Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Boundary conditions for early life converge to an organo-sulfur metabolism

It has been suggested that a deep memory of early life is hidden in the architecture of metabolic networks, whose reactions could have been catalyzed by small molecules or minerals prior to genetically encoded enzymes (1–6). A major challenge in unraveling these early steps is assessing the plausibility of a connected, thermodynamically consistent proto-metabolism under different geochemical conditions, which are still surrounded by high uncertainty. Here we combine network-based algorithms (9, 10) with physicochemical constraints on chemical reaction networks to systematically show how different combinations of parameters (temperature, pH, redox potential and availability of molecular precursors) could have affected the evolution of a proto-metabolism. Our analysis of possible trajectories indicates that a subset of boundary conditions converges to an organo-sulfur-based proto-metabolic network fueled by a thioester- and redox-driven variant of the reductive TCA cycle, capable of producing lipids and keto acids. Surprisingly, environmental sources of fixed nitrogen and low-potential electron donors seem not to be necessary for the earliest phases of biochemical evolution. We use one of these networks to build a steady-state dynamical metabolic model of a proto-cell, and find that different combinations of carbon sources and electron acceptors can support the continuous production of a minimal ancient “biomass” composed of putative early biopolymers and fatty acids.
ARROW@TU Dublin ARROW@TU Dublin

This is a resource description paper that describes the creation and properties of a set of pseudo-corpora generated artiﬁcially from a random walk over the English WordNet taxonomy. Our WordNet taxonomic random walk implementation allows the exploration of different random walk hyperparameters and the generation of a variety of different pseudo-corpora. We ﬁnd that different combinations of the walk’s hyperparameters result in varying statistical properties of the generated pseudo-corpora. We have published a total of 81 pseudo-corpora that we have used in our previous research, but have not exhausted all possible combinations of hyperparameters, which is why we have also published a codebase that allows the generation of additional WordNet taxonomic pseudo-corpora as needed. Ultimately, such pseudo-corpora can be used to train taxonomic word embeddings, as a way of transferring taxonomic knowledge into a word embedding space.
Tendinopathies of the hip and pelvis in athletes: A narrative review

Tendon disorders represent some of the most frequent musculoskeletal complaints worldwide. In the athletic population, tendinopathy could affect different anatomical districts. Tendons surrounding hip and pelvis are frequently involved due to overuse and high functional demands in the athletes. These disorders negatively impact on sport performance, since they are a long-lasting clinical condition requiring a multimodal management. Great trochanter pain syndrome, proximal hamstring tendinopathy, insertional adductor tendinopathy and ileopsoas tendinopathy are the most common clinical conditions involving tendon structures of the hip and pelvis. Due to the anatomical complexity of the region, the relationship with pelvic organs, the demographic and anthropometric characteristics of the athletes, the differential diagnosis between these musculoskeletal disorders and other diseases is often difficult to conduct and some therapeutic options are challenging. Modification of risk factors, changes in training protocols, some specific therapeutic exercise programs and rehabilitation procedures have been proposed as an efficient conservative management strategy, guarantying a complete recovery of athletic function. Surgical approaches are required in a specific subset of patients. This narrative literature review aims to summarize current understanding and areas of ongoing research about the clinical features, diagnostic keys and therapeutic options of the main clinical tendinopathies surrounding hip and pelvis.
Application of Learning Objects for Computer Programming-Based Problem Solving.

This paper presents an approach to implement learning objects for teaching and learning problem-solving techniques based on computer programming. The demonstrated approach exploits computer-based interactive animations and computer graphics. The main feature of this approach is its simplicity for exploring the concepts and structures of the programming that are used to implement a solution for a problem under consideration. The developed learning objects feature the possibility of reusability and adaptability in e-learning settings. Moreover, the learning objects can be utilized as a hands-on experience for the learners of a certain subject matter. The approach applied for the design and implementation of the learning objects for computer programming-based problem solving can be extended to other disciplines of science and technology. As a demonstration of the proposed methodology, we showed an application that utilizes the approach to implement a learning object for solving a well-known statistics and probability problem.
Boreal tree growth exhibits decadal‐scale ecological memory to drought and insect defoliation, but no negative response to their interaction

Interactions between drought and insect defoliation may dramatically alter forest function under novel climate and disturbance regimes, but remain poorly understood. We empirically tested two important hypotheses regarding tree responses to drought and insect defoliation: (a) trees exhibit delayed, persistent, and cumulative growth responses to these stressors; (b) physiological feedbacks in tree responses to these stressors exacerbate their impacts on tree growth. These hypotheses remain largely untested at a landscape scale, yet are critical for predicting forest function under novel future conditions, given the connection between tree growth and demographic processes such as mortality and regeneration. We developed a Bayesian hierarchical model to quantify the ecological memory of tree growth to past water deficits and insect defoliation events, derive antecedent variables reflecting the persistent and cumulative effects of these stressors on current growth, and test for their interactive effects. The model was applied to extensive tree growth, weather, and defoliation survey data from western and eastern regions of the Canadian boreal forest impacted by recent drought and defoliation events and characterized by contrasting tree compositions, climates, and insect defoliators. Results revealed persistent negative tree growth responses to past water (all trees) and defoliation (host trees) stress lasting 3–6 and 10–12 years, respectively, depending on study region. Accounting for the ecological memory of tree growth to water and defoliation stress allowed for detection of interactions not previously demonstrated. Contrary to expectations, we found evidence for positive interactions among non‐host trees likely due to reduced water stress following defoliation events. Regional differences in ecological memory to water stress highlight the role of climate in shaping forest responses to drought. Synthesis. Study results suggest negative feedbacks in tree responses to drought and insect attack may be weaker than predicted for defoliator‐dominated boreal forest systems. Instead, insect defoliation may offset the impacts of water deficit on boreal tree growth by reducing transpirational water demand. This offset mimics increased resistance to drought following forest thinning and may lessen growth and mortality losses due to increased aridity and more severe insect damage forecast for the boreal forest under global change.
The Internet of Things for Logistics: Perspectives, Application Review, and Challenges

The Internet of Things (IoT) vision enables multiple of resource-constrained embedded devices, objects, and humans to connect together through the Internet protocol for a ubiquitous data exchange. Logistics is considered to be a key player poised from this vision to achieve the full visibility and transparency through leveraging the pervasive interconnectivity to collect reliable and safe real-time data. In addition, the valuable information extracted and transformed from the IoT data can be exploited to create intelligent services and applications to improve the logistics activities as well as the overall performance of logistics operations. This paper aims at reviewing the state-of-the-art applications of IoT in the logistics sector. Although the adoption of IoT potentially gains huge benefits, there still exist barriers preventing the full adoption of IoT in the logistics. This paper also discusses such challenges that promise to expose a wide range of open research regarding the integration of IoT in the logistics domain.
In silico structural and functional analysis of copalyl diphosphate synthase enzyme in Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Wall. ex Nees: A plant of immense pharmaceutical value

Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Wall. ex Nees (Acanthaceae) with immense medicinal importance lacks information on its biosynthetic pathway genes and their regulatory role in the production of pharmaceutically important andrographolide. Copalyl diphosphate synthase (CPS) is involved in the production of copalyl diphosphate, a precursor for many bioactive compounds with particular reference to diterpene lactone. In this study, we elucidated the structural and functional aspects of A. paniculata CPS (ApCPS). Composition of amino acids and hydrophobic nature of ApCPS were analysed and identified as non trans-membrane protein. A chloroplast transit peptide and mitochondrial targeting peptide in ApCPS were identified. Protein secondary structure prediction has given insight on the distribution of helix (52.52%), loop (45.91%) and strands (1.56%) in ApCPS. The homology modelling of ApCPS was carried out with SWISS MODEL. The validation of 3D model using PROCHECK revealed that 91.74% of the residues have averaged 3D-1D score >= 0.2 which is structurally reliable. In Ramachandran plot, 90.9% amino acid residues were found in most favoured region. Phylogenetic tree was constructed using MEGA 7.0 by taking eudicots, monocots, gymnosperms and fungal species. Among them, ApCPS was clustered within eudicots and closely related to Sesumum indicum in Laminales. Protein-protein interaction study using STRING10 revealed that CPS interacts with gibberilic acid and terpene synthase related proteins. In Arabidopsis thaliana, CPS coexpression was seen with gibberelic acid related proteins. The present in silico analysis will be useful in understanding the structural, functional and evolutionary diversification of ApCPS.
Manganese removal and characterization of manganese oxides induced by biologically and chemically on the matured sand

Manganese pollution particularly in the form of dissolved Mn2+ is an important problem in groundwater treatment. The main approaches for Mn2+ removal from groundwater are chemical catalytic oxidation and biological oxidation. Their relative attribution to Mn2+ removal and relationship has not been clarified at the matured stage. An influent of water containing 2.0 and 4.0 mg/L Mn2+ was filtered through columns filled with manganese sand that had either been inoculated with a manganese-adapted microbial community or had been pre-oxidized with potassium permanganate. Either treatment resulted in good manganese removal capacities that maintained a final concentration in the effluent below 0.05 mg Mn2+/L at two concentrations for a period of 130 d. Among the matured period, the direct contribution rate of biological manganese removal was less than 20%. During operation, biological induction and chemical induction were both responsible for the formation of hexagonal Birnessite-type manganese oxide, whose physical characteristics were characterized and determined. Biological oxidation and chemical catalytic oxidation in the maturation of filter media were interlinked through the formation of Birnessite-type manganese oxide. Manganese removal during maturation was mainly attributed to cyclic autocatalysis rather than biological factors.
Drought intensification alters the composition, body size, and trophic structure of invertebrate assemblages in a stream mesocosm experiment

1. Predicted trends towards more intense droughts are of particular significance for running water ecosystems, as the loss of critical stream habitat can provoke sud den changes in biodiversity and shifts in community structure. However, analysing ecological responses to the progressive loss of stream habitat requires a continu ous disturbance gradient that can only be generated through large-scale manipu lations of streamflow. 2. In the first experiment of its kind, we used large artificial stream channels (meso -cosms) as analogues of spring-fed headwaters and simulated a gradient of drought intensity that encompassed flowing streams, disconnected pools, and dry stre -ambeds. We used breakpoint analysis to analyse macroinvertebrate community responses to intensifying drought, and identify the taxa and compositional met rics sensitive to small changes
Biotic and abiotic plant–soil feedback depends on nitrogen‐acquisition strategy and shifts during long‐term ecosystem development

Feedback between plants and soil is an important driver of plant community structure, but it remains unclear whether plant–soil feedback (PSF): (i) reflects changes in biotic or abiotic properties, (ii) depends on environmental context in terms of soil nutrient availability, and (iii) varies among plant functional groups. As soil nutrient availability strongly affects plant distribution and performance, soil chemical properties and plant nutrient‐acquisition strategies might serve as important drivers of PSF. We used soils from young and old stages of a long‐term soil chronosequence to represent sites where productivity is limited by nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability, respectively. We grew three N‐fixing and three non‐N‐fixing plant species in soils conditioned by co‐occurring conspecific or heterospecific species from each of these two stages. In addition, three soil treatments were used to distinguish biotic and abiotic effects on plant performance, allowing measurements of overall, biotic, and abiotic PSF. In young, N‐poor soils, non‐N‐fixing plants grew better in soils from N‐fixing plants than in their own soils (i.e., negative PSF). However, this difference was not only associated with improved abiotic conditions in soils from N‐fixing plants but also with changes in soil biota. By contrast, no significant PSF was observed for N‐fixing plants grown in young soils. Moreover, we did not observe any significant PSF for either N‐fixing or non‐N‐fixing plants growing in old, P‐impoverished soils. Synthesis. The direction and strength of plant‐soil feedback (PSF) varied among N‐acquisition strategies and soils differing in nutrient availability, with stronger plant‐soil feedback in younger, N‐poor soils compared to older, P‐impoverished soils. Our results highlight the importance of considering soil nutrient availability, plant‐mediated abiotic and biotic soil properties, and plant nutrient‐acquisition strategies when studying plant‐soil feedback, thereby advancing our mechanistic understanding of plant‐soil feedback during long‐term ecosystem development.
Efficient Cache Architecture for Table Lookups in an Internet Router

Table lookup is the most important operation in routers from the aspects of both packet processing throughput and power consumption. To realize the table lookup at high throughput with low energy, Packet Processing Cache (PPC) has been proposed. PPC stores table lookup results into a small SRAM (static random access memory) per flow and reuses the cached results to process subsequent packets of the same flow. Because the SRAM is accessed faster with significant lower energy than TCAM (Ternary Content Addressable Memory), which is conventionally used as a memory for storing the tables in routers, PPC can process packets at higher throughput with lower power consumption when the table lookup results of the packets are in PPC. Although the PPC performance depends on the PPC hit/miss rates, recent PPCs still show high PPC miss rates and cannot achieve sufficient performance. In this paper, efficient cache architecture, constructed of two different techniques, is proposed to improve the PPC miss rate more. The simulation results indicated that the combined approach of them achieved 1.72x larger throughput with 41.4% lower energy consumption in comparison to the conventional PPC architecture.
An Auto-Balancing Capacitance-to-Pulse-Width Converter for Capacitive Sensors

A novel auto-balancing capacitance-to-pulse-width converter (CPC) that uses sinusoidal excitation, and operates in a closed-loop configuration, is presented in this paper. Unlike most of the existing CPCs, the proposed interface circuit is compatible with both single-element and differential capacitive sensors. In addition, it provides a pulse-width modulated (PWM) signal which can easily be digitized using a counter. From this PWM signal, a ratio output is derived when a single-element sensor is interfaced, and a ratiometric output is obtained for a differential sensor. The final digital output is independent of the nominal capacitance of the sensor and has a linear characteristic irrespective of the sensor characteristic being linear or inverse. The CPC is designed such that the PWM output depends on the change in the sensor capacitance alone. It is insensitive to parasitic capacitance and has very low sensitivity to the non-idealities of the components and ICs used. The effects due to some of the non-idealities are automatically corrected by the negative feedback based auto-balancing employed. The effect of component mismatch is significantly reduced by a one-time correction mechanism. These benefits are achieved without the use of any complex or expensive analog building blocks. The prototype exhibits a maximum non-linearity error of less than 0.7%, a resolution of 13.02 effective number of bits (ENOB), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 80.12 dB, and a rise time of 5 ms. Thus, the proposed simple, yet effective, low-power, low cost, auto-balancing CPC can be used to interface a wide range of existing and new capacitive sensors to digital systems
Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting on Profitability of Selected Manufacturing Firms in Nigeria

The performance of business organizations in the present knowledge based and an increasing more competitive economy is affected by their strategies and operations in market and nonmarket environments. Hence, there is a debate on the extent to which company directors and managers should consider social and environmental factors in making decisions. It is therefore against the foregoing that this study examined the impact of corporate social responsibility reporting on profitability of selected manufacturing firms in Nigerian for the period 2013 to 2017. The study was a descriptive research of survey type. The population of the study comprises fifty-three in number out of which six companies were purposively selected as sample. The selected companies have their corporate headquarters in Lagos. This study uses data mainly from secondary sources made up of the financial statement for each year covered by the study. The study covered a period of five years from 2013-2017. The analysis were done using descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, kurtosis and skeweness as well as inferential statistics such as panel regression and pearson product moment correlation. The result of the correlation matrix for the relationship between the two variables ranges between 2% and 40%. The result of the panel regression used in relating the joint power of the variables showed p-value of 0.0000 which made the model to be fitted at 1% level of significant. The study however found that the impact of corporate social responsibility has positive and significant impact on net profit of manufacturing firms in Nigeria. The implication is that, as the companies add to the social wellbeing of the society where the company is located it affects their return in terms of profit positively. This result reinforces the accumulating body of empirical support for the positive impact of CSR on firm’s profitability. From the findings, the researcher therefore conclude that companies that place more emphasis on CSR, measuring it and treating it an obligation will stand apart. Also, companies that do a proper job of making sure that the society to which they belong, feels their impact are going to be in a position to have a sustainable competitive advantage. Companies should therefore ensure they act as good citizen of the society to which they belong for the ongoing success of the business. The study recommended that manufacturing companies should increase their dedication to giving back to the society, by formulating a framework for CSR spending to boost the standard of live of Nigerians to the point that their social reputation will engender positive and substantial increase in their profitability, as this is essential for their going concern in the country. Keywords: Profitability, Corporate Social Responsibility, Companies, Environmental factors, Competitive Economy. DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/11-14-17 Publication date: July 31 st 2020
Histogenesis and histochemical features of gastric glands of pre-hatch and post-hatch broiler chicken

The objective of this study was to evaluate the morphological development of the stomach of broiler chicken using histological and histo-chemical techniques. Thirty fertile eggs and 50 chicks of broiler chicken were used for the study. The results showed that at embryonic day (ED) 14, the simple tubular glands of the proventriculus were poorly defined while the framework of the compound tubular glands of the proventriculus were fully established. The secretory tubules of the compound tubular glands were lined by simple cuboidal cells at embryonic days 14, 17 and 19. However, at post-hatch days 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21, each proventricular gland contained several secretory tubules that were lined by both cuboid-shaped and columnar-shaped epithelial cells. The simple tubular glands which appeared as short tubes at ED 17, became elongated at ED 19, assuming adult morphology at post-hatch day (PD) 1. Moreover, at ED 14, poorly defined glandular areas were present in the lamina propria mucosae of the ventriculus. However, at ED 17 and ED 19, elongated pits which represented simple tubular glands were observed in the ventriculus. The production of neutral and acidic mucins in the stomach at ED 14 may reflect early secretory roles of glands in the stomach of broiler chicken. Thus, this study has provided morphological evidence of rapid development of broiler stomach glands in the late prehatch periods and maturation of the glands at hatch. These modifications may be essential for early food ingestion, food digestion and strong innate immune defense just after hatch.
Design of Flying Capacitor Multilevel Inverter for Solar Energy Applications

The continuous rise in electricity demand leads to adoption of renewable energy sources such as sun, wind for power generation. In order to utilize the electric power obtained from renewable solar energy, inverters are required to inject the electricity into the grid. This paper presents single phase flying capacitor multi-level inverter with help of SPWM technique. The comparison of single phase three-level, five-level and seven-level flying capacitor multilevel inverters is carried out with respect to waveform pattern, output current, output voltage, active power and reactive power waveforms. The simulations are conducted in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment.