Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Updated Overview on Aloe vera ( L . ) Burm . f .

Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f is a succulent shrubby perennial of the family Asphodelaceae (commonly known as ‘Natural healer’, ‘Lily of the desert’, ‘Plant of immortality’, ‘Miracle plant’, ‘The Wand of Heaven’, etc.) with immense therapeutic uses not withstanding its potential significance in cosmetic and food industries. The plant is the source of two products, gel and latex (commercially aloe products are pills, jellies and creams, drinks, liquid, sprays, ointments and lotions) obtained from its fleshy leaves. This unique plant also belongs to a larger plant family, the ‘Xeroids’. Considering the pharmacological and other potential uses of A. vera, an updated overview is being conducted on the species involving all essential aspects to provide necessary information to researchers for effective utilization of the species in human welfare. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Effects of Topic Familiarity and Linguistic Difficulty on the Reading Strategies and Mental Representations of Nonnative Readers of Chinese

The present article reports on a study that investigated the effects of topic familiarity and linguistic difficulty on the reading strategies and mental representations of nonnative readers of Chinese. Four passages – topic familiar/language easy, topic familiar/language difficult, topic unfamiliar/language easy, and topic unfamiliar/language difficult –were used. Forty American college third-year CFL (Chinese as a Foreign Language) learners were divided into four groups according to their familiarity with the reading topics, and were randomly assigned to read either the language easy or difficult passage. Subjects performed the think-aloud task to reveal their on-line processing strategies; the mental representations of what they read were reflected in their subsequent written recall of text content. Results suggest that subjects in all four groups predominantly engaged in local-level processing with the exception of two types of global-level processing: monitoring one’s comprehension and generation of inferences. While monitoring efforts were motivated by both topic familiarity and linguistic difficulty, inferencing events were primarily facilitated by topic familiarity. In addition, topic familiarity was also found to have a facilitative effect on the mental representations of the reading passages whereas no effects due to linguistic difficulty was found. Two major characteristics associated with reading in a second language (L2) are unfamiliar topics and the foreign linguistic code. As learners advance in foreign language study, they are more likely to encounter texts with unfamiliar topics, such as cultural beliefs or social changes currently taking place in the target society. In contrast to vocabulary and expressions that reflect mostly day-to-day experiences in beginningand intermediate-level textbooks, there are increasing amounts of formal and idiomatic expressions, as well as vocabulary that represent concepts that might be totally foreign to the readers of advanced-level textbooks. Understandably, challenges brought by unfamiliar topics and difficult language simultaneously can be
Effects of Glacial Meltwater in the GISS Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Model : Part II : A Bi-polar Seesaw in Atlantic Deep Water Production

The relationship between the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere deep water circulation systems is explored in experiments with gradual and impulsive freshwater input through the St. Lawrence. With sufficient freshwater volume input (50 Sv years), North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) cessation occurs, as does substantial cooling in the Northern Hemisphere. The colder temperatures are accompanied by increased mass and sea level pressure in the Northern Hemisphere, with corresponding lower pressure in the Southern Hemisphere. The low pressure response occurs at high Southern latitudes, consistent with the Antarctic Annular Mode, the leading mode of variability in the current climate. Stronger winds associated with this increased cyclonicity intensify the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, with heat flux divergences in the South Atlantic and convergences and warming in the Indian Ocean. Weddell Sea Bottom Water production increases in response to the South Atlantic high latitude cooling and sea ice growth, hence acting as a ”seesaw” with the decreasing NADW, and even global Antarctic Bottom Water increases although not as strongly. The initial ”seesaw” response occurs within a few years, although it takes some 100 years to maximize due to the response time of the ACC. The South Atlantic cooling occurs approximately in phase with North Atlantic, so the ”seesaw” is not in temperature within that ocean basin; however, warming in portions of the Southern Indian Ocean occur out of phase with Northern Hemisphere cooling. NADW does not resume of its own accord once complete cessation occurs even when freshwater input is stopped, but when increased evaporation is used to force NADW formation temporarily, Weddell Sea Bottom Water decreases accordingly.
Merger Simulations : A Compliment to MarketShare Brightlines

One of the core functions of a competition authority is to regulate combinations. The tradeoff between the enhanced synergies that accrue from a merger vis-à-vis the increase in monopoly power of the merging entity over the market needs to be worked out. Antitrust scholars have evolved heuristic techniques such as merger simulations which provide a systematic screening mechanism for mergers ex-ante, in order to avoid the situation of an appreciable adverse effect on competition. We employ the PCAIDS methodology to the recent Holcim-Lafarge merger proposal in the Indian context. Competition Commission of India‟s methodology of merger regulation is critically analysed and the recommendations to move towards more empirical, data-driven methods is prescribed. Merger simulation results suggest that with the incorporation of efficiency considerations, there is a high degree of likeliness that the Holcim-Lafarge merger be approved without modifications, at a 5% brightline threshold for unilateral price increase among the merging brands, with Pan-India as the relevant geographical market. With Eastern-India as the relevant market, the predicted price increases clearly violate the brightline of 5%, in consistency with the CCI order of merger approval with divestment.
ZNF 503 promotes colon cancer cell proliferation and mediates tumor progression via activating Myc

Zinc finger protein 503 (ZNF503) is a small protein structural motif that is ubiquitously distributed in human tissues. In the present study we have made a preliminary attempt to explore the role of ZNF503 in colon cancer cell proliferation and tumor progression via Myc. Human colorectal cancer cell lines cell lines were cultured and transfected. A lentiviral vector encoding a short hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeted against ZNF503 and a negative control lentiviral vector were constructed and transfected into 293T cells. Cell-viability was assessed by MTT-assay. Total RNA was isolated from the transfected cells and quantified using qRT-PCR and Western blot analysis was performed to examine H3K4me3 and H3K27me3. Tumourigenicity, immunohistochemistry and transwell invasion assay were also performed. ChIP assay was performed using anti-ZNF503, anti-H3K4me3 or anti-H3K27me3 antibodies. A significantly high expression of ZNF503 was observed in colon cancer cell lines and tumor tissues. Survival analysis revealed that ZNF503 was highly expressed in tumor tissues and demonstrated lower survival rates. The results showed that ZNF503 enhanced the proliferation of colon cancer cells. Furthermore, it was also observed that ZNF503 regulated the proliferation of colon cancer cells by modulating the expression of Myc. Gene expression analysis showed that ZNF503 was positively correlated with Myc expression. These findings suggest that ZNF503 was positively correlated with the expression of Myc and safely concluded that ZNF503 plays an important role in the development of colon cancer.
Analysis of Business Interactions and Values from the Buyer ’ s Side in the Hungarian Hospital Market

preview 1 Analysis of Business Interactions and Values from t he Buyer’s Side in the Hungarian Hospital Market Judit Simon Corvinus University of Budapest Tibor Mandják Corvinus University of Budapest and Bordeaux Business School Zsuzsanna Szalkai Corvinus University of Budapest and Budapest University of Technology and Economics Department of Management and Corporate Economics H-1111 Budapest, Mőegyetem rkp. 9. szalkaizs@mvt.bme. hu
Traversability and Tenacity : two new concepts improving the navigation capabilities of reactive control systems

Reactive mobile robot navigation based on potential field methods has shown to be a good solution for dealing with unknown and dynamic scenarios, where timely responses are required. Unfortunately, the complexity of the tasks which can successfully be carried out is limited by the inherent shortcomings of the approach such as trapping situations due to local minima, difficulties passing among closely spaced obstacles, oscillations in narrow corridors, etc. This chapter outlines a set of strategies which overcome the first of the aforementioned limitations by computing an adaptive navigation function on the basis of such artificial potential fields. As a result, navigation can be achieved in very difficult underwater (and land) scenarios where obstacles adopt maze-like configurations. A comparative study on the path length performance of our proposal with regard to other algorithms from the related literature is also presented.
Basics for a Route Planning Procedure in Local Refuse Disposal

The main portion of the total costs in local refuse disposal is attributed to collection, reloading, and transportation. Therefore the biggest portion for rationalization rests within route planning. The known procedures for this kind of problem set fail because the problem of route planning distinguishes itself by its high number of restrictions. The objective of this research is the development of a practical procedure for route planning in local refuse disposal. The problem set as basis for the research then is outlined and structure in detail. Consecutively a mathematic model for this task will be derived and outlined. Finally, the selection of a proper solution method for this route planning procedure will be described.
answers to referee comments

This paper presents a new dataset of nighttime atomic oxygen density [O], derived from OH(8–4) ro-vibrational band emissions, using a non-local thermal equilibrium model, with the aim of offering new insight into the atomic oxygen abundances in the mesopause region. The dataset is based on :::::: derived ::::: from the level-1 atmospheric background measurements observed by the GOMOS instrument on board Envisat, :::: with ::: the ::::::: SABER :::::::::::: measurements ::: for ::: the :::::::::: atmospheric :::::::::: background. Raw data are reprocessed into monthly zonal mean values in 10◦ latitude bins with a fixed altitude grid of 3 km. The dataset spans 5 from 70◦ S :: ◦S : to 70◦ N :: ◦N : in latitude and from 80 km to 100 km in altitude, covering a time period from May 2002 to December 2011 at local times of from 10 p.m. to 12 p.m. The atomic oxygen density peaks at about 95 km and the highest values are in the range of 3–8×10 atoms cm−3, depending on latitude and season. There is a rapid decrease of [O] below its peakregion :: the :::: peak. The annual oscillation (AO), semiannual oscillation (SAO), and the solar cycle impact are distinguished from the [O] longtime series variations. This new GOMOS 10 [O] dataset conforms to other published datasets and is consistent with the [O] datasets obtained from the SCIAMACHY OH airglow measurements to within about ±20%.
ASSEMBLAGE OF NECTARIVOROUS BIRDS AND THEIR FLORAL RESOURCES IN AN ELFIN FOREST OF THE CENTRAL ANDES OF PERU

Nectarivorous birds (hummingbirds, flowerpiercers, and conebills) and their floral resources in an elfin forest of the central Andes of Peru (Unchog, Carpish Mountains) are described. This forest is well-known for its concentration of endemic species, mainly birds. We recorded the nectarivorous birds, vascular plants and the interactions among them between 2011-2014. The birds were recorded by direct observations and mist nets. Plants were evaluated with Gentry plots and occasional collection. A total of 26 nectarivorous bird species have been reported in this forest, however from our observations we detected from this assemblage 17 bird species that feed in plants’ nectar. A total of 27 plant species were visited by the birds. The nectarivorous birds were hummingbirds (Trochilidae, 12 species), flowerpiercers (Thraupidae, 4 species) and a conebill (Thraupidae: 1 specie). The plants were from 16 families and 14 orders. One species of hummingbird, Metallura theresiae, is endemic to Peru. On plants, Greigia macbrideana, Puya pseudoeryngioides, Centropogon isabellinus, Miconia alpina and Brachyotum lutescens are endemic to Peru. We comment on the species reported in previous expeditions and in the current checklists. Since this forest is important for its large number of endemic species, we comment on its current threats and the importance of accounting for ecological interactions to conserve montane forests.
Variation of the EEG-Energy in a Second Language Class

The attention, concentration, and anxiety of the students are fundamental in the learning process of a second language. This study proposes to register EEG signals during a second language class to quantify the energy level of the EEG signal and associate it with the attention level along the time. Data was registered while attending to a level 1 English language through 12 minutes. The signals were filtered using a wavelet transform Symlet 6 to analyze two frequency bands: Alpha (8-16 Hz) and Beta (16-32 Hz). The results revealed an increment in the energy on the electrodes AF3, AF4, F3, and F4 in the Alpha and Beta bands between 37.25 and 43.41% of the students, and a decrement between 25.49 and 43.13%. Finally, when analyzing the electrodes T7 y T8, there were an increment of the energy in 35.30% of the students and decrements between 39.22 and
A High-Throughput Population Screening System for the Estimation of Genetic Risk for Type 1 Diabetes : An Application for the TEDDY ( The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young ) Study

Background: In the TEDDY (The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young) study patient eligibility is based on the presence of some selected type 1 diabetes risk-associated human leukocyte antigen DR-DQ genotypes. A practical screening strategy was needed with efficient exclusion of ineligible patients at an early stage. Also, a simple, low-cost, and fast screening system was essential for the primary step of the risk assessment including thousands of samples. Methods: A homogeneous genotyping system utilizing an asymmetric polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and subsequent hybridization of allele-specific probes was designed to be used as the first screening step. This assay was combined with methods further elucidating the genetic risk of type 1 diabetes to screen for high-risk individuals. Results: The homogeneous assay platform allows the typing of hundreds of samples within one working day. The costs of the assay are minimal, and the reduction in hands-on time provides considerable improvements compared to the heterogeneous genotyping methods comprising separate PCR and hybridization steps. The primary selection criteria used in the first step proved to be efficient since the numbers of samples typed in subsequent stages were markedly reduced. Conclusions: The presented assay system provides a practical approach to the rapid screening of thousands of samples at low cost, a general starting point for large-scale screening studies. 1Immunogenetics Laboratory and MediCity Research Laboratory and Departments of 6Pediatrics and 8Biotechnology, University of Turku; and 2Abacus Diagnostica Oy, Turku, Finland. 3Diabetes Research Institute and Hospital München-Schwabing, Munich, Germany. 4Hospital for Children and Adolescents, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. 5Department of Pediatrics, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland. 7Department of Pediatrics, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland. 9Department of Clinical Microbiology, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland.
Automated testing on the analysis of variability-intensive artifacts : An exploratory study with SAT Solvers ⋆

The automated detection of faults on variability analysis tools is a challenging task often infeasible due to the combinatorial complexity of the analyses. In previous works, we successfully automated the generation of test data for feature model analysis tools using metamorphic testing. The positive results obtained have encouraged us to explore the applicability of this technique for the efficient detection of faults in other variability-intensive domains. In this paper, we present an automated test data generator for SAT solvers that enables the generation of random propositional formulas (inputs) and their solutions (expected output). In order to show the feasibility of our approach, we introduced 100 artificial faults (i.e. mutants) in an open source SAT solver and compared the ability of our generator and three related benchmarks to detect them. Our results are promising and encourage us to generalize the technique, which could be potentially applicable to any tool dealing with variability such as Eclipse repositories or Maven dependencies analyzers.
Acceleration of Single-and Multiple-Segment Viterbi Algorithms for Biological Sequence-Profile Comparison on GPU

Over the past few decades the amount of biological data in genomic databases grew up in an exponential rate. Tools such as HMMER use the Viterbi algorithm to find biological sequences that are homologue to a family of sequences represented by a statistical model called profile HMM. Due to the quadratic time complexity of the Viterbi algorithm, this search procedure can demand long execution times depending on database size, sequence size, profile HMM length, and platform used. This paper presents the development and optimization of a high performance solution for the problem of sequence-profile comparison on GPU. We performed a detailed evaluation of several optimizations such as memory optimizations and padding, loop unrolling, multiple streams to enable computation and transfers overlapping, vectorized access to data structures, and tiling. The proposed solution achieved speedups up to 8.8 and 471.7, with respect to HMMER 3.1 execution on a quad-core computer, with and without the use of vector instructions respectively.
The effect of frailty term in the standard mixture model

In this paper we present the standard mixture model with a frailty term. This model has the advantage in relation the usual survival models, in the sense of incorporate the heterogeneity of two subpopulations (immune and susceptible) to the event of interest. We consider the model with a frailty term as alternative to modelling long-term survival data. In this model a random effect, also called frailty, is introduced on the baseline hazard function, in order to control the unobservable heterogeneity of the units under study. A simulation study is present to analyze the frequentists properties of estimation procedures. A cost study in the estimation of the cured rate is discussed. We explore the use of the gamlss package in R as a tool for inference in cure rate models. The developed procedures are illustrated on a real data set.
Self-Tuning PI control of voltage source converters of distributed energy resources

Renewable energy sources can be effective in improving the quality of distributed generation due to their characteristics like small size and adaptability. Uncertainties in renewable power generation have led to the inability of classical controllers to establish proper operation of the power system over a wide range of operating conditions. This research introduces a new method for improving the performance of the PI controller by analyzing the fuzzy critic evaluations and the concepts presented in the field of reinforcement learning. Since the critic agent operates based on fuzzy logic and linguistic evaluations, we will not encounter complicated mathematical calculations. As a result, in addition to the reduction of computational complexity and runtime of the controller, we add a level of intelligence and adaptability. The simulation results, demonstrate a noticeable improvement in the performance of these controllers in different operating conditions.
‘ Eye Patterns ’ and Error Rate Analysis in Optical Communications

Personal Details On completing a level one certifi cate in Electronic Technology, I entered DIT in 2001. Initially my course subjects included Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Management and Spanish. In Fourth year these were narrowed down to Physics and Physics Technology, which I have found enjoyable and challenging, I hope to continue into postgraduate study. My academic interests include Optical Communications, Quantum Technology, Solid State Physics, Biophysics, Instrumentation and Medical Physics. My hobbies include music, writing and socialising, playing a range of sports including swimming, soccer, hurling, golf, Gaelic football and Karate.
Young People and Agricultural Employment : Locality and Interest Factors Young People and Agricultural Employment : Locality and Interest Factors

Agriculture is a commonly used strategy for providing employment to young people particularly in the developing countries. One of the reasons why this strategy has not been successful is that resources are directed to too many young people that have no interest in agriculture and are not suited to living in the rural areas where agriculture is practiced. The objectives of this paper include to investigate if socio-demographic characteristics influence young people choice of locality; develop measurement scale for measuring the interest dimension of young people’s involvement with agriculture; and to determine if correlation exists between locality and interest in agriculture. This study was conducted in Edo State, Nigeria using young student respondents. The result indicates there is a relationship between social demographics and the locality of young people. The study also indicates a correlation exist between locality of young people and their interest in agriculture. Young people from rural background are more inclined to consider agriculture as an employment and are more interested in its development. Therefore the agricultural policy of the government must be redefined with the intent of applying the rule of comparative advantage in engaging the young people in agriculture. The generalisation of the study should be made with caution as the sample size was small and most of the references used are from countries that are different socio-culturally.
Revisiting games in dynamic-epistemic logic

We revisit the discussion on reasoning about games in dynamic-epistemic logic and present a language for describing reasoning in possibly infinite games from the perspective of the players. We argue that even though a plethora of sophisticated logics of strategic reasoning in games are available, it is still worthwhile to consider the game structures themselves from the perspective of logic. In the process, we provide complete axiom systems for these games satisfying characteristic properties from the gametheoretic literature. Decidability of the satisfiability problem is also taken up to consider the existence of games following certain rules that can be expressed in the logical language.