Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Global Scenario of Pesticides and Benefits from Pesticide Usage: A Review

Pesticides have contributed significantly in increasing agricultural production and the farmers’ income globally. Responsible application of pesticides play a key role in agricultural input and help to protect seeds and safeguard crops from unwanted plants, insects, bacteria, fungi and rodents. Also, pesticides can have negative environmental impacts through contamination of soil, water and non-target plants and animals that can decrease biodiversity and, in some cases, reduce crop yield. Globally, total pesticides use in agriculture remained stable in 2020, at 2.7 million tonnes (Mt) of active ingredients. The worldwide application of pesticides per area of cropland was 1.8 kg/ha. On a per capita and per value of agricultural production basis, pesticides application was 0.69 kg/1000 international dollars and 0.37 kg/person, respectively. Total pesticides trade reached approximately 7.2 Mt of formulated products in 2020, with a value of USD 41.1 billion. Pesticides have contaminated every ecosystem on the earth since pesticide residues have been reported in water, air, soil, crops and non-target plants and animals. They can also be toxic to other organisms, including birds, fish, beneficial insects etc. The chemical residues of pesticides have impacted human health through the environment and food contamination. This review provides scientific information on pesticides about global scenario of production and utilization, present status in India, benefits from usage and use and application considerations. This study recommends use of bio-pesticides by the farmers to achieve more yield from agriculture with minimum effects on ecosystem. This review paper creates awareness among students, general public and scientific community for sustainable management practices for the use of pesticides to safeguard the natural resources and human health.
Eddy Viscosity Transport Equations and Their Relation to the k-ε Model

A formalism will be presented which allows transforming two-equation eddy viscosity turbulence models into one-equation models. The transformation is based on Bradshaw’s assumption that the turbulent shear stress is proportional to the turbulent kinetic energy. This assumption is supported by experimental evidence for a large number of boundary layer flows and has led to improved predictions when incorporated into two-equation models of turbulence. Based on it, a new one-equation turbulence model will be derived from the k-e model. The model will be tested against the one-equation model of Baldwin and Barth, which is also derived from the k-e model (plus additional assumptions) and against its parent two-equation model. It will be shown that the assumptions involved in the derivation of the Baldwin-Barth model cause significant problems at the edge of a turbulent layer.
Double-resonance probe for near-field scanning optical microscopy

A surface-contact transducer is developed for scanning probe microscopes, whose operating principle is based on the coincidence between the resonance frequency of a 32kHz quartz tuning fork and that of the probe attached to it. This allows the transducer to have a high quality factor and, if the vibration amplitude of the probe tip exceeds that of the tuning fork prongs, materially improves its force sensitivity. The resonance transducer proposed by us has an experimentally verified force sensitivity of 8pN (rms) in the 300Hz frequency band, which is of the same order of magnitude as the sensitivity of atomic force microscope (AFM) cantilever sensors. The manufacture of such transducers equipped with optical-fiber probes for near-field scanning optical microscopy and with tungsten probes for AFM is described as an example.
Development of a Data-Driven On-Street Parking Information System Using Enhanced Parking Features

On-street parking information (OSPI) systems help reduce congestion in the city by lessening parking search time. However, current systems use features mainly relying on costly manual observations to maintain a high quality. In this paper, on top of traditional location-based features based on spatial, temporal and capacity attributes, vehicle parked-in and parked-out events are employed to fill the quality assurance gap. The parking events (PEs) are used to develop dynamic features to make the system adaptive to changes that impact on-street parking availability. Additionally, a parking behavior change detection (PBCD) model is developed as an OSPI supplementary component to trigger potential parking map updates. The evaluation shows that the developed OSPI availability prediction model is on par with state-of-the-art models, despite having simpler but more enhanced and adaptive features. The foundational temporal and aggregated spatial parking capacity features help the most, while the PE-based features capture variances better and enable adaptivity to disruptions. The PE-based features are advantageous as data are automatically gathered daily. For the PBCD model, impacts by construction events can be detected as validation. The methodology proves that it is possible to create a reliable OSPI system with predominantly PE-based features and aggregated parking capacity features.
Thermorheological effect on Rayleigh–Bénard magnetoconvection in a biviscous Bingham fluid with rough boundary condition on velocity and Robin boundary condition on temperature

The thermorheological effect on the onset of Rayleigh–Bénard convection in a biviscous Bingham fluid in the presence of a horizontal magnetic field is investigated considering rough boundary conditions on velocity and Robin boundary conditions on temperature. The viscosity of the electrically conducting fluid is assumed to be sensitive to temperature variation. Linear and global nonlinear stability analyses are performed using the Chebyshev pseudospectral method to determine the existence of instability or otherwise. A general interpretation is made from the results to show the effects of the magnetic field and the variable viscosity on the system's stability. The biviscous Bingham parameter and the Chandrasekhar number are shown to have a delay in the onset of convection, while the effect of temperature sensitivity is to advance the onset. It is found that the results of linear and global nonlinear stability are not in agreement, so the region of subcritical instability exists. Also, the results obtained for Rayleigh–Bénard convection agree pretty well with those of Platten and Legros and Siddheshwar et al. for the limiting cases.
A Structured Pseudospectral Method for H ∞ -Norm Computation of Large-Scale Descriptor Systems

In this paper we discuss the problem of computing the H ∞ -norms of transfer functions associated to large-scale descriptor systems. We exploit the relationship between the H ∞ -norm and the structured complex stability radius of the corresponding system pencil. To compute the structured stability radius we consider so-called structured pseudospectra. Namely, we have to ﬁnd the pseudospectrum touching the imaginary axis. Therefore, we set up an iteration over the real part of the rightmost pseudoeigenvalue. For that we use a new fast iterative scheme which is based on certain rank-1 perturbations of the system pencil. Finally, we analyze the performance of our algorithm by using real-world examples.
Intrapulmonary delivery of TLR agonists associated with systemic chemotherapy to treat metastatic cancer.

TLR7/8 agonist (3M-052) and TLR9 agonist (CpG ODN) both trigger innate immune responses supporting the induction of tumor-specific immunity. Previous studies showed that this specific combination of TLR agonists synergistically promoted the elimination of large established tumors (>500 mm3). This effect was optimized when delivered directly into the tumor, leading to a conversion from immunosuppressive to inflammatory milieu. The current work explores the effect of a combination of a localized TLR agonists therapy and a systemic chemotherapy on lung metastases. 66Cl4-luc cells (a luciferase-expressing variant of the 4T1 murine mammary carcinoma line) were orthotopically implanted into the fourth mammary fat pad of syngeneic Balb/c mice. The combination therapy was initiated when the primary tumor exceeded 300 mm3 and pulmonary metastases were present. Treatment delivered into both the primary tumor and the lungs, when associated with systemic chemotherapy significantly reduced tumor growth and prolonged survival. The combined effect of the two TLR agonists was further enhanced when associated with classic chemotherapy, providing a significant decrease of tumor growth at both sites. These results provide new leads to explore when considering lung metastases treatment.
An Extendable Interleaved Quasi Z-Source High Step-Up DC–DC Converter

A quasi z-source high step-up dc–dc converter is proposed here by integrating a coupled-inductor and a quadruple voltage rectifier technique. This converter can be used for high-voltage gain applications, without using extreme duty cycle and transformer high turns ratio values. Furthermore, low-voltage rating mosfets, which have small on-resistances, can be used to reduce conduction losses and improve the converter efficiency. Also, single-core coupled inductors with multiwindings are used to reduce the magnetic components count. Using the interleaved technique at the converter input stage reduces the current stresses of the power mosfets as well as the current stresses of the primary side windings of the coupled inductor. For high power applications, number of the input stage interleaved legs can be properly chosen to reduce the input current and output voltage ripples values, which reduce the input and output filters volumes. Leakage inductances energy recovery is another benefit of the given converter. To confirm performance of the proposed converter and its operating principles, as well as the given simulation results and mathematical analyses, a two-leg topology of the introduced converter has been implemented and tested by applying both interleaved and noninterleaved gate-drive signals at different conditions.
An innovative tool for mapping forest fire risk and danger: case studies from eastern Mediterranean

ABSTRACT Forest fires are one of the most important factors for forest ecosystem and cause ecosystem destruction such as decreasing forest area, biodiversity in the Mediterranean region. Türkiye located in Mediterranean region is exposed to hundreds of fires every year, which damage forest. Mapping forest fire risk and danger constitutes an important basis for preventing fire damages. Geographical Information System is used for mapping forest fire risk and making the accurate and fast decision. This study is designed to develop a GIS-based decision support systems (DSS) to produce a forest fire risk and danger map for Türkiye. DSS uses topography, stand structure and anthropogenic factors for mapping forest fire risk and danger. DSS was developed using the C-sharp (C#) programming language with the help of Add-in in the ArcGIS. DSS has been successfully tested on case study sites in Kozan and Milas Forest Enterprises in Türkiye. In conclusion, the DSS has contributed to the forest managers to fight forest fire effectively. This study will make an important contribution to both the General Directorate of Forestry, which is in the position of implementing it, and the scientific community.
Characterization of quality differences of Ophiopogonis Radix from different origins by TLC, HPLC, UHPLC-MS and multivariate statistical analyses

Abstract Ophiopogonis Radix is normally used as a traditional medicine and healthy food in China. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC), total saponin content analysis, high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) fingerprinting, ultra-high-performance liquid chromatographic (UHPLC) tandem mass (MS) spectra and multivariate statistical analyses were used to analyze differences in quality of Ophiopogonis Radix from three main producing areas in China. The TLC spots of samples obtained from Zhejiang were clearer and darker than samples from Sichuan and Shandong. Additionally, HPLC fingerprinting analysis of 14 common peaks of the Ophiopogonis Radix samples indicated that the similarities of the 15 batches of samples were between 0.94 and 0.99. Finally, UPLC-Orbitrap MS analysis was used to identify the 13 common peaks of Ophiopogonis Radix. These results showed that Ophiopogonis Radix obtained from different regions can be distinguished well using a combination of analytical techniques, based on differences in their chemical components. The combination of these techniques allows comprehensive and reliable quality evaluation of Ophiopogonis Radix. This study provides references for determining the quality of Ophiopogonis Radix obtained from different regions, which will guide its use as medicine or food. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
A Novel Change-Point Detection Approach for Monitoring High-Dimensional Traffics in Distributed Systems

Change-point detection is the problem of finding abrupt changes in time-series. However, the meaningful changes are usually difficult to identify from the original massive traffics, due to high dimension and strong periodicity. In this paper, we propose a novel change-point detection approach, which simultaneously detects change points from all dimensions of the traffics with three steps. We first reduce the dimensions by the classical Principal Component Analysis (PCA), then we apply an extended time-series segmentation method to detect the nontrivial change times, finally we identify the responsible applications for the changes by F-test. We demonstrate through experiments on datasets collected from four distributed systems with 44 applications that the proposed approach can effectively detect the nontrivial change points from the multivariate and periodical traffics. Our approach is more appropriate for mining the nontrivial changes in traffic data comparing with other clustering methods, such as center-based Kmeans and density-based DBSCAN.
Hole electrical transporting properties in organic-Si Schottky solar cell

In this work we investigated the hole electrical transporting properties effect on the organic-Si hybrid Schottky solar cells. By changing the post-annealing atmosphere of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) film, the power conversion efficiencies of the Schottky Si/PEDOT:PSS cell boosted from 6.40% in air to 9.33% in nitrogen. Current-voltage, capacitance-voltage, external quantum efficiency, and transient photovoltage measurements illustrated that the enhanced power conversion efficiency of the cell was ascribed to the increase in both conductivity and work function (WP) of PEDOT:PSS film. The increased conductivity reduced the series resistance (RS) within the cell, and the higher WP generated the larger built-in potential (Vbi) which resulted in the improvement of the open-circuit voltage. In addition, the decreased RS and enlarged Vbi were beneficial for the efficient charge transport/collection, contributing to the enhancement of the fill factor. Our results indicated.
Prognostic Value of Bioactive Adrenomedullin in Critically Ill Patients

: Introduction: Sepsis can be identified and classified using biomarkers, which can aid in understanding critical illness. Vasoactive hormone adrenomedullin has been shown to have prognostic and maybe therapeutic value in sepsis. This study's objective is to assess the prognostic value of the serum level of admission bio-ADM in critically ill patients. Patients & Methods: In this observational prospective study, patients who were admitted to Minia University Hospitals' medical critical care unit (ICU) between December 2020 and November 2021 underwent a complete blood count, CRP as well as renal and liver function tests and blood culture. All patients had their bio-adrenomedullin levels evaluated by ELISA at the time of admission. Results: The work included 114 patients who were subdivided into 3 groups: non-septic group including SIRS patients with negative blood culture (n=44), mild sepsis group including patients with SOFA score ≥2 without organ dysfunction (n=26), and severe sepsis group including sepsis patients with organ dysfunction or refractory hypotension (n=44). There was a significant difference in distribution of the quartiles of bio-ADM between survivor and non-survivors. Conclusion: measuring bio ADM levels in the blood enables the early diagnosis and warning of sepsis.
Multiple scattering of electromagnetic waves by finitely many point-like obstacles

This paper is concerned with the direct and inverse time-harmonic electromagnetic scattering problems for a finite number of isotropic point-like obstacles in three dimensions. In the first part, we show that the representation of scattered fields obtained using the Foldy physical assumption "on the proportionality of the strength of the scattered wave on a given scatterer to the external field on it" is the same as the one derived from the model corresponding to the scattering by Dirac-like refraction indices. Using the regularization approach known in quantum mechanics, we rigorously deduce the solution operator (Green's tensor) of the last model in appropriate weighted spaces. Intermediate levels of the scattering between the Born and Foldy models are also described. In the second part, we apply the MUSIC algorithm to the inverse problem of detecting both the position of point-like scatterers and the scattering coefficients attached to them from the far-field measurements of finitely many incident plane waves, with an emphasis on discussing the effect of multiple scattering.
Macroscopic self ordering of solution processible poly(3,3″'-dialkylquaterthiophene) by floating film transfer method

Ordering and alignment of π-conjugated polymer chains are highly desirable for high performance and long life organic electronic devices. We report here self assembly of ordered and aligned solution processible Poly(3,3″′-dialkylquaterthiophene) (PQT-12) polymer at macroscopic level using Floating Film Transfer Method (FTM). PQT-12 polymer film is formed over solution of ethylene glycol and glycerol at different temperatures viz. 22, 26, 33, and 38 °C. PQT-12 films formed by FTM technique are further characterized for optical and morphological properties. UV-vis absorption (for polarize and unpolarize light) and surface topography/phase imaging are carried out by using UV-vis spectrometer and atomic force microscope (AFM), respectively. UV-vis spectra show the polymer chains alignment perpendicular to the film propagation direction and it is well supported by AFM images. The effect of temperature on ordering and alignment of PQT-12 shows 33 °C as an optimum temperature for alignment of polymer chains (a l.
Revisiting the color-motion asynchrony

Color-motion asynchrony (CMA) refers to an illusion in which we perceive a change in color earlier than a change in motion direction when the two changes occur simultaneously. This phenomenon may indicate that color is processed earlier than motion in the visual system. However, the very existence of CMA is under question owing to contradictory findings and methodological deficits in previous studies. Here, we used both the motion and color correspondence tasks (experiment 1) and the temporal order judgment (TOJ) task (experiment 2) to re-examine CMA. Colored dots moved in one direction and changed their color/direction at some time, whereas the relative timing between color and direction changes varied across trials. In the correspondence task, participants reported which direction/color of dots with a particular color/direction lasted longer, the one before or after the change? In the TOJ task, participants reported whether the change in color or the change in motion direction occurred earlier. Results indicated that participants perceived the change in color earlier than the change in motion direction in either the motion or color correspondence task, with a stronger asynchrony in the former. In the TOJ task, although participants showed no difference in psychophysical measures, they responded faster when the change in color occurred before (versus after) the change in direction. Drift-diffusion modeling (DDM) revealed a lower decision threshold when the change in color occurred before (versus after) the change in direction, indicating less cautiousness was excised in judgment when the color changed earlier. These results confirmed the veracity of CMA in different tasks and point to the viability of analyzing response times in traditional psychophysical studies.
qPCR Detection and Quantification of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Other Periodontal Pathogens in Saliva and Gingival Crevicular Fluid among Periodontitis Patients

Objective: The detection of special bacterial species in patients with periodontitis is considered useful for clinical diagnosis and treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of specific periopathogens and investigate whether there is a correlation between the results of different bacterial species in whole saliva and pooled subgingival plaque samples (healthy and diseased sites) from individuals with periodontitis and periodontally healthy subjects. Materials and methods: In total, 52 patients were recruited and divided into two groups: non-periodontitis and periodontitis patients. For each group, the following periodontal pathogens were detected using real-time polymerase chain reaction: A. actinomycetemcomitans JP2 clone, A. actinomycetemcomitans non JP2 clone, Porphyromonasgingivalis, and total eubacteria. Results: Higher levels of the various studied bacteria were present in both saliva and plaque samples from the periodontitis group in comparison to non-periodontitis subjects. There were significant differences in P. gingivalis and A. actinomycetemcomitans JP2 clones in the saliva of periodontitis patient compared to the control group. Subgingival plaque of diseased sites presented a significant and strong positive correlation between A. actinomycetemcomitans and P. gingivalis. In saliva samples, there was a significant positive correlation between A. actinomycetemcomitans JP2 clone and P. gingivalis (p ≤ 0.002). Conclusion: Quantifying and differentiating these periodontal species from subgingival plaque and saliva samples showed a good potential as diagnostic markers for periodontal disease. Regarding the prevalence of the studied bacteria, specifically A. actinomycetemcomitans JP2 clone, found in this work, and the high rate of susceptibility to periodontal species in Africa, future larger studies are recommended.
Schottky barrier height of Au on the transparent semiconducting oxide β-Ga2O3

The Schottky barrier height of Au deposited on (100) surfaces of n-type β-Ga2O3 single crystals was determined by current-voltage characteristics and high-resolution photoemission spectroscopy resulting in a common effective value of 1.04 ± 0.08 eV. Furthermore, the electron affinity of β-Ga2O3 and the work function of Au were determined to be 4.00 ± 0.05 eV and 5.23 ± 0.05 eV, respectively, yielding a barrier height of 1.23 eV according to the Schottky-Mott rule. The reduction of the Schottky-Mott barrier to the effective value was ascribed to the image-force effect and the action of metal-induced gap states, whereas extrinsic influences could be avoided.