract We investigate the scaling of the energy-containing eddies in the outer part of turbulent wall layers. Their spanwise integral length scales are extracted from a direct numerical simulation (DNS) database, which includes compressible turbulent boundary layers and incompressible turbulent Couette–Poiseuille flows. The results indicate similar behaviour for all classes of flows, with a general increasing trend in the eddy size with the wall distance. A family of scaling relationships are proposed based on simple dimensional arguments, of which the classical mixing length approximation constitutes one example. As in previous studies, we find that the mixing length is in good agreement with the size distribution of the eddies carrying wall-normal velocity, which are active in establishing the mean velocity distribution. However, we find that the eddies associated with wall-parallel motions obey a different scaling, which is controlled by the local mean shear and by an effective eddy diffusivity ${\nu }_{t} = { u}_{\tau }^{\ensuremath{\ast} } \delta $ , where ${ u}_{\tau }^{\ensuremath{\ast} } $ is the compressible counterpart of the friction velocity, and $\delta $ is the thickness of the wall layer. The validity of the proposed scalings is checked against DNS data, and the potential implications for the understanding of wall turbulence are discussed.