Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Low Water Availability on Seed Yield and Seed Quality of Basil (Ocimum basilicum)

Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) is an aromatic and medicinal plant with important properties and is used as an alternative crop in many countries of the world because of its medicinal, economic, industrial, and nutritional importance. The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of low water availability on seed production and seed quality of five cultivars of basil (Mrs Burns, Cinnamon, Sweet, Red Rubin, and Thai). Irrigation levels and cultivars affected seed yield and thousand seed weight. In addition, plants that were exposed to low water availability produced seeds that germinated in a greater percentage. Additionally, root length was increased as the PEG concentration was increased in the germination solution and was affected by the low water availability of the mother plants. The length of the shoot, the length of the root and the seed vigor could not be used as indicators of low water availability on the mother plants, but these characteristics and especially the seed vigor could be used as indicators of low water availability of the seed. Furthermore, the root length and the seed vigor indicated that there is a possibility of an epigenetic effect of water availability on the seed produced under low water availability, though more work is needed.
The Effect of Correlation On the Repeated Measures Design

Abstract : The purpose of this paper is to point out that: (a) any repeated measurements on the same organism will in general exhibit statistical dependence; therefore multivariate analysis of variance rather than univariate analysis of variance is appropriate, and (b) multivariate analysis of variance assumes that the carryover effect of a treatment or a test on succeeding treatments is constant and does not depend on the nature of the succeeding treatment, i.e., carryover is additive and does not interact with succeeding treatments. Most of this paper is concerned with possible experimental and statistical answers to the questions which arise when dependent measures are used in a continuous treatment design. The problem of carryover effects that interact with subsequent treatments is quite different. No answers to this problem are given here; instead we ask if there is, in fact, any way of preserving the advantages of a cross-over design and obtaining unbiased estimates of the treatment effects when carry-over interaction is present.
Particle and power deposition on divertor targets in EAST H-mode plasmas

The effects of edge-localized modes (ELMs) on divertor particle and heat fluxes were investigated for the first time in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). The experiments were carried out with both double null and lower single null divertor configurations, and comparisons were made between the H-mode plasmas with lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) and those with combined ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH). The particle and heat flux profiles between and during ELMs were obtained from Langmuir triple-probe arrays embedded in the divertor target plates. And isolated ELMs were chosen for analysis in order to reduce the uncertainty resulting from the influence of fast electrons on Langmuir triple-probe evaluation during ELMs. The power deposition obtained from Langmuir triple probes was consistent with that from the divertor infra-red camera during an ELM-free period. It was demonstrated that ELM-induced radial transport predominantly originated from the low-field side region, in good agreement with the ballooning-like transport model and experimental results of other tokamaks. ELMs significantly enhanced the divertor particle and heat fluxes, without significantly broadening the SOL width and plasma-wetted area on the divertor target in both LHCD and LHCD + ICRH H-modes, thus posing a great challenge for the next-step high-power, long-pulse operation in EAST. Increasing the divertor-wetted area was also observed to reduce the peak heat flux and particle recycling at the divertor target, hence facilitating long-pulse H-mode operation. The particle and heat flux profiles during ELMs appeared to exhibit multiple peak structures, and were analysed in terms of the behaviour of ELM filaments and the flux tubes induced by modified magnetic topology during ELMs.
Calculation of the number of bits required for the estimation of the bit error ratio

We present a calculation of the required number of bits to be received in a system of communications in order to achieve a given level of confidence. The calculation assumes a binomial distribution function for the errors. The function is numerically evaluated and the results are compared with the ones obtained from Poissonian and Gaussian approximations. The performance in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio is also studied. We conclude that for higher number of errors in detection the use of approximations allows faster and more efficient calculations, without loss of accuracy.
Design of an automotive platform for computer vision research

The goal of our work is to design an automotive platform for AD/ADAS data acquisition in view of subsequent application to behaviour analysis of vulnerable road users. We present a novel data capture platform mounted on a Mercedes GLC vehicle. The car is equipped with an array of sensors and recording hardware including multiple RGB cameras, Lidar, GPS and IMU. For future research on human behaviour analysis in traffic scenes, we compile two kinds of data recordings. Firstly, we design a range of artificial test cases which we then record on a safety regulated proving ground with stunt persons to capture rare events in traffic scenes in a predictable and structured way. Secondly, we record data on public streets of Vienna, Austria, showing unconstrained pedestrian behaviour in an urban setting, while also considering European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements. We describe the overall framework including the planning phase, data acquisition and ground truth annotation.
Strahlentherapie oder Operation bei HPV-positiven Oropharynxkarzinomen? Die ORATOR2-Studie – ein Vergleich von Birnen und Äpfeln

Zusammenfassung Die ORATOR2-Studie war eine internationale, multizentrische, randomisierte Phase-II-Studie mit dem Ziel, das optimale Therapie-Deeskalationskonzept bei HPV-positiven Oropharynxkarzinomen im Frühstadium (T1–2, N0–2) zu erfassen. Die Patienten (n = 61) wurden entweder mittels transoraler Chirurgie und Neck Dissection behandelt oder mittels intensitätsmodulierter Strahlentherapie. Die Deeskalationskomponente beider Arme war eine Dosisreduktion der primären oder adjuvanten Strahlentherapie. Der primäre Endpunkt war das Gesamtüberleben. Dieses war im Bestrahlungsarm besser, was hauptsächlich durch 3 Todesfälle im Operationsarm bedingt war, hiervon 2 therapieassoziiert. Dies führte zum frühzeitigen Abbruch der Studie. Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie/Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Onkologie warnt davor, die Studienergebnisse als mögliches Entscheidungskriterium für die Therapiewahl von HPV-positiven Oropharynxkarzinomen zu verwenden, angesichts der Schwächen der Studie insbesondere im Operationsarm (Sicherheitsabstand von 10 mm, streng empfohlene Nachresektion bei R1/knappen Resektionsrändern, keine freien/regionalen Transplantate zur Rekonstruktion, kaum Verwendung der Laserchirurgie, hohe Tracheotomierate). Kleine Patientenzahlen, eine sehr selektionierte Patientenkohorte und die kurze Nachbeobachtungszeit schränken die Aussagekraft der Studie weiter ein. Patienten mit HPV-assoziierten Oropharynxkarzinomen sollten aktuell keine deeskalierende (Strahlen-) Therapie außerhalb klinischer Studien erhalten. Bei der Entscheidung zwischen einem chirurgischen oder einem strahlentherapeutischen Vorgehen sollten Patienten nach interdisziplinärer Zustimmung eines Tumorboards über Vor- und Nachteile beider Modalitäten aufgeklärt werden, bis Ergebnisse klinisch relevanter Phase-III-Studien (bspw. EORTC 1420) vorliegen.
Immunological and Oxidative Biomarkers in Bovine Serum from Healthy, Clinical, and Sub-Clinical Mastitis Caused by Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus Infection

Simple Summary Establishing reliable biomarkers of udder bacterial infection and its bovine immune response at the early stage of the mastitic infection is considered an urgent matter. Thus, reliable biomarkers were measured in our study for accurate detection of the changes in biochemical and immunological parameters related to both clinical and sub-clinical mastitis. Ultimately, APP and cytokines, along with antioxidant markers can be used as early indicators of subclinical and clinical mastitis. Abstract The study aimed to investigate the mastitis’ emerging causative agents and their antimicrobial sensitivity, in addition to the hematological, biochemical indicators, oxidative biomarkers, acute phase protein (APP), and inflammatory cytokine changes in dairy farms in Gamasa, Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt. One hundred Holstein Friesian dairy cattle with clinical and subclinical mastitis were investigated and were allocated into three groups based on a thorough clinical examination. Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were found responsible for the clinical and subclinical mastitis in dairy farms, respectively. Multiple drug resistance (MDR) was detected in 100%, and 94.74% of E. coli and S. aureus isolates, respectively. Significantly low RBCs count, Hb, and PCV values were detected in mastitic cows compared with both subclinical mastitic and control groups; moreover, WBCs, lymphocytes, and neutrophil counts were significantly diminished in mastitic cows compared to the controls. Significantly higher levels of AST, LDH, total protein, and globulin were noticed in both mastitic and subclinical mastitic cows. The haptoglobin, fibrinogen, amyloid A, ceruloplasmin, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 levels were statistically increased in mastitic cows compared to the controls. Higher MDA levels and reduction of TAC and catalase were identified in all the mastitic cases compared to the controls. Overall, the findings suggested potential public health hazards due to antimicrobial resistance emergence. Meanwhile, the APP and cytokines, along with antioxidant markers can be used as early indicators of mastitis.
Influence of immunosuppressive drugs on natural killer cells in therapeutic drug exposure in liver transplantation

Background Natural killer (NK) cells are enriched in the liver and are the main regulators in liver transplantation regarding rejection or tolerance, viral infection, or tumor recurrence. Immunosuppression consists of a triple drug standard regimen comprising tacrolimus (TAC) and corticosteroids (CS) with either mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) or sirolimus (SIR)/everolimus (EVE). The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of trough levels of these regimens under clinical conditions and exposure on human NK-cell activity and function in order to better understand the antiviral and anti-tumor effects of mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor (mTORI). Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected from liver transplant recipients and healthy controls. Number and phenotypes of NK cells in vivo were analyzed by flow cytometry. In this study we simulated the immunosuppressive microenvironment in vitro. PBMCs were cultured at the clinically effective plasma concentration of drugs for 3 d to detect the effect of immunosuppressants on NK cells. Drug type and concentration: single drug [EVE, 5 ng/mL; SIR, 5 ng/mL; TAC, 5 ng/mL; cyclosporine A (CSA), 125 ng/mL; MMF, 15 µg/mL; CS, 0.5 µg/mL] and combined immunosuppressants (Group 1: TAC, 5 ng/mL + MMF, 15 µg/mL + CS, 0.5 µg/mL; Group 2: TAC, 5 ng/mL + SIR, 5 ng/mL + CS, 0.5 µg/mL; Group 3: TAC, 5 ng/mL + EVE, 5 ng/mL + CS, 0.5 µg/mL). In addition, NK cells were sorted from PBMCs and treated under the above conditions to detect NK cell killing function and RNA transcription characteristics. Results CS significantly impaired the cytolytic activity of NK cells, followed by MMF and SIR/EVE. CS and TAC/CSA significantly decreased the secretion of IFN-γ and CD107a. NK cell function in liver transplant recipients was most pronouncedly inhibited by a triple immunosuppressive regimen, with CS playing the most prominent role compared with the other drugs. The MMF-containing regimen demonstrated a significant increase in the expression of suppressive genes, especially of the Siglec7/9 family. The SIR group had stronger NK cell activity compared with that of the MMF group, although liver transplantation patients have lower NK cell activity and function. Conclusions Despite an overall comparable immunosuppressive efficiency in terms of prevention of acute rejection, a mTORIs-including regimen might be considered as having less impact on NK cell function.
Loop-star decomposition of basis functions in the discretization of the EFIE

A general and readily applicable scheme is presented for the determination of the basis functions that allow the decomposition of the surface current into a solenoidal part and a nonsolenoidal remainder. The proposed approach brings into correspondence these two parts with two scalar functions and generates the known loop and star basis functions. The completeness of the loop-star basis is discussed, employing the presented scheme; the issue of the irrotational property of the nonsolenoidal functions is addressed.
Image synthesis using multiscale model

Considers a specific class of textures which are stochastic, possibly periodic, two-dimensional signals displaying fractal-like or self-similar characteristics. Most natural textures belong to this class. We explore the use of autoregressive (AR) processes on trees as a texture model. This theory was originally proposed for multiscale signal analysis. The generalized lattice structures used for parametrization of AR processes on trees makes computer implementation fast and efficient. We have done extensive experiments on texture generation and study the effect of reflection coefficients and model order on the quality of the generated textures. <<ETX>>
Swift x-ray telescope (XRT)

The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer will be launched late in 2003 to make prompt multiwavelength observations of Gamma-Ray Bursts and Afterglows. The X-ray Telescope (XRT) provides key capabilities that permit Swift to determine GRB positions with several arcsecond accuracy within 100 seconds of the burst onset. The XRT is designed to observe GRB afterglows covering over seven orders of magnitude in flux in the 0.2-10 keV band, with completely autonomous operation. GRB positions are determined within seconds of target acquisition, and accurate positions are sent to the ground for distribution over the GCN. The XRT can also measure redshifts of GRBs for bursts with Fe line emission or other spectral features.
Dimension reduction and coefficient estimation in multivariate linear regression

Summary We introduce a general formulation for dimension reduction and coefficient estimation in the multivariate linear model. We argue that many of the existing methods that are commonly used in practice can be formulated in this framework and have various restrictions. We continue to propose a new method that is more flexible and more generally applicable. The method proposed can be formulated as a novel penalized least squares estimate. The penalty that we employ is the coefficient matrix's Ky Fan norm. Such a penalty encourages the sparsity among singular values and at the same time gives shrinkage coefficient estimates and thus conducts dimension reduction and coefficient estimation simultaneously in the multivariate linear model. We also propose a generalized cross‐validation type of criterion for the selection of the tuning parameter in the penalized least squares. Simulations and an application in financial econometrics demonstrate competitive performance of the new method. An extension to the non‐parametric factor model is also discussed.
Trauma survivors’ perceptions and experiences of prolonged exposure for PTSD at a psychology clinic

Background Several trauma-focused treatments have been developed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet there are limited studies on how trauma survivors perceive and experience trauma-focused treatments such as prolonged exposure therapy (PE) for PTSD, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Aim The study aimed to explore the perceptions and experiences of trauma survivors receiving prolonged exposure therapy for PTSD and the general acceptability of PE for PTSD in a LMIC. Setting The study was conducted at a community psychology clinic in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Method Using a qualitative method, seven adult trauma survivors who completed six sessions of brief PE for PTSD were interviewed. Thematic analysis was used to identify relevant themes and to understand how participants perceived and experienced PE for PTSD. Results The analysis yielded five themes, namely structure, obstacles, gender, exposure and experiences of recovery. Conclusion The findings suggested that participants perceived and experienced PE to be generally beneficial for the treatment of PTSD. Moreover, the study suggested that PE is an acceptable trauma therapy in a contextually diverse setting such as the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Overall, considering the evidence base of PE for PTSD, this study contributed to the literature on the acceptability of PE in a South African setting. Contribution The findings of the study are in keeping with the extant literature on how persons perceive and experience PE for PTSD. The findings of the study suggests that PE is an acceptable and beneficial trauma therapy for PTSD in a contextually diverse setting such as South Africa. It is recommended that large scale implementation studies be conducted to further investigate the effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptability of PE in South Africa.
Closed-loop, pilot/vehicle analysis of the approach and landing task

Optimal-control-theoretic modeling and frequency-domain analysis is the methodology proposed to analytically evaluate the handling qualities of higher-order manually controlled dynamic systems. Fundamental to the methodology is evaluating the interplay between pilot workload and closed-loop pilot /vehicle performance and stability robustness. The model-based metric for pilot workload is the required pilot phase compensation. Pilot/vehicle performance and loop stability is then evaluated using frequency-domain techniques. When these techniques were applied to the flight-test data for thirty-two highly-augmented fighter configurations, strong correlation was obtained between the analytical and experimental results.
Percentile performance criteria for limiting average Markov decision processes

Addresses the following basic feasibility problem for infinite-horizon Markov decision processes (MDPs): can a policy be found that achieves a specified value (target) of the long-run limiting average reward at a specified probability level (percentile)? Related optimization problems of maximizing the target for a specified percentile and vice versa are also considered. The authors present a complete (and discrete) classification of both the maximal achievable target levels and of their corresponding percentiles. The authors also provide an algorithm for computing a deterministic policy corresponding to any feasible target-percentile pair. Next the authors consider similar problems for an MDP with multiple rewards and/or constraints. This case presents some difficulties and leads to several open problems. An LP-based formulation provides constructive solutions for most cases. >
Adapting CBT for youth anxiety: Flexibility, within fidelity, in different settings

Anxiety disorders are common in youth, associated with impairments in daily functioning, and often persist into adulthood when untreated. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for youth anxiety is a well-established intervention and has been modified to fit several treatment settings. Despite decades of results supporting the efficacy of CBT, there is a large gap in access to this treatment and a need to consider how it can best be administered flexibly to increase uptake and personalization. We first discuss the core components of treatment for CBT through the lens of the Coping Cat treatment. Next, we review the empirical findings regarding adjustments made for CBT for youth anxiety delivered (a) in schools, (b) in community settings, (c) through telehealth, (d) through online computer programs, and (e) by caregivers at home. In each setting, we provide specific suggestions for how to implement CBT with flexibility while maintaining fidelity.
Crystal structure on the set of Lakshmibai–Seshadri paths of an arbitrary level‐zero shape

Let λ=∑i∈I0miϖi , with mi∈ℤ⩾0 for i∈I0, be a level‐zero dominant integral weight for an affine Lie algebra ℊ over ℚ, where the ϖi, i∈I0, are the level‐zero fundamental weights, and let B(λ) be the crystal of all Lakshmibai–Seshadri paths of shape λ. First, we give an explicit description of the decomposition of the crystal B(λ) into connected components and show that all the connected components are pairwise ‘isomorphic’ (up to a shift of weights). Second, we ‘realize’ the connected component B0(λ) of B(λ) containing the straight line πλ as a specified subcrystal of the affinization B(λ)cl^ (with weight lattice P) of the crystal B(λ)cl≃⊗i∈I0(B(ϖi)cl)⊗mi (with weight lattice Pcl≃P/(Qδ∩P) , where δ is the null root of ℊ ), which we studied in a previous paper (Int. Math. Res. Not. 2005 (2005) 815–840).
Addressing Online Violence Against Women and Girls in the Commonwealth Pacific Region

This report focuses on the role of online bystanders in reducing online violence against women and girls (VAWG), including consideration of any related policies or laws. Given the relatively recent emergence of bystanders as potential facilitators and exacerbators of online crime, policy responses have tended to focus on the virtual versions of existing physical crimes, such as ‘cyber’ bullying and ‘cyber’ stalking, and/or the dissemination of intimate images online (when previously they might have been posted on a physical bulletin board). Moreover, these policy responses have tended to focus on capturing perpetrators, but not bystanders, within a legislative framework.
Rheology of liquid foam

Liquid foams can behave like solids or liquids, depending on the applied stress and on the experimental timescale. Understanding the origin of this complex rheology which gives rise to many applications and which resembles that of many other forms of soft condensed matter made of closely packed soft units requires challenging theoretical questions to be solved. We briefly recall the basic physics and physicochemistry of foams and review the experiments, numerical simulations and theoretical models concerning foam rheology published in recent years.
Heterogeneous models ensemble for Chinese grammatical error correction

Grammatical error correction (GEC) aims to automatically identify and correct grammatical errors in a sentence. Neural machine translation (NMT) models are the mainstream approaches for the GEC task. However, the models require a large amount of data to be adequately trained, the variety of grammatical errors and the dependencies between errors in a sentence make it difficult for a single NMT model to correct multiple errors at once. In the work, we propose an ensemble approach for heterogeneous models, which integrates rule-based, NMT, and pre-trained language model-based GEC models through the recurrent generation approach, the approach can exploit the strengths of each model and cover a wider range of errors in a sentence. We also mitigate the scarcity of task-specific data for the GEC task through the data augmentation approach. We conduct extensive experiments on the NLPCC2018 shared task dataset to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed methods, and reaches the F0.5 value of 37.26, outperforming the best model in the shared task.