Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Studies on the Effectiveness of Wild and Commercialstrains of Lactic Acid Bacteria Starter Culture during Backsloping for Yoghurt Production

Yogurt is one of the traditionally fermented dairy products which are usually prepared with lactic acid bacteria cultures containing Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus. This starter culture could be prepared in addition to other bacteria as probiotics. Yoghurt has gained widespread consumer acceptance as a healthy diet. Yoghurts products are produced in Nigeria by using the imported starter culture bacteria and has played significant roles in helping dairy farmers convert their short-life, highly perishable fresh milk to fairly more stable products like cheese and yoghurt which are highly nutritious too for both low-and high-income earners. However, there are concerns over the growing food and food-related import dependency in the sub-African countries and Nigeria in particular which have increased during the last few years. The selection of indigenous starter culture strains withthecapacity for backsloping in yoghurt production might reduce importation and improve economy in a way. A foundamental benefit of backsloping is that it reduces the fermentation time while successfully maintaining sensory attributes of the product. The goal of this study was to determine the effects of backsloping fermentation of milk using indigenous and commercial (Exotic) strains of Lactic Acid Bacteria. Yoghurt fermentation was carried out by backsloping method using three commercial (Exotic) formulated cultures of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophillus; ES07, ES32 and ES14 respectively as well aswild (isolated) formulated culture strains; WS11, WS65 and WS13 respectively and were used to produce yoghurt using backsloping method. The overall sensory attributes of yoghurts produced using exotic compared with indigenous strains showed no significant (p > 0.05) difference in term of acidification and coagulation ability. The pH of fermented products using commercial cultures ranged from 4.53-5.32, While pH of yoghurts produced using isolated cultures ranged from 4.35 – 4.72, total plate count 2.7 x 107- 2.3 x 108cfu/ml during the 10 hour fermentation times.The overall acceptability were in the decreasing order; WS65>WS11>ES07>WS13>ES14>ES32. From this order, backloping has equal advantages when both local and commercial starter cultures are used. Therefore, Starter culture formulation using indigenous strains could be further developed genetically for commercial applications because they compete favourably with their exotic counterparts. Hence, the current challenges of importation due to Covid-19 economic reality and foreign exchange will reduce to a minimal if the indigenous strains are utilised.
5GQUALITY: Demonstration of QoE Management using MPTCP and Segment Routing in SDN/NFV

As multimedia streaming services continue to grow towards 6G networks, service providers have adopted cutting- edge paradigms such as Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) to implement traffic en- gineering solutions in order to improve the network throughput, application performance and the end-users Quality of Experience (QoE). In this demo, a novel SDN-based MPTCP/SR approach for QoE-aware multimedia services delivery for 5G networks is proposed. The aim is to increase network resources utilization, system throughput and the end-users’ QoE. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the architecture, the performance results of the QoE-aware MPTCP SDN/NFV SR-based approach, the classical MPTCP and TCP in terms of system throughput and the end-users QoE were compared. Preliminary results shows that, the proposed approach outperforms the other aforementioned methods. The results of this demo were published in [1] and [2].
Evaluation of Proteins with Intrinsic Disorder from the DisProt Database: Concepts, Biological Importance and Peculiar Characteristics

The intrinsic disorder (ID) consists of a feature present in an extensive group of proteins in its totality (IDPs) or only in regions (IDRs). Such feature provides a series of peculiar behaviors that differs from those presented for globular proteins. They are characterized by the absence of a well-defined tridimensional structure, owning high flexibility and conformational entropy, which enables a structural plasticity. In this work, we perform an investigation of different issues involving proteins with ID available in the DisProt database, as well as an extensive literature search to gather information that can help to expand the knowledge about this important group of proteins. Proteins with ID are observed in all kingdoms of life from the simplest to the most complex organisms, where they become more present. They participate of the most diverse biological process, acting mainly in process involving signaling, where the ability to adopt different conformations and bind to different partners becomes fundamental. The ID in proteins is also responsible for the development of diseases and its peculiar structural features bring with them the challenge of developing drugs able to act in these proteins. Different techniques can be applied to analyze structural features presented by these proteins, such as the absence or low structural content, possibility of structural gain, large volume, high solvent exposure and flexibility. With this work, we seek to bring a set of information from the most varied topics involving proteins with ID that can help in the theme disclosure.
Asia–Pacific tourism futures emerging from COVID-19 recovery responses and implications for sustainability

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide contrasting narratives of what the future of Asia Pacific tourism may look like, and to identify how current policy interventions and recommendations made for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) recovery shape the system's trajectory.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on a set of four possible futures emerging from COVID-19, tourism policy responses are analysed and a link to their potential contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals is made.FindingsA system goal is presented for each scenario, and what this means for the tourism system. Existing policies indicate that tourism is moving towards a “Discipline” future, although evidence for all four trajectories could be identified. Whilst the “Transform” scenario is most aligned with a sustainable future, the findings highlight that sustainability outcomes are possible in the other scenarios as well, if risks are managed adequately.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation is that the core structure of the four futures was not specifically developed for tourism. However, given that tourism is firmly embedded in national and global economies, this limitation is not material.Practical implicationsThis paper supports decision-makers to develop adaptability in the face of great uncertainty and complexity. Risks and opportunities associated with each of the four tourism futures are identified, and examples are provided how sustainability outcomes can be maximised in each.Social implicationsSustainability is a safe and necessary strategy regardless of the trajectory to any of the four scenarios. The long-term health of the tourism system and anyone involved in it depends on significant progress along the Sustainable Development Goals.Originality/valueThis paper explores pathways for system change and how different COVID-19 policy approaches contribute to shaping the system's trajectory. It highlights the risks associated with certain trajectories, and also identifies how short-term recovery priorities might undermine long-term sustainability.
Recent applications of metabolomics in plant breeding

Metabolites play a central role in maintaining organismal life and in defining crop phenotypes, such as nutritional value, fragrance, color, and stress resistance. Among the ‘omes’ in biology, the metabolome is the closest to the phenotype. Consequently, metabolomics has been applied to crop improvement as method for monitoring changes in chemical compositions, clarifying the mechanisms underlying cellular functions, discovering markers and diagnostics, and phenotyping for mQTL, mGWAS, and metabolite-genome predictions. In this review, 359 reports of the most recent applications of metabolomics to plant breeding-related studies were examined. In addition to the major crops, more than 160 other crops including rare medicinal plants were considered. One bottleneck associated with using metabolomics is the wide array of instruments that are used to obtain data and the ambiguity associated with metabolite identification and quantification. To further the application of metabolomics to plant breeding, the features and perspectives of the technology are discussed.
Estimating the Association of Ultrasonographical Placental Grading in Utero to Gestational Age and Feto-maternal outcomes in Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy

Background: Worldwide, about 5-8% of all pregnant females are affected by hypertensive disorders. In rural India, the incidence is 10%. This entity has become a significant cause of maternal mortality and morbidity, resulting in 10-15% of all maternal fatalities in developing nations, particularly in developing nations. Hence, identifying this entity in pregnant females and its timely management is vital for both mother and baby. Gestational hypertension can cause placental insufficiency due to narrowing and occlusion of uteroplacental vessels leading to intrauterine growth retardation. This study aims to detect placental grading by ultrasonography in the third trimester in cases of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and to assess its correlation with fetal-maternal outcomes. Methodology: This will be a cross-sectional study carried out in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, AVBRH, Wardha. About 130 pregnant normotensive females and 130 hypertensive pregnant females will be included in the study. Baseline data such as age, sex, parity, routine laboratory data, PIH profile, sonography scans will be collected. All the patients will be followed till delivery, and feto-maternal outcomes will be assessed. Data will be analyzed with appropriate statistical tests. Expected Outcome: A significant correlation is expected between higher placental grading in hypertensive pregnant females compared to normotensive patients and will have a significant association with perinatal and fetal morbidity.
Protective Effects of Green Tea Supplementation against Lead-Induced Neurotoxicity in Mice

The use of natural products as therapeutic agents is rapidly growing recently. In the current study, we investigated the protective effects of green tea supplementation on lead-induced toxicity in mice. Forty albino mice were divided into four groups as follows: A: control group; B: green tea receiving group; C: lead-intoxicated group; and D: lead-intoxicated group supplemented with green tea. At the end of the experiment, the animals were tested for neurobehavioral and biochemical alterations. Green tea was analyzed through Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis. We found that supplementation with green tea ameliorated the lead-associated increase in body weight and blood glucose. Green tea supplementation also changed the blood picture that was affected due to lead toxicity and ameliorated lead-induced dyslipidemia. The group of mice that were supplemented with green tea has shown positive alterations in locomotory, anxiety, memory, and learning behaviors. The GC/MS analysis revealed many active ingredients among which the two most abundant were caffeine and 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, mono(2-ethylhexyl) ester. We concluded that green tea supplementation has several positive effects on the lead-induced neurotoxicity in mice and that these effects may be attributed to its main two active ingredients.
Development of modular multi-degree-of-freedom hybrid joints and robotic flexible legs via fluidic elastomer actuators

Soft actuators with high safety, adaptivity, and energy-to-weight ratio have the potential to be used in developing more adaptive legged robots. In this work, we incorporate soft actuators into rigid parallel mechanisms and develop multi-degree-of-freedom (multi-DOF) soft-rigid hybrid joints that can actively achieve 1, 2, and 3 DOFs actuated by 2, 4, and 8 bellows-type fluidic elastomer actuators (FEAs), respectively. The FEAs exhibit large axial strain (ϵ e max = 176%, ϵ c max = 25%), small radial expansion (ϵ r max = 12%) at 70 kPa, and are light weight, and the rigid parallel mechanisms constrain motions of the joints to the desired DOFs. We characterize the proposed joints’ kinematic and static performances by measuring their range of motion and blocked torque upon actuation. Results show that these joints successfully achieve all desired DOFs and are of high torque to weight ratio (4.07 N·m·kg−1). A bucking prediction model is established to evaluate the critical buckling pressure. As a demonstration for legged robots, we use the proposed joints and develop two types of multi-DOF legs based on inspirations from the DOF configuration of legged mammals’ musculoskeletal systems. Preliminary results demonstrate that FEAs-based multi-DOF legs can perform fundamental biomimetic movements (e.g. leg swing) through pressure adjustment, and high-speed tasks (e.g. ball kicking and jumping) through high-pressure and short-pulse actuation.
The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Television and New Media Like Real People and Places [Book Review]

Review(s) of: The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Television and New Media Like Real People and Places, by Reeves, Byron and Nass, Clifford, CSLI Publications, Centre for the Study of Language and Information Stanford, CA, 2002, ISBN 1 5758 6053 8, 305 pp.
Engineering the 2-Oxoglutarate Dehydrogenase Complex to Understand Catalysis and Alter Substrate Recognition

The E. coli 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex (OGDHc) is a multienzyme complex in the tricarboxylic acid cycle, consisting of multiple copies of three components, 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase (E1o), dihydrolipoamide succinyltransferase (E2o) and dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (E3), which catalyze the formation of succinyl-CoA and NADH (+H+) from 2-oxoglutarate. This review summarizes applications of the site saturation mutagenesis (SSM) to engineer E. coli OGDHc with mechanistic and chemoenzymatic synthetic goals. First, E1o was engineered by creating SSM libraries at positions His260 and His298.Variants were identified that: (a) lead to acceptance of substrate analogues lacking the 5-carboxyl group and (b) performed carboligation reactions producing acetoin-like compounds with good enantioselectivity. Engineering the E2o catalytic (core) domain enabled (a) assignment of roles for pivotal residues involved in catalysis, (b) re-construction of the substrate-binding pocket to accept substrates other than succinyllysyldihydrolipoamide and (c) elucidation of the mechanism of trans-thioesterification to involve stabilization of a tetrahedral oxyanionic intermediate with hydrogen bonds by His375 and Asp374, rather than general acid–base catalysis which has been misunderstood for decades. The E. coli OGDHc is the first example of a 2-oxo acid dehydrogenase complex which was evolved to a 2-oxo aliphatic acid dehydrogenase complex by engineering two consecutive E1o and E2o components.
Past the Precipice? Projected Coral Habitability Under Global Heating

Coral reefs are rapidly declining due to local environmental degradation and global climate change. In particular, corals are vulnerable to ocean heating. Anomalously hot sea surface temperatures (SSTs) create conditions for severe bleaching or direct thermal death. We use SST observations and CMIP6 model SST to project thermal conditions at reef locations at a resolution of 1 km, a 16‐fold improvement over prior studies, under four climate emissions scenarios. We use a novel statistical downscaling method which is significantly more skillful than the standard method, especially at near‐coastal pixels where many reefs are found. For each location we present projections of thermal departure (TD, the date after which a location with steadily increasing heat exceeds a given thermal metric) for severe bleaching recurs every 5 years (TD5Y) and every 10 years (TD10Y), accounting for a range of post‐bleaching reef recovery/degradation. As of 2021, we find that over 91% and 79% of 1 km2 reefs have exceeded TD10Y and TD5Y, respectively, suggesting that widespread long‐term coral degradation is no longer avoidable. We project 99% of 1 km2 reefs to exceed TD5Y by 2034, 2036, and 2040 under SSP5‐8.5, SSP3‐7.0, and SSP2‐4.5 respectively. We project that 2%–5% of reef locations remain below TD5Y at 1.5°C of mean global heating, but 0% remain at 2.0°C. These results demonstrate the importance of further improving ecological projection capacity for climate‐vulnerable marine and terrestrial species and ecosystems, including identifying refugia and guiding conservation efforts. Ultimately, saving coral reefs will require rapidly reducing and eliminating greenhouse gas emissions.
Study on wall-climbing robot based on flexible electrostatic attraction technique

Specific to post-disaster searching and snooping for counter terrorism,a new type of attachment technique for wall climbing robot is proposed in it,named as flexible electrostatic attraction technique FEAT.At first,the principle of the electrostatic attraction technique is analyzed carefully,then the electric field distribution and the capacitance of the electrostatic attraction electrode are discussed.At last,a prototype wall-climbing robot based on this innovational technique is designed and its performance is examined in a series of experiments which is verified the feasibility and future application of the attachment teqhnique.
Seasonal Distribution, Antimicrobial Activity, and Risk Factors Associated with the Incidence of Staphylococcus Species in Bovine Milk from a Dairy Farm in Eastern Cape, South Africa

The present study aimed to evaluate the incidence and seasonal distribution of Staphylococcus species on a medium-scale dairy farm and investigate their antimicrobial sensitivity with selected standard antibiotics. Several biochemical tests with the API staph kits were utilized to recognize the presence of micro-bacteria in the milk a species level. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated following the approved Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) guidelines. In total, 217 samples of milk were cultured for bacterial tests over nine months. Of the 217 milk samples analyzed, 13 varied Staphylococcus species were identified from the 86 (39.63%) positive isolates. Of the identified isolates, Staphylococcus xylosus (22.09%), Staphylococcus hominis (15.11%), and Staphylococcus haemolyticus (11.63%) were the most common. Bacteria species that showed resistance to the 15 different antimicrobial agents used in this study included Staphylococcus xylosus (80%), Staphylococcus sciuri (60%), Staphylococcus aureus (53.33%), Staphylococcus haemolyticus (46.67%), Staphylococcus epidermidis (46.67%), and Staphylococcus chromogenes (40%). The results found a high incident rate and multiple Staphylococcus species resistant to antimicrobial drugs like penicillin and ampicillin, which are utilized on the farm, which calls for drastic measures.
Proteolytic activities and safety use of Enterococcus faecalis strains isolated from Turkish White Pickled Cheese and milk samples

In this study, Enterococcus faecalis proteolytic strains which have the potential to degradation of bovine milk proteins were isolated from Turkish White Pickled Cheeses and milk samples. E. faecalis strains were found to have strong caseinolytic activity. The extracellular protease enzymes produced by E. faecalis strains from 60 different samples were analyzed in the pattern of bands on a stained SDS-PAGE gel. The highest proteolytic activity of E. faecalis isolates were determined at pH 7.0 and 40 ℃ for 24 h. In addition, antimicrobial resistance and the presence of selected virulence genes of isolates were investigated for microbiological safety. These findings further emphasize that the E. faecalis isolates can be effective in the degradation of bovine milk proteins.
Moral disengagement mechanisms predict cyber aggression among emerging adults

The Internet has given rise to many new communication tools (e.g., social media, text messaging), which, while beneficial in many respects, have become a means for aggressing against others. As evidence of the adverse correlates of cyber aggression mounts, improved understanding of the mechanisms that facilitate electronic aggression is needed. Moral disengagement (i.e., cognitive processes through which individuals disengage from their moral values) has been shown to predict cyber aggression when assessed as a unitary construct. The present study investigated the eight moral disengagement mechanisms measured by the Moral Disengagement Measure (Detert et al., 2008) and their relationships to four types of cyber aggression perpetration assessed with the Cyberbullying Experiences Survey (i.e., malice, public humiliation, deception, and unwanted contact; Doane et al., 2013). Emerging adults (N = 404, 58.67% women) aged 18 to 29 (M = 25.16, SD = 2.76) recruited through Amazon.com’s MTurk website completed measures online, and data were analyzed via path analysis. Each type of cyber aggression perpetration was predicted by different moral disengagement mechanisms. Advantageous comparison and dehumanization were the strongest predictors, and dehumanization was the only mechanism to predict all forms of cyber aggression. These findings provide support for the role of these mechanisms in cyber aggression and suggest that examining moral disengagement mechanisms individually may help to improve our understanding of cyber aggression among emerging adults. Further clinical and research implications are discussed.
Treating Inflammation Associated with Pulmonary Hypertension: An Overview of the Literature

Abstract Pulmonary hypertension (PH) comprises five groups of serious clinical entities characterized by pulmonary artery vasoconstriction and vascular remodeling leading to right heart failure and death. In addition to vascular remodeling, recruitment and exaggerated accumulation of several perivascular inflammatory cells is also observed, including macrophages, monocytes, T and B-lymphocytes, dendritic cells and mast cells distributed in pulmonary perivascular spaces and around remodeling pulmonary vessels. Current pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)-targeted therapies aim to improve functional capacity, pulmonary hemodynamic conditions, and delay disease progression. Nevertheless, PAH remains incurable, with a poor prognosis and is often refractory to drug therapy, highlighting the need for further research. In the last three decades, the best pathophysiological understanding of PAH has allowed for progression from a disease of little-known pathogenesis, without specific and effective therapy to expanding the arsenal of drugs on a cellular, genetic and molecular basis. This article provides an overview on current knowledge and progress in recent advances in pharmacological therapy in PAH.