Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oops, My Tests Broke the Build: An Explorative Analysis of Travis CI with GitHub

Continuous Integration (CI) has become a best practice of modern software development. Yet, at present, we have a shortfall of insight into the testing practices that are common in CI-based software development. In particular, we seek quantifiable evidence on how central testing is to the CI process, how strongly the project language influences testing, whether different integration environments are valuable and if testing on the CI can serve as a surrogate to local testing in the IDE. In an analysis of 2,640,825 Java and Ruby builds on Travis CI, we find that testing is the single most important reason why builds fail. Moreover, the programming language has a strong influence on both the number of executed tests, their run time, and proneness to fail. The use of multiple integration environments leads to 10% more failures being caught at build time. However, testing on Travis CI does not seem an adequate surrogate for running tests locally in the IDE. To further research on Travis CI with GitHub, we introduce TravisTorrent.
A Confrontation Decision-Making Method with Deep Reinforcement Learning and Knowledge Transfer for Multi-Agent System

In this paper, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) and knowledge transfer are used to achieve the effective control of the learning agent for the confrontation in the multi-agent systems. Firstly, a multi-agent Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) algorithm with parameter sharing is proposed to achieve confrontation decision-making of multi-agent. In the process of training, the information of other agents is introduced to the critic network to improve the strategy of confrontation. The parameter sharing mechanism can reduce the loss of experience storage. In the DDPG algorithm, we use four neural networks to generate real-time action and Q-value function respectively and use a momentum mechanism to optimize the training process to accelerate the convergence rate for the neural network. Secondly, this paper introduces an auxiliary controller using a policy-based reinforcement learning (RL) method to achieve the assistant decision-making for the game agent. In addition, an effective reward function is used to help agents balance losses of enemies and our side. Furthermore, this paper also uses the knowledge transfer method to extend the learning model to more complex scenes and improve the generalization of the proposed confrontation model. Two confrontation decision-making experiments are designed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. In a small-scale task scenario, the trained agent can successfully learn to fight with the competitors and achieve a good winning rate. For large-scale confrontation scenarios, the knowledge transfer method can gradually improve the decision-making level of the learning agent.
An Improved Total Uncertainty Measure in the Evidence Theory and Its Application in Decision Making

Dempster–Shafer evidence theory (DS theory) has some superiorities in uncertain information processing for a large variety of applications. However, the problem of how to quantify the uncertainty of basic probability assignment (BPA) in DS theory framework remain unresolved. The goal of this paper is to define a new belief entropy for measuring uncertainty of BPA with desirable properties. The new entropy can be helpful for uncertainty management in practical applications such as decision making. The proposed uncertainty measure has two components. The first component is an improved version of Dubois–Prade entropy, which aims to capture the non-specificity portion of uncertainty with a consideration of the element number in frame of discernment (FOD). The second component is adopted from Nguyen entropy, which captures conflict in BPA. We prove that the proposed entropy satisfies some desired properties proposed in the literature. In addition, the proposed entropy can be reduced to Shannon entropy if the BPA is a probability distribution. Numerical examples are presented to show the efficiency and superiority of the proposed measure as well as an application in decision making.
Fungal diversity of rhizosphere soils in different agricultural fields of Nanjangud Taluk of Mysore District, Karnataka, India

Soil microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi play an important role in soil fertility and promoting plant health. Soil harbors most of our planet s undiscovered biodiversity. Twenty soil samples of different agricultural crop fields in and around Nanjangud taluk were investigated for diversity among fungi. A total of 10 species belonging to 7 genera of fungi were isolated from agricultural fields at Nanjangud taluk. The mycoflora were isolated by using soil dilution technique or viable plate count method on Potato Dextrose agar and Czapek s Dox Agar medium supplemented with antibiotic Streptomycin. Identification and characterization of mycoflora were done with the help of manuals of fungi. The dominant genera in all the agricultural crop fields were Aspergillus, Penicillium and Mucor species.
Determinants of Profitability in Aviation Industry of Europe and America

The civil aviation, is an industry evolving at exponential speed despite the significant problems that faces in the last decade (increase of oil price, terrorist attacks etc.) An important feature of aviation firms and generally all companies, is that their size reflects their efficiency and in general their economic growth. In this era of financial crisis, liquidity is a significant factor for the stabilization and growth of economic organizations. Therefore, the examination of cash flows as indicator of liquidity limitations is necessary for the measurement of firms’ profitability . In this study, we tried to see whether the efficiency of size of European and American airlines listed firms, depends on their growth and cash flows from investment activity
Mechanisms of Early Brain Morphogenesis

OF THE DISSERTATION Mechanisms of Early Brain Morphogenesis by Benjamen A. Filas Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering Washington University in St. Louis, 2012 Research Advisor: Professor Larry A. Taber In structures with obvious mechanical function, like the heart and bone, the relationship of mechanical forces to growth and development has been well studied. In contrast, other than the problem of neurulation (formation of the neural tube), developmental mechanisms in the nervous system have received relatively little attention. The central aim of this research is to characterize the biophysical mechanisms that shape the early embryonic brain. Experiments were performed primarily in the chicken brain, which is morphologically similar to humans during early stages of development. Proposed mechanisms were tested using computational models to ensure that hypotheses are consistent with physical law. The brain initially forms as a straight epithelial tube in the embryo (≈ 3 weeks gestation in humans). We first investigated a potential role for mechanical feedback in regulating the development of this structure. We find that the neuroepithelium actively stiffens under decreased loading and softens under increased loading. Nuclear shapes are elongated in stiffer brains and circular in softer brains, consistent with ii changes in cytoskeletal contractility and wall stress. These results suggest a role for stress-based mechanical feedback in regulating epithelial development. We next investigated the more specific role of cytoskeletal contraction in forming the primary brain vesicles and rhombomeres that subdivide the primitive brain tube. We show that a combination of circumferential contraction in the boundary regions and isotropic contraction between boundaries can generate realistic vesicle morphologies, whereas longitudinal contraction between boundaries likely causes rhombomere formation. Models are used to show how regional variations in contraction may be a function of brain geometry and morphogenetic plasticity. As an extension of the previous study, we show that enhancing contractility in the embryonic chicken brain induces morphologies reminiscent of more primitive species such as frog and fish. In particular, brain cross sections that are relatively circular transform into diamonds, triangles, and narrow slits, shapes that are present in normal zebrafish and Xenopus brains at comparable stages of development. Models show that these shapes are likely produced by locally elevated cytoskeletal contraction, indicating a potential role for differential contractility in early brain development and evolution. In summary, results from this thesis should improve our understanding of the biophysical mechanisms that establish and regulate phenotype in the developing brain. The research begins to establish the framework necessary to connect early-stage mechanisms to interspecies differences in brain morphogenesis that occur during later development.
EFFECTS OF CADMIUM AND PESTICIDE ON THE LIVER OF SEXUALLY MATURE FEMALE PHILIPPINE MALLARD DUCK (Anas platyrhynchos L)

This study assessed the effects of endocrine disruptors on reproductive and physiologic performances of female Philippine Mallard duck after sexual maturity. Laying ducks at 38 weeks of age (n=72) were randomly allotted into a 3x2 factorial experiment involving cadmium (Cd) and organochlorine pesticide (OCP) in different concentrations. Hepatosomatic index (HSI) was measured and histological features of the liver were also observed. The results showed that Cd and OCP significantly increased HSI (P Keywords: cadmium, duck, liver, organochlorine pesticide, Philippine mallard
Estudios genéticos para la identificación de la estructura genética de la perdiz roja (alectoris rufa l.) y su aplicación en explotaciones y áreas cinegéticas

Como objetivo primordial de este trabajo, se pretende profundizar en el conocimiento del genoma de la especie Alectoris rufa. Estos estudios se concretan en el sexaje a partir del ADN de perdiz en la especie, en el estudio de la dinamica de poblaciones, tanto en silvestres como en cautividad y, por consiguiente, en el conocimiento de la variabilidad genetica existente y en la estima de los valores de consanguinidad. Finalmente se pretende la construccion de una genoteca de A. rufa y la posterior busqueda de marcadores moleculares microsatelites. En la aplicacion de la metodologia de sexaje se ha introducido una variacion respecto a lo publicado por diversos autores, consistente en la necesidad de utilizar enzimas de restriccion para la correcta identificacion de las bandas que corresponden al sexo femenino, y su diferenciacion de los individuos de sexo masculino. En el estudio poblacional se ha puesto de manifiesto la situacion genetica de dos poblaciones. La primera de ellas, es una poblacion silvestre de Extremadura, y la segunda, una poblacion en cautividad correspondiente a una granja de Cataluna. Se estudian las frecuencias alelicas, las hetercigosidades, el PIC, los estadisticos F de Wright y las distancias geneticas de Nei. Con todos estos estudios se ha comprobado que la situacion genetica de la poblacion en cautividad presenta mas problemas geneticos que la poblacion silvestre, con respecto a la existencia de menor variabilidad genetica y de un cierto valor de consanguinidad. Por ultimo, se llevo a cabo la obtencion de una genoteca genomica de A. rufa. A partir de ella se puso especial enfasis en la busqueda de marcadores moleculares microsatelites que ayuden a ampliar los conocimientos que se tienen acerca del genoma de la especie. Se usaron para ello tres vias: una primera, secuenciando al azar colonias con fragmentos de un tamano adecuado, una segunda; elaborando combinaciones de cebadores con secuencias repetidas en PCR; y, por ultimo, mediante hibridacion con sondas fluorescentes de ADN de secuencias microsatelite. Con la primera de las vias se obtuvieron 2 posibles microsatelites, de los que solo uno resulto tener variabilidad alelica (AG)n. La segunda via resulto no ser la mas adecuada debido a la dificultad de conseguir unas condiciones de PCR optimizadas para cada colonia, obteniendose de esta manera falsos positivos. Se ha demostrado que la hibridacion es la mejor manera de obtener microsatelites a partir de una genoteca. De esta manera se han obtenido dos microsatelites: uno compuesto interrumpido (AT)n (AC)3 T(AC)n (AT)n, y otro sencillo (AC)n.
Statistical Analysis of Gene Expression in Innate Immune Responses: Dynamic Interactions between MicroRNA and Signaling Molecules

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are known to negatively control protein-coding genes by binding to messenger RNA (mRNA) in the cytoplasm. In innate immunity, the role of miRNA gene silencing is largely unknown. In this study, we performed microarray-based experiments using lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophages derived from wild-type, MyD88 knockout (KO), TRIF KO, and MyD88/TRIF double KO mice. We employed a statistical approach to determine the importance of the commonality and specificity of miRNA binding sites among groups of temporally co-regulated genes. We demonstrate that both commonality and specificity are irrelevant to define a priori groups of co-down regulated genes. In addition, analyzing the various experimental conditions, we suggest that miRNA regulation may not only be a late-phase process (after transcription) but can also occur even early (1h) after stimulation in knockout conditions. This further indicates the existence of dynamic interactions between miRNA and signaling molecules/transcription factor regulation; this is another proof for the need of shifting from a 'hard-wired' paradigm of gene regulation to a dynamical one in which the gene co-regulation is established on a case-by-case basis.
Biotic diversification in the Guayana Highlands: a proposal

Until recently, the high degree of diversity and endemism of the Guayana Highlands was explained within the frame of the refuge theory. Although this hypothesis is unsupported by recent palaeoecological evidence, no new diversification model has been proposed. This paper is a proposal based on the latest palynological findings that indicate a downward biotic migration of c. 1100 m altitude during glacials, and the subsequent interglacial upward shift, in response to colder and warmer climates, respectively. Therefore, during glacials, biotic mixing is expected in the lowlands, thus promoting sympatric speciation, hybridization and polyploidy. At the mountaintops, unknown cold‐adapted taxa and páramo‐like(? ) communities are expected to have occurred, and vicariance prevailed. In the interglacials, many taxa have had the opportunity for ascending to the mountains again, allowing genetic interchange among their slopes and summits, while others would have been adapted to lowlands. The interglacial highland communities, where vicariance still predominated, experienced some extinction owing to habitat loss by upland displacement. According to this model, the successive alternation of glacials and interglacials resulted in a net increase of diversity and endemism, favoured by the complex topography and habitat heterogeneity, which allowed high niche diversification. This model has some similarities with the Andean and Amazon modes of diversification, but the special topographical characteristics of the Guayana region made it different in other fundamental aspects. The Guayana Highlands would have acted as a ‘biodiversity pump’ for the surrounding inner and coastal lowlands, due to the repeated speciation and further spreading events, as a response to climate. Several working hypotheses are suggested in relation to the proposed model. The use of coordinated international multiproxy projects combining palaeoecology and genetic analysis of modern taxa is strongly encouraged for exploring these ideas.
Detection of common parasites in freshwater fish sold at the Public Market, Kabacan, Cotabato, Philippines

The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of common parasites in freshwater fish sold at the Kabacan Public Market with respect to their place of origin. It was conducted from April, 2008 to July, 2009 at the CVM Parasitology Laboratory, USM, Kabacan Cotabato. A total of 500 freshwater fish were examined. These included a hundred heads each of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus, gourami (Osphomenus olfax), catfish (Clarias batrachus), mudfish (Ophiciphalus striatus), and pupuyo (Anabas testulineus). The external and internal parts of the fish were examined thoroughly for the presence of parasites. Fish were necropsied and the internal organs removed and dissected for the examination of nematodes, cestodes, and trematodes. Percentage occurrence of parasites in fish samples were: pupuyo, 50%; african hito, 13%; tilapia, 11%; gourami, 6%, and mudfish, 2%; of the total number of fish examined, 12.6% were positive of trematodes, 7% for nematodes, and 2.4% for cestodes. Based on the place of origin (source) of the experimental fish, prevalence rates were Lake Sebu, 55.55%; Pawas, 22.03%; Cuyapon, 21.05%; Pulangi River, 6.97%; and Liguasan Marsh, 1.87%. All of the fish examined were negative of external parasites and plerocercoid of Diphyllobothrium latum.
Effect of nitrogen concentration on growth and lipid content of Chlorella marina and Dunellialla salina for biodiesel production.

In recent year biodiesel has received much attention. Production of biodiesel from vegetable oils such as soybean, palm, sunflower oil as diesel fuel substitute has been well reported, the production of biodiesel from microalgae has emerged as one of the most promising sources. The paper deals with the method to enhance the lipid content in microalgae. Microalgae, Chlorella marina and Dunellialla salina was grown autotropically in batch culture and the effect of different concentration of nitrogen source on growth and lipid content was studied. Growth studies reveal that maximum cell growth rate was obtained at 15 th day of culture. Flocculation activity was also studied to determine the effect of pH. The flocculation activity result showed that pH 11 was optimum for cell flocculation at 37°C. As the nitrogen concentration in the medium decreased, biomass production was also decreased but the lipid content increased. Highest lipid accumulation of 25.7% was recorded in the culture Dunellialla salina with 0.05g/L KNO3 when compared to the lipid accumulation of 23.89% in Chlorella marina. The present study suggests that microalgae species can be used as the promising candidates in the industrial production of liquid fuel.
Paleobiological assessment of controls underlying long-term diversity dynamics

Deciphering the factors underlying both long-term patterns of diversity and taxonomic turnover rates (i.e., extinction, and origination) has been one of Paleobiology’s major foci for the past three decades. The importance of documenting these components is that they will expand our ability to interpret and model the evolutionary processes underlying those trends, highlight the evolutionary impact of historical events, and contribute to the formulation of robust predictions about the future of global diversity in response to the current anthropologically driven environmental changes. Accordingly, the first part of this study examines the possible occurrence of global marine evolutionary environmental controls into a ‘deep-time’ perspective, using a statistical time-series approach between the most recent Phanerozoic global marine generic origination rates with coeval mean global marine geochemical and geological signatures of environmental proxies. After this examination, significant positive correlations were found between changes in origination rates and global mean signatures of 87Sr/86Sr and δ34S, as well as a significant negative correlation between variability in both origination rates and eustatic sea level. They suggest that over secular timescales, nutrient availability, as controlled by continental weathering, phosphorus recycling, and the relative extent of shelf exposure, is an important regulator of genus-level origination in the marine realm, with periods of increased nutrient availability associated with higher origination rates.
Small Bowel Diverticula: Usefulness of the Computed Tomography in a Non-Specific Clinical Presentation

In the majority of cases small bowel diverticula are asymptomatic. As a result, the diagnosis is frequently incidentally made either by radiographic examination or upon laparotomy due to complications. Enteroclysis, Tc-99m scintigraphy, video capsule and double balloon enteroscopy are useful diagnosing small bowel disorders, but their utility in emergency situations is limited. The clinical data from three consecutive patients surgically treated in our hospital for acute complications related to small bowel diverticula were retrospectively analyzed. Small Bowel Diverticula are a rare pathology and the clinical presentation is usually non-specific, even with acute or chronic complications. Some diagnostic examinations such as X-ray and ultrasound scan could not be useful to verify the existence of the pathology even in acute presentation but, in our experience, the computed tomography of the abdomen is the most helpful examination in localizing the disease and guiding the appropriate approach even when it doesn't suspect a definite diagnosis. CT findings are able to bring to a correct pre-operative evaluation in presence of intestinal perforation, necessary to plan patient management.
Influence of level of study on information literacy skills of undergraduate students in Nasarawa State University, KEFFI

A high degree of essential information literacy skills and experience in information handling and in effective independent learning among students have become apparent. However, the determinants of their art of navigating the world of information available to them are unclear. It is therefore, imperative to identify those essential determinants that influence the information literacy skills of the undergraduate students. The study used descriptive survey design, which aims at determining the influence of level of study on information literacy skills Possessed by undergraduate students in Nasarawa State University, Keffi. One thousand students were sampled from the population for the study. One research question which was raised to guide the study was subsumed in a hypothesis. Questionnaire was used to collect the data which were analysed using mean and standard deviation while t-test statistic and ANOVA was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The outcome of the findings revealed that level of study significantly influences the information literacy skills of undergraduate students in Nasarawa State University, Keffi. Keywords: Information, Information Literacy, Information Literacy Skills, Literacy skills
MADS-Box Genes Reach Maturity

Understanding the molecular pathways that direct fruit ripening will enable development of interventions to preserve fruits during storage and shipping. In a Perspective, Causier and colleagues discuss new work ( Vrebalov et al .) that takes a step in this direction by revealing that a MADS-box transcription factor is crucial for fruit ripening.