Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Soil management strategies to enhance carbon sequestration potential of degraded lands

Reclamation of degraded lands has huge potential for carbon(C) sequestration to counteract the climate change. It was estimated that about 1,947 Mha of land is degraded worldwide and in Asia (excluding west Asia), the degraded soils occupied an area of 747 Mha. In India 59.3 Mha of land is degraded. The major land-degrada- tion processes in the World and in Asia are water erosion, wind erosion, salinity and alkalinity, nutrient depletion and metal pollution. Various management strategies like conservation agriculture, integrated nutrient manage- ment, afforestation, alternate land use, plantations and amendments and use of biochar hold promise for long- term C sequestration. It has been projected that in India the largest potential lies in erosion prevention (33.650.4 Tg/year), secondary carbonates and bicarbonates (21.825.6 Tg/ha), agricultural intensification (12.716.5 Tg/ year) and restoration of degraded soils (9.813.9 Tg/ha). Thus, total potential of soil organic C (SOC) sequestra- tion in India is 77.9 to 106.4 Tg/year. Conservation agriculture has tremendous potential on soil C sequestration to the tune of 1.8 t/ha/year during the first decade of adoption. In dryland agriculture, conjunctive use of crop resi- dues and Leucaena clippings had greater effect on C build up. The C sequestration potential of integrated nutrient management (100% NPK + FYM) was at the tune of 0.95 Mg/ha/year under rainfed agriculture. Overall the C se- questration potential of soils under arid and semi-arid climate is lesser than the soils under humid, per-humid climate. Afforestation could have remarkable increase in C sequestration in tropical climate than in either temper- ate of boreal climate. Alternate land use by adoption of agroforestry system is a promising strategy for enhancing the C sequestration by vegetation as well soil. Agroforestry plant species, e.g. Prosopis juliflora (SW.) DC. ,) Vachellia nilotica (L.) P.J.H. Hurer & Mabb. ; syn. Acacia nilotica, Casuarina equisetifolia L. , Tamarix aphylla (L.) Karst. ; syn), Tamarix articulate Vahl, Diplachne fusca (L.) P. Beauv. Ex Roem & Schult. ; syn. Leptochola fusca which are well adapted to saline and alkali soils are reported to increase in SOC contents. Certain plantations like Stylosanthes guianensis (Aubl.) Sw. , Acacia auriculiformis A. Cunn. Ex. Benth. and Dalbergia sissoo DC. hold promise to reclaim acid soils and enhancing SOC content. From long-term fertilizer experiment, it has been proved that balanced fertilization alone (NPK or NPK + FYM) or with lime (NPK + lime) not only reclaim the Alfisols but also enhance SOC content. Biochar, a pyrolysed product of biomass being resistant to microbial decomposi- tion has huge potential for carbon sequestration in soil. The reclamation of degraded land by various means can be promising for C sequestration and it has greater implications on enhancing yield of crops.
Version The Data of Labor Market in Turkey and Time Series Analysis on Economic Growth ( 2000 : 01-2013 : 03 ) Emerging Markets

In the present study, labor markets were analyzed, in particular, the reasons of low labor force rate to make sense based on the data of Turkish economy. While in the advanced economies, the labor force rate is quite high and has small fluctuations around a certain extent over a long-term. In the Turkish economy, it prominently falls in a long-term. Turkey is 18th by population size and 17th by GDP in world ranking and although its population effectively provides labor force rate, it will be highly effective on its economic growth. The study that based on co-integration analysis with long-term of the labor data with respect to the economy of Turkey concluded that labor variables concern with GDP and co-integration in a long-term. In particular, when the presence of strong relation between the growth and the non-institutional population is produced, it is emphasized that the present relation between the growth and the labor variable isn’t strong enough.
EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF VIRUS LIKE PARTICLE VACCINES AGAINST RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS IN MOUSE AND COTTON RAT MODELS

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of infectious lower respiratory disease in infants and the elderly. Vaccine-enhanced respiratory disease (ERD) has been a major obstacle in developing a safe vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). This study demonstrates efficacy and safety of virus like particle (VLP) vaccines containing RSV fusion (F) (F VLP), attachment (G) glycoproteins (G VLP), F+G (FG VLP), or FG VLP plus F DNA vaccine (FFG VLP) in mouse and cotton rat models. FFG VLP vaccine was found to be effective in inducing long-lived IgG2a antibody responses specific for RSV F in mice. Mice immunized with FFG VLP showed long term protection against RSV without causing ERD, indicating vaccine safety, whereas mice with formalin-inactivated RSV (FI-RSV) vaccination showed severe inflammatory pulmonary pathology upon RSV challenge. In cotton rats, FFG-VLP was found to be effective in inducing B cells that are secreting RSV F specific antibodies and likely long-lived in spleens and bone marrow. In contrast to FIRSV, FFG-VLP immunization did not prime cellular components (IL-4 secreting cells, eosinophils) responsible for RSV disease and pulmonary inflammation. Repeated live RSV infections could induce a moderate level of pulmonary inflammation, indicating that even natural infection does not induce safe immunity. F VLP and FG VLP vaccines were immunogenic and able to confer protection without causing ERD in cotton rats. Inclusion of F VLP in the G VLP vaccination could improve vaccine safety in cotton rats. My 4 project was to determine whether F VLP priming would modulate the outcomes of immune responses suppressing ERD to subsequent FI-RSV vaccination and RSV challenge. Induction of effector CD8 T cells expressing IFN-γ in the lung as a result of F VLP priming might be responsible for suppressing pulmonary inflammation and eosinophilia as well as Th2 cytokines in the airways and lungs. An intrinsic property of F VLP to stimulate the innate immune system at the injection site appears to be contributing to modulating a Th1 pattern of immune responses. In conclusion, these results provide evidence that FFG VLP, FG VLP and F VLP are worthwhile for further development into a safe RSV vaccine candidate. INDEX WORDS: Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Virus like particles, Protection, histopathology, T helper type-1 immune responses PROTECTIVE EFFICACY OF VIRUS LIKE PARTICLE VACCINES AGAINST RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS IN MOUSE AND COTTON RAT MODELS
Effect of biochar and compost application on nitrogen dynamics in organically managed nutrient-poor paddy soil system and in organic rice cultivation system

Nitrogen (N) is an essential plant nutrient, and its retention in the soil is beneficial to plant growth and productivity. High levels of N can leach from soil with organic amendments, particularly in water-rich paddy rice cultivation. Biochar has the potential to influence the soil N cycle. The study included four treatments applied to organically managed nutrient-poor paddy soil (S) and rice cultivation (R) systems, respectively over two growing seasons: biochar only (BA), compost only (CA), biochar and compost mixed at an equal rate (BC), and no amendment (control). Biochar produced from mangrove (Rhizophora apiculata) which obtained from slow pyrolysis in a traditional kiln, whereas compost generated from organic municipal solid waste. The results showed that, on average, BA and BC maintained NO3-N and NH4-N in the soil and reduced absolute N leaching compared to the control and CA, respectively. System R maintained nitrogen better than system S. BA reduced N mass leaching by 27.25% in system S and by 59.21% in system R, compared to the control, while BC reduced N mass leaching by 24.85% in system S and by 58.48% in system R, compared to CA. However, the reduction in N2O emission fluxes was not significant in both BA and BC in both seasons, although cumulative emission fluxes after a year of cultivation decreased significantly. BC significantly boosted water use efficiency relative to yield in system R. These results show that co-application of biochar and compost to nutrient-poor soil in an organically managed system substantially reduced N leaching and suggests that it could be an effective management option for organic rice cultivation in Thailand.
The Woodpecker's Beak: An Optimally Designed Structure/Material for Energy Absorption and Shock Mitigation

Woodpecker beaks have the ability to absorb shock energy without any damage to their body. In his book Origin of the Species Charles Darwin mentioned that the “woodpecker, with its feet, tail, beak, and tongue, so admirably adapted to catch insects under the bark of trees” in trying to explain how adaptation led to evolutionary changes in the woodpecker. Did the woodpecker with its beak, tongue, tail, and feet really adapt over long periods of evolutionary time or was it designed by its Creator to live in its particular environment and conditions. The analysis in this study shows the intense complexity of the woodpecker’s beak arguing for an engineering design by its Creator. In particular, this study focuses on the structure-property relationships of the woodpecker beak at multiple length scales. In particular, the woodpeckers’ beaks were examined through microscopy and nano/micro indentation to quantify the structure-property relationships with the perspective of mitigating shock waves. The beak of a woodpecker comprises three layers; exterior keratin layer (rhamphotheca) composed of overlapping scales, middle foam layer, and inner bony layer composed of mineral and collagen fiber. Indentation testing revealed that the hardness value of the inner layer is two to three times higher than that of the exterior layer. The overall design of the beak, tongue, and hyoid bone with their specific structure-property relationships in addition to the subsystem designed for shock mitigation appears to have been specifically designed for absorbing energy as they effectively dissipate energy as a whole. The perfection of the beak’s architectural complexity and fine systemization are highly indicative of it being designed by its Creator. Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Creationism. Pittsburgh, PA: Creation Science Fellowship 7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; 8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. 9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? 10 In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. (Job 12:7-10)
Robot Manipulator Programming Interface based on Augmened Reality

The integration cost of industrial robots into small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is nowadays one of the main obstacles to make automated solutions profitable. The standard implemented human robot interface (HRI) in industrial robots, is complicated and time consuming even for trained technicians. A well-known trend in robotic manipulator development, known in the field of intelligent HRI, is aimed at to make automated solutions with industrial robots cost-effective. A HRI based on augmented reality (AR) is presented to cut short the programming phase during commissioning of industrial robots in the production line. The system proposed in the given article was implemented on a portable computer in accordance with an AR-Stylus using safety goggles mounted with a high-resolution camera and a wearable display. The hardware setup presented was used in an experiment to show, how the HRI's basic functions, namely intuitive robot programming by demonstration (PbD), visualisation and simulation of industrial robots program, could be implemented. A high level of encapsulating the programmer into an AR environment was achieved by configuring a camera tracking the 6D position of the AR-Stylus and a real-time projection of the 3D robot gripper model virtually substituting the AR-Stylus. In contrast to the HRI based on the conventional PbD method, this paper covers a new type of PbD called “virtual robot programming by demonstration” (vPbD). The accuracy of the HRI system in determining the position of the AR-Stylus was experimentally analysed. In a sequential robotic program, apart from visualising the endpoints and the trajectories in WD, a real scale 3D model projection of the robot gripper is aligned in real-world environment from the observer's perspective. This enables the operator to detect potential collisions of the robot gripper with the surrounding with efficacy. Further conclusions and developments pertaining to the study will be followed
Performance of SRI Rice Growth on Soil Accustomed to Conventional Cultivation Methods

The aim of this research are to compare actual evapotranspiration among SRI Paddy Cultivation with different treatment of fertilizer and soil amendment, and to examine SRI growth with fertilizer and soil amandement treatment in soil accustomed to conventional cultivation method. This research was conducted at the screen house of Agricultural Technology Laboratory of Universitas Jenderal Soedirman, Purwokerto, during December 2016 until April 2017. The data were collected from 4 experiment pots with different treatments. Soil were taken from the paddy field that usually practice conventional method (flooded irrigation, chemical fertilizer). First pot were added with organic fertilizer with dose of 100 ton/ha (SO). Second pot were added with organic fertilizer with dose of 100 ton/ha and biochar application as much as 50 kg/ha (SOA). Third pot were added organic fertilizer in amount of 100 ton/ha and chemical fertilizer during vegetative phase (SOK). The fourth pot were purely soil with chemical fertilizer (SK). Result showed actual evapotranspiration per season were higher in SOK and SK, rather than in SO and SOA. Phase per phase of crop shown sharp difference of crop coefficient (Kc) among the four treatments. The Kc were SO (0.47 - 0.57), SOA (0.44 - 0.52), and SOK (0.64-0.96), and SK (0.54 - 1.09). SOK and SK shows higher evapotranspiration and better growth compared to SO and SOA. SO and SOA simply recognized as 'fully organic' The converting cultivation method from fully chemical fertilizer to fully organic fertilizer was the main hypothesis of this result.
Thermoelectric waste heat recovery of an automotive internal combustion engine using (Na, K) co-doped polycrystalline tin selenide (SnSe)

Recent developments in converting the thermal energy of exhaust gasses of auto-mobiles into electric power directly, require an extensive simulation and design of appropriate TEG system. This work aims to create a physical model of engine exhaust system using Simscape language to simulate waste heat recovery from the exhaust gasses using (Na, K) co-doped polycrystalline tin selenide, SnSe, TE material. This particular material exhibits a high Seebeck coefficient and extremely low lattice thermal conductivity in power generation because of phonons scattering by the rattlers (Na, K atoms) and nanostructuring. In the MATLAB/SIMULINK environment, a transient simulation is done for the recovery of waste heat from a 1.5 liters engine using these specific material-based TE modules. According to the results obtained, at the temperature gradient of 285 K across its sides, electrical power of 10.4 W with a conversion efficiency of almost 5% is produced from one module. The total system output power was 477 W at the exhaust gas inlet temperature of 900 K to the octagonal HEx on which the modules are mounted.
Postcopulatory Sexual Selection and the Evolution of Male Pregnancy in the Gulf Pipefish

Postcopulatory Sexual Selection and the Evolution o f Male Pregnancy in the Gulf Pipefish. (May 2012) Kimberly Ann Paczolt, B.S., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Adam G. Jones Male pregnancy is a complex and energetically costl y form of male parental care found exclusively in the fish family Syngnathidae, which includes pipefishes, seahorses, and seadragons. The novelty of the male brood pouc h raises questions about how this trait evolved and what role it plays in sexual sele ction. One possibility is that brood pouch evolution was partially shaped by postcopulat ory sexual selection. We used the sexually dimorphic Gulf pipefish, Syngnathus scovelli , to test for postcopulatory sexual selection within broods and t ra eoffs between successive male pregnancies as a function of female attractiveness. Offspring survivorship within a pregnancy was affected by the size of a male's mate , the number of eggs transferred, and the male's mating history. These results indicate the males invest more resources into broods from large, attractive mates to the detrimen t of future broods. Next, we investigated the effects of food limitation on male parental care strategies. Our data suggests that male Gulf pipefish sacrifice investme nt in future reproduction, via somatic growth, in favor of current reproduction. A positi ve relationship between number of failed eggs and male growth rate in our low-food tr ea ments suggests that males may derive an energetic benefit from unsuccessful eggs in the brood pouch. Finally, we used
The determination of velocity fluctuations in shear flows by means of PTV

The present study considers the effects of some parameters in image acquisition and analysis procedures in connection with the use of the Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV) technique. The interest is focused towards flow fields with large velocity gradients as shear flows; in the paper, velocity measurements by PTV are performed in a turbulent channel flow upstream and downstream of a backward facing step at low Reynolds numbers. This is a flow field largely investigated in the past with available numerical and experimental to make comparison with. Among the possible parameters to be chosen in particle image acquisition and analysis, the following are considered the concentration of seeding particles in the imaged region; the spatial resolution of the image acquisition system; the parameters used in the image analysis algorithm. An example of the average streamlines downstream of the step is given in figure 1; on the same figure the mean axial velocity profiles upstream of the step obtained using increasing seeding particle concentrations (N3 > N2 > N1) are given and compared to numerical results. The main conclusion of the paper is that the selection of parameters for PTV measurements is crucial during the phase of image acquisition, while this is not so much true in the phase of image analysis. In particular, the seeding tracer concentration and the camera spatial resolution are the most relevant parameters to be taken into account.
Deux espèces de Trématodes monogénétiques, parasites du “Bluefin tuna” de Californie

Je dois à l’amabilité du Dr Albert C. Smith, du California State Fisheries Labo­ ratory, une petite collection d’Helminthes parasites de l’ « albacore », Thunnus germo (Lacépède 1800), et du « bluefin tuna », Thunnus saliens D. S. Jordan et B. W. Evermann 1926, des côtes de Californie. Dans cette collection, les Monogenea sont représentés par deux espèces que je considère comme nouvelles et que je dédie au Dr A. C. Smith.
High Acceleration Reinforcement Learning for Real-World Juggling with Binary Rewards

Robots that can learn in the physical world will be important to en-able robots to escape their stiff and pre-programmed movements. For dynamic high-acceleration tasks, such as juggling, learning in the real-world is particularly challenging as one must push the limits of the robot and its actuation without harming the system, amplifying the necessity of sample efficiency and safety for robot learning algorithms. In contrast to prior work which mainly focuses on the learning algorithm, we propose a learning system, that directly incorporates these requirements in the design of the policy representation, initialization, and optimization. We demonstrate that this system enables the high-speed Barrett WAM manipulator to learn juggling two balls from 56 minutes of experience with a binary reward signal. The final policy juggles continuously for up to 33 minutes or about 4500 repeated catches. The videos documenting the learning process and the evaluation can be found at this https URL
Off-Policy Evaluation of Bandit Algorithm from Dependent Samples under Batch Update Policy

The goal of off-policy evaluation (OPE) is to evaluate a new policy using historical data obtained via a behavior policy. However, because the contextual bandit algorithm updates the policy based on past observations, the samples are not independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.). This paper tackles this problem by constructing an estimator from a martingale difference sequence (MDS) for the dependent samples. In the data-generating process, we do not assume the convergence of the policy, but the policy uses the same conditional probability of choosing an action during a certain period. Then, we derive an asymptotically normal estimator of the value of an evaluation policy. As another advantage of our method, the batch-based approach simultaneously solves the deficient support problem. Using benchmark and real-world datasets, we experimentally confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Optimal Control Problems Governed by MFSDEs with multi-defaults

In this paper, we solve an optimal control problem governed by a system of mean-field stochastic differential equations with multiple defaults (MMFSDEs). We transform the global optimal control problem into several optimal control subproblems governed by a system of mean-field stochastic differential equations with single default (SMFSDEs) and derive both the sufficient and necessary maximum principles for these subproblems. We also give the existence and uniqueness of solutions to the MMFSDEs and the mean-field backward stochastic differential equations with multiple defaults (MMFBSDEs), respectively. Finally, as an example, our results are applied to obtain the explicit solution for an optimal control problem whose cost function is considered as a recursive utility process with multiple defaults.
Gut bacterial metabolite Urolithin A (UA) mitigates Ca2+ entry in T cells by regulating miR-10a-5p

The gut microbiota influences several biological functions including immune response. Inflammatory bowel disease is favourably influenced by consumption of several dietary natural plant products such as pomegranate, walnuts and berries containing polyphenolic compounds such as ellagitannins and ellagic acid. The gut microbiota metabolises ellagic acid leading to formation of bioactive urolithins A, B, C and D. Urolithin A (UA) is the most active and effective gut metabolite and acts as a potent anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant agent. However, how gut metabolite UA affects the function of immune cells remained incompletely understood. T cell proliferation is stimulated by store operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) resulting from stimulation of Orai1 by STIM1/STIM2. We show here that treatment of murine CD4+ T cells with UA (10 µM, 3 days) significantly blunted SOCE in CD4+ T cells, an effect paralleled by significant downregulation of Orai1 and STIM1/2 transcript levels and protein abundance. UA treatment further increased miR-10a-5p abundance in CD4+ T cells in a dose dependent fashion. Overexpression of miR-10a-5p significantly decreased STIM1/2 and Orai1 mRNA and protein levels as well as SOCE in CD4+ T cells. UA further decreased CD4+ T cell proliferation. Thus, bacterial metabolite UA up-regulates miR-10a-5p thus interfering with Orai1/STIM1/STIM2 expression, store operated Ca2+ entry and proliferation of murine CD4+ T cells.