Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A model for the simulation of the fate of nitrogen in farm wastes on land application

Summary A model for predicting the various transformations undergone in the soil by nitrogen applied in farm wastes, in response to variations in soil and climatic factors, is presented. The soil is divided into layers and a simple mass balance model is used to describe the movement and redistribution of water within the soil profile, as a function of rainfall, evapotranspiration and soil moisture characteristics. Ammonification of native and applied organic N is assumed to follow first-order reaction kinetics and nitrification and denitrification are treated as zero-order reactions. The rates or rate constants for all three reactions were related separately to soil temperature, moisture content and pH. Uptake of nitrogen by a grass crop, dry-matter production, removal of dry matter and N through harvests, addition to soil of C and N through dead plant material and stubble and the consequent immobilization of mineral N are allowed for. Some of the predictions of the model are compared with the results of a lysimeter experiment.
Linear-Time Algorithms for Computing Twinless Strong Articulation Points and Related Problems

A directed graph $G=(V,E)$ is twinless strongly connected if it contains a strongly connected spanning subgraph without any pair of antiparallel (or twin) edges. The twinless strongly connected components (TSCCs) of a directed graph $G$ are its maximal twinless strongly connected subgraphs. These concepts have several diverse applications, such as the design of telecommunication networks and the structural stability of buildings. A vertex $v \in V$ is a twinless strong articulation point of $G$ if the deletion of $v$ increases the number of TSCCs of $G$. Here, we present the first linear-time algorithm that finds all the twinless strong articulation points of a directed graph. We show that the computation of twinless strong articulation points reduces to the following problem in undirected graphs, which may be of independent interest: Given a $2$-vertex-connected (biconnected) undirected graph $H$, find all vertices $v$ that belong to a vertex-edge cut-pair, i.e., for which there exists an edge $e$ such that $H \setminus \{v,e\}$ is not connected. We develop a linear-time algorithm that not only finds all such vertices $v$, but also computes the number of edges $e$ such that $H \setminus \{v,e\}$ is not connected. This also implies that for each twinless strong articulation point $v$ which is not a strong articulation point in a strongly connected digraph $G$, we can compute the number of TSCCs in $G \setminus v$. We note that the problem of computing all vertices that belong to a vertex-edge cut-pair can be solved in linear-time by exploiting the structure of $3$-vertex-connected (triconnected) components of $H$, represented by an SPQR tree of $H$. Our approach, however, is conceptually simple, and thus likely to be more amenable to practical implementations.
GRAIN YIELD AND MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES FROM 60 YEARS OF GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF WHEAT IN IRAN

SUMMARY In order to understanding the changes in morpho-physiological traits of wheat cultivars released from 1940 to 2000 in Iran and to determine the association of these traits with grain yield, an experiment was conducted with 15 wheat cultivars released over the past 60 years using an randomized complete block design with four replications. The experiment was conducted on an experimental farm of Arsanjan Islamic Azad University in 2005/6 and 2006/7. Results indicated that cultivar grain yield was significantly correlated with year of release over the 60 years (r = 0.878, p < 0.01). Harvest index and biological yield increased significantly with increasing grain yield. The change in the photosynthesis rate was not significant during this period but transpiration rate and stomatal conductance and chlorophyll index increased significantly. Among yield components, grain number per ear increased significantly but increase in ear number was not significant. Plant height decreased significantly in new cultivars. In conclusion the results showed that wheat yield improvement in Iran is associated with increasing harvest index, grain number per ear, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance and decreasing plant height.
On Optimal Placement of Hybrid Service Function Chains (SFCs) of Virtual Machines and Containers in a Generic Edge-Cloud Continuum

Traditionally, Network Function Virtualization (NFV) has been implemented to run on Virtual Machines (VMs) in form of Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). More recently, the so-called Serverless Computing has gained traction in cloud computing, offering Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) platforms that make use of containerization techniques to deploy services. In contrast to VM-based VNFs, where resources are usually reserved and continuously running, FaaS can just be subsets of code implementing small functions allowing for event-driven, on-demand instantiations. Thus, a hybrid VM-Container based Service Function Chains (SFCs) are a natural evolution of NFV architecture. We study a novel problem of optimal placement of hybrid SFCs from an Internet Service Provider (ISP) point of view, whereby VNFs can be instantiated either over VMs or containers in a generic edge and cloud continuum. To this end, we propose a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming model as well as a heuristic solution to solve this optimization problem that considers three objectives unique to the specific VM and container deployment in a carrier network: operational costs for maintaining servers in the edge, costs of placing VNFs in third-party cloud providers and penalty costs applied when SLA agreements are violated in terms of end-to-end delay. We also propose 2-phases optimization process to analyze the effect on performance as a result of replications and migrations of VNFs. The model can be used to highlight scenarios where a combination of VMs and containers can provide most benefits from the monetary costs point of view.
Student Perceptions of Their Learning Experience in the Clinical Setting: A Pilot Study

Clinical experience during nursing education is a valuable learning opportunity, supporting the integration of theory and practice. Positive or negative perceptions of the learning environment potentially affect student retention and recruitment as well as motivation and by extension, possibly learning. The purpose of this pilot study was to explore possible strategies of assessing student perceptions of their overall clinical learning experiences and provide insight into student feelings about specific portions of their experience with goals of nurturing the positive as well as identifying potential areas for improvement within the program. Though students were satisfied overall with their clinical experiences, they were disappointed with the level of staff support and frustrated with written assignments.
The Relationship Between Health Beliefs and Adherence to Treatment of Russian Immigrants with Hypertension

Introduction: Hypertension (HTN) has been identified as a common health problem in every ethnic group in the USA. Due to the silent nature of the HTN, some cultures may not perceive this condition as being serious or potentially fatal. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the health beliefs of Russianspeaking immigrants with hypertension and their adherence to the prescribed treatment. Design: The study was a non-experimental exploratory survey and interview. Convenience sampling was used. The Health Belief Model (HBM) provided the theoretical framework. Sample: A total of 62 subjects (27% male and 73% female, ages from 51 to 86) completed the questionnaire that covered health beliefs and self-report on adherence to treatment. Results: This study indicated a correlation between embarrassment, inconvenience, and compliance with fitness recommendations. Financial burden correlated with adherence to dietary modifications. A strong negative correlation was found between perceived severity of complications and number of missed medications. Patient's awareness about existence of complications of hypertension had a positive correlation with change in adherence to treatment. Educational level had no correlation with adherence. Conclusion: Health education based on these findings will facilitate the reduction of the rate of complications in the targeted population.
Demography of a recovering African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) population

Abstract African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are endangered, having disappeared from many areas where other large carnivore species have persisted. The relative vulnerability of this species has been attributed variously to its disproportionate exposure to anthropogenic threats, limitation by larger competing predators, and Allee effects caused by obligate cooperative breeding. The natural recovery of a wild dog population living on private and community land in northern Kenya provided an opportunity to investigate these potential constraints on population growth. Within a decade the population increased from near-extinction to become the 6th largest in the world. Rates and causes of mortality, and reproductive rates, were similar on community lands, where people and livestock were abundant but competing predators suppressed, and on commercial ranches, where human and livestock densities were lower but competitors more abundant. Larger packs produced larger litters, indicating a component Allee effect. However, because pack size was unrelated to population size, growth of the population was not impeded at low densities; that is, no demographic Allee effect was detectable. These results show that, despite earlier concerns, wild dogs can achieve rapid population recovery, even in a human-dominated landscape. This recovery was probably facilitated by local pastoralist traditions, which combine vigilant herding of livestock with little or no hunting of wild prey. This success might be replicated in other areas where traditional pastoralism is still practiced.
Descriptions of three new species of Timema (Phasmatoptera: Timematodea: Timematidae) and notes on three other species

Abstract During early 1999 the second author made an extensive search for specimens of Timema in southern and central California. Two undescribed species were found, T. petita and T. landelsensis. New collections provided additional data on T. monikensis Vickery & Sandoval, T. boharti Tinkham, and T. knulli Strohecker. The latter is reinstated as a valid species. A third new species, T. morongensis, received from a another researcher, also is described.
Relapse-Fated Subclones: Finding the Needle in the Haystack

Laboratory of Onco-hematology, Institut Necker Enfants Malades (INEM), Institut national de Recherche Médicale (INSERM) U1151, Paris, France Copyright © 2020 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the European Hematology Association. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CCBY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. HemaSphere (2020) 4:2(e374) Citation: Tesio M. Relapse-Fated Subclones: Finding the Needle in the Haystack. HemaSphere, 2020;4:3 (e374). http://dx.doi. org/10.1097/ HS9.0000000000000374 I n a recent Cancer Discovery paper, Stephanie Dobson et al identified rare relapse-fated subclones in B-ALL and showed that they possess an intrinsic drug tolerance as well as metabolic and stemness signatures. The identification of these subclones and associated pathways will be instrumental to target relapse-fated cells, thereby preventing their full evolution into relapse clones. Clonal evolution is a major driver of disease progression and relapse in hematological malignancies. In this process, genetic and epigenetic mechanisms intervenient to shape leukemia composition, favoring the emergency of multiple co-existing leukemic clones, including those ultimately driving relapse. In acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), where a branching evolution takes place, the clone driving relapse is not derived from amajor diagnostic clone but rather from a minor ancestral one. In the attempt to understand how cytotoxic chemotherapy shapes clonal evolution and drug resistance, numerous studies have compared diagnosis and relapsed samples. Nevertheless, the molecular determinants that confer a diagnostic subclone a relapse fate before its evolution into a drug-resistant relapsing clone following chemotherapy exposure remain unclear. In the recent Cancer Discovery paper, Dobson et al undertook a strategy which enabled the identification and further characterization of rare relapse-fated subclones. The authors performed whole exome sequencing of 14 paired diagnosis and relapse B-ALL patients samples encompassing distinct cytogenetic subtypes. This analysis allowed them to identify somatic single nucleotide variants, insertion-deletion mutations and DNA copy number alterations in bulk patient samples at diagnosis as well as at relapse. In parallel, diagnosis and relapsed samples were injected at limiting dilution doses in immunodeficient mice. In this way, the leukemic variants identified in the primary samples could be next target sequenced in the engrafted mice. By comparing the variant
Modelling interactions of toxicants and density dependence in wildlife populations

Summary A major challenge in the conservation of threatened and endangered species is to predict population decline and design appropriate recovery measures. However, anthropogenic impacts on wildlife populations are notoriously difficult to predict due to potentially nonlinear responses and interactions with natural ecological processes like density dependence. Here, we incorporated both density dependence and anthropogenic stressors in a stage-based matrix population model and parameterized it for a density-dependent population of peregrine falcons Falco peregrinus exposed to two anthropogenic toxicants [dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)]. Log-logistic exposure–response relationships were used to translate toxicant concentrations in peregrine falcon eggs to effects on fecundity. Density dependence was modelled as the probability of a nonbreeding bird acquiring a breeding territory as a function of the current number of breeders. The equilibrium size of the population, as represented by the number of breeders, responded nonlinearly to increasing toxicant concentrations, showing a gradual decrease followed by a relatively steep decline. Initially, toxicant-induced reductions in population size were mitigated by an alleviation of the density limitation, that is, an increasing probability of territory acquisition. Once population density was no longer limiting, the toxicant impacts were no longer buffered by an increasing proportion of nonbreeders shifting to the breeding stage, resulting in a strong decrease in the equilibrium number of breeders. Median critical exposure concentrations, that is, median toxicant concentrations in eggs corresponding with an equilibrium population size of zero, were 33 and 46 μg g−1 fresh weight for DDE and PBDEs, respectively. Synthesis and applications. Our modelling results showed that particular life stages of a density-limited population may be relatively insensitive to toxicant impacts until a critical threshold is crossed. In our study population, toxicant-induced changes were observed in the equilibrium number of nonbreeding rather than breeding birds, suggesting that monitoring efforts including both life stages are needed to timely detect population declines. Further, by combining quantitative exposure–response relationships with a wildlife demographic model, we provided a method to quantify critical toxicant thresholds for wildlife population persistence.
Repeatability of Net Economic Effeciency in Dairy Cattle and Role of Some Economic Variables as Its Predictors

Abstract This investigation was to explore the possibility of improving net profitability in dairy cattle. Net profitability was measured as: 1) total profit; 2) profit per day of herd life; and 3) profit per unit of investment. Repeatabilities were estimated by three methods from two data sets consisting of 202 observations on 78 Holstein cows up to the end of their third calving interval. Repeatabilities of cumulative measures ranged from . 6 to . 8. Repeatabilities of noncumulative measures of profitability were approximately . 4 for total profit and . 3 for the other two measures. Correlations between economic variables in first lactation and the three measures of lifetime net profitability show that first lactation total income (correlations .41 to .64), value of product (.42 to .65), value of fat (.37 to .59), value of protein (.46 to .65), feed cost (.3 3 to .57), mastitis cost (−.20 to −.44), and services cost (−.15 to −.36) were significant predictors of the lifetime traits. Value of calves, salvage value, total expense, and initial inventory cost were of little predictive value. Correlations of most economic variables with herd life were low. Correlations of heifer body weight at different ages and age at first calving with all the different lifetime measures of economic efficiency were near zero. Number of services and days open had low negative associations with measures of economic efficiency.
When does it make sense to target the weed seed bank?

Abstract Weed seeds initiate most weed invasions of arable fields, yet there is relatively little information on the value of managing weed seed banks. Matrix population models were used to examine the relative importance of managing weed seed banks, in relation to other life stages, for four model weed species with varying life histories. Simulations for giant foxtail and common lambsquarters, summer annual weeds of arable fields; garlic mustard, an obligate biennial invasive weed of temperate forests; and Canada thistle, a perennial weed of pastures and arable fields, were run under conditions of varying population density and efficacy of seedling control. The models were subjected to elasticity analysis to determine what happened to weed populations when different life stages were targeted. Losses from the dormant seed bank were most important for summer annual weeds, of intermediate importance for biennial weeds, and of low importance for perennial weeds. More effort is needed to develop weed seed-bank management techniques for summer annual weed species as part of integrated weed management systems. Nomenclature: Common lambsquarters, Chenopodium album L. CHEAL; giant foxtail, Setaria faberi Herrm. SETFA; garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata (M. Bieb.) Cavara and Grande ALPET; Canada thistle, Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop. CIRAR.
A Bioweapon or a Hoax? The Link Between Distinct Conspiracy Beliefs About the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak and Pandemic Behavior

During the coronavirus disease pandemic rising in 2020, governments and nongovernmental organizations across the globe have taken great efforts to curb the infection rate by promoting or legally prescribing behavior that can reduce the spread of the virus. At the same time, this pandemic has given rise to speculations and conspiracy theories. Conspiracy worldviews have been connected to refusal to trust science, the biomedical model of disease, and legal means of political engagement in previous research. In three studies from the United States (N = 220; N = 288) and the UK (N = 298), we went beyond this focus on a general conspiracy worldview and tested the idea that different forms of conspiracy beliefs despite being positively correlated have distinct behavioral implications. Whereas conspiracy beliefs describing the pandemic as a hoax were more strongly associated with reduced containment-related behavior, conspiracy beliefs about sinister forces purposefully creating the virus related to an increase in self-centered prepping behavior.
IDENTIFICATION OF IMMUNODOMINANT T CELL EPITOPES FROM ENTEROTOXIGENIC E. coli COLONIZATION FACTOR ANTIGEN I (CFA/I) RESPONSIBLE FOR T HELPER CELL CYTOKINES

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) are a major cause of diarrheal disease contracted by consuming contaminated food or water. ETEC is able to adhere to the small intestine by utilizing pili or fimbriae, one of which is the fimbriae Colonization Factor Antigen/I (CFA/I). The extracellular portion of CFA/I fimbriae is comprised of two fimbrial subunits, cfaB and cfaE. Expression of CFA/I fimbriae on the surface of an attenuated Salmonella vaccine vector, Salmonella-CFA/I, results in a biphasic T cell response in immunized mice. This response is characterized by the initial production of Th2-type cytokines, including IL-4 and IL-5, followed by a shift after 4 weeks toward an IFN--associated, Th1 response. Restimulation of CD4 T cells from Salmonella-CFA/Iimmunized mice with CFA/I fimbriae also generates the anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL10. Salmonella-CFA/I is able to generate antigen-independent Foxp3 regulatory T cells, which are able to reduce symptoms of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis in immunized SJL mice and Collagen Induced Arthritis in DBA/I and C57BL/6 mice, via production of IL-10 and TGF- by phenotypically distinct regulatory T cell subsets. The following research describes the contribution of cfaB and cfaE to the observed therapeutic and immunological responses. This was measured by independently expressing recombinant cfaB and cfaE proteins and evaluating the associated cytokine responses from the co-culture of these proteins with CD4 T cells from immunized mice. Major Histocompatibility Complex II-restricted immunodominant regions were also mapped for both cfab and cfae proteins using cytokine ELISAs, ELISPOTs, Proliferation Assays, and flow cytometry. We mapped an IFN--producing peptide from cfaB and an IL-4-producing peptide from cfaE. We further determined that co-culture with peptides from both fimbrial proteins is able to generate regulatory T cell-associated cytokines including IL-10 and TGF- as well as the newly described suppressive cytokine, IL-35. These results show that the immune responses to cfaB and cfaE are mediated by multiple immunodominant regions within each protein.
A facile fabrication of poly(methyl methacrylate)/̨ ‐NaYF

The photoluminescent nanofibers (PLNs) were successfully produced by incorporating -NaYF 4 :Eu nanophosphor into the polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) matrix using electrospinning technique. The morphology of PLNs was investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) with the diameter in the range of 165–450 nm. The nanofibers revealed hypersensitivity in emission regime from orange to red (589–707 nm) with 5% concentration of nanophosphor at the excitation wavelength of 239 nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy confirm the uniform co-ordination (dispersion) of nanophosphor with the carbonyl group of PMMA molecular chain. The PMMA/ -NaYF 4 :Eu composite nanofibers have the potential application in colored light-emitting diode (LED).