Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antifungal Activity of Morinda citrifolia leaf extracts against Colletotrichum acutatum

Anthracnose is a plant disease that can infect a variety of plants worldwide. Fungal pathogen groups are the cause of anthracnose, one of which is Colletotrichum acutatum. Morinda citrifolia is famous for having antimicrobial activity. This study aims to determine the antifungal activity of M. citrifolia leaves extract against the growth of the fungus C. acutatum. The extract solvent used was 96% ethanol. The experiment consisted of five treatments (0%, 20%, 40%, 60% and propineb 0.1% as positive control). The method used in this study was the poisoned food technique. In this technique, C. acutatum was grown on PDA media mixed with M. citrifolia leaves extract. Antifungal activity was observed based on reduced mycelium growth compared to control. Observations were made every day by measuring the diameter of the fungus mycelium for eleven days. The analysis showed that 60% M. citrifolia leaves extract effectively inhibited the growth of the mycelium C. acutatum on the eleventh day of observation.
Effects of number of frozen-thawed ram sperm and number of inseminations on fertility in synchronized ewes under field condition

The effects of the number of frozen-thawed ram sperm per single and double intra-cervical artificial insemination (AI) on fertility in ewes were studied. A total of 89 non-pregnant ewes were synchronized for oestrus with two doses of 100 µg PGF 2 α (Cloprostenol) 9 days apart. The ewes were randomly assigned to one of four groups; D200 (n = 23; double AI with 200 × 10 6 sperm), S200 (n = 24; single AI with 200 × 10 6 sperm), D100 (n = 24; double AI with 100 × 10 6 sperm) and S100 (n = 18; single AI with 100 × 10 6 sperm). Ewes were inseminated within 12 to 18 h for single AI and, within 10 to 12 h and 16 to 18 h for double AI after the onset of oestrus. The onset of oestrus ranged from 28 to 76 h (54.33 ± 1.28 h). The high percentage (29.2%) of ewes showed oestrus between 51 to 60 h. The non-return rates were highest in group D200 (56.5%) and differed significantly (p < 0.05) from group S100 (11.1%). No ewes were pregnant in group S100, and the pregnancy rates among the remaining groups did not differ. The mean gestation period was 152.8 ± 0.5 days and no difference was observed among the groups. The lambing and multiple birth rates were 100% in group D200. The single and twin lambing was highest in group D100 (33.3%) and group D200 (83.3%), respectively. Only one triplet lambing and the highest lambing size (2.2 ± 0.2) was recorded in group D200. In conclusion, double AI with 200 × 10 6 sperm showed comparatively most practical for achieving high pregnancy rates and lambing performances in Bangladeshi ewes under field conditions.
Local Recurrence in Patients with Upper Third Rectum Cancer Treated with Surgery Alone Compared with Surgery Plus Chemoradiotherapy

Background: Colorectal cancer is the third most common neoplasm in Mexico, rectal cancer is the 16th most common neoplasm [1]. Due to the different behavior and prognostic factors of locally advance disease, manage should be tailored by a multidisciplinary approach. In tumors that rise in the upper third rectum cancer scenario there are no studies comparing the oncological results of multimodal treatment vs surgery alone. Objective: To compare the disease-free survival in patients with upper third rectal cancer treated with surgery alone vs multimodal treatment. Material and Methods: We conducted a descriptive, retrospective, longitudinal study using an historical cohort. Analysis was based from the information in patient`s records from diagnosed with cancer of the upper third rectum from 2011 to 2016. All patients with diagnosis of upper third rectum cancer were set in to two groups according to the treatment modality recited: Surgery alone and neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The records of patients diagnosed with cancer of the upper third rectum were reviewed and divided into two groups: with and without neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, both treated with surgery. Results: A total of 64 patient`s record were eligible, 48 of them were treated with surgery alone and 16 with a multimodal approach. The mean age was 65.5 years in those treated with surgery and 69 in the multimodal management group. The most frequent procedure was anterior resection, 45 cases (70.3%) in the group treated with surgery and 12 cases (18.7%) in the multimodal group. A case of complete pathological response was reported after a follow up of two years. Conclusion: The data suggests that there are no statistically significant differences in the local recurrence and disease-free survival with the use of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.
Modeling the impacts of diffuse light fraction on photosynthesis in ORCHIDEE (v5453) land surface model

Abstract. Aerosol- and cloud-induced changes in diffuse light have important impacts on the global land carbon cycle, as they alter light distribution and photosynthesis in vegetation canopies. However, this effect remains poorly represented or evaluated in current land surface models. Here, we add a light partitioning module and a new canopy light transmission module to the ORCHIDEE (Organising Carbon and Hydrology In Dynamic Ecosystems) land surface model (trunk version, v5453) and use the revised model, ORCHIDEE_DF, to estimate the fraction of diffuse light and its effect on gross primary production (GPP) in a multilayer canopy. We evaluate the new parameterizations using flux observations from 159 eddy covariance sites over the globe. Our results show that, compared with the original model, ORCHIDEE_DF improves the GPP simulation under sunny conditions and captures the observed higher photosynthesis under cloudier conditions in most plant functional types (PFTs). Our results also indicate that the larger GPP under cloudy conditions compared with sunny conditions is mainly driven by increased diffuse light in the morning and in the afternoon as well as by a decreased vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and decreased air temperature at midday. The observations show that the strongest positive effects of diffuse light on photosynthesis are found in the range from 5 to 20 ∘C and at a VPD < 1 kPa. This effect is found to decrease when the VPD becomes too large or the temperature falls outside of the abovementioned range, which is likely due to the increasing stomatal resistance to leaf CO2 uptake. ORCHIDEE_DF underestimates the diffuse light effect at low temperature in all PFTs and overestimates this effect at high temperature and at a high VPD in grasslands and croplands. The new model has the potential to better investigate the impact of large-scale aerosol changes and long-term changes in cloudiness on the terrestrial carbon budget, both in the historical period and in the context of future air quality policies and/or climate engineering.
Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles by using Batch Method and Study its Antibacterial Activity

يتضمن هذا البحث تحضير محاليل الذهب النانوية بأستخدام الطريقة القياسية والعكسية. باستخدام الطريقة القياسية ، تم إعداد محاليل الذهب النانوية بمتوسط أحجام تتراوح بين (25-40) نانو متر. أظهر تغيير العوامل التي تؤثر على طريقة توركيفتش (تركيز أيونات الذهب، درجة الحرارة ،كمية السيترات المضافة، التسخين الاولي، زمن التفاعل وتغيير ترتيب الإضافة للمواد المتفاعلة ) اظهر اختلافات في الألوان والامتصاصيات والطول الموجي الاعظم لمحاليل الذهب النانوية المحضرة. هذه العوامل وفقا لنظرية (آلية النمو) تعني حصول تغير في احجام وتوزيع جزيئات الذهب النانوية المحضرة عن طريق تغيير تركيز أيونات الذهب. امكن رسم منحنى المعايرة الذي يستخدم لتحديد تركيز أيونات الذهب في المحاليل المائية وحلي الذهب بعد تحويلها إلى جسيمات الذهب النانوية. أظهرت النتائج نسبة استرجاع جيدة وخطأ نسبي صغير. تمت دراسة فعالية الجسيمات الذهب النانوية المحضرة وفقا لطريقة توركيفيتش كعوامل مضادة للبكتيريا. تم حساب التركيز الأدنى للتثبيط لجسيمات الذهب النانوية التي تثبط النمو البكتيري باستخدام طريقة التخفيف حيث تم استخدام محاليل الذهب النانوية لمنع نمو البكتيريا.
Development of the red algal parasite Vertebrata aterrimophila sp. nov. (Rhodomelaceae, Ceramiales) from New Zealand

ABSTRACT Parasitic red algae grow only on other red algae and have over 120 described species. Developmental studies in red algal parasites are few, although they have shown that secondary pit connections formed between parasite and host and proposed that this was an important process in successful parasitism. Furthermore, it was recorded that the transfer of parasite nuclei by these secondary pit connections led to different host cell effects. We used developmental studies to reconstruct early stages and any host cell effects of a parasite on Vertebrata aterrima. A mitochondrial marker (cox1) and morphological observations (light and fluorescence microscopy) were used to describe this new red algal parasite as Vertebrata aterrimophila sp. nov. Early developmental stages show that a parasite spore connects via secondary pit connections with a pericentral host cell after cuticle penetration. Developmental observations revealed a unique connection cell that grows into a ‘trunk-like’ structure. Host cell transformation after infection by the parasite included apparent increases in both carbohydrate concentrations and nuclear size, as well as structural changes. Analyses of molecular phylogenies and reproductive structures indicated that the closest relative of V. aterrimophila is its host, V. aterrima. Our study shows a novel developmental parasite stage (‘trunk-like’ cell) and highlights the need for further developmental studies to investigate the range of developmental patterns and host effects in parasitic red algae.
A register of public-sector research organizations as a tool for research policy studies and evaluation

This article presents the conceptual and methodological design of a register of public-sector organizations, as well as a preliminary delineation of such organizations in Europe. Conceptual and methodological issues are discussed, as well as the potential usage of the register for interlining datasets and analysis. The significance of the register for research policy and evaluation studies is also discussed, as related with changes associated with New Public Management reforms.
Evaluation of comparative intradermal tuberculin and interferon gamma release tests for prediction of tuberculous lesion development in slaughtered cattle

Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) is a chronic contagious disease of cattle which has economical, public health and veterinary importance worldwide. So far, test and slaughter is the most feasible method to control the disease but identification of lesions from slaughtered animals does not always coincide with ante-mortem test results. Fifty four animals which were found positive by comparative intradermal tuberculin test (CIDT) or INF-γ release assay or both were slaughtered and post mortem examination (PME) was conducted to identify tuberculous (TB) lesions. The animals were composed of four age groups (≤ 3; 4-6; 7-9 and ≥ 10 years) the two sexes and two breeds (Boran, Boran-Friesian cross). Out of all the slaughtered animals, lesions were detected from 70.3% (38/54) of them. No significant difference was observed among the four age groups and two sexes of both breeds of animals on the level of TB lesion detection. Higher proportion of the lesion was observed by mediastinal (40.4%) followed by bronchial (34.8%), retropharyngeal (17.9%) and lastly miliary form and mesenteric lymph nodes in equal proportion (3.3%). Among the CIDT positive animals, 59.2% of them had lesions. Similarly, 46.2% of INF-γ release assay positive animals had lesions during postmortem examination. Of the total CIDT (+) and INF-γ (-) animals, postmortem lesions were detected from 22.2% of them, and in the vice-versa, of the CIDT (-) and INF-γ (+) animals, 9.2% of them contain TB lesions. Using the PME as reference test, sensitivity of CIDT was 84.2% and the specificity was 6.2%. Similarly, the sensitivity and specificity of the INF-γ release assay was 65.7 and 37.5% respectively. It is concluded that, both tests predict the development of TB lesions. However, in our condition, CIDT was found more predictable for detection of TB lesions as compared to INF-γ release assay. Key words: Bovine tuberculosis (BTB), comparative intradermal tuberculin test (CIDT), interferon gamma (INF-γ) release, post mortem examination (PME), tuberculous (TB) lesion
Leap Motion-Enhanced Augmented Reality Video Games to Encourage Intergenerational Engagement and Wrist Exercise

For years, the health industry has been urging people to live a healthy life either by exercising or eating healthily. Furthermore, often, retired seniors would like to play with their family but there is not much common interest. In addition, one of the acute health problems at the workplace is carpal tunnel syndrome. Hence, inspired by Kinect and Wii, this project aims to: a) encourage more intergenerational family-senior engagement and b) encourage exercise at the workplace whenever they need a break. A video game gives a sense of achievement and progress is visible. Thus, we have developed Leap-Motion-enhanced games such as rolling ball, trivia, and maze video games of different levels to cater to different abilities. We also hope that these games would add to the activities in retirement homes/villages. The theme and objects in the games can be easily changed. Thus, the system can be easily personalized for different socio-cognitive-affective engagement. Feedback from the Leap Motion-enhanced developer community is positive and constructive with areas for improvement
Silver ion release from Ag/PET hollow fibers: Mathematical model and its application to food packing

A food packing system requires an antimicrobial environment with high air permeability to guarantee absolutely both food safety and long and reliable durability. A hollow fiber membrane containing silver ions is the best candidate for this purpose. However, a safe and controllable release process has become a pressing issue in the practical application. Here, we use the predator–prey model to predict the antimicrobial activity of silver ions released from a hollow fiber, and Staphylococcus aureus was applied to the antibacterial experiment. Both theoretical and experimental results show that there are an optimal concentration of the silver ions and an optimal release time. This article sheds a bright light on the design of a new kind of food packing systems using the hollow fiber membrane.
A Machine Learning Model to Detect Flow Disturbances during Manufacturing of Composites by Liquid Moulding

In this work, a supervised machine learning (ML) model was developed to detect flow disturbances caused by the presence of a dissimilar material region in liquid moulding manufacturing of composites. The machine learning model was designed to predict the position, size and relative permeability of an embedded rectangular dissimilar material region through use of only the signals corresponding to an array of pressure sensors evenly distributed on the mould surface. The burden of experimental tests required to train in an efficient manner such predictive models is so high that favours its substitution with synthetically-generated simulation datasets. A regression model based on the use of convolutional neural networks (CNN) was developed and trained with data generated from mould-filling simulations carried out through use of OpenFoam as numerical solver. The evolution of the pressure sensors through the filling time was stored and used as grey-level images containing information regarding the pressure, the sensor location within the mould and filling time. The trained CNN model was able to recognise the presence of a dissimilar material region from the data used as inputs, meeting accuracy expectation in terms of detection. The purpose of this work was to establish a general framework for fully-synthetic-trained machine learning models to address the occurrence of manufacturing disturbances without placing emphasis on its performance, robustness and optimization. Accuracy and model robustness were also addressed in the paper. The effect of noise signals, pressure sensor network size, presence of different shape dissimilar regions, among others, were analysed in detail. The ability of ML models to examine and overcome complex physical and engineering problems such as defects produced during manufacturing of materials and parts is particularly innovative and highly aligned with Industry 4.0 concepts.
Adaptive genomic variation associated with environmental gradients along a latitudinal cline in Rana temporaria

Rana temporaria occur across a large geographic and environmental gradient in Scandinavia. Several studies involving common garden experiments have established adaptive divergence across the gradient. The main objective of this study was to determine the extent of neutral and adaptive genetic divergence across the latitudinal gradient. Here we sequence genome-wide markers for 15 populations from six regions sampled from southern Sweden to Finland. Using a multivariate approach we find that 68% of the genomic variation is associated with climate or geographically structured climate. Using outlier scans and environmental association analyses we identify a set of potentially adaptive loci and examine their change in allele frequency associated with different climatic variables. Using a gradient forest analysis we identify points along three of the climate variables where allele frequencies change more rapidly than expected if it were a linear association. We identify a large threshold effect associated with BIO5 (mean temperature during the warmest month) which is seen as a rapid change in southern Sweden. By comparing the change in neutral and adaptive allele frequencies across the whole gradient, we identify southern Sweden as a region with the largest divergence between the datasets. This suggests small changes in the climate may result in a mismatch between the adaptive genotypes and the environment in these populations. Overall this study shows that genomic analyses can provide a powerful complement to common garden experiments to improve our understanding of adaptive divergence across heterogeneous landscapes.
Phonetic drift reveals interconnected phonological representations in simultaneous bilinguals: A case study of English and Czech stop consonants

Purpose: The interconnectedness of phonological categories between the two languages of early bilinguals has previously been explored using single-probe speech production and perception data. Our goal was to tap into bilingual phonological representations in another way, namely via monitoring instances of phonetic drift due to changes in language exposure. Design: We report a case study of two teenage English–Czech simultaneous bilinguals who live in Canada and spend summers in Czechia (Czech Republic). Voice onset time (VOT) of word-initial voiced and voiceless stops was measured upon the bilinguals’ arrival to and before their departure from a two-month stay in Czechia. Data and Analysis: Each bilingual read the same set of 71 Czech and 58 English stop-initial target words (and additional fillers) at each time of measurement. The measured VOT values were submitted to linear mixed effects models, assessing the effects of target language, measurement time, and underlying voicing. Findings/Conclusions: After the immersion in a Czech-speaking environment, for both speakers the count of voiced stops realized as prevoiced (i.e., having negative VOT) increased and the measured VOT of voiced stops (appearing different for English and Czech initially) drifted towards more negative (more Czech-like) values in both languages, while no change was detected for the voiceless stops of either English (aspirated) or Czech (unaspirated). The results suggest that the bilinguals maintain three-way VOT distinctions, differentiating voiceless aspirated (English), voiceless unaspirated (Czech), and voiced (English–Czech) stops, with connected bilingual representations of the voiced categories. Originality: Data on phonetic drift in simultaneous bilinguals proficient in their two languages have not previously been published. Significance/Implications: We show that observing phonetic shifts due to changes in the ambient linguistic environment can be revealing about the organization of phonological space in simultaneous bilinguals.
Fault-tolerant design for increasing the reliability of an autonomous driving gear shifting system

The reliability of technical systems can be greatly reduced if possible faults cannot be accommodated but lead to system shut-down with sometimes catastrophic consequences. The algorithms and systems of fault-tolerant control were developed in the last years into a powerful tool to accommodate such faults. Additionally, it became obvious that the design of a technical system can ease or hinder the application of these tools and can also lead to the accommodation of faults be itself. This kind of design – fault-tolerant design – and its components are presented in this paper on the example of a shifting system for the gear box an autonomous driving race car. This race car competes in the well-known formula student driverless competition; in such competitions the reliability of the car and the capability to accommodate not avoidable faults is of paramount importance. The different elements of fault-tolerance incorporated in the design of the gear shifting system are explained on the basis of an established model of product concretization.
Moscas ectoparasitas (Diptera, Streblidae) de morcegos (Mammalia, Chiroptera) em um remanescente periurbano de Cerrado: composição da comunidade, prevalência, intensidade de infestação e especificidade

RESUMO Moscas Streblidae ocorrem exclusivamente em morcegos e estão mundialmente distribuídas, com uma alta riqueza de moscas e hospedeiros no Brasil. Entretanto, o conhecimento dos aspectos ecológicos dessa relação é limitado à descrição das associações. O objetivo nesse trabalho foi caracterizar a comunidade de moscas ectoparasitas e de seus possíveis padrões de associação em uma área periurbana de Cerrado. Os morcegos foram capturados entre fevereiro e julho de 2011, com um esforço amostral de 9.504 h.m2. Os ectoparasitas foram coletados e identificados. A relação parasito-hospedeiro foi determinada usando índices como prevalência, intensidade média de infestação e especificidade. Capturamos 161 morcegos de sete espécies, dos quais 29,81% (n = 48) apresentaram-se infestados. Encontramos 83 moscas de seis espécies de Streblidae, com duas associações acidentais e oito associações não acidentais. A maior prevalência e intensidade de infestação foram verificadas na associação entre Carollia perspicillata (Linnaeus, 1758) e Trichobius joblingi Wenzel, 1966. Artibeus planirostris (Spix, 1823) também apresentou elevadas taxas de prevalência, enquanto Artibeus lituratus (Olfers, 1818) e Sturnira lilium (E, Geoffroy, 1810) revelaram baixas prevalências de infestação. Quatro espécies de Streblidae foram consideradas monoxênicas e duas oligoxênicas, o que é indicado pela análise de especificidade, o que demonstra o predomínio de espécies monoxênicas já relatado em outros trabalhos.