Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive Temperature Tuning for Mellowmax in Deep Reinforcement Learning

Mellowmax is an alternative softmax operator that has recently been used in deep reinforcement learning in the context of action-selection, reducing overestimation bias, and removing the need for a target network. However, Mellowmax has a temperature parameter which must be tuned to obtain optimal results. Previous work has relied on grid-search to find the optimal temperature parameter, which is computationally expensive, requires a domain simulator, and fixes a single parameter setting for the entire learning process. We propose a novel online method that adaptively tunes the Mellowmax temperature parameter using a meta-gradient reinforcement learning approach. We test the approach in a simple OpenAI gym domain, Acrobot, and present preliminary results that our adaptive algorithm performs better than the previous method with a fixed temperature setting.
Acid induced-gelation of whey proteins

Traditionally, whey protein (WP) gelation requires the application of heat, hence limiting the use of whey protein ingredients as gelling agents in foods sensitive to high temperatures. Acid-induced gelation has been shown to promote whey protein gel formation at room temperature, using acidulants. However, it requires the application of heat in the initial stages of the process to achieve partial denaturation of the protein and the formation of soluble aggregates. Gelation in the presence of weak organic acids at room temperature has been reported for shark myofibrils. Nevertheless, according to the literature, these conditions have not yet been tested in whey proteins. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate whey protein gelation at ambient temperature upon addition of weak organic acids (formic, acetic and propionic). The effect of protein concentration, acid concentration, pH and acid type on the sol-gel protein phase behavior was investigated by macroscopic observation. Phase diagrams were established to define the physical state of the WP systems as a function of protein and acetic acid concentration, and pH. Small strain oscillatory rheological measurements were performed in order to characterize the gelation times and the viscoelastic properties of the obtained gels. Differential scanning calorimetry was applied to investigate the denaturation behavior of the WP, under the studied concentration and ionic conditions. Rheological measurements and visual assessment of the prepared samples indicated that all formic, acetic and propionic acids have induced whey protein gelation. However, this process was shown to be highly dependent on protein concentration, acid concentration, pH and acid type, which also seemed to influence the appearance of the final gels. Therefore, increasing protein and acid concentrations resulted in decreased gelation times and led to the formation of increasingly turbid and opaque gels. WPI gelation was also shown to occur more rapidly as the pH increased towards the isoelectric point, promoting the formation of translucent gels which became more turbid at higher values of pH. Lastly, propionic acid was the fastest to induce gel formation, yielding opaquer gels, followed by acetic acid and formic acid which formed clearer gels. DSC results showed a decrease in the denaturation temperature of WP in the presence of the highest acetic acid concentration studied (2.8 mol L, pH 3.2) in relation to the protein with no added acid, from 78 to about 58 oC, indicating the lower thermal stability of the proteins in the presence of high acetic acid concentrations, probably related to changes in the intramolecular interactions stabilizing the proteins and to consequent conformational changes in the proteins upon acid addition. NOMENCLATURE SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS ∆ Relaxation exponent
Knowledge and Compliance with Standard Precautions among Nursing Students in Mosul University

Student nurses are often exposed to various infections during their clinical education. Knowledge and compliance with standard precautions is essential to prevent hospital associated infections and protect patients as well as medical workers from exposure to infectious agents.This study aims:- To assess the knowledge and degree of compliance regarding standard precautions among Nursing Students in Mosul University.Method:- Descriptive Correlational design was applied in the present study. Random sample consist of (158) students' nurses ( Male and Female ) were studied in College of Nursing_ University of Mosul. Data were collected over a period of one month from first February 2014 to first March 2014.Results:- The study indicated that nursing students Knowledge and Compliance with Standard Precautions were high and there is a significant relationship between nurses Knowledge and Compliance of Standard Precautions.Conclusion and Recommendation:-As a results of this investigation it was concluted that the level of knowledge and compliance of standard precautions among the nursing student is rather high and teaching must be strengthened, particularly with respect to the concepts of nosocomial infection and hand hygiene where students scored less and the Periodic and continuous education program for nursing students about nosocomial infection, and standard precautions as well as further and nation-wide studies can be conducted on a large sample size of nursing student for include all colleges of nursing in Ira.
CHEMICAL AND NONCHEMICAL CONTROL OF WEEDS IN THE CULTIVATION OF LEMON BALM FOR SEEDS

The fight against weeds in the organic cultivation of herbal plants, both raw and for seeds, is a big challenge for growers. The paper compares the chemical (bentazon, 960 g·ha–1 and fluazifop-P-butyl, 150 g·ha–1) and nonchemical (scattering mustard seed meal in two doses 1.5 and 3.0 t·ha–1) control of weeds in the cultivation of lemon balm for seeds. Additionally, the influence of these factors on the yield of fresh herb and seeds of lemon balm and the sowing value of seeds was evaluated. The best method to control weed infestation was to use mustard seed meal in an amount of 3.0 t∙ha–1. Scattering of mustard seed meal in that dose reduced the number and weight of weeds on average from two years of research by 52.1 and 60.2% in relation to unweeded control. Slightly less effective methods were successively: bentazon and application of mustard seed meal in quantity of 1.5 t·ha–1. The largest yield of fresh lemon balm herb was collected from plots where mustard seed meal was used in an amount of 3.0 t∙ha–1. Seeds harvested from plots, on which mustard seed meal was used in a larger quantity was characterized by the lowest sowing value determined by the lowest energy and capacity of germination and the highest share of nongerminated seeds. Lowering the amount of used mustard seed meal to 1,5 t·ha–1 significantly improved their sowing value. Although this method was less effective in counteracting weeds than using larger dose, it provided comparable effects of reducing the number and weight of weeds in relation to chemical protection.
DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF RP-HPLC METHOD FOR DETERMINATION OF SOME PESTICIDE RESIDUES IN WATER SAMPLES

The development of a new reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method (RP-HPLC) with ultraviolet-diode array detection (UV-DAD) for simultaneous determination of 2,4-D, atrazine, malathion, fenitrothion and parathion residues in different water samples are described in this paper. The developed method has been validated according to European Commission guidelines for pesticide residue analytical methods, and all performance characteristics were found within acceptance criteria. The best separation and quantitative determination of the analytes were achieved using a LiChrospher 60 RP-select B (250 × 4 mm, 5 μm) analytical column, under the isocratic elution with mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile/water (60/40, V/V), flow rate of 1 ml/min, constant column temperature at 25 °C and UV-detection at 220 nm and 270 nm. The run time of analysis under the stipulated chromatographic conditions was about 10 min.
The Identification and Characterization of Zebrafish Housed at Goucher College

To gain a better understanding of the Denio rario, zebrafish, gut microbiota composition and function and how it contributes to the health of the zebrafish, three zebrafish guts were cultured. The average density of the zebrafish gut microbiota was 2.55 CFU/mL ± 1.03 CFU/mL with a Simpson’s diversity between 1.12 – 1.39. Seven species were identified at the genera level though Sanger sequencing of the 16S rRNA sequencing and comparison to the NCBI database. Species isolated included an Enterococcus species, Micrococcus species, Shewanella species, two Aeromonas species, and two Vibrio species. All gram-stains matched the literature, excluding the Aeromonas species 1, which had inconclusive results. Biochemical tests indicated that the isolated strains were capable of glucose fermentation, gas production, acetoin production, phenylalanine deamination, urea hydrolysis, citrate utilization. Micrococcus species, Aeromonas species 1, and both Vibrios species were capable of producing antibiotics, and each species demonstrated antibiotic resistance. Additionally, isolated species were tested for growth at 37°C to determine if they could survive the highest temperatures of the zebrafish’s range, and every isolate except Aeromonas species 2 experienced a drastic reduction in growth. Understanding the composition and functions of the gut microbiota, as well as the temperature range of the microbes, will help us better understand the health of the zebrafish and predict how the microbiota may change as the temperature of their habitat increases.
Internet Gaming and Aggression in Adolescent Males

Internet Gaming (IG) has become a subject of interest to the counseling profession, to the extent that addiction to IG is included as an item worthy of further consideration in the DSM-5. IG has been the subject of considerable research, resulting in two opposing views of the negative effects versus the positive effects of playing games online. One viewpoint is that involvement in IG featuring violent content increases hostility levels in the gamers. Other researchers hold that IG can be a valuable educational tool, and that gamers benefit by socializing with other gamers. This review of literature will summarize the findings of researchers who have examined the effects of violent IG on levels of aggression in adolescent male gamers, and report on current and proposed assessments and treatment interventions.
Prognostic Significance of Serum Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) Levels in Patients with Sarcomas

Sarcomas are heterogeneous groups of tumors that are seen rarely. Although great efforts have been made to identify prognostic factors apart from grade, histology and tumor size, they’re not so obvious yet. In this study, the prognostic role of serum matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 levels in patients with sarcoma was evaluated. Eighty-eight patients with a diagnosis of sarcoma were included in the study. Additionally in 14 patients with osteosarcoma, serum MMP-9 levels were analyzed twice, one in preoperative period during neoadjuvant chemotherapy and one in postoperative period. Sixteen healthy volunteers composed the control group. Serum MMP-9 levels have been evaluated quantitively by ELISA method. Serum MMP-9 levels were higher significantly compared to control group (p<0.005). Patients with metastatic disease have higher serum MMP-9 levels compared to the non-metastatic ones which were statistically non-significant (p: 0.9). Similarly, no difference in serum MMP-9 levels was observed between patients with intermediate-high grade tumors and with low grade tumors. Moreover, statistically significant decrease in serum MMP-9 levels was observed in patients in postoperative period compared to preoperative period (p: 0.016). Although this study was performed in small number and heterogeneous group of patients, the difference in serum MMP-9 levels between sarcoma patients and control group, especially in the presence of measurable lesions and in postoperative period of the same patients, suggests that serum MMP-9 levels may be used as a tumor marker in patients with sarcoma.
Decoders for Neural Prosthetics

The field of neural prosthetics involving motor control centers on the problem of decoding motor cortex neural data into a predicted trajectory of arm movement. Neuroscience presents the perspective that neurons can be interpreted as noisy sensors, roughly Poisson distributed, of a smooth underlying process of time-varying firing rates, and these firing rates of motor cortex neurons encode motor control information. For our project, we have been given data from Professor Krishna Shenoy’s Neural Prosthetics Group that contains neural data and hand position data of a macaque for several trials and their state of the art neural-decoded trajectories based on monkey arm-reach trials.
TUNING PD AND PID CONTROLLERS VIA THE LAMBERT W FUNCTION FOR DOUBLE INTEGRATOR PLUS DEAD TIME PROCESSES

The paper explores the Proportional-derivative controller for a double integrator plus dead time processes, which is a challenging control problem, that is designed based on the existing Proportional-integrative controller for integrator plus dead time processes. The PD controller is extended with an integral action and an ideal PID controller is received. The parameters of both controllers are received by using the pole placement technique, whereby the transcendent characteristics equation of the closed loop system is solved by using the Lambert W function. The paper also examines the influence of the desired poles of the system with a closed feedback as well as the influence of the disturbance and the change of the DIPTD processes parameters onto the received control system performances. The results received by simulation, and the quantitative indicators, show that the proposed control system has better performances in comparison to the control systems obtained by other methods in literature.
An Econometric Analysis of Deficit Budget, Money Supply and Inflation in Nepal

High money supply (M2) and high budget deficits (BD) both are equally responsible for higher rate of inflation. Moreover, inflationary pressure gets more momentum when money supply and budget deficits both increase together. The empirical evidence of Nepal also supports this hypothesis. Present paper re-examines this issue in the context of Nepal by using econometric analysis. The empirical results reveal that long run inflation is not only related with higher money supply but also to budget deficit. On the one hand, there is unidirectional causal relationship between money supply with inflation and similarly budget deficit with inflation. On the other, the supply of money has no causal connection with budget deficit. Hence the finding implies that both monetary and fiscal policies are important to control inflation in Nepal.
Preliminary Study on Birth Weight and Pre-weaning Growth Pattern in Crossed Boer Kids

This study was aimed to measure influence of some factors that involved in growth performance of crossed Boer kids including parity of mother, sex and litter size of kids. The data gained on body weight at birth weight (BW), 1 (Wt. 1), 2 (Wt. 2), and 3 (Wt. 3) months of age of 20 crossed Boer kids were recorded. There were two kids from does with parity 1, three kids from does with parity 2, eleven kids from does with parity 3, and four kids from parity ? 4. From all kids, eleven of them are male and nine female. Kids Six kids were born as single whereas eight kids were born as twin and six kids were born as triplet. Results showed that there was a no significant different (P>0.05) associated with parity of mother. For sex of kids, results show that highly significant differences (P<0.01) for body weight were identified at age one, two and three months. On the other hand, there was no significant difference (P>0.05) for body weight of kids due to single, twin or triplet kid born effect.
Combinatorial DNA barcoding for security applications

Forensic tagging has been widely used in recent years – from the use in large companies or institutions, to preventing large scale cable theft to private home owners who want to protect their property. Such tagging can be done by applying a solution containing a unique DNA code to devices, doors or valuable objects. Another method for forensic tagging is a spraying device which also deploys a unique code onto intruders. This code can then be decoded and used to create a link between criminal and the house/institution where the device was deployed or the solution applied to property. The market for such forensic applications within the UK is largely dominated by SmartWater® and SelectaDNA®. However, both companies base their decoding method on the time-consuming and expensive technique of sequencing. In collaboration with the security company Spyral®, we have developed a combinatorial system which exploits the advantages of Real-Time PCR (qPCR). Synthetic oligonucleotide constructs were designed, consisting of primer pair amplification sites and a target site, the latter to which a fluorescent probe can bind. The original approach for the target site detection involved HyBeacons® which are already extensively used in forensic science. After encountering many difficulties using these probes, the experimental approach was changed and TaqMan® probes were used which are already well-established for qPCR experiments. Having established a stable detection system using TaqMan®, it was shown that, despite limitations, mixtures containing several oligonucleotides could be decoded. The final series of experiments showed a positive outcome for deployment and subsequent recovery of the oligonucleotides.
Serotyping, virulence gene expression and phenotypic characterization of E. coli O157:H7 in colibacillosis affecting buffalo calves in Basra governorate

The objective of the current study was to detect the clinical signs of colibacillosis in buffalo calves, isolate E. coli O157:H7, detect its virulence gene eaeA using PCR and estimate its prevalence. The current study sampled 120 buffalo calves aged 1day to 5 months from the AlBasra veterinary Hospital and Private veterinary clinic within the Basra province between October 2017 and July 2018. A total of 100 calves were naturally diarrheic and the other 20 calves served as controls. The clinical sings in the diarrheic subjects included a significant increase in body temperature, heart rates, respiration rates and capillary refill time as compared to control group. Other clinical signs included whitish to yellowish watery diarrhea with tincture of blood, anorexia, weakness, depression, weak suck reflex, dry oral mucous membranes, cold extremities, weak peripheral pulse, dehydration and death. Using phenotypic characterization tools like MacConky agar, EMB agar, biochemical tests and Viteck, 83 out 100 diarrhea samples confirmed E. coli. Using CTSMACT agar, 31 out of 83 E. coli isolates were E. coli O157:H7 positive. The PCR result indicated that 47 out of the 83 isolated E. coli samples were positive for eaeA virulence gene. In conclusion, this study is a debut in the report of E. coli and E. coli O157:H7 isolation and genes identification in buffalo calves in Iraq. Therefore, proper prevention and control measures are requisite to curtail the mortality and morbidity rate caused by Colibacillosis.
Organizational Performance Measurement Based on Competitive Intelligence and Strategic Flexibility in the Food Industry

Competitive intelligence requires the appropriate conditions to achieve sustainable competitive advantage and improve organizational performance. Strategic flexibility is one of the effective factors. Since organizational performance can be a factor in recognizing the ascension or decline of organizations in the competition, organizations need to new strategies to have a good performance alongside challenges with the optimal use of opportunities. The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of competitive intelligence on organizational performance with the attention to the role of strategic flexibility mediator.
A Comprehensive Strategy to Support the Appropriate Prescribing, Delivery and Use of Medications in Aged Care Facilities

With an aging population drug related problems in the elderly are also increasing. It is well recognised that this group are the largest users of medications which do make a significant contribution to the treatment and prevention of disease. The management of the costs of and access to pharmaceuticals is a critical part of the health and aged care system.
The role of voltage-gated sodium channel 1.9 (Nav1.9) in visceral afferent signalling

3 Acknowledgements . 5 Presentations and awards . 6 List of figures . 13 List of tables . 15 List of abbreviations . 16 Introduction . 19 1.1 Abdominal pain . 19 1.1.1 Burden of abdominal pain . 19 1.1.2 Treatment of abdominal pain . 20 1.2 Nociception in the gastrointestinal tract . 22 1.2. 1 Anatomy of visceral afferents . 22 1.2. 1.1 Vagal afferents . 22 1.2. 1.2 Spinal afferents . 23 1.2. 2 Signalling of extrinsic visceral afferents . 26 1.2. 3 Mediators and channels involved in signalling . 28 1.2. 3.1 Ligand-gated ion channels . 30 1.2. 3.2 Voltage-gated ion channels . 32 1.2. 3.3 G-protein coupled receptors . 32 1.2. 4 Sensitisation . 34 1.3 Role of voltage-gated sodium channels in nociception . 36 1.3.
Development of Future Primary School Teachers’ Linguistic and Methodological Competence

Many Russian and foreign researchers note the inability to apply theoretical knowledge in practice, the gap between theory and practice in the context of university studies as one of the reasons of difficulties in the implementation of young teachers’ professional activities. The competence approach implemented in the education system of Russia today offers a solution to this problem through the formation of special, general and key competencies. Primary school teachers’ professional competence also includes a range of private methodological competencies. One of these competencies is linguistic and methodological, which ensures a teacher’s readiness to teach the Russian language to primary school students. Often the value of particular methodological competencies is underestimated. In this article, the importance of linguistic and methodological competence in ensuring the achievement of a new quality of education is revealed through the comparative analysis of two lessons. The purpose of this article is to define strategies and develop tactics for the formation of elementary school teachers’ linguistic and methodological competence in the context of continuous pedagogical education. The leading method of the research was a pedagogical experiment conducted among students and primary school teachers. The article describes the main stages of the experiment, presents the tactics of cognitive and projective strategies implementation in the context of university training for bachelor’s students future primary school teachers, and advanced courses for primary school teachers. Digital educational resources, distance learning modules, activity-related educational technologies are considered as the main tools and tactics. The materials presented in the article allow increasing the effectiveness of teachers’ professional activity in the field of language education.