Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Plasmodium knowlesi Ligand-receptor Process in Baboon (Papio anubis) Placenta

Pregnancy associated malaria poses many risks to both women and their infants. It is characterized by the accumulation of infected erythrocytes in the intervillous spaces of the placenta leading to adverse reactions. Studies using the P. knowlesi -Olive baboon model of pregnancy malaria have demonstrated this phenomenon though the mechanisms and molecules involved are not known. This study sought to identify the ligands and receptor molecules that permit accumulation of infected erythrocytes in the placenta of P. knowlesi infected Olive baboons and to further test placental isolates for adhesion to purified receptors. Sequences of known Plasmodium erythrocyte binding antigens and human placental receptors were BLASTed against the genome of P. knowlesi and P. anubis respectively. Hits generated were analysed and characterized to determine the prospective ligands and receptors in P. knowlesi and P. anubis respectively. Also, four adult female baboons ( P. anubis ) were infected with P. knowlesi parasites and their placentas sampled. Infected erythrocytes isolated from these placentas were tested for binding against purified receptors. We identified Predicted CSPG 4 partial and Predicted HAPLN 1 as the putative receptor molecules in the Olive baboon. Further, the P. knowlesi erythrocyte binding proteins (EBP- alpha , EBP- beta and EBP- gamma ) matched closely to the placental P. falciparum ligand Var2csa . However, static binding assays with P. knowlesi infected erythrocytes did not show any binding to purified receptors. This study has identified and proposed receptors and ligands involved in the adherence process in P. knowlesi infected Olive baboons during pregnancy. Keywords: Plasmodium knowlesi , Olive baboon, receptor, ligand, malaria, pregnancy
Physiological analysis of leaf senescence of two rice cultivars with different yield potential

The objective of this work was to evaluate the physiological changes that occur in different leaves during the early and late grain-filling stages of two rice genotypes (Oryza sativa subsp. indica , BRS Pelota cultivar, and O. sativa subsp. japonica , BRS Firmeza cultivar), which present differences in grain yield potential. The plants were cultivated in greenhouse. Pigment content, chlorophyll fluorescence, electron transport and oxygen evolution rate were determined in the grain-filling stage, from the first to the forth leaf (top to bottom). Pigment content, photochemical efficiency of photosystem II and electron transport decreased significantly according to the position of leaves in 'BRS Pelota'. The BRS Firmeza cultivar shows higher pigment content and higher activity of the photosynthetic apparatus in comparison to 'BRS Pelota' during the grain-filling stage.
The role of soil chemistry and plant neighbourhoods in structuring fungal communities in three Panamanian rainforests

Fungi play critical roles in ecosystem processes and interact with plant communities in mutualistic, pathogenic, and commensal ways. Fungal communities are thought to depend on both associated tree communities and soil properties. However, the relative importance of the biotic and abiotic drivers of soil fungal community structure and diversity in lowland tropical forests remains poorly understood. We examined the community structure of trees and fungi at different levels of phosphorus (0·17–16·3 mg kg−1) in moist tropical forests in Panama. We predicted that arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal composition would be more strongly associated with soil properties than with local tree communities while the composition of other fungal clades would be more strongly correlated with local tree communities than soil properties. We also predicted that fungal operational taxonomic unit (OTU) richness would be negatively correlated with soil fertility and positively correlated with tree species diversity within and among forests. We characterized soil chemistry, fine root biomass, and sequenced the ITS1 barcode region to describe fungal community composition from 70 soil cores across three 1‐ha tropical rainforest sites in Panama. The sites vary in soil chemistry, including P, and in tree species community composition, but experience similar annual rainfall. AM fungal community composition was partially correlated with soil chemistry (r = 0·32, P ≤ 0·001), but not with local tree communities, while non‐AM fungal communities were nearly equally correlated with soil chemistry (Partial Mantel test, r = 0·38, P ≤ 0·001) as with tree communities (r = 0·36, P ≤ 0·001). Linear models showed that AM OTU richness was not explained by any independent variable. For non‐AM fungi, phosphorus, pH, and soil moisture better predicted OTU richness across all cores than other biotic and abiotic factors. Synthesis. Our results show that AM fungal structure is driven primarily by soil chemistry. For non‐AM fungi, soil properties and the local tree community can play a joint role in structuring communities. Furthermore, we found that more diverse local tree communities did not harbour more fungal species. Our results suggest that soil properties act as an environmental filter for both trees and fungi, setting the stage for interactions between the two.
Member states’ opposition in the Council of the European Union and its impacts on the implementation of directives

In the Council of the European Union (EU), a qualified majority is mostly required to adopt legislative acts. Based on this majority rule, individual member states can be outvoted and are subsequently obliged to implement the law. This article analyses whether opposition in the Council of the EU affects the transposition of directives into national law by using the example of Austria from 2000 to 2008. The results demonstrate that domestic factors, rather than a negative political attitude, were responsible for delays and procedures when implementing previously contested directives. However, the effects of opposition in the Council on implementation were particularly apparent in cases where there was a high degree of misfit between EU provisions and the domestic legal structure.
Investigating the relationship between humor and difficulty in regulation of emotions and alexithymia in students

Introduction: Humor is an adaptive coping strategy that can be used as a way to cope with everyday stresses and communication. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between humor and difficulty in regulation of emotion and alexithymia in students. Materials and Methods: The present study is correlational. The statistical population of the study is all students of the Persian Gulf University in Bushehr, 200 of which were selected using the cluster sampling method. They responded to the Sense of Humor Questionnaire (SHQ, a 25-item questionnaire), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS, 36-item questionnaire), and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS, a 20-item questionnaire). To analyze the data, the statistical method of simultaneous multivariate regression was used. Results: The results of the study shows that there is a positive and significant relationship between humor and alexithymia (r= -0.17, P=0.05), but there is no relationship between humor and difficulty in emotion regulation (r= -0.08, P=0.05). There is also a positive and significant relationship between alexithymia and difficulty in emotion regulation (r= -0.19, P =0.01). Â Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, the effective importance of sense of humor in reducing emotional difficulty and alexithymia can be concluded.
Younger siblings of children with autism: Cognitive, language, and social skills

Autism has a known genetic linkage shown by increased prevalence of the syndrome in probands. Research has shows that those who do not necessarily fit the clinical diagnosis of autism may display sub-threshold traits, referred to as the broader phenotype of autism. This study looks at younger siblings of children with autism two times over the course of 1.5 years, with entry in the study at 12-23 months. This group is compared to a control group of siblings of typically developing children. 68 children participated in this study (42 male, 27 female) in two groups Sibs-ASD (n=41) and SibsTD (n=28). Groups are compared in language, cognitive, social performance and early predictive factors of later diagnosis. Results show that the Sibs-ASD show deficits at Time 1 in cognitive skill and social development, and have worse diagnostic outcomes than Sibs-TD. Within the sibs-ASD group females scored higher than males in the areas of language and cognitive ability. Early predictors of eventual autism spectrum diagnosis were found in lower performance on directing and requesting behaviors, expressive language and social skills.
Some improvement strategies for the sustainable chickpea development: Single or combined application of monosodium phosphate and sodium sulphate with or without gibberellic acid treatment by foliar or seed priming

An experiment was laid out with a target to enhance the performance of gram by the foliar spray of a minute amount of monosodium phosphate and/or sodium sulphate (P and S each at 2 kg/ha were sprayed in two equal splits, i.e. half at 60 and the remaining half at the 70 DAS alone or in combination with the gibberellic acid (GA3) treatment i.e., spray or soaking or P and S solution at 0.1%) with or without the seed priming of GA3 (10-6M GA3 for 8h) and/ or the GA3 foliar application (10-6M GA3 at 60-70 DAS). Monosodium phosphate and sodium sulphate each at 2 kg/ha were foliage applied in two equal splits, i.e. half at 60 and the remaining half at the 70 DAS alone or in combination with the GA3. Prior to sowing, total seeds were categorised into two groups; one group of seeds was primed in 0.0M GA3 and the other was primed in 10-6M GA3 aqueous solution, each for 8 hours. Total 16 treatments with 10 best combinations of monosodium phosphate and/or sodium sulphate with GA3 are possible viz., FPS, SGA + FP, SGA + FS, SGA + FPS, FGAP, FGAS, FGAPS, SGA + FGAP, SGA + FGAS and SGA + FGAPS. The combined application of monosodium phosphate and sodium sulphate with GA3 stimulated seed yield per plant, total protein and carbohydrate content at 130 DAS, along with other parameters at the 80 and 90 DAS.
Robust variable screening for regression using factor profiling

Sure independence screening is a fast procedure for variable selection in ultra‐high dimensional regression analysis. Unfortunately, its performance greatly deteriorates with increasing dependence among the predictors. To solve this issue, Factor Profiled Sure Independence Screening (FPSIS) models the correlation structure of the predictor variables, assuming that it can be represented by a few latent factors. The correlations can then be profiled out by projecting the data onto the orthogonal complement of the subspace spanned by these factors. However, neither of these methods can handle the presence of outliers in the data. Therefore, we propose a robust screening method which uses a least trimmed squares method to estimate the latent factors and the factor‐profiled variables. Variable screening is then performed on factor profiled variables by using regression MM‐estimators. Different types of outliers in this model and their roles in variable screening are studied. Both simulation studies and a real data analysis show that the proposed robust procedure has good performance on clean data and outperforms the two nonrobust methods on contaminated data.
Synthesis and characterization of biodiesel obtained from castor oil transesterification

The objectives of this work were to optimize the variables affecting transesterification process for biodiesel production from castor oil, non edible oil, by acid catalysis (sulphuric and phosphoric acid) and basic catalysis (potassium methoxide and potassium hydroxide); and to characterize the biodiesel for its use as fuel in compression ignition motors. The studied operation variables were methanol/oil molar ratio (3:1, 6:1, 9:1, 12:1), temperature (25, 35, 45, 55, 65 oC), and catalyst amount (2, 3, 4 wt.% in acid catalysis, and 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 wt.% in basic catalysis). Evolution of each process was followed by gas chromatography, determining the content of methyl esters at different reaction times. Biodiesel was characterized by a set of parameter according to European Standard, EN 14214. The best conditions for transesterification process were 9:1 methanol/oil molar ratio, 65 oC, and the use of potassium methoxide as catalyst with concentration 1.0 wt. %. In these conditions, obtained biodiesel presents satisfactory values of water content, iodine and saponification values, flash and combustion points, and temperature of 50% of distillate. However, values of density, kinematic viscosity, cetane index and cold filter plugging point, that are heavily dependent on oil, move away from those required by the European Standard.
The CFTR M 470 V , Intron 8 Poly-T , and 8 TG-Repeats Detection in Chinese Males with Congenital Bilateral Absence of the Vas Deferens

1 Department of Reproduction, ShengJing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, China 2Department of Urology, RenJi Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200127, China 3 Shenyang Institute of Criminal Technology, Shenyang 110004, China 4Department of Clinical Genetics, ShengJing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, China 5 Department of Urology, ShengJing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, China
Synthesis, Optical and Morphological Studies of ZnO Nanoparticles Capped with PVP as a Surfactant

ZnO nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized by a chemical precipitation method using non-ionic surfactants such as PVP in aqueous medium. The particles were prepared in air atmosphere at 80°C. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), UV-visible and photoluminescence (PL) studies were used to investigate the effect of capping agent on the size, morphology and optical properties of the ZnO nanoparticles.
’ s repository of research publications and other research outputs CrowdService : Serving the Individuals through Mobile Crowdsourcing and Service Composition Conference or Workshop Item

Some user needs in real life can only be accomplished by leveraging the intelligence and labor of other people via crowdsourcing tasks. For example, one may want to confirm the validity of the description of a secondhand laptop by asking someone else to inspect the laptop on site. To integrate these crowdsourcing tasks into user applications, it is required that crowd intelligence and labor be provided as easily accessible services (e.g., Web services), which can be called crowd services. In this paper, we develop a framework named CROWDSERVICE which supplies crowd intelligence and labor as publicly accessible crowd services via mobile crowdsourcing. We implement the proposed framework on the Android platform and evaluate the usability of the framework with a user study.
Supporting architectural design decisions through risk identification architecture pattern (RIAP) model

Web projects tend to have a high possibility of loss or failure compared to traditional projects. For this reason, risk management is becoming more emphasized and systemized in Web projects so as to improve the quality of difficult decisions that normally encompass a higher level of risk exposures. Software architecture process is seen as iterative process and the amount of risk-related software architecture artifacts in each iteration of the process differ from that of other iterations. Each iteration of a process needs a unique decision-making process to accommodate certain risk factors. Since each iteration of Web project design has different types of risks in the decision-making process, a decision support system should be tailored to satisfy the specific needs of a particular iteration. In this way, various risks that arise through the life cycle of a project can be constantly checked and monitored. This research aims to support architectural design decision-making process through a risk identification architecture pattern model called RIAP. The model is anticipated to clarify high-level design process and to support active design decisions. Consequently, the software architecture becomes easier to communicate, maintain and evolve. Furthermore, it supports the analysis, improvement, and reuse of architectural design decisions process in future Web projects.
Formulation Development and In vitro Evaluation of Combination Product of Glyburide and Metformin Hydrochloride Tablet

This study was attempted to formulate a combination product of Glyburide and Metformin Hydrochloride Tablets USP 2.5mg/500mg and to evaluate their physico-chemical properties. Wet granulation method was adopted for preparation of tablet using different excipients namely Microcrystalline cellulose, Povidone K-30, Copovidone, Croscarmellose sodium and Sodium stearyl fumerate in six different formulations (F1-F-6). The granules for tabletting were evaluated for angle of repose, bulk density, tapped density, compressibility index and drug content etc. The tablets were subjected to thickness, hardness, friability, disintegration and in vitro release studies. The results of physical parameters of tablets showed that there were capping, hardness and friability problems in formulation F-1, F-2 and F-3. Granules of formula F-4, F-5 and F-6 showed satisfactory flow properties, compressibility index and the physical parameters of tablets from these three formulations gave optimum result in comparison to innovator's brand. Disintegration time of these three formulations (7-8 min) was found similar with innovator's brand (6.30-7.30 min). Assay of formula F-6 of glyburide (97.97%) and Metformin Hydrochloride (100.2%) met the USP specification (90%-110%). It was also found that dissolution profile of Glyburide depends on particle size of Glyburide powder. When micronized and non micronized grade of Glyburide was used in a ratio of 3:1 (F-6) it gave similar dissolution profile as innovator's brand where the similarity factor (f2) was calculated as 59. On the other hand, dissolution profile of Metformin hydrochloride was found similar in all the three formulations (F-4, F-5, F-6) with reference to innovator having all f2 values above 50. Formulation F-6 possessed good stability in accelerated condition for 6 months study. By comparing the dissolution profiles with the innovator's drug glucovance® tablet, it was revealed that the formulation F-6 exhibit similar drug release profile for both Glyburide and Metformin Hydrochloride. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3329/bpj.v16i2. 22304 Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 16 (2): 195-203, 2013
Temperature-dependent characteristics of junctionless bulk transistor

The temperature-dependent performance, including drain current (Id) and gate capacitance (Cgg) of multi-gate junctionless (JL) bulk transistor for temperature (T) ranging from 150 K to 500 K, was investigated using 3D thermodynamic quantum-corrected device simulation. The combination effect of impurity scattering and phonon scattering is observed owing to the different temperature-dependent of mobility at low and high temperature. Since the Cgg of the JL device consists of a series combination of oxide capacitance (Cox) and semiconductor channel capacitance (CS) due to bulk conduction of the current, the Cgg at on-state (Vg = 1 V) shows much sensitive to the temperature than a conventional inversion-mode transistor.
Meat quality of three chicken genotypes reared according to the organic system

The meat quality of three poultry genotypes with differing growth rates (fast-growing Ross; medium and slow growing Kabir and Robusta maculata, respectively) was compared. All the birds were reared according to the organic production system which requires a paddock with grass pasture (4 m2/bird) and a slaughter age greater than 81 d. The trial was carried out on 100 female chickens per strain. The meat quality was affected by the 20 different degree of maturity of the strains at slaughter age, which was 70% for Ross, 52 % for Kabir and 78% for Robusta maculata. Ross and Kabir were slaughtered at 81 d, whereas Robusta maculata, required 120 d to reach a commercial weight (>2 kg). The meat of all the three genotypes showed good qualitative traits. The main differences of the three genotypes regarded moisture, lipid, pHu, colour, iron, oxidative stability and overall acceptance. Compared with Kabir and Robusta maculata Ross meat had more fat, lower pHu and iron, and was 25 paler. The oxidative stability during display (24-96 h at 4° C) and acceptance were the worst. Kabir chickens, being the least mature strain, had the highest moisture content with a high cooking loss. The slower-growing genotypes showed a good adaptation to the extensive rearing conditions, while the fast-growing genotype showed unbalanced muscle response to the greater activity and the oxidative stability of the meat was reduced.
Constraints on generalisation in a self-organising model of early word learning

We investigate from a modelling perspective how lexical structure can be grounded in the underlying speech and visual categories that infants have already acquired. We demonstrate that the formation of well-structured categories is an important prerequisite for successful generalisation of cross-modal associations such that even after a single presentation of a word-object pair, the model is able to generalise to other members of the category. This ability to generalise a label to objects of like kinds, commonly referred to as the taxonomic assumption, is an emergent property of the model and provides an explanatory framework for understanding aspects of infant word learning. Furthermore, we investigate the impact of constraints imposed on the Hebbian associations in the cross-modal training phase and identify the conditions under which generalisation does not take place.
Comparison of Hydroxyapatite Coatings Produced Different Powder Morphology

Metallic biomaterials are attractive materials for application orthopaedic implants because of their significant mechanical properties. However, metallic biomaterials are generally biocompatible and are required to coat with osteoconductive coatings such as hydroxyapatite (HA) that is natural mineral found in bone tissue. Hydroxyapatite (HA), formulated as Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2, which has a great osteoconductivity properties with human organism and formed an inorganic part of the bone is used as a biomaterial to repair hard tissues and their configurations. Different methods such as plasma spraying, High velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF), laser, electrophoresis, dip coating, sol-gel methods are widely used to coat the metallic implant materials. On one hand plasma spraying is the most common and economical method for industrial applications, on the other hand, high process temperature of plasma spraying causes defects on HA structure and occurrence of secondary phases. The main effect on the decomposition of HA during spraying is affected by the main process parameters such as plasma gases, process voltage and current and feedstock materials. In this study, HA powders having different size distrubition and morphology were used to compare their response for decomposition process. Furthermore, different plasma spray systems were utilized to compare coating structure after spraying. Coating were fabricated grade 5 titanium alloy and coatings were analysed using Scanning Electron Microscope and X-Ray Diffraction methods