Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Site-specific Fertilizer Application in Orchards, Nurseries, and Landscapes CDFA-FREP #06-0600 Final Report, January 2007-December 2009

Variations in plant water and nutrient demand and environmental regulations to protect water quality provide significant justification for development of site-specific irrigation and fertigation systems. But to be accepted by growers, a system must be easy to install and operate. Accurate fertilizer application to each zone in a spatially-variable system requires an intelligent approach to monitoring fertilizer concentration and flow through the system. We have developed wireless valve controllers that self-assemble into a mesh network. Mesh networking means that controllers pass messages to extend the effective communication range without using high power radios. Solar energy is collected with a miniature panel to operate each controller node without yearly battery replacement. Nodes open or close a latching valve to control water and fertilizer flow and send sensor data back to a central field controller. Valves are operated when commanded by the field controller or when initiated by a locally stored schedule. Transmission range using 900 MHz radios with dipole antennas varied from 32 m to 217 m depending on plant obstructions and antenna height. A node's average energy use was about 6.6 mA-h/day and the solar panel produced 52 to 81 mA-h in full sun and 6 to 10 mA-h in shade. Electrical conductivity (EC) probes were used to monitor fertilizer concentration and location within fertigation lines. We tested an EC probe in UAN-32 and 20-20-20 (NPK) fertilizer solutions with 0 to 2000 S/cm conductivities. We applied different quantities of 20-20-20 fertilizer to two fertigation zones operating simultaneously. We also developed strategies that can be implemented for sites-specific fertigation in a variety of applications. Control of valves at each fertigation zone and at the fertilizer injector can be used to apply different amounts of fertilizer, but consideration must be given to the number of fertigation zones, duration and frequency of application, and application uniformity within each zone. A network of intelligent valve controllers will allow growers in orchards, vineyards, nurseries, greenhouses, and landscapes to develop management practices that improve water and fertilizer use efficiency.
MEMORANDA Tail Behavior of Credit Loss Distributions

We derive the exact loss distribution for portfolios of bonds or corporate loans when the number of risks grows indefinitely. We show that in many cases this distribution lies in the maximal domain of attraction of the Weibull (Type III) limit law. Knowledge of the distribution and its tail behavior is important for risk management in order not to overor underestimate the likelihood of extreme credit losses for the portfolio as a whole. Conform to the credit risk literature, we assume that bond (or loan) defaults are triggered by a latent variable model involving two stochastic variables: systematic and idiosyncratic risk of the bond. It is shown that the tail behavior of these two variables translates into the tail behavior of the whole credit loss distribution. Surprisingly, even if both variables are thin-tailed, the credit loss distribution can have a finite tail index. Moreover, if idiosyncratic risk exhibits heavier tails than the systematic risk factor the tail index of the credit loss distribution can become extremely high, giving rise to a non-conventional shape of the credit loss distribution.
Enhanced Ground Bounce Noise Reduction In a Low Leakage 45 nm 0 . 7 Volt CMOS Full Adder Cell

Multi-threshold CMOS (MTCMOS) technology is an effective sub-threshold leakage power reduction method in CMOS circuits, which satisfies high-performance and low-power design requirements. The optimization of virtual supply network plays an important role in MTCMOS lowpower design.In modern high performance systems-on-chips (SoCs), more than 40% of the total active mode energy can be dissipated due to the leakage currents [1]. With more transistors integrated on-die, leakage currents will soon dominate the total energy consumption of high performance SoCs. Furthermore, leakage current is the only source of energy consumption in an idle circuit. The battery-powered portable systems such as cell phones and laptop computers tend to have long standby modes. Reducing the leakage energy consumption of the portable systems during these long idle periods is crucial for a longer battery lifetime. This paper is based on leakage current and active power reduction in 10t structured pass transistor based single bit full adder using MTCOMS techniques for 45nm scale using cadence tool. A 20 ns access time and frequency 0.05 GHz provide 45 nm CMOS process technology with 0.7 V power supply is employed to carry out 1-bit Full Adder.
A MOVING BOUNDARY VALUE PROBLEM IN SOFT TISSUE MECHANICS

Mechanical theories of soft matter such as biological tissues often tread a fine line between a theory that can represent the maximal range of experimentally observed behaviour and one that can yield solutions in a reasonably efficient manner. While the advent of cheap, high speed computation has extended the range of theories that can be used for numerical analysis of a given situation, questions of software validation, interpretation of experiment and the determination of mechanical parameters still require a set of simple to interpret, analytically tractable theories. In the following we consider the linear theory of consolidation in an idealized configuration with a moving boundary. Employing an invertible coordinate transformation we derive a nonlinear problem on a fixed domain. In the steady limit we derive analytical solutions on the fixed domain, and by inverting the transformation, for the steady state free boundary value problem. We employ standard numerical methods to show that the time-dependent nonlinear problem tends to the steady state limit and discuss the rate at which the evolution to the steady state depends on the physical parameters. The steady state results are subsequently utilized to construct an algorithm for solving the free boundary value problem for steady state consolidation in a tethered tube geometry. Finally, the algorithm is implemented to discuss several case studies which outline the portions of parameter space in which the effect of the free boundary is significant.
Women Entrepreneurship in GCC : a Framework to Address Challenges and Promote Participation in a Regional Context

Women entrepreneurship is a rapidly growing phenomenon both in developed and in developing countries. Although there is a good amount of literature concerning women entrepreneurs in developed countries, relatively less is known in developing countries. This article reviews the literature on women entrepreneurs in developing countries, with specific focus on women entrepreneurs in GCC countries with an attempt to develop a framework that looks at the relationships between factors that motivate entrepreneurship activities and entrepreneurial challenges among women entrepreneurs in such countries. Examining this framework will provide some useful theoretical insights, and offer some practical suggestions and inferences for policy makers.
Overview: Development in transition in Latin America and the Caribbean: A new approach for inclusive and sustainable development in the region

The Latin American Economic Outlook 2019 (LEO 2019) presents a new approach to support Latin America and the Caribbean’s (LAC) transition to inclusive and sustainable development called “Development in Transition” (DiT). This represents an opportunity to advance towards the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030) by rethinking the concept of development, the strategies countries should pursue and the role of international co-operation in facilitating these efforts. In the face of significantly evolving domestic and global contexts, DiT calls for improving domestic capacities and adopting more innovative modalities of international co-operation for development. In so doing, it could support both national development objectives and international efforts to advance regional and global public goods.
Regulation and function of the flavonoid-inducible efflux system , emrR-emrAB , in Agrobacterium tumefaciens C 58

The expression of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens emrAB operon, which encodes a membrane fusion protein and an inner membrane protein, is inducible by various flavonoids, including apigenin, genistein, luteolin, naringenin, and quercetin. Among these flavonoids, quercetin is the best inducer, followed by genistein. The emrR gene is divergently transcribed from the emrAB operon. The EmrR protein, which belongs to the TetR transcriptional regulator family, negatively regulates the expression of emrAB and of itself. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays and DNase I footprinting showed that EmrR binds directly at two EmrR-binding sites in the emrR-emrAB intergenic region and that quercetin inhibits the DNAbinding activity of EmrR. Promoter-lacZ fusion analyses and 5′ rapid amplification of cDNA ends were performed to map the emrR and emrAB promoters. Compared with the wild-type strain, the emrA mutant strain exhibited similar levels of resistance to the tested antibiotics. In contrast, disruption of emrR conferred protection against nalidixic acid and novobiocin, but it rendered A. tumefaciens sensitive to tetracycline and erythromycin. The emrR mutation also destabilized the outer membrane of A. tumefaciens, resulting in increased sensitivity to SDS and low pH. These findings demonstrate that proper regulation of emrR-emrAB is required for free-living A. tumefaciens to survive in deleterious environments in which toxic compounds are present. Nonetheless, A. tumefaciens strains that lack emrR or emrA still have the ability to cause tumors when infecting Nicotiana benthamiana plants.
Ab initio study of water speciation in forsterite : importance of the 2 entropic effect 3

16 In this ab initio study, we expand previous investigations of charge-balanced hydrous Mg ((2H)Mg x ) and 17 Si ((4H)Si x ) defects in forsterite, the Mg end-member of olivine, to address the relative stability of these 18 two defects. First, we systematically search for (2H)Mg x configurations to find possible defect states; 19 second, we include the contribution of vibrational energy and defect configurational entropy in the 20 calculation of formation energies of both defects; third, we address the effect of pressure and 21
Effect of Gel Coat on Moisture Absorption and Mechanical Behaviour of Jute-Epoxy Laminated Composite

Natural fibre composites find wide range of applications and usage in the automobile and manufacturing industries. They find lack in desired properties, which are required for present applications. In this study, the effect of gel coat on laminated natural fibre reinforced polymer composites has been studied. The experiments were carried out to evaluate moisture absorption and mechanical properties of jute fibre reinforced polymer composites. Laminated composite specimens were prepared using epoxy as the matrix material. The prepared specimens were coated with a layer of gel coat material and categorized as coated/uncoated type. The specimens were exposed to moisture and then tested for moisture uptake, tensile and flexural properties. Comparison was made between coated and uncoated specimen to evaluate the performance of gel coat on the coated specimen. The specimen preparation and the experimentations were carried out as outlined in the ASTM standards. The obtained results revealed that the process of gel coating prevented moisture uptake and improved the mechanical properties.
Coalition announcements

Coalition announcement logic is one of the family of logics of quantified announcements. It extends public announcement logic with formulas 〈[G]〉φ that are read as ‘there is a truthful public announcement by agents from G such that whatever agents from A \G announce at the same time, φ holds after the joint announcement. ’ The logic has enjoyed comparatively less attention than its siblings — arbitrary and group announcement logics. The reason for such a situation can be partially attributed to the inherent alternation of quantification in coalition announcements. To deal with the problem, we consider relativised group announcements that separate the coalition’s announcement from the anti-coalition’s response. We present coalition and relativised group announcement logic and show its completeness. Apart from that, we prove that the complexity of the modelchecking problem for coalition announcement logic is PSPACE-complete in the general case, and in P in a special case of positive target formulas. We also study relative expressivity of logics of quantified announcements. In particular we show that arbitrary and coalition announcement logics are not at least as expressive as group announcement logic. Finally, we present a counter-example to the proposed definition of coalition announcements in terms of group announcements, and consider some other interesting properties.
Spectral-Spatial Neural Networks and Probabilistic Graph Models for Hyperspectral Image Classification

Pixel-wise hyperspectral image (HSI) classification has been actively studied since it shares similar characteristics with related computer vision tasks, including image classification, object detection, and semantic segmentation, but also possesses inherent differences. The research surrounding HSI classification sheds light on an approach to bridge computer vision and remote sensing. Modern deep neural networks dominate and repeatedly set new records in all image recognition challenges, largely due to their excellence in extracting discriminative features through multi-layer nonlinear transformation. However, three challenges hinder the direct adoption of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for HSI classification. First, typical HSIs contain hundreds of spectral channels that encode abundant pixel-wise spectral information, leading to the curse of dimensionality. Second, HSIs usually have relatively small numbers of annotated pixels for training along with large numbers of unlabeled pixels, resulting in the problem of generalization. Third, the scarcity of annotations and the complexity of HSI data induce noisy classification maps, which are a common issue in various types of remotely sensed data interpretation. Recent studies show that taking the data attributes into the designing of fundamental components of deep neural networks can improve their representational capacity and then facilitates these models to achieve better recognition performance. To the best of our knowledge, no research has exploited this finding or proposed corresponding models for supervised HSI classification given enough labeled HSI data. In cases of limited labeled HSI samples for training, conditional random fields (CRFs) are an effective graph model to impose data-agnostic constraints upon the intermediate outputs of trained discriminators. Although CRFs have been widely used to enhance HSI classification performance, the integration of deep learning and probabilistic graph models in the framework of semisupervised learning remains an open question. To this end, this thesis presents supervised spectral-spatial residual networks (SSRNs) and semi-supervised generative adversarial network (GAN) -based models that account for the characteristics of HSIs and make three main contributions. First, spectral and spatial convolution layers are introduced to learn representative HSI features for supervised learning models. Second, generative adversarial networks (GANs) composed of spectral/spatial convolution and transposed-convolution layers are proposed to take advantage of adversarial training using limited amounts of labeled data for semi-supervised learning. Third, fully-connected CRFs are adopted to impose smoothness constraints on the predictions of the trained discriminators of GANs to enhance HSI classification performance. Empirical evidence acquired by experimental comparison to state-of-the-art models validates the effectiveness and generalizability of SSRN, SS-GAN, and GAN-CRF models.
Brown adipose tissue activity is reduced in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether brown adipose tissue (BAT) activity is altered in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and whether BAT activity correlates with plasma levels of irisin, a myokine that can induce BAT formation. DESIGN We performed a cross-sectional study including women with PCOS (n=45) and a healthy control group (n=25) matched by age and body mass index (BMI). METHODS BAT activity was measured using 18F-FDG positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) and plasma irisin levels were measured by a validated enzyme immunoassay. RESULTS Total BAT activity was significantly reduced in women with PCOS (maximal standardized uptake value [SUVmax]: median 7.4 g/ml, interquartile range 0.9 to 15.4) compared to controls (median 13.0 g/ml, interquartile range 4.7 to 18.4, p=0.047). However, this difference was no longer significant after adjustment for waist circumference, a surrogate marker of central adiposity. In the PCOS group, BAT activity correlated negatively with BMI (Spearman's r = -0.630, p=0.000) and waist circumference (r = -0.592, p=0.000) but not with plasma irisin levels. CONCLUSIONS BAT activity was reduced in women with PCOS possibly due to increased central adiposity. In PCOS women, BAT activity did not correlate with plasma irisin levels.
Combined Treatment with L-Carnitine and Nicotinamide Riboside Improves Hepatic Metabolism and Attenuates Obesity and Liver Steatosis

Obesity characterized by adiposity and ectopic fat accumulation is associated with the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Treatments that stimulate lipid utilization may prevent the development of obesity and comorbidities. This study evaluated the potential anti-obesogenic hepatoprotective effects of combined treatment with L-carnitine and nicotinamide riboside, i.e., components that can enhance fatty acid transfer across the inner mitochondrial membrane and increase nicotinamide adenine nucleotide (NAD+) levels, which are necessary for β-oxidation and the TCA cycle, respectively. Ldlr −/−. Leiden mice were treated with high-fat diet (HFD) supplemented with L-carnitine (LC; 0.4% w/w), nicotinamide riboside (NR; 0.3% w/w) or both (COMBI) for 21 weeks. L-carnitine plasma levels were reduced by HFD and normalized by LC. NR supplementation raised its plasma metabolite levels demonstrating effective delivery. Although food intake and ambulatory activity were comparable in all groups, COMBI treatment significantly attenuated HFD-induced body weight gain, fat mass gain (−17%) and hepatic steatosis (−22%). Also, NR and COMBI reduced hepatic 4-hydroxynonenal adducts. Upstream-regulator gene analysis demonstrated that COMBI reversed detrimental effects of HFD on liver metabolism pathways and associated regulators, e.g., ACOX, SCAP, SREBF, PPARGC1B, and INSR. Combination treatment with LC and NR exerts protective effects on metabolic pathways and constitutes a new approach to attenuate HFD-induced obesity and NAFLD.
Distribution and Community Assembly of Trees Along an Andean Elevational Gradient

Highlighting patterns of distribution and assembly of plants involves the use of community phylogenetic analyses and complementary traditional taxonomic metrics. However, these patterns are often unknown or in dispute, particularly along elevational gradients, with studies finding different patterns based on elevation. We investigated how patterns of tree diversity and structure change along an elevation gradient using taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity metrics. We sampled 595 individuals (36 families; 53 genera; 88 species) across 15 plots along an elevational gradient (2440–3330 m) in Ecuador. Seventy species were sequenced for the rbcL and matK gene regions to generate a phylogeny. Species richness, Shannon–Weaver diversity, Simpson’s Dominance, Simpson’s Evenness, phylogenetic diversity (PD), mean pairwise distance (MPD), and mean nearest taxon distance (MNTD) were evaluated for each plot. Values were correlated with elevation and standardized effect sizes (SES) of MPD and MNTD were generated, including and excluding tree fern species, for comparisons across elevation. Taxonomic and phylogenetic metrics found that species diversity decreases with elevation. We also found that overall the community has a non-random phylogenetic structure, dependent on the presence of tree ferns, with stronger phylogenetic clustering at high elevations. Combined, this evidence supports the ideas that tree ferns have converged with angiosperms to occupy the same habitat and that an increased filtering of clades has led to more closely related angiosperm species at higher elevations.
Strong Labour Market Inequality of Opportunities at the Workplace for Supporting a Long and Healthy Work-Life: The SeniorWorkingLife Study

Most European countries are gradually increasing the state pension age, but this may run counter to the capabilities and wishes of older workers. The objective of this study is to identify opportunities in the workplace for supporting a prolonged working life in different groups in the labour market. A representative sample of 11,200 employed workers ≥ 50 years responded to 15 questions in random order about opportunities at their workplace for supporting a prolonged working life. Respondents were stratified based on the Danish version of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO). Using frequency and logistic regression procedures combined with model-assisted weights based on national registers, results showed that the most common opportunities at the workplace were possibilities for more vacation, reduction of working hours, flexible working hours, access to treatment, further education and physical exercise. However, ISCO groups 5–9 (mainly physical work and shorter education) had in general poorer access to these opportunities than ISCO groups 1–4 (mainly seated work and longer education). Women had poorer access than men, and workers with reduced work ability had poorer access than those with full work ability. Thus, in contrast with actual needs, opportunities at the workplace were lower in occupations characterized by physical work and shorter education, among women and among workers with reduced work ability. This inequality poses a threat to prolonging working life in vulnerable groups in the labour market.