Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autogenic Ecological Succession of a Pristine Peat Bog: Focus on Factors Affecting Beetle Diversity

ABSTRACT Elements of the ancient periglacial flora such as peat bog shrubs provide a paleorefugium in Central Europe for survival of glacial biota and other cold-adapted species during recent climate change. This study provides evidence that diversity of one of the most numerous consumers in peat bogs, beetles, was higher in mid-successional stages characterized by the highest degree of shrub encroachment, compared with early and old stages. The main autogenic factor driving successional changes of herb-shrub layer coleopteran assemblages were shrub cover and bog water level. Younger successional stages contained the highest abundance of herb dwellers (chortobionts) and polyphagous species, whereas middle and old stages contained shrub inhabitants (chamebionts), which are oligophagous species specializing on ericaceous dwarf shrubs. Species richness and abundance of cold-adapted inhabitants of peat bogs (tyrphobiontic and tyrphophilous) increased from young to old successional stages along with increased shrub cover. Herb dwellers and polyphagous species are among the first primary consumers to colonize peat bogs. With changes in late-successional habitats, in particular the invasion of ericaceous dwarf shrubs, chamebiontic and oligophagous species start colonizing.
Stacked generative adversarial networks for learning additional features of image segmentation maps

It has been shown that image segmentation models can be improved with an adversarial loss. Additionally, previous analysis of adversarial examples in image classiﬁcation has shown that image datasets contain features that are not easily recognized by humans. This work investigates the eﬀect of using a second adversarial loss to further improve image segmentation. The proposed model uses two generative adversarial networks stacked together, where the ﬁrst generator takes an image as input and generates a segmentation map. The second generator then takes this predicted segmentation map as input and predicts the errors relative to the ground truth segmentation map. If these errors contained additional features that are not easily recognized by humans, they could possibly be learned by a discriminator. The proposed model did not consistently show signiﬁcant improvement over a single generative adversarial model, casting doubt about the existence of such features.
The Puerperal Obsessions- That Wax And Wane

We report an exacerbation of obsessive compulsion disorder in an Indian woman, which developed within a week following a delivery of a female baby from Victoria hospital, Bengaluru. She was maintaining well with no immediate post partum complications, she had similar episode of Obsessive compulsive disorder in second trimester of pregnancy three years back for which no treatment was sought. The following case report describe the prevalence, clinical features, differential diagnosis, management and discussion by comparing similar studies on obsessive compulsive disorder, finally areas of need of further research are proposed.
A Big Data-Enabled Hierarchical Framework for Traffic Classification

According to the critical requirements of the Internet, a wide range of privacy-preserving technologies are available, e.g. proxy sites, virtual private networks, and anonymity tools. Such mechanisms are challenged by traffic-classification endeavors which are crucial for network-management tasks and have recently become a milestone in their privacy-degree assessment, both from attacker and designer standpoints. Further, the new Internet era is characterized by the capillary distribution of smart devices leveraging high-capacity communication infrastructures: this results in huge amount of heterogeneous network traffic, i.e. big data. Hence, herein we present BDeH, a novel hierarchical framework for traffic classification of anonymity tools. BDeH is enabled by big data-paradigm and capitalizes the machine learning workhorse for operating with encrypted traffic. In detail, our proposal allows for seamless integration of <italic>data parallelism</italic> provided by big-data technologies with <italic>model parallelism</italic> enabled by hierarchical approaches. Results prove that the so-achieved <italic>double parallelism</italic> carries no negative impact on traffic-classification effectiveness at any granularity level and achieves non negligible performance enhancements with respect to non-hierarchical architectures (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$+4.5\%$</tex-math></inline-formula> F-measure). Also, it significantly gains over either pure data or pure model parallelism (resp. centralized) approaches by reducing both training completion time—up to <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$78\%$</tex-math></inline-formula> (resp. <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$90\%$</tex-math></inline-formula>)—and cloud-deployment cost—up to <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$31\%$</tex-math></inline-formula> (resp. <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10\%$</tex-math></inline-formula>).
Evaluation of antioxidant and antibacterial efficacy of flowers of Calotropis gigantea

Calotropis gigantea (family: Apocynaceae), being a shrub is commonly called as , milk weed or swort. It Aslcepias gigantea is commonly called as Palerukku (Lindley, 1985). But it is a native species of various South East Asian countries mainly Thailand (Bingtao et al., 1811). It has inflorescence stalk (5cm) and petals (2.5-4cm). It is used by native tribes for various ailments for healing both epidemic and endemic diseases as well as disorders (Upadhyay, 2014 . The various ) parts of the plant have noteworthy medicinal value in the middle of human beings. The roots are used as emetic. Latex is used as purgative and expectorant. The barks are used as tonics in minimal doses for intermittent fevers. The flowers are used as digestive, stomachic and antiasthmatic. The present study is carried out to screen the antioxidant and antibacterial activity of the flowers extracts obtained from the plant.
Computational Fluid Dynamics Prediction of Grid Spacer Thermal-Hydraulic Performance with Comparison to Experimental Results

Abstract The thermal-hydraulic performance of a nuclear reactor fuel assembly grid spacer is predicted using computational fluid dynamics. The modeled flow domain exploits the periodicity of the spacer and is separated into a bare bundle and grid region to maintain a manageable model size. An iterative process is used to couple the segregated flow domains to arrive at a converged solution. The grid spacer is a 7 × 7 mixing vane grid representative of an actual pressurized water reactor grid. Pressure drop and rod wall temperature predictions for steady-state operation are computed. The results show excellent agreement with experimental data. The agreement in these results demonstrates the usefulness of the method presented as a design tool for nuclear fuel manufacturers and as a prediction tool for off-design operating conditions such as simulated accident scenarios.
Development and Application of Genetic Engineering for Wheat Improvement

Abstract Wheat is one of the most important staple food crops of the world, and continuous genetic improvement is vital to meet the demands of the rapidly growing world population. Conventional breeding has led to the development of current high yielding wheat varieties, and recent achievements in genetic engineering are expected to augment conventional breeding to further increase production. Advances in genome sequencing and molecular breeding have increased the rate of gene discovery, leading to a need for highly efficient and robust transformation systems. Targeted genome editing will require efficient delivery of sequence-specific nucleases, such as zinc fingers (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and RNA-guided engineered nucleases such as CRISPR-Cas9. Since the first report of fertile transgenic wheat in 1992, optimization of plant tissue culture techniques, DNA delivery methods, gene expression cassettes, and marker genes have led to reliable transformation protocols for a range of wheat model cultivars. However, like other cereal crops, wheat transformation has also been hampered by genotype effects. The limited range of transformable tissues in wheat is considered another challenge. Several excellent review papers have described the progress made towards developing robust genetic transformation systems for wheat, so we have focused our attention on a detailed analysis of selectable markers and promoters that have been used. The choice of selectable marker and promoter can dramatically influence the outcome of a transformation project. Both Agrobacterium tumefaciens and microprojectile-mediated transformation systems have been employed successfully for genetic transformation of wheat using genes of agronomic importance. Since improvement in agronomic traits of wheat will affect a sizeable population, we have provided an analysis of the progress made towards developing genetically superior wheat containing gene(s) of agronomic importance. Recent efforts on targeted genome editing in wheat are also discussed.
Challenges in Management of Disseminated Melioidosis with Endocarditis in a Patient with Chronic Kidney Disease

Melioidosis is a tropical infection that is increasingly being reported from South India. It is frequently observed in patients with diabetes mellitus, chronic ethanol consumption and chronic kidney disease (CKD). It presents commonly with pneumonia, deep seated abscesses or osteoarticular infections. Cardiac complications are very rare with endocarditis being reported in very few patients. We report the first case of endocarditis in melioidosis in India. Although infections are common in patients with CKD, melioidosis at the time of diagnosis of CKD has never been reported in the past. Our patient had multiple liver abscesses and endocarditis, and responded well to a 6 week course of ceftazidime and doxycycline, with the latter being continued for 20 weeks.
A comment on the connection between BA10 and episodic memory

COPYRIGHT © 2023 Faran. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. A comment on the connection between BA10 and episodic memory
Structure and properties of lignin in softwoods after SO2- catalyzed steam explosion and enzymatic hydrolysis

Effective utilization of lignin is a prerequisite for the commercial viability of a softwood-to-ethanol process. Changes in the chemical composition of Douglas-fir wood after SO 2 -catalyzed steam explosion, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis, were assessed using 13 C CP/MAS NMR, FTIR, differential scanning calorimetry and lignin analysis. Mild prenratment conditions produced an almost complete solubilization of the hemicellulose sugars, while more severe conditions led to further solubilization of cellulose. The severity of the pretreatment affected both the structure of lignin and subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose. Steam explosion increased the cellulose crystallinity and altered the chemical connectivity of lignin. Suggested lignin transformations involve condensation reactions via the benzyl cation and increase the carbonyl content.
From planar graphs to higher dimension

In this thesis we look for generalizations of some properties of planar graphs to higher dimensions by replacing graphs by simplicial complexes. In particular we study the Dushnik-Miller dimension which measures how a partial order is far from being a linear order. When applied to simplicial complexes, this dimension seems to capture some geometric properties.In this idea, we disprove a conjecture asserting that any simplicial complex of Dushnik-Miller dimension at most $d+1$ can be represented as a TD-Delaunay complex in $RR^d$, which is a variant of the well known Delaunay graphs in the plane.We show that any supremum section, particular simplicial complexes related to the Dushnik-Miller dimension, is collapsible, which means that it is possible to reach the single point by removing in a certain order the faces of the complex. We introduce the notion of stair packings and we prove that the Dushnik-Miller dimension is connected to contact complexes of such packings. We also prove new results on planar graphs. The two following theorems about representations of planar graphs are proved: any planar graph is an $llcorner$-intersection graph and any triangle-free planar graph is an ${llcorner, | , -}$-contact graph. We introduce and study a new notion on planar graphs called Mobius stanchion systems which is related to questions about unicellular embeddings of planar graphs.
MTPA Strategy for Direct Torque Control of Brushless DC Motor Drive

In this article, a high-performance maximum torque per Ampere (MTPA) control strategy is proposed for surface-mounted brushless dc (BLDC) motor drive. Most of published works in the literature have not considered the effect of iron loss branch. As will be demonstrated analytically, underestimating the iron loss in the control system of BLDC motor has two undesirable effects. First, it causes torque errors. Second, the MTPA fails to track the true minimum current for a desired torque. Therefore, the control system should compensate the effect of iron loss. This compensation is proposed to achieve by a direct torque control scheme to prevent internal current loops and feedforward compensations. In addition, the Lagrange's theorem is employed to derive an MTPA criterion. It is proven that forcing the criterion to zero guarantees realization of MTPA strategy. In order to reach these control objectives, a nonlinear control method is designed with two new output, corresponding to electromagnetic torque and the MTPA criterion. Performance of the proposed controller in realization of MTPA and minimization of torque ripple is justified in real-time through simulations and experiments on a 200 W outer rotor prototype.
Responses of phytochelatin and proline-related genes expression associated with heavy metal stress in Solanum lycopersicum

Abstract The expression of stress related-genes against adverse environmental conditions has essential importance for plants. This study, using RT-qPCR, determined the expression of P5CS and PCS genes to investigate their roles in the leaves of tomato plants grown under heavy metal conditions. The expression of the PCS1 gene is significantly induced under such conditions. Transcript expression of P5CS1, a gene responsible for proline synthesis, changed depending on heavy metal doses; treatments of Cu (20 and 50 ppm), Cd and Pb (10 and 20 ppm) remarkably increased P5CS1 expression. However, the P5CS1 gene expression at 10 ppm dose of Cu and 50 ppm doses of Pb and Cd was not significantly different from that in control plants. The metal-chelating potency of the extract of tomato leaves exposed to Pb and Cd was higher than that of untreated plants. The proline content as assessed in the leaves of stressed plants was significantly increased by applications of 10 and 20 ppm of Cd and Pb, and high doses of Cu. In addition, the results showed that the proline content had a positive correlation with the P5CS1 gene expression in tomato leaves under application of these tree heavy metals and that there was a positive relation between the PCS1 gene expression and metal-chelating ability of Cd-stressed plants.
Studies on the kinetics of epoxidation of soybean oil using synthetic cationic exchange resin

Epoxides of all kinds of plant oils are well known commercially since they can undergo many important reactions. Epoxidation of long chain olefins, and unsaturated fatty acid derivatives such as soybean oil and other plant oils have been carried out on an industrial scale. Nowadays, one of the most important epoxidized vegetable oils is the epoxidized soybean oil (ESO). Fatty epoxides are used directly as plasticizers that are compatible with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and as stabilizers for PVC resins to improve flexibility, elasticity, and toughness. It also imparts stability of polymer towards heat and UV radiation. As the demands of energy increase and fossil fuel reserves are limited, there has been a growing interest in the utilization of renewable resources as an alternative to petroleum based polymers. Consequently, much attention has been focused on the development of polymeric materials from vegetable oils as a sustainable resource. Therefore, there is a necessity of a comprehensive method of epoxidation, which is easy, simple and cost effective, if epoxidised vegetable oils are to be employed in industrial applications as such. In this study an attempt was made to ascertain an unfailing experimental procedure, which is economically viable for the enpoxidation of vegetable oils for industrial uses. The kinetics of epoxidation of soybean oil (SBO) by peroxyacetic acid (PAA) in the presence of synthetic cationic exchange resin (sulfonated tannin- phenol-formaldehyde resin) as catalyst were investigated at 45 oC, 50 oC, 60 oC and 70 oC by determining oxirane ring content using a titrimetric method. Epoxidation with higher conversion of unsaturated carbon and lower oxirane cleavage could be attained by the in situ technique. The rate constant for epoxidation of SBO was found to be of the order of 10-6 mol-1s-1 and activation energy of epoxidation of 33.62 kJmol-1. The enthalpy, entropy and free energy activation were 22.29 kJmol-1, -273.53 Jmol-1K-1 and -68.79 kJmol-1, respectively. The kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of epoxidation obtained from this study indicate that an increase in the process temperature would increase the rate of epoxide formation.
Motivations, challenges, benefits, and educational needs associated with organic grain farming adoption in Iowa

The low adoption rate of organic grain production in the United States contrasts with strong consumer demands for organic foods. The low adoption of organic grain farming has constrained further development of the organic sector. Organic agriculture stakeholders have appealed to increase domestic organic grain production. The federal government has provided support for research and extension education regarding organic farming. However, low adoption persists. A better understanding of cognitive and motivational aspects of farmer’s decision making could help policymakers, agricultural scientists, and extension educators to encourage more farmers to adopt organic grain production. This study identified (1) factors that motivated farmers to adopt organic grain farming; (2) challenges that hindered farmers’ adoption of organic grain farming; (3) benefits farmers experienced after adopting organic grain farming; (4) farmers’ needs for extension education regarding organic grain farming; and (5) educational program delivery formats preferred by farmers who raise organic grain crops. I conducted indepth interviews with seventeen Iowa organic grain farmers. Based on the responses from the interviews, I designed a survey incorporating multiple, five-point scales and administered the instrument to all farmers (672) who raised organic grain in Iowa. Farmers reported five motivations to adopt organic grain farming, which included profitability, personal safety, natural resources stewardship, consumers and public health, and honor and tradition. Challenges to adopting organic grain farming included elements of organic farming operation, particularly weeds; marketing, particularly access to organic hay, small grains and transitional crops markets; policies, particularly complex certification; finance, especially during the transitional period; inputs and information, mainly in the local level; social pressures from conventional farmers. Five areas of benefits associated with organic grain farming consisted of increased profitability,
Divergence in Thermostability of Arabidopsis Mitochondrial Nucleotide Exchange Factors Encoded by Duplicate Genes, MGE1 and MGE2

The divergence of duplicate genes links to organismic adaptation. In Arabidopsis thaliana two nuclear genes encode mitochondrial GrpEs, MGE1 and MGE2, the nucleotide exchange factors of DnaK/HSP70 chaperone. MGE1 and MGE2 are duplicate genes originated from a whole genome duplication event. They respond differentially to high temperature; MGE2 is heat-inducible and is required for Arabidopsis seedlings to tolerate prolonged heat stress, while MGE1 is constitutively expressed. Heterologous expression of MGE2 but not MGE1 restored the growth of E. coli grpE mutant cells at elevated temperatures, suggesting that MGE2 is more thermostable than MGE1. In this study, we directly compared the thermostability of the purified recombinant MGE1 and MGE2 by circular dichroism spectroscopy. The temperature midpoints of the unfolding transition (Tm) of MGE1 and MGE2 were about 38 and 46 °C, respectively, indicating that MGE2 is remarkably more stable than MGE1 at higher temperature. Domain swapping between the two homologous proteins showed that the N-terminal region, including an unstructured sequence and a long α-helix domain, is the major determinant of the thermostability. Although MGE2 contains a conserved sequence derived from an exonized intron within the N-terminus unstructured region, deletion of this sequence did not substantially affect protein thermostability in vitro and complementation of E. coli and Arabidopsis heat sensitive mutants. Taken together, our results suggest that Arabidopsis MGE1 and MGE2 had diverged not only in transcriptional response but also in the thermostability of the encoded proteins, which may contribute to adaptation of plants to higher temperatures.
Evaluation of growth performance and muscle marker genes expression in four different broiler strains in Jordan

Abstract This study investigates the expression of the muscle growth factors Myostatin (MSTN) and Insulin-like growth hormone type I (IGF-I) and muscle marker genes MyoD and MyoG in relation to growth performance and meat characteristics in four different commercial broiler strains. Eight hundred, one-day-old chicks of Hubbard Classic (HC), Cobb500 (Cobb), Ross308 (Ross) and Indian River (IR) strains were randomly distributed in a completely randomised design into four groups for 28 days. At the end of the growth trial, 10 birds from each strain were weighed and slaughtered. A sample of Pectoral muscle was taken and kept in RNA solution for mRNA expression level measurements. Gene expression in the pectoral muscle at 20 days revealed that MSTN expression was higher for Ross than HC and IR. IGF-I expression was highest in IR and lowest in HC. MyoD expression was lowest in HC but higher in Ross and Cobb, while MyoG expression was similar. At the end of the experiment, IR gained the highest (p < .0001) body weight, while Ross the lowest, yet still with no significant differences in body weight gain among the four strains. HC scored the lowest (p = .01) efficiency in feed consumption (1.60 ± 0.03 kg/kg). Hot and cold carcase weights of IR were significantly heavier (p < .0001) than the other strains, with no significant difference in dressing percentages. Cooking loss was the highest (p = .058) for Cobb, IR, HC, and Ross, in decreasing order. The meat-tenderness value was highest for Ross, while differences in pH, colour and water holding capacities were insignificant among the strains. HIGHLIGHTS IGF-I and MyoG genes can be used in Broiler artificial selection programmes for improving body weight and carcase cuts. Indian River strain gained the highest in body, and hot and cold carcase weights.