Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Answering Complex Questions by Combining Information from Curated and Extracted Knowledge Bases

Knowledge-based question answering (KB_QA) has long focused on simple questions that can be answered from a single knowledge source, a manually curated or an automatically extracted KB. In this work, we look at answering complex questions which often require combining information from multiple sources. We present a novel KB-QA system, Multique, which can map a complex question to a complex query pattern using a sequence of simple queries each targeted at a specific KB. It finds simple queries using a neural-network based model capable of collective inference over textual relations in extracted KB and ontological relations in curated KB. Experiments show that our proposed system outperforms previous KB-QA systems on benchmark datasets, ComplexWebQuestions and WebQuestionsSP.
Seed growth rate, seed filling period and yield responses of soybean (Glycine max) to plant densities at specific reproductive growth stages.

There is limited information on the seed growth parameters to different plant densities and their effect on plant yield. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of plant population density on changes of rate and duration of seed growth at specific reproductive growth stages, and to examine relationships between seed growth rate (SGR), seed filling period (SFP) and yield components in soybean. In first experiment, three soybean varieties included; AGS 190 (vegetable type), Palmetto and Deing (grain types) were grown at 20, 30 and 40 plants m-2. In the second experiment, AGS190, and grain types of Argomolio and Willis were grown at 20, 30 or 50 plants m-2. Results indicated that differences in plant density did not affect the SGR or SFP during any reproductive growth stages. Dry matter accumulation rate in seed was highest during reproductive growth stages of R6-R7. This period of growth for seed development was highest in SGR and SFP. As plant density increased, seed number of individual plant decreased. Seed number adjustments and SGR patterns interpreted the stability of final seed size within variety, despite the changes of plant density. Seed growth rate and seed filling period correlated inversely with seed number per plant and positively with final seed size. In conclusion, number of plants per unit area and number of seeds per plant are important features to determine yield potential, not seed growth rate in soybean.
Biochemical and agronomical responses of grapevines to alteration of source-sink ratio by cluster thinning and shoot trimming

The control of leaf to fruit ratio by the practice of entire clusters removal from the vine upon berry set has been used in traditional vineyards in order to regulate yield and to improve chemical composition of the berries. Although this practice has been settled in temperate zones, little is known about grapevines behavior in tropical growing areas. The aim of this work was to evaluate the biochemical and agronomical responses of two Vitis vinifera cultivars (Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon) grown in Caldas, Minas Gerais, Brazil, a new winegrape region. Grapevines were submitted to cluster thinning (0%, 50% and 75% of cluster removal) and trimming treatments (trimmed and untrimmed) imposed at pea size stage. The source-sink alteration by fruit removal and shoot trimming had impact on yield, leaf sugar metabolism and grape composition. Although there was an improvement in color intensity of the berries with reduction of fruit load, the cluster thinning practice should be avoided in vineyards grown in the south of Minas Gerais State without impairment of wine grape quality. On the other hand, shoot trimming practice should be recommended only for Merlot in order to improve sugar grapes from vines with no cluster removal.
Effects of milk treatment with dynamic high pressure on microbial populations, and lipolytic and proteolytic profiles of Crescenza cheese

The effects of some physical treatments of milk (pasteurization and homogenization at 1000 bar) on the evolution of the microbial populations, as well as on the proteolytic and lipolytic profiles, of Crescenza, a traditional Italian soft cheese, were studied in relation to its shelf-life. The dynamic, high-pressure homogenization (HPH) treatment of milk caused a reduction in the cell loads attained by the expiry date of yeasts and Pseudomonas spp. Moreover, the thermal and HPH treatments had different selective actions on the yeast populations, the former favouring oxidative species. In addition, the Crescenza obtained using milk treated at 1000 bar showed evidence of early and significant lipolysis.
La reconnaissance des mots dans la parole accentuée : Une étude en laboratoire et à l’extérieur. (Mispronunciations slow down word recognition: A study using touchscreens in the lab and the real world)[In French]

Des travaux récents suggèrent que les enfants et les adultes sont initialement ralentis dans leur compréhension des mots qui n’ont pas été prononcés de façon standard. Néanmoins, quand ils font face à un interlocuteur qui à un discours accentué, ils développent rapidement des stratégies spécifiques qui leur permettent de comprendre même des prononciations atypiques. Cependant, ces résultats sont typiquement issus de recherches en laboratoire, où l’attention des participants se concentre sur une tâche unique qui leur demande peu de ressources. Afin de dépasser ces limitations, nous avons mené une expérience de reconnaissance de mots sur tablette tactile, en évaluant des enfants et des adultes, en laboratoire et dans l’environnement naturel de chaque groupe. Nous avons constaté que des déviations de prononciation dans la parole accentuée ralentissent la reconnaissance des mots, chez des enfants et adultes, tant dans le laboratoire que dans des environnements naturels.
Habitat selection by mule deer during migration: effects of landscape structure and natural-gas development

The disruption of traditional migratory routes by anthropogenic disturbances has shifted patterns of resource selection by many species, and in some instances has caused populations to decline. Moreover, in recent decades populations of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) have declined throughout much of their historic range in the western United States. We used resource-selection functions to determine if the presence of natural-gas development altered patterns of resource selection by migrating mule deer. We compared spring migration routes of adult female mule deer fitted with GPS collars (n = 167) among four study areas that had varying degrees of natural-gas development from 2008 to 2010 in the Piceance Basin of northwest Colorado, USA. Mule deer migrating through the most developed area had longer step lengths (straight-line distance between successive GPS locations) compared with deer in less-developed areas. Additionally, deer migrating through the most developed study areas tended to select for habitat types that provided greater amounts of concealment cover, whereas deer from the least developed areas tended to select habitats that increased access to forage and cover. Deer selected habitats closer to well pads and avoided roads in all instances except along the most highly developed migratory routes, where road densities may have been too high for deer to avoid roads without deviating substantially from established migration routes. These results indicate that behavioral tendencies toward avoidance of anthropogenic disturbance can be overridden during migration by the strong fidelity ungulates demonstrate towards migration routes. If avoidance is feasible, then deer may select areas further from development, whereas in highly developed areas, deer may simply increase their rate of travel along established migration routes.
Auto-encodeurs pour la compréhension de documents parlés (Auto-encoders for Spoken Document Understanding)[In French]

Les représentations de documents au moyen d’approches à base de réseaux de neurones ont montré des améliorations significatives dans de nombreuses tâches du traitement du langage naturel. Dans le cadre d’applications réelles, où des conditions d’enregistrement difficiles peuvent être rencontrées, la transcription automatique de documents parlés peut générer un nombre de mots mal transcrits important. Cet article propose une représentation des documents parlés très bruités utilisant des caractéristiques apprises par un auto-encodeur profond supervisé. La méthode proposée s’appuie à la fois sur les documents bruités et leur équivalent propre annoté manuellement pour estimer une représentation plus robuste des documents bruités. Cette représentation est évaluée sur le corpus DECODA sur une tâche de classification thématique de conversations téléphoniques atteignant une précision de 83% avec un gain d’environ 6%.
Maintaining Quality in FEVER Annotation

We propose two measures for measuring the quality of constructed claims in the FEVER task. Annotating data for this task involves the creation of supporting and refuting claims over a set of evidence. Automatic annotation processes often leave superficial patterns in data, which learning systems can detect instead of performing the underlying task. Humans also can leave these superficial patterns, either voluntarily or involuntarily (due to e.g. fatigue). The two measures introduced attempt to detect the impact of these superficial patterns. One is a new information-theoretic and distributionality based measure, DCI; and the other an extension of neural probing work over the ARCT task, utility. We demonstrate these measures over a recent major dataset, that from the English FEVER task in 2019.
Evaluating Habitat Quality for the Dusky Flycatcher

Abstract We studied the dusky flycatcher (Empidonax oberholseri) at 8 sites in central Idaho, USA, in 2002 and 2003 to examine relationships among vegetation cover, density of breeding conspecifics, and indicators of habitat quality. Number of breeding territories and number of fledglings per hectare were positively associated, suggesting that the dusky flycatcher experienced increased reproductive success where it bred at the highest densities. However, the relationships between nesting success, annual reproductive success, number of fledglings per hectare, and amount of understory cover showed substantial annual variation. Nesting success did not differ significantly across sites or between years. Both reproductive success, expressed as young produced per hectare (range: 0.34–3.09 in 2002 and 0.79–3.82 in 2003) and young produced per nesting attempt (range: 0.71–2.78 in 2002 and 1.11–3.10 in 2003), differed across study sites in each year. Mean clutch size did not differ significantly among sites or years. Mean egg weight showed significant variation across some sites within years and was associated negatively with the 3 measures of reproductive success in 2002, although small sample sizes prevented reliable inference about the appropriateness of this measure as an indicator of habitat quality. Mean clutch size and mean egg weight were not associated with vegetation cover variables. Thus, dusky flycatcher reproductive success showed inconsistencies with individual vegetation measurements at the site scale. Forest managers who use vegetation treatments to increase amounts of understory shrub cover (e.g., by removing portions of the overstory conifer canopy) should increase densities of this species and, in turn, increase number of fledglings produced, but these responses appear to be better measured at the territory or nest scales than at the stand or site scales.
Emotion Detection Using Neural Network for Images

— In recent developments, emotions/feelings play a major roll in understanding human psychological behaviour. There are applications which carry the tasks based on emotion detection. All human beings, pets, and even trees have emotion. Facial expression (FE) is a result of one or more motions or position of muscles beneath the skin of the face and is a primary means of coveying social information between humans. Eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth are often viewed as important features of FE. We propose to detect FE (emotion) from still pictures of the human face. Face image is processed by extacting fudicial points using geometrical method. Gabor filter is applied around the points to extract the features. We also extracted features by Local Binary Pattern (LBP) from the whole image. This combination of featues is applied to Principle Component Analysis (PCA) to reduce dimensionality and finally normalized features are given to Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) classifier to detect one emotion out of seven possible emotions considered in our experiments. As features are extracted around the fuducial points to extract strong features.We expect that, emotions like angry, disgust, fear, happy, neutral, sad, surprise can be detected.
DETERMINACIÓN DE LA DL 50 y TL 50 DE EXTRACTOS ETANÓLICOS DE SUSPENSIONES CELULARES DE Azadirachta indica SOBRE Spodoptera frugiperda DETERMINATION OF THE LD 50 AND THE LT 50 ETHANOL'S EXTRACTS OF CELLULAR SUSPENSIONS FROM Azadirachta indica OVER Spodoptera frugiperda

The production in vitro of secondary metabolites from neem arises like an alternative for the possible industrial processing of biocidas. In the search of alternatives for the control of Spodoptera frugiperda , were evaluated ethanolic extracts of cellular suspensions from Azadirachta indica in order to determine the DL 50 and the TL 50 on the larval state of the second "instar" (L 2). Four concentrations of the extracts (2.500, 5.000, 10.000, and 30.000 ppm) and the control (alcohol 96%) to determine mortality in the time (0, 12, 18, 25, 40 hours) were compared. It was determined a DL 50 at the 12 hours of 2.256 ppm, (R2 = 88, 54%), at the 18 hours of 3.928 ppm, (R2 = 90,30%), at the 25 hours of 2.818 ppm, (R2 = 90,30%) and at the 40 hours of 1.064 ppm, (R2 =90,30%). The doses of 5.000 ppm, 10.000 ppm and 30.000 ppm, didn't present differences statistically significant in their lethal action, but were effective in the insect control.
SOFA : Une plateforme d’analyse syntaxique en ligne pour l’ancien français (SOFA : An online Syntactic Old French Annotator)[In French]

SOFA une application web dédiée à l’étiquetage syntaxique de l’ancien français. Cette plateforme est une démonstration permettant d’appliquer sur n’importe quel texte, ou sur un des textes d’ancien français, des modèles de lemmatisation, d’annotation morpho-syntaxique, et d’analyse syntaxique, en plus d’en visualiser les performances.
DNA-binding and transcriptional activation properties of tobacco NIC2-locus ERF189 and related transcription factors

In tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), several transcription factors belonging to the IXa group of APETALA2/ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR (AP2/ERF) cluster at the regulatory NIC2 locus for the leaf nicotine level, and directly activate structural genes required for nicotine biosynthesis and transport. Solanaceous Atropa and Hyoscyamus plants synthesize medicinal tropane alkaloids by utilizing enzymes that partially overlap with the nicotine pathway. We tested whether the tobacco NIC2-locus ERF189 binds to potential ERF binding sites in the promoters of various structural genes involved in biosynthesis of nicotine and tropane alkaloids by an electrophoresis mobility shift assay. ERF189 bound four new GCC-box-like sequences in three nicotine structural genes, but did not recognize other candidate binding sites. This binding preference was used to optimize the consensus binding sequence of ERF189 as 5′-(A/C)GC(A/C)NNCC(A/T)-3′. Five group IXa ERFs (tobacco ERF189, tobacco ERF163, Catharanthus ORCA3, Arabidopsis AtERF13, and Arabidopsis AtERF1) were examined whether they bind to the ERF189-recognition site in the promoter of the tobacco putrescine N-methyltransferase gene in vitro, and transactivate the promoter in a transient expression assay using cultured tobacco cells. The more the protein sequences were similar to ERF189, the more effective these ERFs were in these functional assays. The transient expression assay also identified transactivation domains in an N-terminal acidic region of ERF189, and in a C-terminal Ser-rich region of AtERF13.
Patterns of Ultraviolet Radiation Exposure in Bluegill Nests over the Course of the Spawning Season

Abstract Ultraviolet radiation (UVR; wave length, 280-400 nm) can be an important source of mortality for fish, particularly during early life history stages. Because UVR exposure varies seasonally owing to solar angle, climatic conditions, and changes in the UV transparency of water, UVR-induced mortality among temperate fishes may vary as a function of spawning time. We examined patterns of UVR exposure in nests of bluegill Lepomis macrochirus over the course of a spawning season in a highly transparent lake in northeastern Pennsylvania. At the beginning, middle, and end of the spawning season, we measured nest depth and estimated the cumulative UVR exposure of all bluegill nests along three 250-m transects. Cumulative exposure was then used to predict the UVR-induced mortality for bluegill larvae in each nest. The median UVR exposure in bluegill nests was highest at the start of the spawning season, and the predicted UVR-induced larval mortality was at least 10% in 38% of the nests. As the season progr.
Genotypic variation in the response of tomato to salinity

In order to determine the predictive screening parameters that can be applied at early development stages of tomato plants, 18 tomato cultivars were grown in nutrient solution with 12 dS m-1 NaCl. The research was conducted in a completely randomized design with tree replications. The relationships among the salinity and root, stem, leaf accumulation, K+/Na+ and Ca2+/Na+ ratios and root-stem-leaf dry weights were investigated. At the end of treatment, regarding studied parameters morphologic and physiologic changes were determined depending on increasing NaCl concentrations. With increasing concentrations, it was determined that all growth parameters were decreased. However, this decrease in salt tolerant cultivars was restricted as compared to salt sensitive cultivars. It was also determined that by increasing NaCl applications, the amount of Na+ was increased and, the amount of Ca2+ and K+ ions were decreased in salt tolerant cultivars same with growth parameters. Thus, it was concluded that, more K+ or Ca2+ absorbing plant with high K+/Na+ and Ca2+/Na+ rations were more salt tolerant. At end of the study, it was determined that dry weights and K/Na+- Ca2+/Na+ ratios were very effective on the salt tolerance. Considering the cultivars, H-2710 was characterized as more salt tolerant under saline conditions.
Quantifying bioirrigation in aquatic sediments: An inverse modeling approach

An inverse model was developed to quantify the depth distributions of bioirrigation intensities in sediments based on measured solute concentration and reaction rate profiles. The model computes statistically optimal bioirrigation coefficient profiles; that is, profiles that best represent measured data with the least number of adjustable parameters. A parameter reduction routine weighs the goodness‐of‐fit of calculated concentration profiles against the number of adjustable parameters by performing statistical F‐tests, whereas Monte Carlo simulations reduce the effects of spatial correlation and help avoid local minima encountered by the downhill simplex optimization algorithm. A quality function allows identification of depth intervals where bioirrigation coefficients are not well constrained. The inverse model was applied to four different depositional environments (Sapelo Island, Georgia; Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts; Washington Shelf; Svalbard, Norway) using total CO2 production, sulfate reduction, and 222Rn/226Ra disequilibrium data. Calculated bioirrigation coefficients generally decreased rapidly as a function of depth, but distinct subsurface maxima were observed for sites in Buzzards Bay and along the Washington Shelf. Irrigation fluxes of O2 computed with the model‐derived bioirrigation coefficients were in good agreement with those obtained by difference between total benthic O2 fluxes measured with benthic chambers and diffusive fluxes calculated from O2 microprofiles.
Modulation of Th1 and Th2 responses for immunotherapy

Novel therapeutic agents that differentially modulate immune responses are needed to boost protective immunity against infections and neoplasms and conversely, to suppress inappropriate immune reactions responsible for allergic and autoimmune disorders and the rejection of transplanted organs. One major concept that has guided the search for such agents asserts the existence of at least two types of CD4+ helper T-cells, Th1 and Th2 cells, that differ in their pattern of cytokine production and govern different arms of the immune response. Th1 cells produce IFN-γ, IL-2 and TNF-β and are involved in cell-mediated immune responses that are beneficial in host-defence against intracellular pathogens and malignant cells, but detrimental in mediating autoimmunity. Th2 cells secrete IL-4, IL-5, IL-9, IL-10 and IL-13, which augment antibody responses, including IgE production, and protect against helminth infestations but also cause allergy and asthma. Moreover, Th1 and Th2 responses are mutually antagonistic, such that they normally exist in equilibrium and cross-regulate each other. Alterations of this equilibrium are thought to underlie the etiopathogenesis of many immune-mediated diseases. By selectively targeting either one of these two types of polarised responses, it may therefore, be possible to achieve desired therapeutic effects without broad alterations of the immune system. The various strategies proposed in the patent literature of the last three years to modulate the Th1/Th2 balance are reviewed here. These include procedures that affect the differentiation of Th1 and Th2 cells, their production of effector cytokines and the activity of these cytokines. A profusion of new molecular targets for pharmacologic development has been identified and some attempts at therapeutic manipulation of Th1 and Th2 responses in clinical trials have been encouraging, while others have been disappointing. The emerging notion that Th1 and Th2 responses are themselves controlled by another category of T-cells, called regulatory T-cells, has offered further opportunities for immunotherapeutic intervention in autoimmunity and allergy.
Responses to Rapid Temperature Change in Vertebrate Ectotherms

synopsis. Vertebrate ectotherms often encounter rapid, large scale changes in body tem? perature. In this paper, I discuss the direct effects of changing body temperature on physi? ological parameters, as well as corrective responses initiated by the animal. For many biological functions, mean body temperature provides a useful measure of the thermal effects produced by an altered environmental temperature. Under most conditions, the fins and body surface of fish are more important avenues of heat exchange than the gills. The local thermal sensitivity of peripheral blood vessels results in vasomotor adjustments which can alter thermal conductivity. Acid-base balance is challenged by changes in body temperature. Shifts in body temperature also alter metabolic demands, enzyme conformation, ionic and osmotic relationships, spontaneous activity levels and nervous system func? tion. Compensatory mechanisms include behavioral thermoregulation, by which animals seek to avoid stressful thermal environments, and autonomic restorative responses such as high temperature panting in reptiles. Water breathers may initiate anticipatory responses to minimize arterial oxygen fluctuations during termperature change. The organization of the central neuronal network underlying the above regulatory responses is unclear. Both air and water breathers are able to initiate compensatory acid-base responses, but the strategies utilized by the two groups are quite different. Altered body temperature initiates long-term acclimation responses, and if rapid, can also trigger stress responses.