Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Longevity of wild pansy flowers treated with growth regulators

The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth regulators action on the senescence of wild pansy flowers. In the first experiment, floral stems were treated with ethylene for 24 hours at concentrations of 0.1, 1.0, 10, 100 and 1000 μL L-1 and control without the hormone. In a second experiment, the flowers were immersed in solutions of abscisic acid (ABA) containing 5, 20, 50 and 100 μM for one minute and control with water. In a third experiment, 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) was applied at concentrations of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 μL L-1 and control without the chemical. In a fourth experiment, 1-MCP and ethylene were applied, where 1-MCP was first applied followed by ethylene. After the treatments with 1-MCP and ethylene, the floral stems were removed from the hermetic chambers and kept in a vessel containing distilled water at 25 °C, 10 μmol m-2 s- 1 white fluorescent light and 50-70% relative humidity as for the ABA treatment. Flowers treated with ethylene did not present significant differences among the concentrations for visual senescence, showing evidence that this flower is not sensitive to ethylene. Treatment with 1000 μL L-1 of ethylene led to a slightly higher fresh weight loss than other treatments, which had a loss of about 33% at end of the experiment. For the ABA treatment, the flowers showed similar fresh weight loss among the different treatments; however, higher concentrations induced slight senescence of flowers. The use of 1-MCP increased the longevity of wild pansy flowers. These results show that 1-MCP is beneficial in maintaining the flower water status, even in the presence of exogenous ethylene, although ethylene may not be directly involved in the senescence of wild pansy flowers.
Investigation of effective microorganisms application method on alleviation of salt stress effects on root morphology of sweet corn

Root morphology can be affected by many factors such as microorganisms. To determine the effect of effective microorganisms (EM) on the root morphology of sweet corn under salt stress, a factorial experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with three replications in Islamic Azad University of Sabzevar in 2013. Examined factors included application method of EM (soil application, foliar application and soil+foliar application) and intensity of salinity (0, 25, 50, 75 mM). Commercial solution of EM was applied at 30 liters per hectare for soil application and foliar application during five-leaf stage. The highest root dry weight, root density and membrane stability were observed in soil application while the highest root volume, root length, root and shoot dry weight occurred when soil and foliar application were performed together. With increasing intensity of salinity, all traits decreased and the highest traits were observed in the control treatment. Soil application of EM in comparison with other methods alleviates effects of salinity under saline conditions.
Electromagnetic induction mapping at varied soil moisture reveals field-scale soil textural patterns and gravel lenses

Knowledge of the spatial distribution of soil textural properties is important for determining soil moisture storage and soil hydraulic transport properties. Capturing field heterogeneity without exhaustive sampling and costly sample analysis is difficult. Our objective was to employ electromagnetic induction (EMI) mapping in low apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) soils at varying soil water contents to capture time invariant properties such as soil texture. Georeferenced ECa measurements were taken using a ground conductivity meter on six different days where volumetric water content (θv) varied from 0.11 to 0.23. The 50 m × 50 m field included a subsurface gravelly patch in an otherwise homogeneous silt-loam alluvial soil. Ordinary block kriging predicted ECa at unsampled areas to produce 1-m resolution maps. Temporal stability analysis was used to divide the field into three distinct ECa regions. Subsequent ground-truthing confirmed the lowest conductivity region correlated with coarse textured soil parent materials associated with a former high-energy alluvial depositional area. Combining maps using temporal stability analysis gives the clearest image of the textural difference. These maps could be informative for modeling, experimental design, sensor placement and targeted zone management strategies in soil science, ecology, hydrology, and agricultural applications.
Factorization Machines with Regularization for Sparse Feature Interactions

Factorization machines (FMs) are machine learning predictive models based on second-order feature interactions and FMs with sparse regularization are called sparse FMs. Such regularizations enable feature selection, which selects the most relevant features for accurate prediction, and therefore they can contribute to the improvement of the model accuracy and interpretability. However, because FMs use second-order feature interactions, the selection of features often cause the loss of many relevant feature interactions in the resultant models. In such cases, FMs with regularization specially designed for feature interaction selection trying to achieve interaction-level sparsity may be preferred instead of those just for feature selection trying to achieve feature-level sparsity. In this paper, we present a new regularization scheme for feature interaction selection in FMs. The proposed regularizer is an upper bound of the $\ell_1$ regularizer for the feature interaction matrix, which is computed from the parameter matrix of FMs. For feature interaction selection, our proposed regularizer makes the feature interaction matrix sparse without a restriction on sparsity patterns imposed by the existing methods. We also describe efficient proximal algorithms for the proposed FMs and present theoretical analyses of both existing and the new regularize. In addition, we will discuss how our ideas can be applied or extended to more accurate feature selection and other related models such as higher-order FMs and the all-subsets model. The analysis and experimental results on synthetic and real-world datasets show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.
Virtual Secure Platform: A Five-Stage Pipeline Processor over TFHE

We present Virtual Secure Platform (VSP), the first comprehensive platform that implements a multi-opcode general-purpose sequential processor over Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) for Secure Multi-Party Computation (SMPC). VSP protects both the data and functions on which the data are evaluated from the adversary in a secure computation offloading situation like cloud computing. We proposed a complete processor architecture with a five-stage pipeline, which improves the performance of the VSP by providing more parallelism in circuit evaluation. In addition, we also designed a custom Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) to reduce the gate count of our processor, along with an entire set of toolchains to ensure that arbitrary C programs can be compiled into our custom ISA. In order to speed up instruction evaluation over VSP, CMUX Memory based ROM and RAM constructions over FHE are also proposed. Our experiments show that both the pipelined architecture and the CMUX Memory technique are effective in improving the performance of the proposed processor. We provide an open-source implementation of VSP which achieves a per-instruction latency of less than 1 second. We demonstrate that compared to the best existing processor over FHE, our implementation runs nearly 1,600$\times$ faster.
Appell and Sheffer sequences: on their characterizations through functionals and examples

The aim of this paper is to present a new simple recurrence for Appell and Sheffer sequences in terms of the linear functional that defines them, and to explain how this is equivalent to several well-known characterizations appearing in the literature. We also give several examples, including integral representations of the inverse operators associated to Bernoulli and Euler polynomials, and a new integral representation of the re-scaled Hermite $d$-orthogonal polynomials generalizing the Weierstrass operator related to the Hermite polynomials.
Variation in floret size explains differences in wild bee visitation to cultivated sunflowers

Abstract Wild and managed bees are needed to move sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) pollen, both to create hybrid seed and to encourage high, consistent yields when those hybrids are subsequently grown. Among floral traits that influence bee preference, floret size may be critical, as the depth of the corolla affects the accessibility of nectar. Sampling and observation of inbred maintainer (HA) lines were used to assess variation in floret size, and to measure any effects of floret size on pollinator visitation. Among 100 inbreds sampled, there was significant variation among the lines, with floret lengths of 6.8–9.9 mm. Floret length, measured before anthesis, was closely related to corolla depth during anthesis and was consistent between 2 years (environments). Pollinator observations on 30 inbred lines showed floret size explained a majority (52%) of the variation in wild bee preference, with a reduction in floret length of 2 mm more than doubling pollinator activity. Though honey bee, Apis mellifera L. , colonies were located ≈ 60 m from the plots, near-zero honey bee activity in the sunflowers precluded an assessment of how strongly this managed pollinator is affected by floret length. Production of inbreds and hybrids with smaller florets could enhance sunflower pollination, but genetic markers for floret size are needed to facilitate selection, and an understanding of potential trade-offs also is required. Information on variation and heritability of other traits, such as pollen and nectar rewards, could help explain residual variation in wild bee visitation to sunflowers.
FINE-STRUCTURE OF SPERMATOGENESIS IN MONOPISTHOCOTYLEAN MONOGENEANS (MACROGYRODACTYLUS-POLYPTERI - PSEUDODACTYLOGYRUS-BINI)

The development of spermatozoa in the monopisthocotylean fish gill flukes, Macrogyrodactylus polypteri Malmberg and Pseudodactylogyrus bini Kikuchi was investigated by means of light and transmission electron microscopy. In M. polypteri spermatogonia give rise by successive mitoses to primary spermatocytes clearly characterized by the presence of synaptonemal complexes. In M. polypteri, spermatocytes are characterized by a fine, dense intranuclear inclusion connected by a small strand to the nuclear membrane, and by the appearance of several Golgi complexes. Both in M. polypteri and P. bini a syncytial mass of spermatids develops, which gives rise to 32 filiform spermatozoa. Mature spermatozoa of M. polypteri have two axonemes, whereas P. bini has only one. In contrast to P. bini, spermatozoa of M. polypteri have a region with a lateral protrusion, formed by a fold of the spermatozoan membrane. The outer edge of the protrusion surrounds the mitochondrion. The observation that in M. polypteri, as well as in P. bini, the immature spermatozoa are each situated within ring-shaped cytoplasmic canals in the syncytial spermatids is comparable to findings in other monopisthocotylean species.
Postharvest life of cut chrysanthemum flowers as affected by citric acid, boric acid and salicylic acid

Chrysanthemum is one of the most commercialized cut flowers on world market. After cutting, it becomes highly perishable due to the increased metabolic activity that leads to senescence. Thus, the experiment was carried out in order to evaluate action of maintenance solutions on the postharvest physiology cutting chrysanthemums of the cultivar Framint. A completely randomized design was used in the factorial scheme composed of two factors: four postharvest treatments and seven evaluation times. The flowers remained in the following maintenance solutions: citric acid solution, solution with boric acid, and salicylic acid solution at concentrations 100 mg. L for both treatments in combination with 1% ethanol. During postharvest period, following analyzes were performed: fresh mass loss, volume of water absorbed, luminosity (petals), activity of the enzymes ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), total protein and total carbohydrate content. The treatment with citric acid + ethanol was the most adequate to conserve the quality and to prolong longevity of the flowers, being confirmed by the smaller loss of fresh mass, respiratory activity, better maintenance of carbohydrate and protein content. Key-words: Dendranthema x grandiflorum, Cut Flowers, Antioxidant Enzymes, Senescence
Entomopathogenic fungi as a biological control for the Greater melon fly Dacus frontalis (Becker) (Diptera: Tephritidae)

iii Dedication.iv Acknowledgment.v List of Tables.xiii List of Figures.xv Chapter 1. General introduction.1 1.1 Background.1 1.2 Cucurbit crops.1 1.3 Fruit flies.2 1.4 The Greater melon fly, Dacus frontalis (Becker). 3 1.4. 1 Taxonomy history.3 1.4. 2 Global distribution.5 1.4. 3 Economic important and host plants.5 1.4. 4 Life cycle and infestation symptoms.6 1.4. 5 Dacus frontalis Control strategy.9 1.4. 6 Current control in Libya.9 1.5 Review of integrated fruit fly management.10 1.5. 1 Cultural practices.11 1.5. 2 Attract and kill technique.11 1.5. 3 Sterile insect technique.12
Adjusting for systematic technical biases in risk assessment of gene signatures in transcriptomic cancer cohorts

In recent years, many efforts in clinical and basic research have focused on finding molecular features of tumor samples with prognostic or classification potential. Among these, the association of the expression of gene signatures with survival probability is of special interest given its relatively direct applicability in the clinic and its power to shed insights into the molecular basis of cancer. Although great efforts have been invested in data processing to control for unknown sources of variability in a gene-wise manner, little is known about the behaviour of gene signatures with respect to the effect of technical variables. Here we show that the association of signatures with survival may be biased due to technical reasons and propose a simple and low intensive methodology based on correction by expectation under gene randomization. The resulting estimates are centred around zero and ensure correct asymptotic inference. Moreover, our methodology is robust against spurious correlations between global dataset tendencies and clinical outcome. All tools (will be soon) available in the "HRunbiased" R package as well as processed datasets for colorectal and breast cancer.
PREVALENCE OF EXTENDED-SPECTRUM BETA-LACTAMASE PRODUCING ENTEROBACTERIACEAE MEMBERS ISOLATED FROM CLINICALLY SUSPECTED PATIENTS

Objective: Emergence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) production poses another clinical problem with Gram-negative bacterial infections. The present study was aimed to evaluate the ESBL producers among various clinical samples of clinically suspected patients. Methods: A total of 1279 samples (urine [918], pus [207] and stool [154]) were collected and 465 isolates ( Escherichia coli [320], Enterobacter aerogenes [119] and Klebsiella pneumoniae [26]) were isolated and screened for the presence of ESBL producers using combination disc method and double disc synergy test. Results: Of the 465 culture positive isolates, 130 ( E. coli 93 [29.06%], E. aerogenes 35 [29.41%] and K. pneumoniae 2 [7.69%]) were identified as ESBL producers. Among the three Enterobacteriaceae members, E. coli 93 (29.06%) was found to be predominant ESBL producer next in order E. aerogenes 35 (29.41%) and K. pneumoniae 2 (7.69%). Maximum number of ESBL producers were recovered from urine (n=111) followed by pus (n=14) and stool (n=5). All the ESBL-producing isolates were subjected to antibiotic sensitivity test using 10 different antibiotics. ESBL producers were chiefly resistance to ceftriaxone followed by ceftazidime and cefotaxime. Of 130 ESBL producers, 15 ( E. coli (8), E. aerogenes (6) and K. pneumoniae (1)] strains were selected for genotypic identification. Among, only two strains of E. aerogenes were positive isolates for CTX-M type ESBL in polymerase chain reaction. Conclusion: This study concluded that among Enterobacteriaceae members, E. coli was the predominant ESBL producers and urine was noted as the prime source for the ESBL positive isolates when compared to other source. Genotypic identification was the best method to differentiate ESBL types which were essential to provide proper treatment.
Productivity of Indigofera zollingeriana under different canopy and soil acidity level in oil palm estate

Oil palm estate area in Indonesia is generally located in a sub-optimal land that has great opportunity for the development of forage supply. This study aims were to determine productivity of Indigofera zollingeriana under various canopy level. This research used factorial randomized block design with 3 canopy levels (under 2, 5, and 7 year oil palm canopy) and 2 levels of soil acidity (neutral and acid soil) treatments, where each treatment was repeated 4 times. Parameters observed were production and nutrient content of Indigofera zollingeriana. Research results showed that there was no interaction between the canopy levels and soil acidity on the production of fresh leaves, stems/branches, biomass, and leaves/stem ratio of I. zollingeriana. Production of fresh leaves, stems, biomass, and leaves/branches ratio of I. zollingeriana significantly (P <0.01) decreased along with increase of canopy level. Soil acidity significantly (P <0.05) decreased production of fresh leaves, stems, biomass, and leaves/branches ratio. Level of canopy treatment significantly (P <0.05) increased content of crude protein, crude fiber and energy, otherwise value of in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and organic matter digestibilyity (IVOMD) were decrease. Soil acidity significantly (P <0.05) decreased calcium content, in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and organic matter digestibility (IVOMD) of I. zollingeriana.
Influence of deterministic and stochastic processes on microbial community assembly during aerobic granulation

Aerobic granular sludge is an energy efficient and compact biofilm process for wastewater treatment which has received much attention during the last decades and is now being implemented in full‐scale. However, the factors involved in microbial community assembly during formation of granules are poorly understood and little is known about the reproducibility in treatment performance and community structure. Here we show that both deterministic and stochastic factors exert a dynamic influence during microbial community assembly into granular sludge. During granulation, the microbial communities in three replicate sequencing batch reactors followed similar successional trajectories of the most abundant taxa and showed similar dynamics in diversity. Deterministic factors dominated the assembly of the most abundant community members as the microbial community transitioned from floccular to granular form. Stochastic factors mostly affected rare members of the communities and caused the microbial community structure to diverge in one of the reactors; however, this did not have an impact on the treatment performance. This demonstrates that the reactor function and the dynamics of the most abundant community members are in fact reproducible during the formation of aerobic granules.
The physiological and ecological effects of temperature and oxygen on an estuarine fish

Temperature and oxygen are the primary abiotic variables controlling and limiting the metabolic capacity of fishes. This has been attributed to the strong influence of each variable on aerobic scope; the capacity of organisms to distribute energy across physiological functions. This study incorporates laboratory quantification of aerobic scope with field acoustic accelerometry to determine the relative importance of both temperature and oxygen to an estuarine teleost, the black bream (Acanthopagrus butcheri). In respirometry experiments, A. butcheri were found to display remarkably high thermal tolerance, maintaining stable aerobic scope across a 9°C thermal window. However, their aerobic scope was heavily reduced with reductions in oxygen availability, reaching a critical oxygen level at ~30% DO. The ecological importance of this was quantified in wild fishes as, whilst temperature displayed little effect on movement dynamics, the presence of hypoxia resulted in significant habitat compression, with bream restricted to shallow, oxygenated microhabitats. Under such compression, bream are likely to be at increased risk of predation and the negative effects of increased density, including competition and disease. These results provide empirical evidence for the hypothesis that hypoxia is a key driver of A. butcheri growth rates within the Swan River Estuary. It also highlights the population’s vulnerability to hypoxic episodes, which are expected to increase in both extent and frequency as a result of anthropogenically-enhanced eutrophication and climate change.
Combining ability for days to flowering and grain yield among cowpea ( Vigna unguiculata ) of different maturity periods

Combining ability studies was conducted on ten parental lines of cowpea with varied maturity periods. Complete diallel mating were made to generate 45crosses, 45 reciprocals and their parents, making a total of 100 entries which were evaluated in to two locations (Teaching and Research Farm, Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti and College of Education Demonstration Secondary School Farm, Ikere-Ekiti, during the 2010 and 2011 cropping seasons using Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Data were obtained on plant height, days to 50% flowering, first day to maturity, numbers of pods per plant, weight of 100 seeds (g), grain yield kgha -1 and mid-parent heterosis at harvest were obtained. Result showed that there were significant differences among the entries (p<0.05) for all traits studied. The mean value for days to first flowering varied from 42.47 to 45.23 days, days to 50% flowering ranged between 50.07 and 51.73 days, days to pod maturity varied from 58.77 to 64.24 days. The mean value of the hybrid lines exhibited the earliest flowering and pod maturity traits among the entries. The reciprocal crosses had the highest mean values for weight of 100 seeds which weighed 17.55g. The reciprocal cross P 7 × P 4 had the highest grain yield of 6069.43kgha -1 . The average grain yield value ranged from 1259.88 to 3896.66 kgha -1 . General combining Ability (GCA) for most of the traits are significant except flowering interval. Only days to pod maturity are not significant for specific combining Ability (SCA) among the traits. P 1 , P 4 , P 5 and P 6 are identified to be the best general combiners for most of the characters. Crosses involving P 1 x P 4 , P 1 x P 6 , P 4 x P 2 and P 9 x P 5 were identified to be excellent specific combiners for cowpea grain yield and earliness traits. Cross combinations P 2 x P 4 and P 4 x P 2 had reciprocal effect. The mean of the crosses and reciprocal for mid-parents heterosis (%) was high (280.47%) among the crosses. The ratio of GCA to SCA ranged from less than 1 for flowering intervals to 48 for days to 50% flowering, this underscores the importance of additive effect, suggesting that reasonable progress can be achieved using selection procedure Keywords: Vigna unguiculata , diallel, combining ability, SCA, GCA, heterosis