Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nuptial gift chemistry reveals convergent evolution correlated with antagonism in mating systems of harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones)

Abstract Nuptial gifts are material donations given from male to female before or during copulation and are subject to sexual selection in a wide variety of taxa. The harvestman genus Leiobunum has emerged as a model system for understanding the evolution of reproductive morphology and behavior, as transitions between solicitous and antagonistic modes of courtship have occurred multiple times within the lineage and are correlated with convergence in genital morphology. We analyzed the free amino acid content of nuptial gift secretions from five species of Leiobunum using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Multivariate analysis of the free amino acid profiles revealed that, rather than clustering based on phylogenetic relationships, nuptial gift chemical composition was better predicted by genital morphology and behavior, suggesting that convergent evolution has acted on the chemical composition of the nuptial gift. In addition, we found that, species with solicitous courtship produce gifts consisting of a 19% larger proportion of essential amino acids as compared to those with more antagonistic courtship interactions. This work represents the first comparative study of nuptial gift chemistry within a phylogenetic framework in any animal group and as such contributes to our understanding of the evolution of reproductive diversity and the participant role of nuptial gift chemistry in mating system transitions.
Assessment of mobility and bioavailability of heavy metals in sewage sludge from Swaziland through speciation analysis

Speciation analysis of heavy metals in sewage sludge provides a better understanding of the extent of mobility and bioavailability of the different metal fractions and helps in more informed decision making on application of sludge for agricultural purposes. Assessment of bioavailability of metals based on regulations expressed in terms of total metals alone may be conservative and restrictive from the point of view of the use of sludge for agricultural applications. Total metals may also be poor indicators of uptake by plants. Sewage sludge samples generated from seven wastewater treatment plants in Swaziland were analyzed for the four fractions of metals species, namely, exchangeable, reducible, oxidizable and residual fractions. The experimental results indicated that arsenic was predominantly associated with the residual matrix. Chromium was dominantly found in the residual fraction followed by oxidizable fraction. Lead and copper were predominantly associated with oxidizable fraction (bound to organic matter). For more polluted effluents such as Matsapha waste water treatment plant, some metals such as nickel were also found significantly in the mobile fraction. By contrast zinc and to a certain extent nickel were present in significant proportions in the more mobile (exchangeable) fraction. The experimental result indicated that the percentage immobility ranges from 10% to 70% with respect to the residual solid fraction of the metals which should be considered as an additional safety factor in the assessment of the suitability of the sludge for agricultural uses with respect to heavy metals.
Analysis and design of a-Si:H TFTs based charge pump circuit with only capacitive load

This paper deals with the suggestion of a charge pump based on hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin-film transistors with purely capacitive load. Based on a Dickson charge pump configuration, the proposed circuit uses diode- connected amorphous silicon transistors as switches and amorphous silicon transistors connected as capacitors for pumping capacitors. Using thin-film transistors as capacitors may be a significant factor in minimizing the circuit area and thus the start-up time. Design considerations of charge pump key parameters are presented. Investigations include output voltage, clock frequency, transistors sizing, rise time and ripple voltage. Results show that with significant optimization, the proposed circuit can be used to deliver high gate drive voltages for amorphous silicon drivers.
Microstrip folded ring resonator for glucose measurement

Most of the people are having disease called, Diabetes. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), number of diabetes patients is likely to rise to 101 million in India by 2030 and will become the world's 7th largest killer. Hence we have to utilize technology to eradicate this disease. Measuring glucose level in a diabetic patient on a regular basis and administering insulin are the keys to keep patient safe and device is used for measuring the level of blood glucose, is called Glucometer. Nowadays, glucose level can be determined by two techniques, invasive and non-invasive, also defined as in-vivo and in-vitro respectively. Microwave resonator antenna is used in this project for non-invasive technique as a new approach towards blood glucose measurement. In this work, low profile microstrip antennas for glucometer application are proposed. As the dielectric constant of the material used as a substrate placed above antenna changes, resonant characteristic of antenna varies and shift in the frequency is observed. The proposed microstrip antenna resonators are designed using Advanced Design System 2011.05 for an operating frequency as low as 1 GHz. The operating frequency of antenna must be low, as the low frequency microwave signal penetrate deep into tissues and have potential for practical application because of low physical area, low cost and better frequency resolution. Further, a high frequency resolution i.e. for a small change in glucose concentration leads to considerable shift in operating frequency, is achieved. The proposed Microstrip antennas are designed and tested by using aqueous glucose substrate. This is advancement towards developing microstrip sensor for non-invasive glucometer application.
Exploring leadership practices in rural context of a developing country

Abstract The success or failure of any institution has closely been linked with the leadership practices exercised in the institution. Whereas the number of private schools is rapidly increasing in the rural context of Pakistan, the leadership practices of these institutions are interesting and timely questions to ponder upon. Drawing upon the data of a qualitative case study, this paper discusses the leadership practices in a private school in rural Pakistan. It is found that the school leaders in this context have still traditional approach to leadership with little possibilities of shared or distributed leadership. Since the private schools are owned by the individuals and the teachers are hardly involved in decision making processes, they show less motivation towards school activities and thus, there remains a gap between the expectations of the principal and the performance of the teachers. It is suggested that the leadership of these private institutions should have maximum exposure to updated management and leadership theories and practices if they have to successfully run their schools in this challenging and competitive era.
Time Minimization in IEEE 1687 Networks

IEEE 1687 enables flexible access to the embedded (on-chip) instruments that are needed for post-silicon validation, debugging, wafer sort, package test, burn-in, printed circuit board bring-up, printed circuit board assembly manufacturing test, power-on self-test, and in-field test. At any of these scenarios, the instruments are accessed differently, and at a given scenario the instruments are accessed differently over time. It means the IEEE 1687 network needs to be frequently reconfigured from accessing one set of instruments to accessing a different set of instruments. Due to the need of frequent reconfiguration of the IEEE 1687 network it is important to (1) minimize the runtime for the algorithm finding the new reconfiguration, and (2) generate scan vectors with minimized access time. In this paper we model the reconfiguration problem using Boolean Satisfiability Problem (SAT). Compared to previous works we show significant reduction in run-time and we ensure minimal access time for the generated scan vectors. Keywords—IEEE Std. 1687, retargeting, upper bound calculation, access time minimization
Brassinosteroids Regulate Anthocyanin Biosynthesis in the Ripening of Grape Berries

Anthocyanins are important components in the skins of grapes and in the development of wine colour. Various environmental factors cause poor coloration in some areas, even for the same cultivars planted in different production areas. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of exogenous brassinosteroids (BR) on the accumulation of anthocyanins and gene expression of anthocyanin biosynthesis in wine grape berry skins. The results show that total anthocyanin content in BR-treated grapes was higher than that in the control (CT) grapes, and that 0.4 mg/L was the most effective treatment concentration. The effect of BR on downstream genes was more effective than that on upstream genes. Full coloration of BR-treated grapes was achieved seven days earlier than in the case of CT. Moreover, BR enhanced the transcript level of the downstream genes of anthocyanin biosynthesis, which caused the total anthocyanin content to increase. The induction of structural and regulatory genes of the flavonoid pathway suggests that the interrelationships between developmental and environmental signalling pathways were magnified by BR treatment, which actively promoted fruit coloration, namely anthocyanin biosynthesis.
Block based Kalman filter algorithm for blind image separation using sparsity measure

This paper presents blind image separation using Kalman filter algorithm. Blind image separation is concerned with recovering the original source images given the sources being mixed with an unknown medium. Kalman filter provides optimal recursive solution to the estimation of the unknown mixture. A novel method called block Kalman filter is used for effectively extracting the images from the mixed images. The observed image is transformed into sparse blocks and the best block is selected using sparsity measure ℓ0 norm as a cost function. Experimental results suggest that the proposed method provides significant separation compared to the Infomax algorithm. Performance evaluation results are presented.
Oxandrolone Treatment Results in an Increased Risk of Gonadarche in Prepubertal Boys With Klinefelter Syndrome

Context Klinefelter syndrome (KS) is a common genetic condition in which males have an extra X chromosome. KS is associated with testosterone deficiency, neurodevelopmental delays, and cardiometabolic disorders. There has been recent interest in prepubertal androgen treatment; however, the effects on puberty and gonadal function are unknown. Objective To compare onset of puberty and testicular function in prepubertal boys treated with 2 years of oxandrolone (Ox) vs placebo (Pl). Design Double-blind, randomized, controlled trial. Setting Single tertiary care referral center. Participants Eighty prepubertal boys with KS; mean age: 8.0 ± 2.2 years (range: 4 to 12). Interventions Ox 0.05 mg/kg vs identical-appearing Pl capsule given for 2 years. Outcome Measures Onset of gonadarche (testicular volume ≥4 mL) and onset of pubarche (Tanner 2 pubic hair); change in testicular hormone concentrations. Results Ox-treated group had 20.5 times higher odds of reaching gonadarche (OR 95% CI: 6.5, 77.8) and 28.1 times higher odds of reaching pubarche (OR 95% CI: 8.8, 110.4) during the 2-year study period after adjusting for baseline age. Gonadarche and pubarche both occurred at a younger age in the Ox group (gonadarche: 9.8 ± 1.5 vs 12.1 ± 1.0 years, P < 0.001; pubarche: 10.2 ± 1.1 vs 11.6 ± 1.3 years, P = 0.02). Serum concentrations of testicular hormones and gonadotropins were not different between groups. Conclusions Two years of Ox treatment in prepubertal boys with KS results in an increased risk of early gonadarche, on average 2 years earlier than in Pl-treated boys. Ox did not affect serum concentrations of testicular hormones.
Learning Instance Segmentation by Interaction

Objects are a fundamental component of visual perception. How are humans able to effortlessly reorganize their visual observations into a discrete set of objects is a question that has puzzled researchers for centuries. The Gestalt school of thought put forth the proposition that humans use similarity in color, texture and motion to group pixels into individual objects [21]. Various methods for object segmentation based on color and texture cues have been proposed [3, 6, 7, 14, 16]. These approaches are, however, known to over-segment multi-colored and textured objects.
Predictive modeling for identifying the human brain developmental stages

The human brain undergoes various structural and functional changes as the age progress. These changes are however gradual and a substantial change is seen only after a certain period of years. This period of years of human life can be hypothesized as the developmental stage of the brain. The work described here proposes novel methodologies to find the developmental stages of the human brain. Functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) techniques which have become widely popular in the research community are used in this study. This work uses resting state fMRI data of 1096 healthy subjects(age 9 to 83 years) to find the developmental stages of the brain. A classification model using SVM is also proposed which can classify the subject based on their fMRI data into the developmental stages. The proposed model is 90.4% accurate with specificity and sensitivity as 94.94% and 85.9%. This model can be used in cases of degenerative neurological disorders which lead to abnormal development of brain. For the subjects with a neurological disorder, their brain developmental stage can be obtained using the model and hence inferences can be drawn about the growth of the disorder.
A Decentralized Adaptive Model-Based Real-Time Control for Active Distribution Networks Using Battery Energy Storage Systems

This paper proposes a real-time decentralized control algorithm in multi-area active distribution network relying only on dispersed battery energy storage systems (BESSs). In particular, we propose a zonal control strategy targeting voltage support and line congestion management. The proposed zonal control relies on an accurate dynamic model of BESSs capable to account for their dc active power limits. The communication among different areas is defined using the concept of multi-agents. The effectiveness of the proposed zonal control is assessed and compared to the equivalent centralized control problem using a test case composed by the IEEE 13 nodes distribution test feeders suitably adapted to include stochastic generation and BESSs.
Altered synaptic and firing properties of cerebellar Purkinje cells in a mouse model of ARSACS

Autosomal recessive spastic ataxia of Charlevoix–Saguenay (ARSACS) is an early‐onset neurodegenerative human disease characterized in part by ataxia and Purkinje cell loss in anterior cerebellar lobules. A knock‐out mouse model has been developed that recapitulates several features of ARSACS. Using this ARSACS mouse model, we report changes in synaptic input and intrinsic firing in cerebellar Purkinje cells, as well as in their synaptic output in the deep cerebellar nuclei. Changes in firing are observed in anterior lobules that later exhibit Purkinje cell death, but not in posterior lobules that do not. Our results show that both synaptic and intrinsic alterations in Purkinje cell properties likely contribute to disease manifestation in ARSACS; these findings resemble pathophysiological changes reported in several other ataxias.
An introduction to a novel crossover operator for real-value encoded genetic algorithm: Gaussian crossover operator

The following article describes a novel implementation of a crossover operator for real-value encoded Genetic Algorithms (GA). The method, Gaussian Crossover Operator (GCO), utilizes the properties of Gaussian functions and Gaussian distribution for offspring generation. Each parent's fitness is evaluated in the context of general population by a heuristic function, i.e. the devised operator is performance based — the parents' individual fitness values act as a basis for a non-deterministic weighing mechanism. The child's gene value is a Gaussian Variable drawn upon the normal distribution determined by the overall state of the algorithm and the antecedent's evaluation. The performance of the algorithm is discussed and compared with the underlaying classical Genetic Algorithm and other GA implementations found in the literature; several test cases are considered. The results show that the proposed Gaussian Crossover Operator is feasible for solving optimization problems.
Resilience-Oriented Proactive Management of Microgrids Against Windstorms

This paper presents a microgrid (MG) proactive management framework to cope with adverse impacts of extreme windstorms. Upon receiving alerts for the forecasted windstorm, the framework finds a conservative schedule of MG with the minimum number of vulnerable branches in service while total load is served. The schedule ensures the MG normal operation prior to the windstorm while reducing the MG vulnerability at the event onset. The proposed method makes benefit of network reconfiguration, generation reschedule, conservation voltage regulation, optimal parameter settings of droop-controlled units, demand-side resources, and backup generation capacity. A vulnerability index is defined to assess the effectiveness of the proposed proactive management in reducing the MG vulnerability at the event onset. The proposed model is linearized that guarantees simplicity, robustness, and computational efficiency of the solution. The effectiveness of the proposed method is tested on a real-scale MG against a windstorm.
Intelligent data mining principles with privacy preserving procedures

The nearness of duplicate/copy records is a central data top notch circumstance in huge databases. To distinguish copies, substance choice otherwise called duplication recognition or record linkage is utilized as a piece of the data purging framework to decide documents that conceivably allude to the equivalent genuine world element. It wind up plainly mindful of the trickery with significantly less time of execution and in like manner without aggravating the dataset magnificent, techniques like dynamic barring and dynamic neighborhood are utilized. Imaginative arranged close-by system additionally alluded to as Advanced Progressive Sorted Neighborhood Method (APSNM) is utilized on this mannequin for finding or distinguishing the proliferation in a parallel technique. Dynamic closing off calculation takes a shot at enormous datasets where discovering duplication requires massive time. These calculations are utilized to build proliferation recognition approach. The effectivity may likewise be multiplied over the customary duplicate/copy recognition approach making utilization of this calculation.
[Expression and its promoter methylation of chemokine CXC ligand 14 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with lupus].

OBJECTIVE To analyze the expression and its promoter methylation of chemokine CXC ligand 14 (CXCL14) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS The RNAs of PBMCs from 28 SLE patients and 20 healthy controls were isolated and reversely transcribed into cDNAs. Using GAPDH as the internal reference, the levels of CXCL14 ex-pression were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The correlation between CXCL14 expression and the clinic pathological fe atures of SLE were further analyzed. DNA methylation was analyzed by bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP). RESULTS Our data indicated that the level of CXCL14 in the PBMC of SLE patients was statistically lower than that in healthy controls (P < 0.05). Further analysis showed that CXCL14 expression was negatively correlated with anti-Sj gren syndrome B antibody(anti-SSB antibody, P < 0.01) and albuminuria(P < 0.05). However, CXCL14 expression was not significantly correlated with the indexes of SLE activity, renal damage, the level of anti-ds-DNA antibodies, complement C3 and C-reactive protein. In addition, we further demonstrated that the CXCL14 promoter hypermethylation expres-sion was significant higher than healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS Down-regulated of CXCL14 expression in PBMC maybe involved in the occur-rence or development of SLE disease. The loss of CXCL14 expression was regulated by promoter hypermethylation.
Convex economic emission dispatch using particle swarm optimization with time varying acceleration coefficients

In this paper, particle swarm optimization with time varying acceleration coefficients (PSO-TVAC) is applied for solving the combined economic and emission dispatch problem with convex cost function. The proposed PSO-TVAC method utilizes a novel parameter automation strategy to efficiently control the local and global search, such that premature convergence is avoided and global solutions are achieved. The proposed approach is applied for solving the EED problem considering 11-unit test system. The results of the proposed method are compared with other methods. The satisfying comparative results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Towards Energy Saving in Computational Clouds: Taxonomy, Review, and Open Challenges

Cloud Computing involves utilization of centralized computing resources and services, including remote servers, storage, programs, and usages which minimize the power utilization of the client assets. Therefore, it is extremely important to accomplish energy efficiency of cloud computing. Virtualization is used to set up a foundation for the execution part as the heart of energy effective cloud. Virtualization incorporates certain advancements, such as consolidation and resource utilization. A number of techniques, such as DVFS virtualization as well as teleportation can be used by empowering the tasks of multiple virtual types of equipment to a single server to increase the vitality proficiency of datacenters. The objective of this review is to analyze contemporary for energy as well as performance management, vitality for effective data centers and resource distributions. Our review will address the latest issues researchers have addressed in energy as well as management of performance in recent years. We will take a closer look at these existing techniques based on tools, OS, virtualization, and datacenter stages taxonomy. Finally, a performance comparison of existing techniques is presented that can assist in identifying gaps for future research in this area.
Do Chinese Preschool Children Eat a Sufficiently Diverse Diet? A Cross-Sectional Study in China

Background: This study aimed to comprehensively evaluate dietary diversity and its associated factors in Chinese preschoolers and explore whether the daily food consumption of children with different dietary diversity-associated characteristics met recommended dietary amounts. Methods: A cross-sectional study covering seven cities and two villages was conducted and included 697 preschool children aged 3–7 years old. Dietary diversity score (DDS) and DDS 10 were calculated based on 24-h dietary recall. The food-intake differences among children with different DDS 10 predictors were examined. Results: The mean DDS and DDS 10 in Chinese preschool children were 7.4 ± 1.5 (ranged from 3 to 9) and 7.0 ± 3 (ranged from 3 to 9) respectively. Positive predictors of dietary diversity included residing in an urban environment, a higher household expenditure on children’s food, and a higher frequency of eating outside. Food-intake differences existed among the predictors. Conclusions: Education and intervention should be strengthened to improve the dietary diversity of preschool children, especially in rural areas. The overall dietary pattern of children requires attention, which means not only increasing dietary diversity but also avoiding an unbalanced diet.