Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigation of the chromophore structure in plant and bacterial phytochromes by comparison of experimental and calculated Raman spectra

Phytochromes are photosensory proteins that regulate various biological processes in plants, bacteria, and fungi, such as, e.g., flowering or the synthesis of pigments. These functions are linked to the photoactivation of phytochrome which is based on the reversible interconversion between two semi-stable states (Pr and Pfr) by absorption of red or far-red light. The chromophore of phytochrome is a linear tetrapyrrole (Fig. 2.1) which undergoes a photoisomerization and subsequent relaxation processes that are eventually coupled to large-scale conformational changes of the protein (Fig. 1.2). Neither the molecular details of the photocycle nor the downstream signal transduction processes are currently well understood. Resonance Raman (RR) spectroscopy allows observing subtle changes of the chromophore structure due to the (pre-)resonance enhancement of the Raman bands of the chromophore over the bands of the protein matrix. The structural changes of the chromophore during the photocycle result in different RR spectra of the various states of phytochromes. The RR spectra of phytochromes with isotopically labeled chromophores or with substitutions of specific amino acids near the chromophore (Fig. 2.5) show characteristic effects which allow drawing conclusions regarding the chromophore structure. To complement the experimental data, Raman spectra of model compounds resembling the protein-bound chromophore were calculated in order to obtain an assignment of the bands in the experimental spectra. These calculations, which are based on quantum mechanical force fields obtained by density functional theory and corrected by transferable scaling factors, were carried out for a large number of tetrapyrrole geometries. Especially in comparison with experimental spectra of phytochrome adducts with isotopically labeled chromophores, these calculated Raman spectra allow for the unambiguous assignment of individual vibrational bands. The RR spectra of phytochromes from plants and different other organisms show very similar characteristic band patterns in the respective states of the photocycle (i.e., Pr, Meta, Pfr). The chromophore in the Pr and Pfr states is largely protonated in all native phytochromes, but during the Pr → Pfr transition, the chromophore is transiently deprotonated at ring B or C. Interestingly, the RR spectra of the Pr states of most mutated phytochromes show hardly any differences compared with the spectra of the wild-type proteins, even though
Conceptual design and optimization of self microemulsifying drug delivery systems for dapsone by using Box-Behnken design

: Dapsone is a class II BCS with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory action. The goal of this study was to devise a dapsone (DP) system of solid self-microemulsifying drug delivery (S-SMEDDS). Various proportions of capryol 90 as an oil form, tween 80 as a surfactant and Labrasol as a co-surfactant were selected to prepare a pseudo ternary diagram for the self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (L-SMEDDS). The optimized formulation of L-SMEDDS (F8) containing capryol 90 (10 percent w/w), Tween 80 (67.5/5 w/w), and labrasol (22.5 percent w/w) showed the smallest particle size, less emulsification time, high optical clarity, in-vitro release and improved ex-vivo permeation. L-SMEDDDS was converted to S-SMEDDS by adsorbing on neusilin US2 and spray drying with aerosil 200. The effect of inlet temperature (A), feed flow rate (B) and carrier concentration (C) on particle size (Y1) and % practical yield (Y2) was studied using Box-Behnken design. Using the results of dependent variables, polynomial equations, surface response plots, and contour plots were developed. S-SMEDDS have been tested for flow properties, drug quality, reconstitution properties, DSC, XRD, SEM, drug release in vitro and anti-inflammatory activity in vivo . The present study showed the applicability of design of experiments (DOE) to optimize the process parameters needed to produce DP S-SMEDDS as an effective approach to improving its solubility.
Action model of Angiotensin II receptors on smooth muscle ileum preparations

This paper presents an approach using control theory methods to monitor the effect of Angiotensin II (Ang II), AT1 and AT2 receptor subtypes on the visceral smooth muscle in ileum preparations. Since AT1 and AT2 are involved in feedback during the regulatory action of Ang II, it is convenient to block them with a suitable antagonist. In this way, three transients were obtained, which were identified by a second-order differential equation. The individual identification vector was calculated for each of the processes. The analysis of the models showed that when the PD 123319 blocker was applied, the amplitude of the responses to smooth muscle contractions increased. From this, it can be concluded that the AT2 type receptors have an AT1 antagonistic effect during the contractile process.
RESPONSE OF TRADITIONAL LEMON SEEDLING TO FOLIAR FERTILIZER NPK, SEAWEED EXTRACT AND GIBBERELLIN

The study carried out in shelter houses University of Baghdad during 2019 ,The seedlings were planted in 5 kg flowerpot and sprayed with different concentrations of NPK (100, 150 mg/ liter),seaweed extract Oligo-x (1, 2ml/ liter) and gibberellin(100,150 mg/ liter). The results can be summarized that the foliar spray treatment with seaweed extract Oligo-x influenced significantly with concentration level ( 2 ml / L) obtained maximum in leaf length (cm), leaf Width (cm), average of leaf area(cm), average of leaf dry weight(gm.), percentage of chlorophyll and nitrogen, phosphor and potassium (N, P, K) in the leaves and percentage of carbohydrates and graft diameter(mm) in the stem, while the control treatment recorded the lowest average of these traits .
SDN Controller Allocation and Assignment Based on Multicriterion Chaotic Salp Swarm Algorithm

Increase in demand for multimedia and quality services requires 5G networks to resolve issues such as slicing, allocation, forwarding, and control using techniques such as software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization. In this study, the optimum number of SDN multi-controllers are implemented based on a multi-criterion advanced genetic algorithm that takes into consideration three key parameters: Switch controller latency, hopcount, and link utilization. Preprocessing is the first step, in which delay, delay paths, hopcount, and hoppaths are computed as an information matrix (Infomat). Randomization is the second step, and consists of initially placing controllers randomly, followed by an analytical hierarchical process evaluation that considers switch controller latency as the primary objective in the assignment process. In the third and last step, crossover and mutation genetic functions are implemented for a local search process until the best placement is found (when the primary objective threshold is reached). A novel chaos theory is applied to the salp swarm algorithm (SSA) for enhancing the optimizer’s performance in assigning the switch controllers. The SSA is a dynamic optimal algorithm for switch controller connections. To enhance convergence rate and precision, chaotic maps extract random parameters based on Gaussian distribution for better control in reducing local optima. A logistic chaotic map is selected after analyzing its performance based on unimodal and multimodal optimization. Evaluations are carried out on this proposed algorithm for 12 sets of topologies with two categories: Fewer and more switches. Simulation results show the highest efficiency in a computation time of 25 ms with varying thresholds and 12 ms with varying upper boundary utilization when compared with the particle swarm optimization (PSO) meta-heuristic algorithm. The effects of varying latency thresholds and upper boundary utilization on two set of topologies inferred more requests serviced with fewer controllers deployed.
Lactobacillus spp. Strains Isolation, Identification, Preservation and Quantitative Determinations from Gut Content of 45-Day-Old Chickens Broilers

24/August/2020 Approved: 15/October/2020 ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to isolate, identify, preserve and determine the quantitative level of the Lactobacillus strains from the gut content of 45-day-old chickens broilers; to test the viability of these strains preserved at 4 ºC and room temperature (20 ± 2 ºC). Lactobacillus strains were isolated, phenotypically identified and preserved from the gut content of 17 chickens broilers. Identification was performed by morphological, cultural and biochemical characters examination, using apiwebTM and ABIS online software. The quantitative level of Lactobacillus strains in intestinal content (10 5 – 10 9 CFU/g) and the viability of strains preserved at 4 ºC and at room temperature (from 8 days to 9 months) was also determined. Twenty-three strains of L. acidophilus , L. brevis , L. plantarum , L. fermentum and L. salivarius from the gut content of chickens broilers were isolated, phenotypically identified, and preserved. Of these, L. plantarum , L. fermentum and L. acidophilus biotype 1 strains were technologically and ecologically suitable to continue the testing
Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Momentum Strategy for Responsible Investment in the Russian Stock Market

In modern conditions, the integration of ESG-criteria into investment decisions of asset managers is considered as a key factor in sustainable economic development. We examine the effectiveness of the Momentum-ESG strategy based on the Responsibility and Openness Index in comparison with the Momentum strategy, which is based on the Moscow Exchange Broad Market Index, since December 2011 to December 2020. We propose an algorithm for integrating ESG criteria into momentum strategy. We select "winners" and "losers" stocks based on their monthly return. The Momentum-ESG strategy has a high Sharpe ratio for a time horizon of 12 months, the Momentum strategy - for a time horizon of 6 months. The testing of the Momentum-ESG strategy shows its greater efficiency in terms of the Sharpe ratio compared to the Momentum strategy, which does not take into account the ESG-factors, in the investing period.
Calorimetric Investigations of Molecular Interactions in the Adsorbate/Microporous Activated Carbon System. Towards the Mechanism of Adsorption in Micropores

This paper summarises the results of four years' investigation of the thermodynamics of adsorption in activated carbon micropores. Five adsorbates, i.e. methane, methanol, ethanol, carbon dichloride and carbon tetrachloride were adsorbed at three temperatures (308, 328 and 348 K) on two polymeric microporous carbons. Adsorption isotherms, as well as differential heats of adsorption, were measured using adsorption calorimetry. From the experimental results, the entropy as well as the average heat capacity of the adsorbed molecules were calculated. The data obtained lead to the mechanism of adsorption in carbon micropores as well as to the influence of the oxidation of the carbon surface on this mechanism. By comparing the isosteric and differential heats of adsorption, it is shown that the isosteric enthalpy cannot be applied for a correct description of the adsorption energetics. Finally, some empirical relationships describing low-coverage adsorption are proposed and discussed.
Dark Matter production in association with dilepton resonance from heavy Z’ decay using Monte Carlo simulation

In the present work, we search for Dark Matter candidates generated in association with the Z 0 boson, in events with large missing transverse momentum produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, using Monte Carlo simulation, at total integrated luminosity of 136.2 f b −1 and center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The signal is evaluated from three new physics scenarios beyond standard model of dark matter with Z' boson as a final-state radiation, and they are: Dark Higgs model, Light vector model and the light Z' with inelastic effective field theory coupling model. The three models assume that the Z' is coupled to new dark sector states, which might be a candidate or decaying to a candidate suitable to be the dark matter. The dark matter candidate is supposed to have mass of order GeV to few TeV. The Z’ boson is considered to decay leptonically. The dileptons invariant mass and the missing transverse momentum distributions are studied before and after selection conditions of the resonance event. The significances of the three models will be tested.
High-tolerance CWDM4 wavelength multiplexer based on 2×2/2×1 MZ filters with polarization multiplexing

A novel Si four-wavelength multiplexer (MUX) for CWDM system composed of two types of Mach-Zehnder (MZ) MUX, and a polarization splitter rotator (PSR) based on a tapered asymmetric directional coupler (ADC) and TE 1 -TM 0 mode converter (MC) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. To make the ADC fabrication-tolerant and broadband, a new design method is proposed, in which waveguide width dependence is taken into account. Although due to the waveguide width change during the fabrication process, the loss of the fabricated ADC is relatively large, a proof-of-concept four wavelength multiplexing is exper- imentally demonstrated.
Dynamic Property Enforcement in Programmable Data Planes

Network programmers can currently deploy an arbitrary set of protocols in forwarding devices through data plane programming languages such as P4. However, as any other type of software, P4 programs are subject to bugs and misconfigurations. Network verification tools have been proposed as a means of ensuring that the network behaves as expected, but these tools frequently face severe scalability issues. In this paper, we argue for a novel approach to this problem. Rather than statically inspecting a network configuration looking for bugs, we propose to enforce networking properties at runtime. To this end, we developed P4box, a system for deploying runtime monitors in programmable data planes. P4box allows programmers to easily express a broad range of properties (both program-specific and network-wide). Moreover, we provide an automated framework based on assertions and symbolic execution for ensuring monitor correctness. Our experiments on a SmartNIC show that P4box monitors represent a small overhead to network devices in terms of latency, throughput and power consumption.
Identification and analysis of factors influencing climate change in terms of CO2 emissions

It is commonly known that transport means release exhaust gases into the atmosphere which poses a threat to the natural environment. Therefore, new requirements and stricter regulations on emissions of C2 and other harmful substances are being introduced. This study presents an analysis of different emission sources of anthropogenic and natural origin. The analysis is supposed to show a real impact of transport related C2 emissions on the natural environment. The work includes results of tests concerning application of biocomponents in motor vehicle fuels and their impact on the value of C2 emission. Having in mind the analysis, it can be said that, as compared to other branches of economy and its natural sources, transport is not the major source of C2 emission and application of biofuels is not a factor that is likely to significantly contribute to carbon dioxide emission reduction on a global scale.
Effects of Bacillus subtilis on performance, immune system and gut in Salmonella-challenged broilers

The goal of this study was to compare the effects of Bacillus subtilis and the antibiotic enrofloxacin on growth performance, immune response, intestinal histomorphometry and cecal Salmonella numbers in broilers challenged with S. gallinarum. Salmonella-free chicks (n = 240) were allocated to four groups, comprising six replicates (n = 10) each. Group NN was not infected and received no treatment. Group SN was infected with Salmonella and received no treatment. Group SE was infected with Salmonella and treated with the antibiotic enrofloxacin. Group SP was infected with Salmonella and treated orally with the probiotic B. subtilis. Initially the groups that were infected with Salmonella had reduced growth performance compared with NN. By the fourth week, SE and SP had recovered and weighed as much as or more than NN. The SP group had greater cellular immunity and relative weights of the bursa and thymus than the other groups. SN had the lowest villus height in all the segments of the small intestine and a larger Salmonella population in the ceca. Probiotic supplementation reduced the pathological outcomes more than enrofloxacin. Prophylactic use of B. subtilis-type probiotics had similar effects to the use of antibiotics, alleviated the stress related to infection of S. gallinarum, and improved the growth performance, immune function, and gut mucosal development in broilers. Keywords: growth promoters, immunity, probiotics, poultry villi length
Disturbance-Immune and Aging-Robust Internal Short Circuit Diagnostic for Lithium-Ion Battery

The accurate diagnostic of internal short circuit (ISC) is critical to the safety of lithium-ion battery (LIB), considering its consequence to disastrous thermal runaway. Motivated by this, this article proposes a novel ISC diagnostic method with a high robustness to measurement disturbances and the capacity fading. Particularly, a multistate-fusion ISC diagnostic method leveraging polarization dynamics instead of the conventional charge depletion is proposed within a model-switching framework. This is well-proven to eliminate the vulnerability of diagnostic to battery aging. Within this framework, the recursive total least squares method with variant forgetting is exploited, for the first time, to mitigate the adverse effect of measurement disturbances, which contributes to an unbiased estimation of the ISC resistance. The proposed method is validated both theoretically and experimentally for high diagnostic accuracy as well as the strong robustness to battery degradation and disturbance.
Texture Classification using Angular and Radial Bins in Transformed Domain

Texture is generally recognized as fundamental to perceptions. There is no precise definition or characterization available in practice. Texture recognition has many applications in areas such as medical image analysis, remote sensing, and robotic vision. Various approaches such as statistical, structural, and spectral have been suggested in the literature. In this paper we propose a method for texture feature extraction. We transform the image into a two-dimensional Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and extract features using the ring and wedge bins in the DCT plane. These features are based on texture properties such as coarseness, smoothness, graininess, and directivity of the texture pattern in the image. We develop a model to classify texture images using extracted features. We use three classifiers: the Decision Tree, Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Logarithmic Regression (LR). To test our approach, we use Brodatz texture image data set consisting of 111 images of different texture patterns. Classification results such as accuracy and F-score obtained from the three classifiers are presented in the paper.
Use of Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) for Testing of Ovarian Reserve: A Survey of Fifteen (15) Fertility Centres in Ghana

Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) is a dimeric glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 140 kD, encoded by a gene on the short arm of chromosome and a member of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) superfamily. The expression of AMH is markedly different in males and females, both in concentration and temporality. In males, Sertoli cells maintain a high concentration of AMH in utero which peaks shortly after birth and then drops precipitously at puberty. In females, granulosa cells produce very low levels of AMH in utero followed by a transient spike in the neonatal period. Concentrations of the hormone then rise steadily through adolescence to a peak in the mid-twenties and subsequently decline until becoming undetectable in menopause. The study aimed to understand how Clinicians and Clinical Embryologists used anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) test to assess ovarian reserve, direct patient selection and treatment regimens and guide in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle management in all registered fertility hospitals in a West African country, Ghana. A web-based survey (questionnaire) using google forms was performed to solicit responses from all IVF hospitals that are registered with the Fertility Society of Ghana (FERSOG). This questionnaire consisted of fifteen (15) broader questions, ten (10) of which assessed the clinics’ use of AMH. Responses were screened for quality to verify that only one (1) survey was completed by each IVF centre. The study was conducted during May and June 2020 at the In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Department of the Airport Women’s Hospital (AWH) in Accra, Ghana. Results are reported as the proportion of IVF cycles represented by a particular answer choice. Survey responses were completed from 15 IVF centres, representing 2504 IVF cycles performed annually. A good majority (73.3%) [1835 IVF cycles] of the respondent IVF hospitals reported to use AMH as a first line test and 93.3% reported it as the best test for evaluating ovarian reserve. Another 66.7% reported that AMH results were extremely relevant to clinical practice. However, in contrast, for predicting live birth rate, 60% reported age as the best predictor in their practice. Overall, our results indicate that AMH is considered a first line test for assessing ovarian reserve and is relevant to the clinical practice of majority of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) providers in Ghana.
Buckling analysis of restrained nanobeams using strain gradient elasticity

Size-dependent stability analysis of nanobeams under axial loading is investigated by strain gradient elasticity. An effective general model is proposed for different deformable boundary conditions by combining Fourier sine series and Stokes’ transformation. The theoretical model presented here bridges the gap between clamped and pinned-pinned supporting conditions, which is of great significance for the application of the strain gradient small scale effects to nanobeam. Analytical solutions are obtained and comparisons with results obtained by the researchers for rigid boundary conditions are carried out. The outcomes can be useful for the optimization and design of nano-sized beams and provide new benchmarks for nanomechanical analyses.
Effect of molten carbonate composition on the generation of carbon material

Carbon dioxide, CO2, is thought to be a main culprit leading to global climate change and a wide variety of strategies have been proposed to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels. Here, CO2 is captured and subsequently electrochemically split into carbon materials in an electrolyzer comprising a eutectic mixture of carbonates, an Fe cathode and a Ni anode, at 600 °C and current densities of 50, 100, 200 mA cm−2. SEM, EDS, XRD and BET are employed to analyze the morphology, elemental composition, crystal structure as well as the BET surface area of the synthetic cathodic products. In addition, coulomb efficiency under different electrolytic conditions is measured via the comparison between moles of formed carbon product and the Faradays of charge passed during the electrolysis reaction. This paper investigated the effect of molten carbonate compositions on carbon product generation, and confirmed the visible dependence of produced carbon on the electrolytes.