Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Individual and Combined Effects of Planting Date, Seeding Rate, Relative Maturity, and Row Spacing on Soybean Yield

Planting date (PD), seeding rate (SR), relative maturity (RM) of cultivars, and row spacing (RS) are primary management factors affecting soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr. ) yield. The individual and synergistic effects of PD, SR, RM, and RS on seed yield and agronomic characteristics in North Dakota were herein investigated. Early and late PD, early and late RM cultivars, two SR (408,000 and 457,000 seed ha−1), and two RS (30.5 and 61 cm) were evaluated in four total environments in 2019 and 2020. Maximizing green canopy cover prior to the beginning of flowering improved seed yield. Individual factors of early PD and narrow RS resulted in yield increase of 311 and 266 kg ha−1, respectively. The combined factors of early PD, late RM, high SR, and narrow RS improved yield by 26% and provided a $350 ha−1 partial profit over conventional practices. Canopy cover and yield had relatively weak relationships with r2 of 0.36, 0.23, 0.14, and 0.21 at the two trifoliolate, four trifoliolate, beginning of flowering, and beginning of pod formation soybean growth stages, respectively. Producers in the most northern soybean region of the USA should combine early planting, optimum RM cultivars, 457,000 seed ha−1 SR, and 31 cm RS to improve yield and profit compared to current management practices.
Crotalaria lamelliformis (Fabaceae: Crotalarieae), a new species from Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, Peninsular India

Crotalaria lamelliformis is described and illustrated as a new species in sect. Calycinae from Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh of India. The habitat ecology, distribution and conservation status are briefly discussed in this study. This new species is apparently resembled to Crotalaria albida B. Heyne ex Roth. (Nov. Pl. Sp., 1821:333) but shows a definite difference by showing a combination of vegetative morphology, inflorescence architecture and floral characters.
Projecting Global Mean Sea‐Level Change Using CMIP6 Models

The effective climate sensitivity (EffCS) of models in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6) has increased relative to CMIP5. We explore the implications of this for global mean sea‐level (GMSL) change projections in 2100 for three emissions scenarios. CMIP6 projections of global surface air temperature are substantially higher than in CMIP5, but projections of global mean thermal expansion are not. Using these projections as input to construct projections of GMSL change with IPCC AR5 methods, the 95th percentile of GMSL change at 2100 only increases by 3–7 cm. Projected rates of GMSL rise around 2100 increase more strongly, though, implying more pronounced differences beyond 2100 and greater committed sea‐level rise. Intermodel differences in GMSL projections indicate that EffCS‐based model selection may substantially alter the ensemble projections. GMSL change in 2100 is accurately predicted by time‐integrated temperature change, and thus requires reducing emissions early to be mitigated.
Effect of Graphene Oxide as a Reinforcement in a Bio-Epoxy Composite

Graphene oxide (GO) has gained interest within the materials research community. The presence of functional groups on GO offers exceptional bonding capabilities and improved performance in lightweight polymer composites. A literature review on the tensile and flexural mechanical properties of synthetic epoxy/GO composites was conducted that showed differences from one study to another, which may be attributed to the oxidation level of the prepared GO. Herein, GO was synthesized from oxidation of graphite flakes using the modified Hummers method, while bio-epoxy/GO composites (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.6 wt.% GO) were prepared using a solution mixing route. The GO was characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis. The thermal properties of composites were assessed using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). FTIR results confirmed oxidation of graphite was successful. SEM showed differences in fractured surfaces, which implies that GO modified the bio-epoxy polymer to some extent. Addition of 0.3 wt. % GO filler was determined to be an optimum amount as it enhanced the tensile strength, tensile modulus, flexural strength and flexural modulus by 23, 35, 17 and 31%, respectively, compared to pure bio-epoxy. Improvements in strength were achieved with considerably lower loadings than traditional fillers. Compared to the bio-epoxy, the 0.6 wt. % GO composite had the highest thermal stability and a slightly higher (positive) glass transition temperature (Tg) was increased by 3.5 °C, relative to the pristine bio-epoxy (0 wt.% GO).
Evaluation of female fertility in dairy cattle enterprises – A review

The aim of this article was to review the state of fertility of female dairy cattle in South Africa and to compare it with international efforts at improving fertility. Fertility in dairy cows is defined as the ability to conceive from first insemination soon after calving and to carry the calf full term to calving. It is one of the main profit drivers in the dairy industry and is a complex trait that is influenced by the environment, genetics, and their interaction. Generally, there has been a decline in dairy cow fertility across breeds worldwide because of intense selection for milk yield, milk components, and body conformation traits. In addition, most fertility traits are negatively correlated to milk production traits. Milk production has been the focal point of selection programmes as it is linked directly to the profitability of the dairy enterprise. The low heritability of fertility traits is one of the factors that discouraged efforts to include fertility in genetic evaluations. However, owing to its economic importance, female fertility was later included in the breeding objectives for dairy cattle in several countries. Although most fertility traits are heritable to a low degree, some additive genetic variability can be exploited.
Brassinosteroid Signaling Pathways Interplaying with Diverse Signaling Cues for Crop Enhancement

The signaling pathways of brassinosteroids (BRs), a unique plant steroid hormone, are critically involved in a diverse range of plant growth and developmental processes as well as many important agronomic traits. Recent advances in the understanding of BR biosynthetic and signaling pathways in model organisms and crops have increased the feasibility of modulating BR responses in crop plants to enhance adaptation to various vulnerable environmental changes. In particular, the identification and functional analysis of BR signaling components in rice (Oryza sativa) present the possibility of their utilization to improve many agricultural traits involved in crop yields. In this review, we summarize recent advances and progress in the understanding of the BR signaling pathway and its interactions with diverse internal and external signaling cues. We also discuss how these physiological modulations of BR and the abundant signaling crosstalk can be applied to enhance rice productivity through the manipulation of plant architecture and fine-tuning of stress responses. Finally, we discuss how the complex regulation of BR signaling pathways could favor application in the molecular design of plant growth and development, precise breeding strategies, and cultivation methods for rice crop improvement.
Texture Grouping and Statistical Optimization Based Mode Prediction Decision Algorithm for Fast HEVC Intra Coding

HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), as one of the newest international video coding standard, can achieve about 50% bit rate reduction compared with H.264/AVC (Advanced Video Coding) at the same perceptual quality due to the use of flexible CTU(coding tree unit) structure, but at the same time, it also dramatically adds the higher computational complexity for HEVC. With the aim of reducing the computational complexity, a texture grouping and statistical optimization based mode prediction decision algorithm is proposed for HEVC intra coding in this paper. The contribution of this paper lies in the fact that we successfully use the texture information grouping and statistical probability optimization technology to rapidly determine the optimal prediction mode for the current PU, which can reduce many unnecessary prediction and calculation operations of HCost (Hadamard Cost) and RDCost (Rate Distortion Cost) in HEVC, thus saving much computation complexity for HEVC. Specially, in our scheme, firstly we group 35 intra prediction modes into 5 subsets of candidate modes list according to its texture information of edge in the current PU, and each subset only contains 11 intra prediction modes, which can greatly reduce many traversing number of candidate mode in RMD (Rough Mode Decision) from 35 to 11 prediction modes; Secondly we use the statistical probability of the first candidate modes in candidate modes list as well as MPM selected as the optimal prediction mode to reduce the number of candidate modes in RDO(Rate Distortion Optimization), which can reduce the number of candidate modes from 3+MPM or 8+MPM to 2 candidate modes; At last, we use the number of candidate modes determined above to quickly find the optimal prediction mode with the minimum RDCost by RDO process. As a result, the computational complexity of HEVC can be efficiently reduced by our proposed scheme. And the simulation results of our experiments show that our proposed intra mode prediction decision algorithm based on texture information grouping and statistical probability optimization in this paper can reduce about 46.13% computational complexity on average only at a cost of 0.67% bit rate increase and 0.056db PSNR decline compared with the standard reference HM16.1 algorithm.
Translation and transcultural validation of the Dutch Hospital for Special Surgery Paediatric Activity Brief Scale (HSS Pedi-FABS)

Background: There is a need for a validated simple Dutch paediatric activity scale. The purpose was to translate and transculturally validate the Dutch Hospital for Special Surgery Paediatric Functional Activity Brief Scale (HSS Pedi-FABS) questionnaire in healthy children and adolescents.Methods: The original HSS Pedi-FABS was translated forward and backward and was transculturally adapted after performing a pilot study among children and professionals. The final version of the Dutch HSS Pedi-FABS was validated in healthy children and adolescents aged 10 to 18 years old. Children who had any condition or injury limiting their normal physical activity were excluded. The interval between the first questionnaire T0 (HSS Pedi-FABS, Physical Activity Questionnaire for children or adolescents (PAQ-C/A) and Tegner activity scale) and the second questionnaire T1 (HSS Pedi-FABS) was two weeks. Construct validity, interpretability and reliability were evaluated. Content validity was evaluated through cognitive interviews among a smaller group of children and through a questionnaire among professionals.Results: To evaluate content validity, 9 children and adolescents were interviewed, and 30 professionals were consulted. Content validity among professionals showed a relevance of less than 85% for most items on construct. However, content validity among children was good with a 92% score for item relevance. Readability was scored at a reading level of 11- to 12-year-olds. The validation group consisted of 110 healthy children and adolescents (mean age of 13.9 years ± 2.6). Construct validity was considered good as 8 out of 10 hypotheses were confirmed. The Dutch HSS Pedi-FABS showed no floor or ceiling effect. Analysis of the internal consistency in the validation group resulted in a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.82. Test-retest reliability was evaluated among 69 children and adolescents and revealed an Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) of 0.76. Conclusion: The Dutch HSS Pedi-FABS showed good psychometric properties in a healthy Dutch paediatric and adolescent population. Limitations of the current Dutch HSS Pedi-FABS are content validity on construct of items reported by professionals. Future research is desirable to establish psychometric properties in children and adolescents with anterior cruciate ligament injuries for the Paediatric ACL Monitoring Initiative (PAMI) project.
Full-field mechanical characterization of polyurethane foams under large deformations by digital image correlation

Abstract In this work the response of soft open-cell polyurethane foams with three different densities, respectively of 85, 63 and 46 kg/m3, were obtained by quasi-static tensile, shear and cyclic compression tests. The presence of an intrinsic random pattern inside the material given by the small black dot of expanded graphite, that makes it fireproof, allowed to detect large displacement fields exploiting digital image correlation technique, without painting the surface to quantify the full-field displacement of the samples. The displacements’ maps, the strain fields and the stress-strain curves obtained by digital image correlation allowed the analysis and the evaluation of the mechanical properties.
Tunable phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating based on a microchannel fabricated by a femtosecond laser

A phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (PS-FBG) based on a microchannel was proposed and realized by combining the point-by-point scanning method with chemical etching. The PS-FBG is composed of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and a microchannel through the fiber core. The microchannel can introduce phase shift into the FBG. What is more important is that it exposes the fiber core to the external environment. The phase shift peak is sensitive to the liquid refractive index, and it shows a linear refractive index response wavelength and intensity sensitivity of 2.526 nm/RIU and −111 dB/RIU, respectively. Therefore, such gratings can be used as sensors or tunable filters.
Genetic Identification of Shiga Toxin Encoding Gene from Cases of Multidrug Resistance (MDR) Escherichia coli Isolated from Raw Milk

Escherichia coli is one of bacteria which have resistant to three or more classes of antimicrobial agents. E. coli having resistant to three or more classes of antimicrobial drugs can be defined as multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. The aim of the study was to evaluate the expression of Shiga toxin gen in MDR E. coli. A total of 250 raw milks samples were taken from dairy farms in Kediri, Probolinggo, Pasuruan, Blitar, and Batu Region, East Java Province, Indonesia. Each sample was cultured into enrichment media Brilliant Green Bile Lactose Broth and Eosin Methyllen blue agar, then identified with TSIA agar and IMVIC biochemistry test. Antibiotic sensitivity testing was done using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion assay on medium Mueller-Hinton agar (Oxoid, CM0337). Antibiotics disks used were 30 µg of Tetracycline (Oxoid, CT0054), 10 µg of Streptomycin (Oxoid, CT0047), 30 µg of Chloramphenicol (Oxoid, CT0013), 5 µg of Trimethoprim (Oxoid, CT0057), and 30 µg of Aztreonam (Oxoid, CT0264). Isolate showing resistance to at least 3 antibiotics disk were then continued with PCR assay to identify Shiga toxin E. coli (STEC) encoding stx2 gene. The study was designed to evaluate the nucleotide analysis of STEC gene. The result showed that 6.25% (1/16) of STEC encoding gene was found in MDR E. coli. This report of molecular identification on the presence of STEC gene in MDR E. coli confirmed a wider spread of MDR E. coli that can threaten animal health and human health.
Novel measurement setup for dielectric elastomer sensors enabling the detection of multiple load scenarios with integrated adjustment for scalable sensor sizes

In healthcare products the proper fit of e.g. orthosis is crucial for its therapeutic success. To monitor movement and pressure, sensors with the ability to adapt their shape to the curvilinear form of the human body as well as a highly dynamic performance during motion are needed. Dielectric elastomer sensors (DES) present most of the required specifications and can be an excellent solution for body-near motion detection. For signal capturing either changes in resistance, capacitance or impedance can be measured. Therefore, different circuit configurations can be used that follow different methods e.g. frequency based or an impedance approach. In this paper, an impedance measurement bridge that enables the detection of stretch and pressure loads with a frequency of 200 Hz is modified. The novel architecture is conceptualized to work with a battery based energy supply and have small enough dimensions to function as a wearable with a wireless communication interface. Furthermore, our former presented additive manufacturing method for dielectric elastomers via aerosol jet printing allows an integrated tuning of the measurement bridge in the process. In addition, to the electrodes of the capacitor one electrode with a defined layer resistance is stacked on top of the DES. Hence, the additional electrode, which makes the architecture scalable for different sensor sizes and shapes, serves as an integrated adjustment of the measurement bridge. The data acquisition of multiple sensors is feasible by time division multiplexing, but is limited in its frequency due to the switching rate of the multiplexer.
Steady-state and time-resolved photoconductivity measurements of minority carrier lifetime in ZnTe

Minority carrier lifetime in ZnTe has been determined from steady-state and time-resolved photoconductivity (PC) measurements. Three types of single crystal p-ZnTe (E G = 2.26 eV ) grown by the Bridgman technique were studied : i) as-grown - before and after hydrogen passivation, ii) Zn annealed and iii) In - doped semi-insulating. Steady-state photoconductivity was studied between 80 - 300 K and showed that for as-grown samples, the lifetime went through a sharp maximum of 4.5 x 10 -7 s at 220K, decreasing to 2.5 x 10 -8 s at 300K. For hydrogen passivated samples, the lifetime remained high at 4.5 x 10 -7 s at 300K, due to passivation of deep acceptors O Te . Time-resolved photoconductivity measurements gave values in reasonably good agreement viz. 4.6 x 10 -8 s and 3.2 x 10 -7 s respectively for as-grown and Zn annealed samples. The radiative recombination constant B was thus found to be 1.4 x 10 -9 cm 3 s -1 and 4 x 10 -10 cm 3 s -1 respectively at 300 K for the two samples. PC spectral response studies showed a maximum at 2.41 eV at 300K with slight shift to 2.43 eV occurred on H passivation.
Hybridisation of Malus sylvestris (L.) Mill. with Malus × domestica Borkh. and Implications for the Production of Forest Reproductive Material

This study focuses on the morphological and genetic characteristics of European crab apple (Malus sylvestris (L.) Mill. ) and the occurrence of hybrids in its populations. We analyzed a total of 107 putative European crab apple trees in Slovenia: 92 from nine natural populations, five from a seed stand and 10 from a stand of unnatural origin. We also included 18 domesticated apple trees (Malus × domestica Borkh.) and two Japanese flowering crab apple trees (Malusfloribunda van Houtte) as outliers. The trees were classified into groups of European crab apples, hybrids and domesticated apples according to their morphological and genetic characteristics. Classification based on morphological traits produced different results (58.75% European crab apple, 37.11% hybrids and 4.14% domesticated apple) compared to those based on genetic analysis (70.10% European crab apple, 21.64% hybrids and 8.26% domesticated apple). When genetic and morphological characteristics were combined, only 40.20% of the trees were classified as European crab apple, and an additional group of feral cultivars of domesticated apples (6.18%) was identified. The analysis revealed that hybridization with domesticated apple is taking place in all studied natural European crab apple populations; however, hybrids and feral cultivars only occur to a limited extent. When introducing European crab apple into forests in the future, only genetically verified forest reproductive material obtained exclusively from suitable seed stands should be used.
Nanocomposite of carboxymethyl cellulose and attapulgite as a novel pH-sensitive superabsorbent: Synthesis, characterization and properties

Grafting vinyl monomers onto natural polysaccharides and then compounding with inorganic nano-scale clays become a preferred method to derive superabsorbents because it afforded unique environmental and commercial advantages. In current work, a series of superabsorbent nanocomposites were prepared by radical solution polymerization of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), partially neutralized acrylic acid (NaA) and attapulgite (APT) using ammonium persulfate (APS) as an initiator and N,N -methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinker. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra proved that NaA was grafted onto CMC backbone and APT participated in polymerization. APT nanofibrils were retained in nanocomposite and uniformly dispersed in the CMC-g-PNaA matrix as shown by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) analyses. The thermal stability and water absorption of the nanocomposites were improved due to the incorporation of APT. The water absorption and gel strength depends on the MBA concentration. The remarkable pH-sensitivity and time-dependent swelling behavior of the nanocomposite in aqueous solution of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) were observed and discussed.
Human dermatitis caused by the flying squirrel’s flea, Ceratophyllus indages indages (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae) in Hokkaido, Japan

is report describes human dermatitis that is caused by the bite of Ceratophyllus (Monopsyllus) indages indages (Siphonaptera: Ceratophyllidae) from the Siberian ying squirrel Pteromys volans orii in Hokkaido, Japan. is case represents the rst description of human dermatitis caused by the bite of C. i. indages.
Deterministic epidemic modeling of future botnet malware with a contact process

: This paper proposes deterministic epidemic modeling of future botnet malware named self-evolving botnets, assuming a contact process. The self-evolving botnets discover vulnerabilities of hosts by exploiting the computing resources of infected hosts, which could become serious threats to the future Internet society. The proposed epidemic model represents their infection dynamics on an overlay network consisting of hosts. It predicts the infection spreading of the self-evolving botnets with the use of mean ﬁeld approximation using the degree distribution of the overlay network. Through numerical calculations, we show that the proposed epidemic model well approximates the infection spreading in short time.