Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tailoring legume seed markets for smallholder farmers in Africa

ABSTRACT Seed system interventions can spur agricultural growth and often focus on accelerating delivery of new varieties and good seed. The driving logic is that such modest investments can bring key gains, even to the poor and in challenging contexts. This article focuses on Africa and legumes, crops key for nutrition, soil enhancement, resilience to climate stress and rapid income generation. The default design for seed sector development, based on maize, proves inadequate for moving legume varieties and seed to smallholder customers. The article draws from a large dataset including 10,209 transactions from nine African countries. Findings show that legume seed is overwhelmingly bought (50% of transactions) - rather than saved, gifted, or obtained through a seed distribution - with 89% of purchases unfolding in the informal sector, mostly from local markets. Unlike with maize, farmers’ use of agro-dealers to obtain legume seed is minimal. The article identifies six legume customer seed market segments, but only the two smallest are served by current strategy. Refinements to formal sector delivery can help extend reach (e.g. with small packs), but real advances demand strong informal sector innovations, such as expanding sale and seller categories to embrace traders and local markets. A recent multi-country review of seed legislation suggests there may be room for such expansion.
Network structures and temporal stability of self- and informant-rated affective symptoms in Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND Affective symptoms in Alzheimer's disease (AD) can be rated with both informant- and self-ratings. Information from these two modalities may not converge. We estimated network structures of affective symptoms in AD with both rating modalities and assessed the longitudinal stability of the networks. METHODS Network analyses combining self-rated and informant-rated affective symptoms were conducted in 3198 individuals with AD at two time points (mean follow-up 387 days), drawn from the NACC database. Self-rated symptoms were assessed by Geriatric Depression Scale, and informant-rated symptoms included depression, apathy and anxiety questions from Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire. RESULTS Informant-rated symptoms were mainly connected to symptoms expressing lack of positive affect, but not to the more central symptoms of self-rated worthlessness and helplessness. Networks did not differ in structure (p = .71), or connectivity (p = .92) between visits. Symptoms formed four clinically meaningful clusters of depressive symptoms and decline, lack of positive affect, informant-rated apathy and anxiety and informant-rated depression. LIMITATIONS The symptom dynamics in our study could have been present before AD diagnosis. The lack of positive affect cluster may represent a methodological artefact rather than a theoretically meaningful subgroup. Requiring follow-up lead to a selection of patients with less cognitive decline. CONCLUSIONS Informant rating may only capture the more visible affective symptoms, such as not being in good spirits, instead of more central and severe symptoms, such as hopelessness and worthlessness. Future research should continue to be mindful of differences between self- and informant-rated symptoms even in earlier stages of AD.
Navigating the sustainability landscape

Sustainability professionals believe their work has positive social and environmental impacts in the “real world,” but they recognize that their impactfulness is contingent on a number of other factors, especially the willingness of other, typically more powerful actors to consider their findings and implement their recommendations. In this article, I develop the notion of “impact pathways” to think about the relationship between paths, maps, travelers, terrains, and ethics in the context of what my informants regularly refer to as the sustainability “landscape. ” I show how the interpretation of a map and the choice between different possible paths can be partially explained by an actor’s particular ethical framework, in this case something I identify as the sustainability ethic.
The North Pacific Continuous Plankton Recorder Survey

The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey of the North Pacific is a PICES project now in its ninth year and facing an uncertain future. CPRs have been towed behind commercial ships along two (north–south and east–west) transects for a total of ~ nine times per year. Samples are collected with a filtering mesh and are then microscopically processed for plankton abundance in the laboratory. The survey, so far, has accumulated 3,648 processed samples (with approximately three times as many archived without processing), each representing 18 km of the transect (Fig. 1) and containing an abundance of data on over 290 phytoplankton and zooplankton taxa. A CTD with a fluorometer has been attached to the CPR sampling at the east–west transect in more recent years to provide supplementary environmental data.
Semiparametric Inference of Causal Effect with Nonignorable Missing Confounders

We consider the estimation of causal effect when confounders are subject to missingness. We allow the missingness of confounders to be nonignorable, that is, the missingness may depend on the missing confounders conditional on the observed data. The identification has been discussed in the literature; however, limited effort has been devoted into making semiparametric causal inference with nonignorably missing confounders. To address this, we propose three semiparametric estimators: the inverse probability weighting (IPW), the regression, and the doubly robust (DR) estimators. The IPW and the regression estimators require the correct specification of the propensity scores and the regression models for confounders and outcome, respectively. Assuming the selection bias odds ratio function is always correctly specified, the DR estimator utilizes both sets of models and is consistent if either set of models, but not necessarily both, is correctly specified. We investigate the finite sample performance of our proposed semiparametric estimators in the simulation studies and apply our estimators to the SO2 emissions data. Statistica Sinica: Newly accepted Paper (accepted author-version subject to English editing)
Death by octopus (Macroctopus maorum ): Laryngeal luxation and asphyxiation in an Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus )

NAHIID STEPHENS, College of Veterinary Medicine, School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia 6105, Australia; P ADRAIG DUIGNAN, The Marine Mammal Center, 2000 Bunker Road, Fort Cronkhite, Sausalito, California 94965, U.S.A. ; JOHN SYMONS, Cetacean Research Unit, Environmental and Conservation Sciences, School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia 6105, Australia; CARLYSLE HOLYOAKE, College of Veterinary Medicine, School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia 6105, Australia; LARS BEJDER, Cetacean Research Unit, Environmental and Conservation Sciences, School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia 6105, Australia; KRISTIN WARREN, College of Veterinary Medicine, School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia 6105, Australia.
Osmotic stress represses strigolactone biosynthesis in Lotus japonicus roots: exploring the interaction between strigolactones and ABA under abiotic stress

Main conclusion Strigolactone changes and cross talk with ABA unveil a picture of root-specific hormonal dynamics under stress. Abstract Strigolactones (SLs) are carotenoid-derived hormones influencing diverse aspects of development and communication with (micro)organisms, and proposed as mediators of environmental stimuli in resource allocation processes; to contribute to adaptive adjustments, therefore, their pathway must be responsive to environmental cues. To investigate the relationship between SLs and abiotic stress in Lotus japonicus, we compared wild-type and SL- depleted plants, and studied SL metabolism in roots stressed osmotically and/or phosphate starved. SL-depleted plants showed increased stomatal conductance, both under normal and stress conditions, and impaired resistance to drought associated with slower stomatal closure in re- sponse to abscisic acid (ABA). This confirms that SLs contribute to drought resistance in species other than Arabidopsis. However, we also observed that osmotic stress rapidly and strongly decreased SL concentration in tissues and exudates of wild-type Lotus roots, by acting on the transcription of biosynthetic and transporter-encoding genes and independently of phosphate abundance. Pre- treatment with exogenous SLs inhibited the osmotic stress- induced ABA increase in wild-type roots and down- regulated the transcription of the ABA biosynthetic gene
Vortex rings produced by non-parallel planar starting jets

Abstract Experimental methods are employed to investigate vortex rings generated by impulsively emitting pressurised air through a rectangular outlet of high aspect ratio into quiescent surroundings. The flow is characterised by a rapid transverse expansion as thick-cored, almost spherical vortex rings with a diameter more than 40 times the outlet width and entrainment rates of $\eta >0.9$ are generated. They continue to absorb vorticity far beyond the universal formation time of $t^*\approx 4$ applicable to axisymmetric parallel starting jets introduced by Gharib et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 360, 1998, pp. 121–140). Here, the maximum circulation and the corresponding formation time depend on the magnitude of over-pressure in the outlet plane. After momentarily reaching a non-dimensional energy close to or even below a value of $\alpha =0.16$ associated with Hill's spherical vortex, vorticity is continuously shed into a trailing jet, and the vortex rings evolve into unsteady thinner-core states. No separation between the vortex ring and the trailing jet (pinch-off) is observed. The present study provides new insights into the flow physics of non-parallel planar starting jets that significantly differ from parallel starting flows investigated previously. The potential for active flow control applications is discussed.
Symmetry transformation and dimensionality reduction of the anisotropic pressure Hessian

Abstract The dynamics of the velocity gradient tensor in turbulence is governed in part by the anisotropic pressure Hessian, which is a non-local functional of the velocity gradient field. This anisotropic pressure Hessian plays a key dynamical role, for example in preventing finite-time singularities, but it is difficult to understand and model due to its non-locality and complexity. In this work a symmetry transformation for the pressure Hessian is introduced, such that when the transformation is applied to the original pressure Hessian, the dynamics of the invariants of the velocity gradients remains unchanged. We then exploit this symmetry transformation to perform a dimensional reduction on the three-dimensional anisotropic pressure Hessian, which, remarkably, is possible everywhere in the flow except on zero-measure sets. The dynamical activity of the newly introduced dimensionally reduced anisotropic pressure Hessian is confined to two-dimensional manifolds in the three-dimensional flow, and exhibits striking alignment properties with respect to the strain-rate eigenframe and the vorticity vector. The dimensionality reduction, together with the strong preferential alignment properties, leads to new dynamical insights for understanding and modelling the role of the anisotropic pressure Hessian in three-dimensional turbulent flows.
Epidemiology, Genetic and Molecular Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus in Ohio Dairy Farms

ii Dedication.iv Acknowledgments . v Vita . vii List of Tables . xii List of Figures.xv Chapter 1: Introduction.1 1.1. Etiology and historical perspective of mastitis.1 1.2. Managing mastitis in cows.3 1.3. Impact of stage of lactation on mastitis occurrence.5 1.4. Prevalence and impact of mastitis.6 1.5. Antibiotic use and risks to human health.8 1.6. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). 10 1.7. Understanding the epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus.12 1.8. References . 14 Chapter 2: Assessment of Management Practices Associated with Staphylococcus aureus Prevalence in Bulk Tank Milk from Ohio Dairy Herds.21 2.
An efficient Li+-doping strategy to optimize the band alignment of a Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4/CdS interface by a Se&LiF co-selenization process

A Li+-doping strategy is a promising route for achieving highly efficient Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 (CZTSSe) photovoltaic devices with a large grain absorber layer, high p-type carrier concentration and good band alignment at the Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4/CdS interface. However, Li+-doped CZTSSe solar cells based on in situ and pre-deposition doping strategies reported thus far generally suffer from massive lithium losses and sodium rejection due to the soda-lime glass substrate. Therefore, simultaneously fulfilling the goals of simple and efficient Li+-doping remains a major technical challenge, which may be addressed, as we demonstrate here, with the development of a Se&LiF co-selenization process. By engineering the band alignment of the Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4/CdS interface through the Se&LiF co-selenization process, an encouraging efficiency of 11.63% with an open-circuit voltage deficit of 0.583 V has been reached. Furthermore, the crystallinity of the absorber layer and the distribution of copper are improved, and a more copper-poor CZTSSe surface is formed. This novel Li+-doping strategy introduces a new approach towards the goal of high-performance CZTSSe solar cells compatible with a simple manufacturing process and excellent performance.
Exploring the Roles of the Histone Deacetylase and Longevity Factor SIRT6 in Cancer.

94 Introduction.95 Materials and Methods.97 Results.105 Discussion.121 Future Directions.123 Chapter 5: A Study of SIRT6 Localization in Cancer Abstract.125 Introduction.126 Materials and Methods.126 Results.133 Discussion.148 Future Directions.153 Chapter 6: Concluding Remarks.154 References.156
Phenolic Compounds with Anti-virulence Properties

Natural products represent the major source of approved drugs and still play an important role in supplying chemical diversity as well as new structures for designing more efficient antimicrobials. They are also the basis for the discovery of new mechanisms of antibacterial action. In this regard, a large number of substances, mainly extracts from natural sources, have been obtained in order to identify their anti-virulence activity. In recent years, there is an increase in the study of anti-virulence natural product derivatives. Different targets have been proposed as a solution to the serious problem of bacterial antibiotic resistance. Inhibition of bacterial quorum-sensing systems has been one of the most studied; however, there are other mechanisms involved in virulence regulation, damage to the host and bacterial survival, which suggests that there are another good targets such as bacterial secretion systems, biofilm formation, two-component systems, flagellum, fimbriae, toxins and key enzymes. Within the natural products, the main anti-virulence compounds are phenolic in nature, so that the next chapter describes and analyzes the relationship between chemical structure and activity of the main phenolic compounds reported.
Impacts of Stratospheric Ozone Extremes on Arctic High Cloud

<p>Stratospheric ozone depletion in the Antarctic is well known to cause changes in Southern Hemisphere tropospheric climate; however, because of its smaller magnitude in the Arctic, the effects of stratospheric ozone depletion on Northern Hemisphere tropospheric climate are not as obvious or well understood. Recent research using both global climate models and observational data has determined that the impact of ozone depletion on ozone extremes can affect interannual variability in tropospheric circulation in the Northern Hemisphere in spring. To further this work, we use a coupled chemistry&#8211;climate model to examine the difference in high cloud between years with anomalously low and high Arctic stratospheric ozone concentrations. We find that low ozone extremes during the late twentieth century, when ozone-depleting substances (ODS) emissions are higher, are related to a decrease in upper tropospheric stability and an increase in high cloud fraction, which may contribute to enhanced Arctic surface warming in spring through a positive longwave cloud radiative effect. A better understanding of how Arctic climate is affected by ODS emissions, ozone depletion, and ozone extremes will lead to improved predictions of Arctic climate and its associated feedbacks with atmospheric fields as ozone levels recover. </p>
Antibacterial Actions and Potential Phototoxic Effects of Volatile oils of Foeniculum sp. (fennel), Salvia sp. (sage), Vitis sp. (grape), Lavandula sp. (lavender)

In the present study, the volatile compounds of essential oil of Foeniculum vulgare (fennel), Salvia officinalis (sage), Vitis vinifera (grape), Lavandula angustifolia (lavender) were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) using the Nist and Willey libraries. It was determined that the main components of Foeniculum sp. were anethole (41.11%), carvacrol (9.18%). whereas main components of Salvia sp were 1.8 cineole (34.09%), caryophyllene (10.95%), camphor (9.44%), α-pinene (8.42%). Vitis sp. contained linoleic acid (36.98%), 2,4-decadienal (30.79%). Finally, volatile component of Lavandula sp. was linalool (33.57%), linalyl acetate (30.74%). Photoxic antibacterial activity of volatile oil of those plants against Escherichia coli (ATCC 25293), Klebsiella pneumoniae (10031), Salmonella thyphimurium, Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 6633), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25925), Enterococcus feacalis (ATCC 29212) were examined by using disc diffusion method. We demonstrated that volatile oil effectively can be activated by a standard LED light. In vitro, significant phototoxicity was demonstrated by volatile oil of Foeniculum sp. and Vitis sp. (P < 0.05), while minor phototoxicity was induced by Lavandula sp. Therefore, volatile oil of plant can be considered as a potential photosensitizer in the photochemical therapy.
HopliteRT*: Real-Time NoC for FPGA

With the increasing number of computation nodes integrated in multi and many-core platforms, network-on-chips (NoCs) emerged as a new communication medium in systems-on-chips (SoCs). HopliteRT is a new NoC design that was recently proposed to address the needs of real-time systems whilst respecting the constraints of field-programmable gate array (FPGA) platforms. In this article, we: 1) introduce priority-based routing in HopliteRT; 2) change the network topology in order to improve the packets’ worst-case traversal time (WCTT); 3) identify a flaw in the existing timing analysis of HopliteRT; and 4) develop a new timing analysis that is proven correct. We also show by means of experiments that the modifications of HopliteRT proposed in this article allows for at least $2\times $ improvement on the worst and average case traversal time of high priority packets, without impacting the quality of service of low-priority packets. The timing properties of high priority flows are greatly improved for negligible additional hardware costs. The proposed NoC has been implemented in Verilog and synthesized for a Xilinx Virtex-7 FPGA platform.
A 0.5–3.0 GHz SP4T RF switch with improved body self-biasing technique in 130-nm SOI CMOS

A single-pole four-throw (SP4T) RF switch with charge-pump-based controller is designed and implemented in a commercial 130-nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) CMOS process. An improved body self-biasing technique based on diodes is utilized to simplify the controlling circuitry and improve the linearity. A multistack field-effect-transistor (FET) structure with body floating technique is employed to provide good power-handling capability. The proposed design demonstrates a measured input 0.1-dB compression point of 38.5 dBm at 1.9 GHz, an insertion loss of 0.27 dB/0.33 dB and an isolation of 35 dB/27 dB at 900 MHz/1.9 GHz, respectively. The overall chip area is only 0.49 mm2. This RF switch can be used in GSM/WCDMA/LTE front-end modules.
EGF Relays Signals to COP1 and Facilitates FOXO4 Degradation to Promote Tumorigenesis

Forkhead‐Box Class O 4 (FOXO4) is involved in critical biological functions, but its response to EGF‐PKB/Akt signal regulation is not well characterized. Here, it is reported that FOXO4 levels are downregulated in response to EGF treatment, with concurrent elevation of COP9 Signalosome subunit 6 (CSN6) and E3 ubiquitin ligase constitutive photomorphogenic 1 (COP1) levels. Mechanistic studies show that CSN6 binds and regulates FOXO4 stability through enhancing the E3 ligase activity of COP1, and that COP1 directly interacts with FOXO4 through a VP motif on FOXO4 and accelerates the ubiquitin‐mediated degradation of FOXO4. Metabolomic studies demonstrate that CSN6 expression leads to serine and glycine production. It is shown that FOXO4 directly binds and suppresses the promoters of serine‐glycine‐one‐carbon (SGOC) pathway genes, thereby diminishing SGOC metabolism. Evidence shows that CSN6 can regulate FOXO4‐mediated SGOC gene expression. Thus, these data suggest a link of CSN6‐FOXO4 axis and ser/gly metabolism. Further, it is shown that CSN6‐COP1‐FOXO4 axis is deregulated in cancer and that the protein expression levels of CSN6 and FOXO4 can serve as prognostic markers for cancers. The results illustrate a pathway regulation of FOXO4‐mediated serine/glycine metabolism through the function of CSN6‐COP1 axis. Insights into this pathway may be strategically designed for therapeutic intervention in cancers.
Organic or inorganic zinc in poultry nutrition: a review

Zinc (Zn) is an essential component in animal and poultry metabolism of various biochemical pathways. It serves as a nutrient and also as a feed additive for improving reproductive functions, productive indices, cellular immunity, normal growth and the maintenance of feathers, bone tissues as well as appetite. Furthermore, Zn has many roles as an antioxidant agent. This mineral is essential for hormone function, including pancreatic (insulin and glucagon), sex and growth hormones. It is a part of more than 300 enzymes that are involved in the metabolism of protein, energy, carbohydrates and nucleic acids. Previous studies demonstrated many beneficial impacts of supplemental Zn on different physiological and immunological functions above the established concentration in diets, including alleviating heat stress. Zinc supplementation in layer diets increases albumen weight, and may alter egg shell thickness and total egg weight. Zinc deficiency can cause a fraying of the feathers and retardation in growth of broilers. Different Zn sources (organic or inorganic) positively impact health and performance in poultry including meat or egg production, feed intake and conversion efficiency, carcass traits, blood parameters and apparent nutrient digestibility. This review compares and provides a review of the nutritional and physiological aspects of different Zn sources.