Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Subcellular organization and metabolic activity during the development of seeds that attain different levels of desiccation tolerance

Abstract Water contents, desiccation tolerance, respiratory rates and subcellular characteristics of three contrasting seed types were studied during development. Avicennia marina (a tropical wetland species) and Aesculus hippocastanum (a temperate species) produce recalcitrant seeds and Phaseolus vulgaris produces orthodox seeds. During development, A. hippocastanum and P. vulgaris seeds showed a decline in water content and respiration rate with a concomitant increase in desiccation tolerance. These parameters did not change during the development of A. marina seeds once they had become germinable. There was a decrease in the degree of vacuolation and an increase in the deposition of insoluble reserves in A. hippocastanum and P. vulgaris seeds, while A. marina seeds remained highly vacuolated and did not accumulate insoluble reserves. Mitochondria and endomembranes degenerated during the development of A. hippocastanum and P. vulgaris seeds, but remained unchanged in A. marina seeds. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that extensive vacuolation and high metabolic rates contribute to desiccation sensitivity. However, the development of recalcitrant A. hippocastanum seeds is similar to that of orthodox P. vulgaris seeds. These data are in accord with the concept of seed recalcitrance being a consequence of truncated development. The results suggest that there may be three categories of seeds: orthodox seeds which develop desiccation tolerance, seeds which show similar development to orthodox seeds, but are shed before desiccation tolerance is well developed, and seeds which show no developmental trends giving rise to increased tolerance.
Review of highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks in poultry in Zaria, Nigeria.

All the confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza cases that were diagnosed in Zaria at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, were reviewed in this study. The outbreaks occurred between the months of December, 2006 and March, 2007. The clinical signs and postmortem lesions were similar to those observed in avian influenza outbreaks elsewhere. It was observed that the cold windy harmattan condition, the addition of new birds into an already existing flock, the low compensation rate paid to farmers; and poor biosecurity measures on the affected farms might have contributed to the spread of the disease in Zaria and environs.
Integrated photonic and plasmonic technologies for microwave signal processing enabling mm-wave and sub-THz wireless communication systems

In order to support the 1,000 times increase in data rates expected from next-generation wireless communications (5G), radically novel technological approaches will be needed. Integrated microwave photonics (IMWP) techniques are identified as an enabling technology for 5G, thanks to their potential to improve the performance of electronics by leveraging the broadband characteristics and flexibility of operation of photonic integrated circuits. Relevant applications of IMWP are optical signal generation and distribution of mm-waves towards antenna terminals, optical control of antenna arrays, frequency-reconfigurable filtering, and more. The rapidly growing field of plasmonics has shown a breakthrough in performance for optical modulators with fast operation (500 GHz) and ultra-compact footprint (10s μm2). This paper reports recent achievements on the use of integrated plasmonic devices for millimeter-wave signal conversion and processing for next-generation wireless systems.
Abnormal uterine bleeding in peri-menopausal age: An observational study

Introduction: Abnormal Uterine Bleeding (AUB) is a term which refers to menstrual bleeding of abnormal frequency, duration or quantity. It is a common gynecological complaint accounting one third of outpatient visits to gynecologist. It is caused by wide variety of organic or non-organic causes. The aim of this study was to find out incidence of abnormal uterine bleeding with respect to aetiopathology, age, parity, marital status, treatment options and other medical disorders. Materials and Methods: This study included prospective study of randomly selected 180 cases of abnormal uterine bleeding between 40–55 years of age during April 2015 to July 2016, in the Dept. of Obstetric & Gynaecology, NMCH, Patna. Details of each patient’s were recorded and analysed with respect to aetiopathology, age, parity, marital status, socioeconomic status, treatment options and other medical disorders. Patients were evaluated with menstrual history, physical examination, laboratory tests, imaging studies and histological examinations. Patients were followed up from 3 to 8 months with an average of about 4.5 months. Results: Most common age group presenting with AUB was 40–45 years (65.55%) and mostly (68.33%) belonged to low socioeconomic status. Most of the women were multiparous and menorrhagia was most common presentation. In 51.66% cases, cause was non-organic (dysfunctional uterine bleeding) and among organic causes fibroid (28.88%) uterus was most common. Bulky uterus was found in 41.11% of cases and 43.33% had proliferative endometrium. Majority of patients had mild anemia. Maximum number of patients (70.55%) were treated surgically and 27.77% got medical treatment. Conclusion: Abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) is a common gynecological complaint associated with considerable morbidity and significantly affects the patient's family, personal and social life. Perimenopausal women’s health and quality of life can be maintained and improved through preventive care, l
AC, DC, Transient and FFT Analysis of Multistage OperationalAmplifiers using 0

---------------------------------------------------------------------***--------------------------------------------------------------------Abstract In this paper, a fully differential CMOS operational amplifier was designed using a 0. 3μm library process. The supply voltage is a 1.8 V or 3.2 V source with variation depends on the analysis done. The op-amp was specified to meet several specifications over process variations that include slow-slow, slow-fast, fast-slow, and fast-fast for PMOS and NMOS transistors. A folded cascade stage with CMOS driven common source amplifier output stage was used that met all the specifications except for the settling time. Process corner simulations showed a dramatic decrease in performance,. This paper discusses the design approach, frequency response and time domain simulation results, rejection ratio performance for common mode and power supply, and closes with a retrospective look at lessons learned and ways to improve the operational amplifier design. This paper also discuss design methodologies and frequency analysis of two stage and three stage. Response curves are plotted for AC characteristics of different topologies of multistage operational amplifiers are tabulated for suitable frequency ranges. Transients are also plotted from nanoseconds scale to microseconds scale. Subsequently FFTs are also tabulated at frequency range from 1 MHz to 25 GHz. By results and reasons in this paper two stage and three stage topologies are suitable choices for low voltage and high performance applications.
Auditors' Identification with Their Clients and its Effect on Auditors' Objectivity

This study empirically models auditors' relationships with their clients. The Independence Standards Board (ISB 2000) identified auditors' familiarity with the client as one of five threats to auditor independence. Yet familiarity with the client is necessary for auditors to understand the client well enough to plan and perform an effective and efficient audit. We introduce a theory‐based measure of the extent to which auditors identify with a client, which we then use to directly measure auditors' attachment to the client and the threat of this attachment to auditors' objectivity. The responses of 252 practicing auditors support our theoretical predictions. Specifically, we find that auditors do identify with their clients and that auditors who identify more with a client are more likely to acquiesce to the client‐preferred position. On the other hand, more experienced auditors and auditors who exhibit higher levels of professional identification are less likely to acquiesce to the client's position.
Developing an Adaptive Language Model for Bahasa Indonesia

A language model is one of the important compo-nents in a speech recognition system. It is commonly developed using a statistical method called n-gram. However, a standard n-gram cannot be used for general domains with so many am-biguous semantics of sentences. This paper focuses on developing an adaptive n-gram language model for Bahasa Indonesia. First, a text corpus of ten million distinct sentences is crawled from hundreds of websites of news, magazines, personal blogs, and writing forums. The text corpus is then used to construct an adaptive language model using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) with Collapsed Gibbs Sampling (CGS) training method. Compare to the standard n-gram, the adaptive language model gives a better performance in the word selection to produce the best sentence.
Diverting electron fluxes in anaerobic microbial communities using long chain fatty acids (LCFAs)

Long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) possessing 18 carbons were used to inhibit methanogenesis, a terminal metabolic step in the anaerobic degradation of glucose. The LCFA inhibitors diverted the electron flux towards hydrogen production in the absence of sulfate, and in the presence of sulfate (SO4 ) the electron flux was diverted towards S0 4 " reduction. The experiments were performed in batch (160 ml) reactors containing a mixed anaerobic culture which was acclimated to glucose or glucose plus sulfate at 37°C. In the case of SO4" reduction, the chemical oxygen demand (CODySCV ratio was 1.25 and the LCFAs used were linoleic acid (LA; CI8:2), oleic acid (OA; CI8:1), and stearic acid (SA; CI8:0). Diversion of electron fluxes to sulfate reducing bacteria (SRBs) was observed in cultures fed LA (> 30 % electron flow as compared to the glucose plus SO4" controls) and OA (> 20 % electron flow as compared to the glucose plus SO4" controls) plus glucose, while SA had no significant effect on sulfate removal. Sulfate reduction increased with LCFA concentration and a maximum of approximately 90 % and 70 % sulfate removal was achieved in cultures receiving LA and OA, respectively, plus glucose. Prior to performing the hydrogen production studies, experiments were conducted to assess the synergistic effect of low pH (pH 5 or 6) and OA or LA (individual and mixtures) on hydrogenotrophic methanogens. Data from the latter work provided optimum conditions for conducting the hydrogen production studies (pH 5 and 2000 mg 1' LCFA). In the hydrogen production studies, hydrogen was produced and accumulated in all the LA or OA incubated cultures (ranging from 0 2 5 days in 5 days consecutive
Reduction in Radiation Exposure in Cardiovascular CT Imaging

Aims: Advances of cardiac CT angiography (CTA) have been developed for dose reduction, but their efficacy in clinical practice is largely unknown. This study was designed to evaluate radiation dose exposure and utilization of dose-saving strategies for contrast-enhanced cardiac CTA in daily practice. Methods and Results: Sixty one hospitals from 32 countries prospectively enrolled 4502 patients undergoing cardiac CTA during one calendar month in 2017. CTA scan data and images were analyzed in a central core lab and compared to a similar dose survey performed in 2007. Linear regression analysis was performed to identify independent predictors associated with dose. The most frequent indication for cardiac CTA was the evaluation of coronary artery disease in 89% of patients. The median dose-length-product (DLP) of coronary CTA was 195 mGy*cm (IQR: 110 to 338 mGy*cm). When compared with 2007, the DLP was reduced by 78% (p<0.001) without an increase in non-diagnostic coronary CTAs (1.7% in 2007 vs. 1.9% in 2017 surveys, p=0.55). A 37-fold variability in median DLP was observed between the hospitals with lowest and highest DLP (range of median DLP: 57 to 2090 mGy*cm). Independent predictors for radiation dose of coronary CTA were: body weight, heart rate, sinus rhythm, tube voltage, iterative image reconstruction and the selection of scan protocols. Conclusion: This large international radiation dose survey demonstrates considerable reduction of radiation exposure in coronary CTA during the last decade. However, the large inter-site variability in radiation exposure underlines the need for further site-specific training and adaptation of contemporary cardiac scan protocols.
Effects of heat shock, heat exposure pattern, and heat hardening on survival of the sycamore lace bug, Corythucha ciliata

The sycamore lace bug, Corythucha ciliata (Say) (Hemiptera: Tingidae), is an invasive exotic pest on Platanus trees in China. This study assessed the thermotolerance of C. ciliata in the laboratory. Detailed experiments were conducted on the effects of high temperature (35, 37, 39, 41, 43, and 45 °C), duration of exposure (0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 h), and developmental stage (egg, nymph, and adult) on survival of the bug. Meanwhile, the effects of heat hardening on survival at lethal temperature (exposure to 33, 35, 37, 39, and 41 °C for 1 h prior to transfer to 43 °C for 2 h) were also assessed for nymphs and adults. Survival of eggs, nymphs, and adults was not affected by temperatures between 35 and 39 °C, but declined rapidly with increasing duration of exposure (from 0.5 to 8 h) at temperatures ≥41 °C. The lethal temperature that caused mortality of 50% (Ltemp50) of all developmental stages decreased with increasing duration of exposure from 0.5 to 8 h. The Ltemp50 for nymphs was 44.3, 42.0, and 39.0 °C after 0.5, 2, and 8 h exposure, respectively. Thermotolerance was the highest in eggs, followed by adults and then nymphs. Thermotolerance was slightly greater for adult males than for adult females. The ability of nymphs, females, and males to survive exposure to 43 °C for 2 h significantly increased by heat hardening, i.e., by exposure to a non‐lethal high temperature for 1 h; the optimal heat‐hardening temperature was 37 °C. The results indicate that survival of C. ciliata at heat‐shock temperatures depended on both the temperature and the duration of exposure, and the tolerance to heat shock was enhanced by heat hardening. The thermotolerance of C. ciliata may partially explain why C. ciliata has been rapidly spreading on Platanus trees in southern provinces of China.
Production and action pattern of inulinase from Aspergillus Niger-245: hydrolysis of inulin from several sources

A strain of Aspergillus niger isolated from soil samples showed great capacity to produce extracellular inulinase. Although the enzyme has been synthesized in presence of monosaccharides, sucrose and sugar cane molasse, the productivity was significantly higher (p<0.05) when the microorganism was inoculated in media formulated with dahlia extract and pure inulin, as carbon sources. With regard to the nitrogen source, the best results were obtained with casein and other sources of proteic nitrogen, comparatively to the mineral nitrogen. However, statistic significance (p<0.01) only was found between the productivity obtained in the medium prepared with casein and ammonium sulphate. The optimum pH of the purified enzyme for inulin hydrolysis was found between 4.0 and 4.5 and the optimun temperature at 60oC. When treated by 30 minutes in this temperature no loss of activity was observed. The enzyme showed capacity to hydrolyse sucrose, raffinose and inulin from which it liberated only fructose units showing, therefore, an exo-action mechanism. Acting on inulins from several sources, the enzyme showed larger hydrolysis speed on the polissaccharide from chicory (Cichorium intibus), comparatively, to the inulins from dahlia (Dahlia pinnata) and Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) roots.
Exploring Interactions During Multiorganizational Policy Implementation: A Case Study of the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program

EXPLORING INTERACTIONS DURING MULTIORGANIZATIONAL POLICY IMPLEMENTATION: A CASE STUDY OF THE VIRGINIA COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM Madeleine Wright McNamara Old Dominion University, 2008 Director: John C. Morris, Ph.D. Organizations face implementation challenges compounded by complex and interconnected public problems. In the environmental arena, the inabilities of individual organizations to resolve these problems independently are exacerbated by the scope, duration, and tremendous diversity of tasks coupled with a lack of funding. As a result, multiorganizational arrangements are created as public, private, and nonprofit organizations work together to implement policy. These relationships increase organizational capacities through the diversification of resources and expertise. Multiorganizational implementation is complicated by various legal authorities, missions, goals, and operational procedures that guide individual organizations. One way to approach these complexities is to expand our understanding of the different types of interactions that occur between organizations. The purpose of this study is to explore the use of cooperation, coordination, and collaboration between 15 federal/state agencies, local governments, and nongovernmental organizations when working together to implement the Virginia Seaside Heritage Program. Inquiry into the empirical presence of different types of multiorganizational interactions makes two contributions to theory. First, the Multiorganizational Implementation Model is developed and presented as a framework that utilizes the policy implementation and interorganizational theory literatures to distinguish between cooperation, coordination, and collaboration. A theoretical foundation for comparing different types of interactions creates opportunities for consistent theoretical inquiry. Second, this is the first time that a model focused on different types of multiorganizational interactions is applied to a policy implementation setting. Broadening the scope of current inquiry to explore different types of interactions improves our theoretical understanding of policy implementation in multiorganizational arrangements. A continuum of interaction may help theorists move beyond a narrow reconciliation of the top-down/bottom-up approaches towards a fourth generation of implementation research. Textual data are gathered through document review and 34 semistructured interviews. Findings support the utility of the Multiorganizational Implementation Model in explaining interactions between organizations in this setting. In addition, administrators perceive collaborative interactions to occur within the multiorganizational arrangement when implementing the Virginia Seaside Heritage Program. Finally, interactions during multiorganizational implementation are initiated formally and informally in ways other than the current body of literature explores.
Effect of Columns Discretization on P-δ Analysis

Utilizing recently available high-strength materials and design codes along with the current complex design layouts have led to frequent use of slender compression members where P-δ analysis should be included in the analysis and design. This type of analysis is usually executed using commercial software. Therefore, designers need to be fully aware of the aspects that affect the results of P-δ analysis including the method of analysis used by the program, matrix method or the finite element method, and column discretization ratio. Ideal column mesh size is not covered by software manuals and has been a controversial topic for engineers’ discussion as there is no available guidance for engineers to follow. Improper selection of column mesh size may lead to inaccurate or even misleading analysis results. The interest of this study is to investigate the influence of column discretization on P-δ analysis in order to provide a scientific base for engineers to rely on. The research also diagnoses the difference between software that utilizes matrix method and those that utilizes finite element method when adopted in P-δ analysis of columns. Loading case is also examined in this study as a factor that could affect the ideal mesh size for each method of analysis. Two loading scenarios are investigated; nodal loads and member loads. A Matlab code has been written to show the difference between the two approaches, matrix and finite element methods, when used for a column with nodal forces without the influence of different solving techniques used by software. Two programs are then implemented to study the effect of column discretization on P-δ analysis under different solving approaches and different level of axial loading. STAAD Pro software has been considered as an example on software that adopts matrix method for skeleton structures and that is used in routine design works. On the other hand, Abaqus software is taken as an example for software that completely implements finite element method and is usually used in research field. Results for different case studies indicate that the solving approach, matrix or finite element methods, significantly affect the choice of ideal column discretization ratio. The results also show that columns that are subjected to member forces seem more sensitive to mesh size comparing to the corresponding columns that are subjected to nodal forces.
First Clinicogenetic Description of Parkinson's Disease Related to GBA Mutation S107L

Mutations in the glucocerebrosidase gene (GBA) are a common genetic risk factor for Parkinson's disease (PD). Mutations in the N‐terminus part of GBA are less commonly found in association with PD than those in the C‐terminus. Phenotypic characterization of GBA‐related PD has been challenging, in part attributed to differential impact of distinct GBA mutations.
Effect of Blood Flow Restriction Training in Combination with a High-Intensity Interval Training on Physical Performance

Purpose: We aimed to investigate whether a Blood Flow Restriction Training (BFR) prior to a High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) leads to a higher increase in physical performance than a sole HIIT. Methods: 24 male participants (18 to 30 years) were randomly assigned to a BFR+HIIT or HIIT group which performed 3 times per week over 4 weeks a HIIT on bicycleergometers. Prior to each training session of the HIIT, both groups carried out 4 sets of deep squats without additional load but the BFR+HIIT group performed this exercise under BFR conditions. Immediately before and after the intervention period, the endurance capacity and strength capacity was assessed by a spiroergometry (parameter: maximal power, maximal oxygen consumption per kilogram body weight [VO2max/kg]) and a maximal strength test for the legs [1RM] as well as the Counter Movement Jump [CMJ]. The Growth Hormone (GH) and Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1) were measured prior to and after the first and last intervention. Blood lactate concentrations [La] were assessed immediately before and after deep squats as well as after the HIIT during the sixth training session. Results: The maximal power increased significantly in both groups (BFR+HIIT: + 9.5%, p < 0.001; HIIT: + 4.5%, p = 0.038) but to a higher extent in the BFR+HIIT group (interaction effect: F = 4.80, p = 0.039, ƞp 2 = 0.179). The VO2max/kg did not change due to the intervention of the BFR+HIIT and HIIT group. Regarding the 1RM and CMJ, a significant improvement in 1RM (p = 0.005) was observed only in the HIIT group. Both, GH and IGF-1 increased significantly immediately after the interventions, but without differences between groups (no interaction effect). La increased during the intervention in a comparable manner among both groups. Conclusions: The combined intervention efficiently improves the maximal power in context of endurance capacity. Here, the underlying mechanisms have to be clarified in future investigations.