Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Water Stress and Harvest Seasons on Yield and Biochemical Compositions of Aloe Vera L

Aloe vera is one of the most economically important medicinal plants in many countries. In order to study the effects of water stress and harvest seasons on yield and biochemical compositions of Aloe vera. An experiment was conducted in research greenhouse of Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran in 2013 and 2014. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design arranged in splitplot treatments included water stress (20, 40, 60 and 80% of the filed capacity (FC) and harvest seasons (summer, autumn and winter). the highest leaf and gel fresh weight were observed in the winter when plants were irrigated after depleting 40% of the filed capacity. In addition, the results indicated that the maximum aloin concentration and proline accumulation were obtained in the summer when the plants were irrigated after depleting 80 and 60 % of the FC, respectively. Leaves collected in winter and Irrigation after 80% depletion of the FC resulted in highest fructose and glucose content. Finally, irrigation after depleting 40% of soil water content was the best treatment for yield, also depleting 80% of soil water content was the best treatment for biochemical compositions at three different seasons.
A Simple Autonomous Robotic Manipulator for playing Chess against any opponent in Real Time

This paper presents a simple 3-DOF (degree of freedom) robotic serial manipulator which is capable of playing chess in real time against any opponent. This autonomous chess playing robot consists of a HD Logitech Webcam, a low cost custom made serial manipulator, algorithms for the efficient detection of the chess pieces on the chessboard and a robust control mechanism for the accurate movement of the manipulator Keywords— Human Robot Interaction, Chess playing robot
Physiology and pathophysiology of hypocretins/orexins

Ten years ago a 33and a 28-aminoacid peptide were discovered in the lateral hypothalamic area as hypocretin 1 or orexin A (OXA) and hypocretin 2 or orexin B (OXB) by two independent research teams. de Lecea and colleagues used a molecular biological approach isolating cDNA clones which were expressed in the hypothalamus but not in the cerebellum or hippocampus. One clone was exclusively expressed in the posterior hypothalamus coding for a putative secretory protein which gave rise to two peptides (de Lecea et al. 1998). They named the peptides according to their expression site (hypothalamus) and similarity to secretin, hypocretin-1 and -2. At the same time Sakurai et al. (1998) identified two peptides that were endogenous ligands to orphan receptor HFGAN72. They found that these peptides after i.c. v. injection stimulated food intake and their expression was upregulated upon fasting. Therefore, the group named these peptides orexins after the Greek word orexis meaning appetite. Both names are used in the scientific literature as it is done in this issue of Acta Physiologica. Since the discoveries of hypocretins/orexins a large amount of data has been accumulated demonstrating their involvement in many physiological systems. The effects of hypocretins/orexins are best characterized in the central nervous system (CNS; Sakurai 2007) with their clinical relevance in narcolepsy (Bourgin et al. 2008). Recent evidence suggests that hypocretins/ orexins might also have a role outside the CNS but the physiological relevance of hypocretins/orexins and their receptors in the periphery is still under investigation (Fig. 1) (Heinonen et al. 2008). This issue of Acta Physiologica comprises a total of 20 articles (five regular and 15 state-of-the-art reviews) by the original discoverers in addition to leading research teams in the hypocretin/orexin field. The articles are developed from presentations and discussions given at the 16th Acta Physiologica International Symposium 10 Years of Hypocretins/Orexins – Physiology and Pathophysiology held at the University and Biocenter of Oulu, Finland, 13 to 14 August 2008. The articles are divided into three sections: I. Central nervous system, arousal, sleep and synaptic plasticity and locomotor behaviour. II. Peripheral effects of orexins. III. Zebra fish model, receptor signalling and cell function. Dr Krister Stefan Eriksson (1963–2008) tragically died shortly after the meeting in which he served a as chairman on the scientific section sleep, arousal and addiction, and contributed an article to this issue. An obituary by Pertti Panula and Helmut Haas follows this editorial. We would like to dedicate this issue to him. The meeting was kindly supported by the Foundation Nordisk Fysiologi, Oslo, Norway, and The Federation of Finnish Learned Societies, Finland. Furthermore, we are indebted to all members of the organization team and students, but in particular to Hannele Savela, PhD, and Johanna Issakainen, MSc, for their excellent support in all areas of the meeting.
Function and antigen recognition pattern of L3T4+ T-cell clones from Mycobacterium tuberculosis-immune mice

T-cell clones were established from Mycobacterium tuberculosis-immunized mice. These clones had the phenotype Thy-1+ L3T4+ Lyt-2- and were restricted by the H-2I-A locus. After antigen stimulation, the T-cell clones secreted interleukin-2 and gamma interferon. Factors produced by these T-cell clones activated normal bone marrow macrophages for antimycobacterial activity in vitro. Furthermore, the T-cell clones could adoptively confer delayed-type hypersensitivity on normal recipient mice. These findings indicate that the T-cell clones clones expressed relevant functions of antimycobacterial immunity. The antigen reactivity of the T-cell clones to different mycobacterial species ranged from broad cross-reactivity to stringent specificity, and none of the clones distinguished between M. tuberculosis and M. bovis. Thus, M. tuberculosis-immune helper/inducer T cells of identical phenotype, genetic restriction, and function varied in their antigen specificity. T-cell clones of the type described will facilitate functional characterization of mycobacterial antigens on the T-cell level.
The signalling mechanisms of syndecan heparan sulphate proteoglycans

Syndecans are membrane proteins controlling cell proliferation, differentiation, adhesion and migration. Their extracellular domains bear versatile heparan sulphate chains that provide structural determinants for syndecans to function as co-receptors or activators for molecules like growth factors and constituents of the matrix. Syndecans also signal via their protein cores and their conserved transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains. The direct interactions and signalling cascades they support are becoming better characterized. These interactions are regulated by phosphorylation, induced clustering and shedding of the syndecan extracellular domain. Moreover evidence is emerging that syndecans concentrate in unconventional lipid domains and might govern novel vesicular trafficking pathways. Here we focus on recent findings that refine our understanding of the complex structure-function relationships of these cellular effectors.
Regulation of Endocytosis of Activin Type II Receptors by a Novel PDZ Protein through Ral/Ral-binding Protein 1-dependent Pathway*

Using yeast two-hybrid screening, we have identified a mouse Postsynaptic density 95/Discs large/Zona occludens-1 (PDZ) protein that interacts with activin type II receptors (ActRIIs). We named the protein activin receptor-interacting protein 2 (ARIP2). ARIP2 was found to have one PDZ domain in the NH2-terminal region and interact specifically with ActRIIs among the receptors for the transforming growth factor β family by the PDZ domain. Interestingly, overexpression of ARIP2 enhances endocytosis of ActRIIs and reduces activin-induced transcription in Chinese hamster ovary K1 cells. In addition, immunofluorescence co-localization studies indicated the direct involvement of ARIP2 in the intracellular translocation of ActRIIs by PDZ domain-mediated interaction. Moreover, we have identified that the COOH-terminal region of ARIP2 interacts with Ral-binding protein 1 (RalBP1). RalBP1 is a potential effector protein of small GTP-binding protein Ral and regulates endocytosis of epidermal growth factor and insulin receptors. The studies using deletion mutants of RalBP1 and constitutively GTP and GDP binding forms of Ral indicate that ARIP2 regulates endocytosis of ActRIIs through the Ral/RalBP1-dependent pathway, and the GDP-GTP exchange of Ral is critical for this regulation.
Number Theory and Cryptography using PARI/GP

This article uses PARI/GP to study elementary number theory and the RSA public key cryptosystem. Various PARI/GP commands will be introduced that can help us to perform basic number theoretic operations such as greatest common divisor and Euler’s phi function. We then introduce the RSA cryptosystem and use PARI/GP’s built-in commands to encrypt and decrypt data via the RSA algorithm. It should be noted that our brief exposition on RSA and cryptography is for educational purposes only. Readers who require further detailed discussions are encouraged to consult specialized texts such as [2, 5, 6]
Image Analysis of Intra-Population Variability in a Non-Outbreak Population of the Rice Black Bug Scotinophara sp . from Tacurong , Sultan Kudarat , Philippines

Rice black bugs (RBB) are believed to be a serious pest of rice in the Philippines. The identification and classification of RBB in the Philippines has been a problem because of immense variability thus this study was conducted to describe the extent of variability in wing venation patterns and genital shapes in a non-outbreak population of the insect. Images of the forewings were taken and the venation patterns were traced using Adobe Photoshop for analysis and comparison. Landmark-based Geometric morphometic (GM) analyses of the genital plates were also done. Results showed interindividual disparity in the wing venation patterns with marginal cells observed to vary in number. The longitudinal veins were seen as either forked or continuous towards the distal margin of the wings. On the other hand, GM analyses showed that the genital plates varied with respect to the lengthwidth aspect ratio, concavity of the anterior margins and shapes of the anterior and posterior lateral margins. The observed variability in morphological features is discussed in relation to densitydependent phase polyphenism. Keywordsgenitalia, geometric morphometrics, Phenotypic plasticity, wings
Correlates of reduced exercise behaviour in depression: The role of motivational and volitional deficits

Objective: The study aimed at uncovering the correlates of reduced exercise in depressive patients. On the basis of the Health Action Process Approach (Schwarzer, 2011), we hypothesised that reduced exercise in depressive patients can be explained by motivational deficits and volitional deficits. Design: A longitudinal sample of 56 clinically depressive outpatients was compared to a sample of 56 parallelised non-depressive controls. Main outcome measures: Self-reported intention, exercise, and motivational and volitional HAPA variables were measured with self-report questionnaires at baseline and four-week follow-up. Results: Depressive patients showed a motivational deficit: they had significantly reduced intentions to exercise compared to non-depressive participants, and they suffered from reduced self-efficacy and increased negative outcome expectations. No differences were found with regard to positive outcome expectations. Depressive patients also showed a volitional deficit: depressive high-intenders were less capable of transforming their intention into action than non-depressive high-intenders. They produced less action plans, had less maintenance self-efficacy and were more easily distracted by barriers. Conclusion: The lower level of exercise among depressive patients is partly due to motivational, partly to volitional deficits. Interventions should be stage-matched and should focus on pessimistic beliefs (negative outcome expectations, self-efficacy) and planning deficits in depression.
PR ] 2 6 N ov 2 01 7 Affine Volterra processes ∗

We introduce affine Volterra processes, defined as solutions of certain stochastic convolution equations with affine coefficients. Classical affine diffusions constitute a special case, but affine Volterra processes are neither semimartingales, nor Markov processes in general. We provide explicit exponential-affine representations of the Fourier– Laplace functional in terms of the solution of an associated system of deterministic integral equations, extending well-known formulas for classical affine diffusions. For specific state spaces, we prove existence, uniqueness, and invariance properties of solutions of the corresponding stochastic convolution equations. Our arguments avoid infinite-dimensional stochastic analysis as well as stochastic integration with respect to non-semimartingales, relying instead on tools from the theory of finite-dimensional deterministic convolution equations. Our findings generalize and clarify recent results in the literature on rough volatility models in finance.
Student Evaluation of Faculty at College of Nursing

The greatest way to improve nursing education is to evaluate the efficiency of teaching in nursing education programs. Objective: We undertook this research to assess students’ evaluation as one component in the evaluation of faculty teaching effectiveness as well as to assess the reliability and validity of the evaluation instrument. Methods: The current study used a descriptive design with a convenient sample of 20 students from Steam I (graduate entry from high school, four years nursing program) and 32 students from Stream II (graduate entry from college of science, three years Nursing Accelerated Program) in the new Nursing College which was established at 2008/2009 to fill a faculty evaluation sheet adapted from Wong & Fitzsimmons [1]. Data was collected in the academic year of 2009/2010. The pilot study was done to assess the feasibility and the effectiveness of the instrument in different cultures and populations. Results: The study's results revealed that students evaluated the faculty effectiveness of teaching for 13 faculty members. Students rated faculty personal attributes, learner facilitation and quality of feedback (Mean of 4.34 ±1, 4.25 ±1, and 4.29 ± 1.05 respectively). Reliability statistics; Cronbach’s Alpha; were (.93, .97, and .95) respectively for each category. Factor analysis indicated that each subscale items loaded in one factor with more than . 70 exceeded the recommended criterion. Correlation analysis indicated that the three subscales are significantly correlated (correlation ranged from .86-.92, p =.01). Conclusion: Teaching and learning are contextual by nature, with different methods of teaching showing advantage for different outcomes and different students. Given the variety of student characteristics, student faculty evaluation objectives, teaching methods, and institutional contexts must be considered when developing the evaluation process.
deletion in α ‐ globin genes increases the concentration of fetal hemoglobin and hemoglobin A 2 in a Saudi Arabian population

The regions of Al-Qatif and Al-Ahssa in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia are known for their high prevalence of hemoglobinopathies, including β-thalassemia and sickle cell anemia. Previously, the α-gene deletion has been demonstrated as highly prevalent among populations residing in these two regions. The present study was conducted in order to investigate the implications of the α-globin gene deletion on fetal hemoglobin (HbF) and hemoglobin α2 (HbA2) concentrations in patients with transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia. A total of 166 Saudi patients with transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia and 337 healthy Saudi patients were included in the study. The -α3. 7, -α4. 2, --FIL, --SEA, --MED and --(20.5) gene deletions were identified using multiplex α-globin deletion polymerase chain reaction. The present study revealed that the -α3. 7 gene deletion is the most prevalent (43.5%) in the Saudi populations that were analyzed and is characterized by the deletion of 3,804 base pairs. Numerous genotypes, namely α2/α1α2, α2/α1α12, α2/α2, α2/α1α2, α2/α1, α2/α1α2, α12/α1α12, /α2 and α2/α2 Villiers le Bel were also identified in the investigated population. Furthermore, a gradual increase in the concentration of HbF and HbA2 in patients with β-thalassemia and the number of α-gene deletions was demonstrated; whereas in healthy patients the level of HbA2 was demonstrated to decrease as the number of α-gene deletions increased. Therefore, it can be concluded that the high HbF concentration in the present study is predominantly associated with other mutations associated with β-thalassemia rather than α-globin deletions. Furthermore, the results of the present study also revealed novel α-gene deletion genotypes prevalent in the population studied, namely α1α2/α1α2, α1α2/α1α2, α1α2/α1α2 Handsworth, -α2/α1α2, -α2/-α2 Villiers le Bel and --/α1α2.
A Review of Image Compression Using Fractal Image Compression with Neural Network

Generally the fractal image compression is a new process in the images compression. It is a block based image compression technique, which detects and decodes the existing similarities between different regions in the image. The main disadvantage of FIC is that the encoding time is comparatively very high, w here as the decoding time is very short. An artificial intelligence technique like neural network is used to reduce the search space and encoding time for the MRI images with an algorithm called as “back propagation” neural network algorithm. Initially, MRI image is divided into ranges and domains of fixed size. The best matched domain is selected for each range block and its range index and best matched domain index are produced, which acts as input to the expert system and which results reduced the sets of matched domain blocks. The neural network is then trained with these resultant values. This trained net is now used to compress other MRI images which lead to a very less encoding time. During the decoding phase, the transformation parameters are recursively applied to any random original image, which then converges to the fractal image after some changes. The simulation results show that the performance of this Neural Network based FIC is really. This paper shows the neural network based FIC which produces high development in encoding time without corrupting the image quality when compared to normal FIC.
VARIATION AWARE FALSE PATH ANALYSIS IN VLSI DESIGN

How long does an integrated circuit take to produce its result? To answer the question, the difficult and complex false path detection problem must be tackled first. Moreover, the false path problem has become much more complex because the gate delay variation has made a significant impact on the circuit timing, as the technology scales down. The viability analysis is one of the most sophisticated approaches to the false path detection problem. Since it used the worst-case gate delay model, however, it might miss some important false/true path timing behavior. There has been a lot of research effort on statistical static timing analysis (SSTA) to take into account delay variation in the critical path delay computation. Since SSTA is unable to capture the dynamic timing behavior of a circuit, it is completely blind to false paths, thus, it overestimates the circuit timing. In this dissertation, two novel approaches to the false path problem under delay variation are proposed. One is the novel statistical viability analysis which is a significantly enhanced version of the viability analysis, and the other is statistical dynamic timing analysis which is able to precisely express the statistical behavior of dynamic transitions at the output of gate into a compact form. Those two approaches provide two different points of view to the false path problem under delay variation. It is theoretically and experimentally shown that those two approaches effectively identify false paths in the major benchmark circuits under delay variation. keywords: timing analysis, viability analysis, false path identification, process variation, SSTA student number: 2008-30242
FATIGUE DAMAGE DETECTION IN LARGE THIN WALL PLATE BASED ON ULTRASONIC GUIDED WAVE BY USING A PIEZOELECTRIC SENSOR NETWORK

Today, structural Health monitoring is a major concern in the engineering community. Multisite fatigue damage, hidden cracks and corrosion in hard-to-reach locations are among the major flaws encountered in today’s extensive diagnosis and/or prognosis of aircraft structures. Ultrasonic waves, lamb waves are particularly advantageous because of their propagation at large distances with little damp in thin-wall structures. In this paper a new rectangular shape array of embedded piezoelectric sensors is developed to detect some damages in large planar structures. An artificial neural network is trained to identify the damage state and its location. Output signals of each sensor due to various crack size and crack location are obtained by Finite element simulation.
Glenohumeral joint total rotation range of motion in elite tennis players and baseball pitchers.

UNLABELLED The amount of glenohumeral joint internal and external rotation used during overhead sport activities has been measured experimentally by sports scientists. Clinical measurement of glenohumeral joint internal and external rotation using goniometry is an integral part of a shoulder evaluation after injury or surgery or during preseason or preventative musculoskeletal screenings. PURPOSE This study measured glenohumeral joint internal and external rotation in two groups of unilaterally dominant upper extremity athletes to compare the total arc of rotational range of motion between the dominant and nondominant extremities. METHODS A total of 163 elite athletes (117 male junior tennis players and 46 male baseball pitchers) were measured for glenohumeral joint internal and external rotation at 90 degrees of abduction. Total rotation range of motion was calculated by summing internal and external rotation measures in each extremity. RESULTS An ANOVA with post hoc testing revealed no significant difference (P > 0.05) between extremities in baseball pitchers for total rotation range of motion (145.7 vs 146.9), whereas significantly less (P < 0.001) dominant arm total rotation range of motion was identified in the elite junior tennis players (149.1 vs 158.2). CONCLUSION This study has identified unique glenohumeral joint rotational patterning in unilaterally dominant upper extremity athletes that has ramifications for rehabilitation after injury and for both injury prevention and performance enhancement.
Formalizing uncertainty in service request / offer description and matching

This paper discusses the problem of describing and matching service requests and offers, that appears as central and characteristic in the context of the Service Oriented Computing (SOC) paradigm. Service descriptions, be they requests or offers, are seen as a mix of detailed, local state information, and fuzzy information, or speculation, about remote partners. Service fruition is represented, at a very high abstraction level, as an atomic interaction among two or more parties, each providing a partial view about a global state change. We propose here four formal solutions of increasing complexity; the first three of them are conveniently formalized in TLA+ and illustrated by simple examples. The use of a logic-based approach should favor the integration with current Semantic Web technologies, and with Description Logics, and at the same time it should help reducing the gap between formal and informal (natural language) descriptions of services. 1