Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Some Natural Sources for Anti-Stresses Compounds on Washington Navel Orange Tree Productivity and Fruit Quality under Mid Egypt Conditions

T HIS investigation was carried out during two successive seasons (2019 & 2020), to study effect of some natural sources for Anti-stress compounds namely: Chitosan at (100 ppm), Ascorbic acid at (100 ppm), Prolin at (30 ppm) and Vitamin E at (50 ppm) as foliar applications on Washington Navel orange trees for elucidating their effects on tree vegetative growth & physiological performance, initial fruit set & retention and yield & fruit quality which grown Ehnasia restrict / "Beni- Suief" Governorate conditions. Experimental treatments were spraying at three times at the 1 st weeks of : May, July & September for two seasons. Results indicated that, all the natural sources for Anti-stress compounds positively improved Washington navel orange tree (growth & physiological performance, initial fruit set & retention and yield as :a number & weight & fruit quality. Whereas, Chitosan compound has a superior effect with significant difference on the above parameters, when compared to other treatments under this study for both seasons. Moreover, anti-stresses compounds under study could be arranged Chitosan, Ascorbic acid, Prolin and Vitamin E respect. , as for their effetivness.
Estimation of prolonged lifetimes of excited states of neutral oxygen atom (OI) by time-resolved laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (TR-LIBS)

Lifetimes of the upper states of excited oxygen atoms corresponding to transitions to the common lower state in the case of the emission lines around 777 nm and 844 nm have been estimated by measuring the line intensities as a function of the delay time between the Q-switching of the laser and the opening of the window of the ICCD. In the case of the emission line around 777 nm, resulting from the transitions from the three very closely spaced upper energy levels, 2s2 2p3 (4S0) 3p5P3 (777.194 nm), 2s2 2p3 (4S0) 3p5P2 (777.417 nm) and 2s2 2p3 (4S0) 3p5P1 (777.539 nm) to the common lower energy level 2s2 2p3 (4S0) 3s5S2, the lifetime was measured to be 253 ns. Similarly, in the case of the emission-line around 844 nm, resulting from the transitions from the three very closely spaced upper energy levels 2s2 2p3 (4S0) 3p3P0 (844.625 nm), 2s2 2p3 (4S0) 3p3P2 (844.636 nm) and 2s2 2p3 (4S0) 3p3P1 (844.676 nm) to the common lower energy level 2p3 (4S0) 3s3S1, the lifetime was measured to be 278 ns by this technique. The measured lifetimes in our experiment, for both 777 nm and 844 nm atomic transition lines of oxygen (O), are almost nine times higher than the theoretical value. Self-absorption and radiation trapping are possible mechanisms responsible for the mismatch between measured and intrinsic lifetimes. Last but not least, utilizing the TR-LIBS technique is yet another incredible application to estimate the prolonged lifetime of closely spaced excited states of an atom in the presence of self-absorption and radiation trapping. The average plasma cooling temperature (excitation temperature) lifetime was found to be 1183 ns, which is compatible with the previously reported values. J. Bangladesh Acad. Sci. 46(2); 175-183: December 2022
Polar Ultraviolet Imager observations of solar wind‐driven ULF auroral pulsations

Analysis of a sequence of auroral images acquired by the Polar Ultraviolet Imager (UVI) during a long‐duration (∼1.5 hr) solar wind dynamic pressure enhancement reveals auroral intensity variations in the Pc5 band. Power spectral analysis indicates that the “auroral pulsations” appeared in multiple frequency bands predominantly in the day sector and the dawn‐dusk flank of the oval, with the maximum wave power skewing toward the dawn sector. Ground‐based magnetometer recordings showed Pc5 micropulsations modulated with the auroral pulsations. The lower frequency (1–3 mHz) auroral pulsations were modulated with solar wind dynamic pressure pulses moving tailward, whereas the higher frequency (6–8 mHz) ones were not. We concluded that the lower frequency auroral pulsations were driven directly by the solar wind, whereas the higher frequency ones were associated with global compressional cavity mode. This study shows for the first time the snapshot of global Pc5 ultralow‐frequency (ULF) waves and demonstrates that global far‐ultraviolet (FUV) imaging such as Polar UVI provides a powerful ancillary tool for studying ULF waves on a global scale.
Murine T Cell Ia Antigens

Recipient (B10.HTT × A.TH)F1 mice were immunized with Con A-stimulated A.TL thymocytes. Antiserum obtained was strongly cytotoxic to A.TL lymph node cells (50 ± 11% lysis) but not to A.TH or B10.HTT lymphocytes. Cytotoxic anti-I-Ak antibody was observed by lysis of B10.A(4R) lymphocytes (47 ± 10%) in the absence of C57BL/10 reactivity. Exhaustive absorption first with B10.A(4R), then with B10.A(5R), left no A.TL reactivity. Antibody to I-Bk determinants was thereby ruled out. Cytotoxic anti-I-Jk antibody was observed by reactivity of B10.A(4R)-absorbed serum on A.TL cells (19 ± 5%), and confirmed by unabsorbed serum lysis of B10.S(9R) (16 ± 5%) in the absence of B10.S lysis and by cytotoxicity on B10.A(5R) lymphocytes (25 ± 6%). The I-Jk-controlled antigen has been studied in detail. This specificity cannot be attributed to a Qa or Tla-region gene; these gene products have been formally excluded by an appropriate strain choice for antiserum production. Furthermore, Qa or Tla gene products are excluded since DBA/2 lymphocytes cannot absorb cytotoxic reactivity for A.TL, B10.S(9R), or B10.A(5R) cells. This I-Jk antigen is carried by lymph node cells (19 ± 5% lysis) and splenocytes (8 ± 3% lysis), but not by thymocytes (<3%). Separated B10.A(5R) B and T lymphocytes were clearly distinguishable; T cells were lysed (22 ± 3%), B cells were not (<3%). Moreover, absorption of antiserum with increasing numbers of B lymphocytes did not diminish residual cytotoxic activity on T lymphocytes. Expression of the I-J-controlled antigen is confined to the k haplotype and is therefore considered a private specificity. These experiments lead us to conclude that there are T cell I-region-controlled structures, distinct from classical B cell Ia antigens, that may elicit antibody production under appropriate conditions.
Transfer Learning for Closed Domain Question Answering in COVID-19

COVID-19 has been a popular issue around 2019 until today. Recently, there has been a lot of research being conducted to utilize a big amount of data discussing about COVID-19. In this work, we conduct a closed domain question answering (CDQA) task in COVID-19 using transfer learning technique. The transfer learning technique is adopted because a large benchmark for question answering about COVID-19 is still unavailable. Therefore, rich knowledge learned from a large benchmark of open domain QA are utilized using transfer learning to improve the performance of our CDQA system. We use retriever-reader framework for our CDQA system, and propose to use Sequential Dependence Model (SDM) as our retriever component to enhance the effectiveness of the system. Our result shows that the use of SDM retriever can improve the F-1 score of the state-of-the-art baseline CDQA system using BM25 and TF-IDF+cosine similarity retriever by 3,26% and 32,62%, respectively. The optimal parameter settings for our CDQA system are found to be as follows: using 20 top-ranked documents as the retriever's output, five sentences as the passage length, and BERT-Large-Uncased model as the reader. In this optimal parameter setting, SDM retriever can improve the F-1 score of the state-of-the-art baseline CDQA system using BM25 by 5,06 % and TF-IDF+cosine similarity retriever by 24,94 %. Our last experiment then confirms the merit of using transfer learning, since our best-performing model (double fine-tune SQuAD and COVID-QA) is shown to gain eight times higher accuracy than the baseline method without using transfer learning. Further fine-tuning the transfer learning model using closed domain dataset (COVID-QA) can increase the accuracy of the transfer learning model that only fine-tuning with SQuAD by 27, 26%.
The impact of mechanical neck pain on peak expiratory flow in smartphone addicted population.

Background: Mechanical neck pain seen in smartphone addicted population causes respiratory hazards and decrease in peak expiratory flow. Aim: To detect the effect of mechanical neck pain on peak expiratory flow in smartphone addicted population. Methods: 100 volunteers of smartphone addicts with mechanical neck pain were recruited from delta university for science and technology. Their age ranged from 18-25 years. Both sexes were included (47 males, 53 females). Their peak expiratory flow (PEF) was measured using spirometer and the results were compared to the normal predicted values based on age, sex, race, weight and height. Results: there was a significant decrease (P<0.05) in PEF in smartphone addicts with mechanical neck pain compared to normal predicted values. Conclusion: Mechanical neck pain causes decrease in PEF in smartphone addicted population.
Pre-B Cell Receptor-Mediated Selection of Pre-B Cells Synthesizing Functional μ Heavy Chains

Ig gene rearrangements could generate VH-D-JH joining sequences that interfere with the correct folding of a μ-chain, and thus, its capability to pair with IgL chains. Surrogate light (SL) chain might be the ideal molecule to test the capacity of a μ-chain to pair with a L chain early in development, in that only pre-B cells that assemble a membrane μ-SL complex would be permitted to expand and further differentiate. We have previously identified two SL chain nonpairing VH81X-μ-chains with distinct VH-D-JH joining regions. Here, we show that one of these VH81X-μ-chains does not rescue B cell development in JH knock-out mice, because flow cytometric analysis of bone marrow cells from VH81X-μ transgenic JH knock-out mice revealed normal numbers of pro-B cells, but essentially no pre-B and surface IgM+ B cells. Immunoprecipitation analysis of transfected pre-B and hybridoma lines revealed that the same μ-chain fails to pair not only with SL chain but also with four distinct κ L chains. These findings demonstrate that early pre-B cells are selected for maturation on the basis of the structure of a μ-chain, in particular its VH-D-JH joining or CDR3 sequence, and that one mechanism for this selection is the capacity of a μ-chain to assemble with SL chain. Therefore, we propose a new function of SL chain in early B cell development: SL chain is part of a quality control mechanism that tests a μ-chain for its ability to pair with conventional L chains.
Evolution of First Cores in Rotating Molecular Cores

We investigate the effect of rotation on the star formation process quantitatively using axisymmetric numerical calculations. An adiabatic hydrostatic object (the so-called first core) forms in a contracting cloud core, after the central region becomes optically thick and continues to contract, driven by mass accretion onto it. The structure of a rotating first core is characterized by its total angular momentum Jcore and mass Mcore, both of which increase by accretion with time. We find that the first core evolves with a constant Jcore/M. Evolutionary paths of first cores can be classified into two types. In a slowly rotating core with Jcore/M < 0.015G/(ciso), where ciso and G represent the isothermal sound speed in the molecular cloud core and the gravitational constant, respectively, the core begins "second collapse" after the central density exceeds the H2 dissociation density. This is the same evolution as a standard scenario for a spherically symmetric, nonrotating core. On the other hand, a core with Jcore/M > 0.015G/(ciso) stops its contraction before the central density reaches the H2 dissociation density and does not begin the second collapse. These rapidly rotating first cores suffer from nonaxisymmetric instabilities, such as formation of massive spiral arms, deformation into a bar, or fragmentation. Although the rotating first cores have small average luminosities of Lcore = 0.003-0.03 L☉, assuming a constant mass accretion rate core. Their lifetimes last several thousand years or more, which is much longer than those expected for nonrotating clouds (~1000 yr). We expect that at least several percent of prestellar cores contain first cores as very low luminosity objects. Furthermore, we find a core with 0.012G/(ciso) < Jcore/M < 0.015G/(ciso) may form close binary systems with initial separation of 0.02-0.1 AU after the second collapse phase.
The Material Parameter Identification for Functionally Graded Materials by the Isoparametric Graded Finite Element

A material parameter identification method is proposed for functionally graded materials (FGMs) which are modeled by the isoparametric graded finite elements (IGFE). The material parameter identification problem is formulated as the problem of minimizing the objective function defined as a square sum of differences between the measured displacement and the computed displacement by the IGFE. Levenberg-Marquardt optimization method, in which the sensitivity analysis of displacements with respect to the material parameters is based on the finite difference approximation method, is used to solve the minimization problem. Numerical example is given to illustrate the validity of the proposed method for parameter identification.
Mapping skin using Raman spectroscopy

In this work we carried out a comparison and localization of skin Raman spectra. Measurements were made in regions where Raman scatter is caused by the excitation source; we used the spectra overlap in a comparative way. Ten volunteers with different skin colors participated in the experiment; body parts sampled were palm and dorsum of the hand. The excitation wavelength used for this work was 785nm. A spectrometer with 6cm-1 resolution and spectral region range 0 to 2000 cm-1 was utilized. We used Matlab® to overlap and compare the differences between Raman spectra form different samples. We found spectral variations that were caused by differences on the surface of the skin, such as scars and moles. This work helps to identify potential undesirable behavior on the epidermis.
Learning assessment in the age of big data: Learning analytics in higher education

Abstract Data-driven decision-making and data-intensive research are becoming prevalent in many sectors of modern society, i.e. healthcare, politics, business, and entertainment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, huge amounts of educational data and new types of evidence were generated through various online platforms, digital tools, and communication applications. Meanwhile, it is acknowledged that education lacks computational infrastructure and human capacity to fully exploit the potential of big data. This paper explores the use of Learning Analytics (LA) in higher education for measurement purposes. Four main LA functions in the assessment are outlined: (a) monitoring and analysis, (b) automated feedback, (c) prediction, prevention, and intervention, and (d) new forms of assessment. The paper concludes by discussing the challenges of adopting and upscaling LA as well as the implications for instructors in higher education.
Selective Regulation of Cytokine Induction by Adenoviral Gene Transfer of IκBα into Human Macrophages: Lipopolysaccharide-Induced, But Not Zymosan-Induced, Proinflammatory Cytokines Are Inhibited, But IL-10 Is Nuclear Factor-κB Independent

Macrophages are the major cytokine producers in chronic inflammatory diseases, but the biochemical pathways regulating cytokine production are poorly understood. This is because genetic tools to dissect signaling pathways cannot be used in macrophages because of difficulties in transfection. We have developed an adenoviral technique to achieve high efficiency gene delivery into macrophages and recently showed that spontaneous TNF-α production in rheumatoid arthritis joint cells, chiefly from macrophages, is 75% blocked by adenoviral transfer of IκBα. In this report we use the same adenovirus to investigate whether the production of a number of proinflammatory cytokines (e.g., TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8) from human macrophages depends on NF-κB. While the cytokine response to certain inducers, such as LPS, PMA, and UV light, is blocked by overexpression of IκBα, the response to zymosan is not. In contrast, anti-inflammatory mediators (IL-10 and IL-1 receptor antagonist) induced by LPS are only marginally inhibited by IκBα excess. These studies demonstrate several new points about macrophage cytokine production. First, there is heterogeneity of mechanisms regulating both the proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines within populations of a single cell type. In addition, the results confirm the utility of the adenoviral technique for functional analysis of cytokine induction. The results also confirm that there are autocrine and paracrine interactions regulating cytokine synthesis within a single cell type. The selectivity of NF-κB blockade for proinflammatory but not anti-inflammatory mediators indicates that in macrophages, NF-κB may be a good target for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases.
Multilingual Expatriates in Poland and Their Attitudes Towards Learning Polish

Multilingual Expatriates in Poland and Their Attitudes Towards Learning PolishThe article presents partial results from an online survey conducted with a group of expatriates living and working in Poland. The main aim of the study was to examine the attitude of the target group towards learning Polish, and to find the most important motivations for learning it or the reasons for not doing so. This problem has not been thoroughly researched before because expatriates previously were not treated as a separate research group. The results show, however, that they are an interesting object of study; they differ from other types of learners (e.g. academic learners) mostly because of their different motivations and attitudes towards learning Polish. The language profile of the expatriates is particularly noteworthy, especially their multilingualism, although not all are learning Polish. Their motivations to start learning the language, and the reasons for stopping to do so or for not even starting at all despite living in Poland for long time, are also worth exploring. Wielojęzyczni ekspatrianci w Polsce i ich postawy wobec nauki języka polskiegoArtykuł prezentuje część wyników badania ankietowego przeprowadzonego online na grupie ekspatriantów mieszkających i pracujących w Polsce. Najważniejszym jego celem było zbadanie postaw grupy docelowej wobec nauki języka polskiego, poznanie najważniejszych motywacji do nauki lub powodów jej niepodejmowania. Problem ten nie jest jeszcze dostatecznie zbadany, bo ekspatrianci nie byli do tej pory traktowani jako osobna grupa badanych. Przedstawione wyniki pokazują jednak, że są ciekawym obiektem badań, ponieważ ekspatrianci uczący się języka polskiego różnią się specyfiką od innych grup uczących się polskiego (np. na kursach akademickich). Godny uwagi jest przede wszystkim profil językowy tych osób, a w szczególności ich wielojęzyczność, pomimo której nie wszyscy uczą się polskiego. Z drugiej strony, ciekawe są także ich motywacje do podjęcia nauki lub powody rezygnacji z niej, czy przyczyny w ogóle niepodejmowania nauki języka pomimo – często wieloletniego – zamieszkania w Polsce.
Disentangling Systematic and Idiosyncratic Dynamics in Panels of Volatility Measures

Realized volatilities observed across several assets show a common secular trend and some idiosyncratic pattern which we accommodate by extending the class of Multiplicative Error Models (MEMs). In our model, the common trend is estimated nonparametrically, while the idiosyncratic dynamics are assumed to follow univariate MEMs. Estimation theory based on seminonparametric methods is developed for this class of models for large cross-sections and large time dimensions. The methodology is illustrated using two panels of realized volatility measures between 2001 and 2008: the SPDR Sectoral Indices of the S&P500 and the constituents of the S&P100. Results show that the shape of the common volatility trend captures the overall level of risk in the market and that the idiosyncratic dynamics have an heterogeneous degree of persistence around the trend. Out-of-sample forecasting shows that the proposed methodology improves volatility prediction over several benchmark specifications.
Distribution Results for Modified Kolmogorov- Smirnov Statistics for Truncated or Censored

Formulas and tables of significance points are presented for the distribution of the one sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistics for truncated or censored samples as proposed by Barr and Davidson [1]. Approximate formulas for the significance points are given for sample sizes exceeding 25; they are based on the asymptotic distribution derived by Koziol and Byar [2]. In addition, it is shown how the exact power of these tests for finite sample sizes can be calculated.
Development of non-premixed porous inserted regenerative thermal oxidizer

In this study, a porous inserted regenerative thermal oxidizer (PRTO) system was developed for a 125 kW industrial copper-melting furnace, due to its advantages of low NOx emissions and high radiant efficiency. Zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) ceramic foams were placed into the combustion zone of a regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO). Different performance characteristics of the RTO and PRTO systems, including pressure drop, temperature distribution, emissions, and energy efficiency, were evaluated to study the effects of the porous inserts on non-premixed CH4 combustion. It was found that the PRTO system achieved a significant reduction in the NOx emission level and a fuel saving of approximately 30% compared to the RTO system. It is most suitable for a lean combustion process at an equivalence ratio <0.4 with NOx and CO emission levels within 0.002%–0.003% and 0.001%–0.002%, respectively.
Choice of dipole operator gauge in time-dependent R-matrix theory

We investigate multi-photon ionization of helium using the time-dependent R-matrix method in order to assess the best choice of gauge for the description of the laser field when the system under investigation is a multi-electron system. Ionization probabilities are obtained using the length gauge and the velocity gauge and various He basis sets, when a minimum of three or four photons need to be absorbed to achieve ionization. The probabilities are found to converge for both gauges as the number of orbitals used in the basis set increases, but they are more consistent in the length gauge. Ionization probabilities can be compared to those derived from other theoretical calculations. Agreement is within 10% when ionization requires absorption of at least three photons, but the differences increase to 20–50% when absorption of four photons is required. Analysis of the multi-photon matrix elements provides further evidence for better consistency in the length gauge than the velocity gauge when high-lying states are excluded from the calculations, which is, at present, unavoidable for a multi-electron system.