Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The relationship between Perceptual Mapping and Marketing Effectiveness in Private Universities in Egypt

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of perceptual mapping in leveraging marketing effectiveness of universities in the higher education sector. This study employed a mixed method approach. Twelve semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of owners and decision makers in private universities. This qualitative phase was then followed by a quantitative phase where 100 questionnaires were collected from decision makers in private universities in Egypt. The findings of this study highlight the positive impact of perceptual mapping on overall marketing effectiveness. Besides, the results confirm the positive relationship between dimensions of perceptual mapping (brand image, quality, and tuition fees) and dimensions of marketing effectiveness (profits, satisfaction) in private universities in the Egyptian context understudy.
Biochar-composting substantially reduces methane and air pollutant emissions from dairy manure

Dairy manure is one of the largest sources of methane (CH4) emissions and air pollution from agriculture. In a previous study, we showed that composting dairy manure with biochar substantially reduces CH4 emissions and could help the dairy industry meet climate goals. However, it remained unclear whether biochar could also mitigate the emission of air pollutants and odor during composting. Here, we conducted a full-scale composting study at a dairy farm and monitored the emission of greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O) and air pollutants (H2S, VOCs, NO x , NH3) from compost piles amended with or without biochar. We found that amending compost with biochar significantly reduced total CH4 emissions by 58% (±22%) and cut H2S, VOCs, and NO x emissions by 67% (±24%), 61% (±19%) and 70% (±22%), respectively. We attribute this reduction in emissions to improved oxygen diffusion from the porous biochar and the adsorption of gas precursors to the biochar surface. Interestingly, NO x fluxes from the composting dairy manure were much higher than the few values reported in the literature, suggesting that dairy manure could also be a significant source of NO x emissions. We estimate that biochar-composting of dairy manure would reduce the social cost of manure emissions from this farm by over $66 000 annually. Results from this study suggest that composting dairy manure with biochar, in addition to reducing CH4 emissions, may help to improve air quality and the health and wellbeing of rural communities, but further studies are needed to test the quantitative impacts.
Does CBCT provide an accurate method for assessment of the soft tissue thickness around immediate implants in the esthetic zone? A Retrospective Cohort Study

Objective: To assess cone-beam computerized tomography (CBCT) accuracy in measuring the facial soft tissue thickness around immediate implants before and after connective tissue grafting. Methods: 20 patients received immediate implants and connective tissue grafts in the esthetic zone. Facial soft tissue thickness was evaluated at 2mm, 4mm and 6mm from free gingival margin by bone sounding using endodontic file with silicone stopper and digital caliper and by CBCT after putting lip retractor. Results: Paired t test showed a significant difference between base line and 6 months follow up readings in both methods. No significant difference was reported between both methods. On the other hand, Pearson correlation coefficient showed an inverse correlation between both methods. Conclusion: CBCT provided noninvasive, accurate and reliable data for measuring the facial soft tissue thickness and can be used for the analysis and planning of immediate implants placement in the esthetic zone. Clinical significance: Using CBCT in soft tissue assessment at the time of implant/bone evaluation can aid in saving the clinician and patient time and prevents the painful invasive bone sounding process.
Post-disaster indigenous mental health support: Tangata whaiora networks after the 2010-2012 Ōtautahi/Christchurch earthquakes

This paper identifi es and analyses the networks of support for tangata whaiora (mental health clients) utilising a kaupapa Mäori health service following the Ötautahi/Christchurch earthquakes in Aotearoa New Zealand from 2010 to 2012. Semistructured interviews were undertaken with 39 participants, comprising clients (Mäori and Päkehä), staff, managers and board members of a kaupapa Mäori provider in the city. Selected quotes are presented alongside a social network analysis of the support accessed by all participants. Results show the signifi cant isolation of both Mäori and Päkehä mental health clients postdisaster and the complexity of individuals and collectives dealing with temporally and spatially overlapping hazards and disasters at personal, whänau and community level.
Soil Quality Assessment Using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Fields with rice-based cropping systems are unique from other wetland or upland soils because they are associated with frequent cycling between wetting and drying under anaerobic and aerobic conditions. This alters the C and N transformations, microbial activities and their diversity, and soil physical properties, depending on the other crop in rotation with rice. This chapter aims to compare the soil quality of vertisols of central plains of Chhattisgarh under rice-wheat and rice-chickpea cropping systems. Soil quality index was developed using analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Five soil quality indicators were selected under minimum datasets including soil organic carbon, mean weight diameter, available water content, available phosphorous and zinc. The results indicated that the rice-chickpea cropping system shows improved soil quality than that of rice-wheat cropping system.
Genome-wide identification and quantification of cis-and trans-regulated genes responding to Marek ’ s disease virus infection via analysis of allele-specific expression

*Correspondence: Sean MacEachern, Cobb-Vantress Inc., P.O. Box 1030, 4703 US HWY 412 East, Siloam Springs, AR 72761, USA. e-mail: sean.maceachern@ cobb-vantress.com Marek’s disease (MD) is a commercially important neoplastic disease of chickens caused by Marek’s disease virus (MDV), a naturally occurring oncogenic alphaherpesvirus. Selecting for increased genetic resistance to MD is a control strategy that can augment vaccinal control measures.To identify high-confidence candidate MD resistance genes, we conducted a genome-wide screen for allele-specific expression (ASE) amongst F1 progeny of two inbred chicken lines that differ substantially in MD resistance. High throughput sequencing was initially used to profile transcriptomes from pools of uninfected and infected individuals at 4 days post-infection to identify any genes showing ASE in response to MDV infection. RNA sequencing identified 22,655 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of which 5,360 in 3,773 genes exhibited significant allelic imbalance. Illumina GoldenGate assays were subsequently used to quantify regulatory variation controlled at the gene (cis) and elsewhere in the genome (trans) by examining differences in expression between F1 individuals and artificial F1 RNA pools over six time periods in 1,536 of the most significant SNPs identified by RNA sequencing. Allelic imbalance as a result of cis-regulatory changes was confirmed in 861 of the 1,233 GoldenGate assays successfully examined. Furthermore we have identified seven genes that display trans-regulation only in infected animals and ∼500 SNP that show a complex interaction between cisand trans-regulatory changes. Our results indicate ASE analyses are a powerful approach to identify regulatory variation responsible for differences in transcript abundance in genes underlying complex traits. And the genes with SNPs exhibiting ASE provide a strong foundation to further investigate the causative polymorphisms and genetic mechanisms for MD resistance. Finally, the methods used here for identifying specific genes and SNPs have practical implications for applying marker-assisted selection to complex traits that are difficult to measure in agricultural species, when expression differences are expected to control a portion of the phenotypic variance.
100G FSO field trial with transmitter power adaptability using a LoRa feedback channel

The popularity of free-space optics (FSO) communications is rising as a key enabler for widespread communications since it can provide fiber-like connectivity to regions where fiber deployment is not feasible and radio-frequency (RF) technologies cannot comply with the bandwidth requirements. However, the reliability of FSO links is severely affected by fluctuations in the received optical power caused by weather instability, atmospheric turbulence, and pointing errors. In this work, we propose an adaptive power pre-compensation system enabled by a low-cost, long-range (LoRa) RF feedback link. We experimentally demonstrate this system in a 1.8 km field trial supporting 100 Gbps coherent FSO transmission under approximately 10 dB of slow-fading over a 16 h period. Our results show a considerable reduction of up to 5 dB in the average dynamic range of the receiver and substantial improvement in the link reliability (7% on average) when compared with an estimated fixed power transmission. Further reliability or data-rate improvements can also be achieved with joint optimization of the FEC overhead and the adaptive power transmission scheme.
Digital terrain models derived from digital surface model uniform regions in urban areas

Digital terrain models (DTMs) are of significant interest for applications such as environment planning, flood risk assessment or building detection. A digital surface model (DSM) can be obtained efficiently in both time and cost from light detection and ranging (lidar) acquisition or from digital photogrammetry with aerial or satellite stereoscopic imagery. A DTM can be derived from a DSM if the distinction between ground and non-ground pixels can be automated. We propose in this article a new automatic DSM-to-DTM transform targeting urban areas. Our approach segments the DSM twice: first to get large uniform regions normally corresponding to the road network and attached town squares, and second to obtain smoother areas. Smoother DSM areas overlapping the large regions are selected to populate the DTM, which is then completed by a hierarchical interpolation procedure. As a refinement step, unused smoother regions lying under this DTM are added to create, after interpolation, the final DTM. This approach is positioned relative to the literature about segmentation-based lidar ground filtering. The procedure was developed for DSM rasters. Since the DTM extraction is intended to be applied to large images, special attention was devoted to optimize image processing tasks relative to memory usage and execution time. The proposed development was integrated in a building detection procedure and validated qualitatively in the context of a benchmark on urban object detection of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS). It was also applied to Brussels data for which lidar DTMs are available. The DTM comparison supports the correctness of our solution although difficulties may be encountered in off-terrain regions surrounded by higher regions and some interiors of city blocks. A final test on a rural and peri-urban scene opens positive perspectives for scenes more general than urban areas.
PFA for Bistatic Forward-Looking SAR Mounted on High-Speed Maneuvering Platforms

Being capable of providing weather-independent, day-and-night, forward-looking, and high-resolution images, bistatic forward-looking synthetic aperture radar (BFSAR) is a promising sensing technique in applications such as the scene-matching-aided navigation for recently emerging high-speed maneuvering platforms (HMPs). Because of the high speed and the great maneuverability of HMPs and the bistatic forward-looking configuration, conventional image formation algorithms, such as polar format algorithm (PFA), are no longer suitable for HMP-borne BFSAR (HMP-BFSAR). Hence, in this paper, we propose a novel PFA for HMP-BFSAR image formation. In the proposed PFA, a range model, termed as quasi-continuous -move range model, is established by taking the maneuvers of the receiver during pulse propagation into account instead of adopting stop-and-go approximation. Moreover, to take advantage of the collected <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-set efficiently, an affine mapping, termed as <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-set affine mapping, is conceived to transform the parallelogram-shaped <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-set support region to a horizontal and quasi-rectangular one. Furthermore, to compensate for the defocus effect induced by wavefront curvature, a closed-form refocus filter based on the implicit function theorem is derived. Both point target simulation and distributed target simulation are presented in this paper. The simulation results show that the proposed PFA significantly outperforms the conventional PFA in terms of focusing quality and computational efficiency when applied to HMP-BFSAR image formation.
Effect of Certain Antiseptics on the Growth of Escherichia coli in Skim Milk

The present study aims to evaluate the effect of certain antiseptics, such as polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB), polyhexamethylene guanide (PHMG), silver nitrate (AgNO 3 ), and glutamic acid on the behavior of Escherichia coli (ATCC 4229) in skim milk. Briefly, both PHMB and AgNO 3 showed significant killing effect against E. coli , with respect to the higher antibacterial efficacy of PHMB compared to AgNO 3 . The high killing percentages and leakage of potassium content exhibited positive direction against E. coli with high antiseptic concentrations up to certain limits. Using PHMB combined with AgNO 3 and PHMG combined with AgNO 3 against the growth of E. coli revealed high killing percentage than using any of these antiseptics separately in skim milk. In the same way, when PHMB was combined with AgNO 3 or PHMG with AgNO 3 mixed with glutamic acid, the percentages of survival cells significantly decreased ( P ≤ 0.05) compared to the use of the antiseptics separately with glutamic acid.
Porcine Intestinal Mucosal Peptides Target Macrophage-Modulated Inflammation and Alleviate Intestinal Homeostasis in Dextrose Sodium Sulfate-Induced Colitis in Mice

Porcine intestinal mucosal proteins are novel animal proteins that contain large amounts of free amino acids and peptides. Although porcine intestinal mucosal proteins are widely used in animal nutrition, the peptide bioactivities of their enzymatic products are not yet fully understood. In the present study, we investigated the effect of porcine intestinal mucosal peptides (PIMP) on the RAW264.7 cell model of LPS-induced inflammation. The mRNA expression of inflammatory factors (interleukin 6, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukin-1β) and nitrous oxide levels were all measured by quantitative real-time PCR and cyclooxygenase-2 protein expression measured by Western blot. To investigate the modulating effect of PIMP and to establish a model of dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis in mice, we examined the effects of hematoxylin-eosin staining, myeloperoxidase levels, pro-inflammatory factor mRNA content, tight junction protein expression, and changes in intestinal flora. Nuclear factor κB pathway protein levels were also assessed by Western blot. PIMP has been shown in vitro to control inflammatory responses and prevent the activation of key associated signaling pathways. PIMP at doses of 100 and 400 mg/kg/day also alleviated intestinal inflammatory responses, reduced tissue damage caused by DSS, and improved intestinal barrier function. In addition, PIMP at 400 mg/kg/day successfully repaired the dysregulated gut microbiota and increased short-chain fatty acid levels. These findings suggest that PIMP may positively influence inflammatory responses and alleviate colitis. This study is the first to demonstrate the potential of PIMP as a functional food for the prevention and treatment of colitis.
Multiparametric Monitoring of Disease Progression in Contemporary Patients with Wild-Type Transthyretin Amyloid Cardiomyopathy Initiating Tafamidis Treatment

Background: Recently, a disease modifying therapy has become available for transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM). A validated monitoring concept of treatment is lacking, but a current expert consensus recommends three clinical domains (clinical, biomarker and ECG/imaging) assessed by several measurable features to define disease progression. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data of wild-type ATTR-CM patients initiating tafamidis therapy assessed within our local routine protocol at baseline and 6-months follow-up with respect to the frequency of values beyond the proposed thresholds defining disease progression. Additionally, associations of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) tomography with clinical domains were examined within a subgroup. Results: Sixty-two ATTR-CM patients were included (88.7% male, mean age 79 years). In total, 16.1% of patients had progress in the clinical and functional domain, 33.9% in the biomarker domain and 43.5% in the imaging/electrocardiography (ECG) domain, with the latter driven by deterioration of the diastolic dysfunction grade and global longitudinal strain. In total, 35.5% of patients showed progress in none, 35.5% in one, 29.0% in two and no patient in three domains, the latter indicating overall disease progression. A subgroup analysis of twenty-two patients with available baseline and follow-up CMR data revealed an increase in CMR-based extracellular volume by more than 5% in 18.2% of patients, with no significant correlation with progress in one of the clinical domains. Conclusions: We provide first frequency estimates of the markers of disease progression according to a recent expert consensus statement, which might help refine the multiparametric monitoring concept in patients with ATTR-CM.
A Multiscale and Multilayer Feature Extraction Network With Dual Attention for Tropical Cyclone Intensity Estimation

A tropical cyclone (TC) is a type of catastrophic weather encountered in the tropical or subtropical ocean, and it is of great significance to accurately estimate its intensity. Many estimation methods based on statistics have been proposed, but these methods have obvious problems, such as poor robustness and low accuracy. Therefore, in this study, a TC intensity estimation method is proposed based on satellite image data using the Xception network as a backbone. The main idea of the proposed method is to estimate the TC maximum wind speed by image feature extraction. First, a Laplacian pyramid image fusion method for the infrared (IR) and water vapor (WV) channels of satellite images is adopted to enhance the total amount of information in the basic input data of the model. Second, an optimization strategy for the depth and width of the Xception network model is proposed with the objective of reducing parameter redundancy and improving the estimation accuracy. Third, a multiscale feature extraction module and a multilayer feature fusion module are designed to realize the fusion of different features. In addition, a dual attention module is introduced to allow the model to focus on the key regions of cyclone images. Finally, the proposed network is evaluated on the HURSAT, FY-2, and Gridsat datasets. The results show that, on average, the maximum cyclone wind speed estimation errors, the mean absolute error (MAE), and root mean square error (RMSE), are 8.0% and 11.4% lower than the state-of-the-art models on the three datasets.
PHYSICO-CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF SOIL IN PERSPECTIVE OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE FROM SUBDIVISION ROUNDU, DISTRICT SKARDU PAKISTAN

The study conducted in Sub Division Roundu assessed various soil characteristics, including conductivity, pH, organicmatter, total dissolved solids (TDS), salinity, and nutrient content, with a focus on their suitability for plant growth. Soilsamples were collected from different locations for analysis. The conductivity values of the soil ranged from 22.3 to78.3, with Bilamik having the highest conductivity and Bagardo showing the least electrical conductivity. The areas withthe highest conductivity were Tormik, Bilamik, Harpo, and Gunji. The pH values of the 20 soil samples ranged from 5.1to 7.4, indicating that the soil pH was suitable for plant growth. Harpo had the highest pH value, while Shout had alower pH value. Surprisingly, the soil samples from Sub Division Roundu exhibited a medium level of organic matter,ranging from 48% to 76%, which is uncommon for Pakistani soil. Tormik and Gunji had the highest organic mattercontent, while Bagardo had the lowest. Total dissolved solids (TDS), representing inorganic salts in the soil, rangedfrom 9.8 to 32 in the samples. Bagardo had the lowest TDS value, whereas Bilamik showed a high TDS value. Thesalinity levels in the soil were generally low, except for minor salinity in soils from Dassu, Dambodas, Khumrah, andHarbot. However, the study revealed widespread deficiencies in nitrogen and phosphorus content in the soil, with onlymarginal amounts of potassium present in some regions like Tormik, Harpo, Gunji, and Bilamik. Around 85% of the soilsamples lacked sufficient nitrogen and phosphorus, while 15% had marginal concentrations. In contrast, potassium wassufficient in 79.8% of the samples, with 20.2% showing marginal amounts.
GDF-15 Inhibits ADP-Induced Human Platelet Aggregation through the GFRAL/RET Signaling Complex

Growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) is proposed to be strongly associated with several cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure and atherosclerosis. Moreover, some recent studies have reported an association between GDF-15 and platelet activation. In this study, we isolated peripheral blood platelets from healthy volunteers and evaluated the effect of GDF-15 on adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-induced platelet activation using the platelet aggregation assay. Subsequently, we detected the expression of GDF-15-related receptors on platelets, including the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), human epidermal growth factor receptor 3 (HER3), transforming growth factor-beta receptor I (TGF-βRI), transforming growth factor-beta receptor II (TGF-βRII), glial-cell-line-derived neurotrophic factor family receptor α-like (GFRAL), and those rearranged during transfection (RET). Then, we screened for GDF-15 receptors using the GDF-15-related receptor microarray comprising these recombinant proteins. We also performed the immunoprecipitation assay to investigate the interaction between GDF-15 and the receptors on platelets. For the further exploration of signaling pathways, we investigated the effects of GDF-15 on the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), protein kinase B (AKT), and Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) pathways. We also investigated the effects of GDF-15 on the ERK and AKT pathways and platelet aggregation in the presence or absence of RET agonists or inhibition. Our study revealed that GDF-15 can dose-independently inhibit ADP-induced human platelet aggregation and that the binding partner of GDF-15 on platelets is GFRAL. We also found that GDF-15 inhibits ADP-induced AKT and ERK activation in platelets. Meanwhile, our results revealed that the inhibitory effects of GDF-15 can be mediated by the GFRAL/RET complex. These findings reveal the novel inhibitory mechanism of ADP-induced platelet activation by GDF-15.