Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exchange of C-Terminal Variable Sequences within Morbillivirus Nucleocapsid Protein Are Tolerated: Development and Evaluation of Two Marker (DIVA) Vaccines (Sungri/96 DIVA, Nigeria/75/1 DIVA) against PPR

Across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) places a huge disease burden on agriculture, affecting, in particular, small ruminant production. The recent PPR outbreaks in Northern Africa, the European part of Turkey, and Bulgaria represent a significant threat to mainland Europe, as a source of disease. Although two safe and efficacious live attenuated vaccines (Sungri/96 and Nigeria/75/1) are available for the control of PPR, current serological tests do not enable the differentiation between naturally infected and vaccinated animals (DIVA). The vaccinated animals develop a full range of immune responses to viral proteins and, therefore, cannot be distinguished serologically from those that have recovered from a natural infection. This poses a serious problem for the post-vaccinal sero-surveillance during the ongoing PPR eradication program. Furthermore, during the latter stages of any eradication program, vaccination is only possible if the vaccine used is fully DIVA compliant. Using reverse genetics, we have developed two live attenuated PPR DIVA vaccines (Sungri/96 DIVA and Nigeria/75/1 DIVA), in which the C-terminal variable region of the PPRV N-protein has been replaced with dolphin morbillivirus (DMV). As a proof of principle, both the DIVA vaccines were evaluated in goats in pilot studies for safety and efficacy, and all the animals were clinically protected against the intranasal virulent virus challenge, similar to the parent vaccines. Furthermore, it is possible to differentiate between infected animals and vaccinated animals using two newly developed ELISAs. Therefore, these DIVA vaccines and associated tests can facilitate the sero-monitoring process and speed up the implementation of global PPR eradication through vaccination.
Local interrogations for detection of multiple defects using an active sensor network

With the application of a clock-like sensor network, a local interrogation strategy is established to extend the reconstruction algorithm for the probabilistic inspection of damage (RAPID) into multiple defects identification. In this strategy, the monitoring area is divided into several monitoring subareas, and each subarea is covered by a particular sensor network. Local interrogations are then employed in each subarea using the associated network of sensing paths. Benefit from that, the artifacts arise from the intersection of key sensing paths associated with different defects may be absent completely from some monitoring subarea. With the application of a proper image fusion strategy, the artifacts would be reduced and the damage indications could be preserved. The algorithm is applied to an aluminum plate with two artificial through-thickness holes introduced. The results demonstrated that the RAPID algorithm with the application of local interrogations is capable of identifying multiple defects in plate-like structures.
Cluster of Single-Board Computers at the Edge for Smart Grids Applications

Increases in power demand and consumption are very noticeable. This increase presents a number of challenges to the traditional grid systems. Thus, there is the need to come up with a new solution that copes with the stringent demand on energy and provides better power quality, which gives a better experience to the end users. This is how the concept of smart grids (SG) came to light. SGs have been introduced to better monitor and control the power produced and consumed. In addition to this, SGs help with reducing the electricity bill through the integration of renewable energy sources. The underlying smartness of the SGs resides in the flow of information in addition to the flow of energy. Information/data flowing implies the use of smart sensors and smart meters that sense and send data about the power produced and consumed, and the data about the environment where they are deployed. This makes SGs a direct application of IoT. In this paper, we are implementing an edge platform that is based on single-board computers (SBCs) to process data stemming from SG. The use of SBCs is driven by the energy efficiency and cost effectiveness concepts that the SG is trying to apply. The platform in question is tested against a distributed job that averages random numbers using Hadoop’s MapReduce programming model. The SBC that we are using in this implementation is the NVIDIA Jetson Developer Kit. The results of this work show that a cluster of SBCs is low-cost, easy to maintain, and simple to deploy, which makes it a great candidate for providing edge computing. Although it revealed a performance that beat the one of the remote cloud servers, it could not outperform the single-computer edge platform.
Remote Skin Cancer Diagnosis: Adding Images to Electronic Referrals Is More Efficient Than Wait-Listing for a Nurse-Led Imaging Clinic

Simple Summary Skin cancer is a significant cause of death and disability, particularly in New Zealand. Expert diagnosis reduces unnecessary excision of benign lesions, reduces patient anxiety, and allows early identification of skin cancer, particularly of melanoma. The study assessed an electronic referral pathway for teledermatology—diagnosing skin lesions remotely using a standardised template with regional, close-up, and dermoscopic images—and compared this to scheduled nurse-led teledermoscopy clinics. A dermatology opinion was reached more rapidly with comparable efficacy when referrals include good quality images, compared to nurse-led imaging clinics. Abstract We undertook a retrospective comparison of two teledermatology pathways that provide diagnostic and management advice for suspected skin cancers, to evaluate the time from referral to diagnosis and its concordance with histology. Primary Care doctors could refer patients to either the Virtual Lesion Clinic (VLC), a nurse-led community teledermoscopy clinic or, more recently, to the Suspected Skin Cancer (SSC) pathway, which requires them to attach regional, close-up, and dermoscopic images. The primary objective of this study was to determine the comparative time course between the SSC pathway and VLC. Secondary objectives included comparative diagnostic concordance, skin lesion classification, and evaluation of missed skin lesions during subsequent follow-up. VLC referrals from July to December 2016 and 2020 were compared to SSC referrals from July to December 2020. 408 patients with 682 lesions in the VLC cohort were compared with 480 patients with 548 lesions from the 2020 SSC cohort, matched for age, sex, and ethnicity, including histology where available. Median time (SD) from referral to receipt of teledermatology advice was four (2.8) days and 50 (43.0) days for the SSC and VLC cohorts, respectively (p < 0.001). Diagnostic concordance between teledermatologist and histopathologist for benign versus malignant lesions was 70% for 114 lesions in the SSC cohort, comparable to the VLC cohort (71% of 122 lesions). Referrals from primary care, where skin lesions were imaged with variable devices and quality resulted in faster specialist advice with similar diagnostic performance compared to high-quality imaging at nurse-led specialist dermoscopy clinics.
Social networks save energy: optimizing energy consumption in an ecovillage via agent-based simulation

Energy-conscious communities are continually challenged to optimize electricity usage, maximizing the benefits obtainable from generating systems and minimizing the reliance on the national supply. Achieving an ideal balance is complicated by the fluctuating availability of ‘green’ supplies and the varying patterns of domestic usage. Optimizing a community's net energy balance depends on the degree to which householders can modify their usage patterns. We consider two questions here: given a collection of realistic preferences and constraints on usage patterns of households, what degree of saving is possible by optimizing ‘within’ these preferences and constraints? ; and, what amounts of energy saving are possible when the community exploits its social network by sharing electrical appliances? These questions are investigated in the context of Riccarton Ecovillage. A model of the ecovillage was implemented using an agent-based modelling toolkit, then simulated under a range of scenarios, automatically exploring the space of usage patterns to find combinations of usage schedules that minimized dependence on the national supply. Our findings are: evolutionary algorithms perform particularly well at this difficult optimization task; modest savings of 5–10% are achievable under standard assumptions, but savings of 35–40% are achievable when exploiting the underlying social network.
Urban landscapes and streaming structures as a basis of urban construction planning

Purpose – This paper sets out describe the creation of sustainable urban planning concepts based on optimized urban landscape functioning. It gives an account of the formation and transformation processes of natural and artificial streaming structures.Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines the present‐day approaches to the environmental assessment and zoning of urban territories. This was achieved by creating the conceptual methodological basis for the assessment and classification of urban landscapes.Findings – Based on an analysis of the urban planning development of the Moscow agglomeration, principles have been proposed for the shaping of sustainable urban planning structures – landscape planning that can be applied to the management of the territorial growth of large cities and urban agglomerations. First, the shaping and reconstruction of the city structure, including the structure of land management, as well as the mutual arrangement of functional areas, should be based on the need to pre.
Likely sensitivity of bottlenose dolphins to pile‐driving noise

Pile driver‐generated noise has the potential to affect dolphin populations adversely as it is detectable up to 40 km from the source. At 9 kHz, this noise is capable of masking strong vocalisations within 10–15 km and weak vocalisations up to approximately 40 km. The masking radius reduces as the frequency increases: 6 km at 50 kHz and 1.2 km at 115 kHz. The impacts of masking are expected to be limited by the intermittent nature of pile driver noise, the dolphin's directional hearing, their ability to adjust vocalisation amplitude and frequency, and the structured content of their signals. Behavioural modifications have been observed in response to underwater sounds, including those produced by pile drivers, although in the latter case this may have been due to redistribution of prey species. A range of mitigation measures are proposed that are aimed at reducing the impact of pile driver noise on dolphin populations.
Robust Integrated Translation and Rotation Finite-Time Maneuver of a Rigid Spacecraft Based on Dual Quaternion

This paper deals with simultaneous position and attitude robust maneuver problem of a rigid spacecraft. Based on a novel mathematical tool, i.e., dual quaternion, an integrated translational and rotational tracking error model of a rigid spacecraft is derived, whose form holds efiective and compact. A robust flnite-time control strategy is then proposed using backstepping technique to enable the spacecraft to track reference position and rotation motions in flnite time. Within the Lyapunov framework, the flnite-time stability of the closed-loop system is guaranteed in the presence of system uncertainties and bounded external disturbances; meanwhile, the bound of settling time can be derived as well. A scenario numerical simulation demonstrates the efiect of the designed control law.
Free Volatile Compounds of Veronica austriaca ssp. jacquinii (Baumg.) Eb. Fisch. and Their Biological Activity

The composition of free volatile compounds of essential oils (EO) and hydrosols (Hy) from four different localities of the species Veronica austriaca ssp. jacquinii (Baumg.) Eb. Fisch. were analyzed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. In the EOs, the most abundant compounds identified were hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (23.34–52.56%), hexadecanoic acid (palmitic acid, 26.71–58.91%) and octadecanol acetate (0–6.24%). The hydrosols were characterized by high abundance of methyl eugenol (23.35–57.93%), trans-p-mentha-1(7),8-dien-2-ol (5.24–7.69%) and thymol (3.48–9.45%). Glandular trichomes were analyzed using SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), as they are the sites of synthesis of free volatile compounds. We have detected glandular trichomes, consisting of a one stalk cell and two elliptically shaped head cells, and non-glandular (unbranched, bi-cellular to multicellular) trichomes on stems, leaves and the sepals. Data for volatile compounds from EOs and hydrosols were analyzed using Principal Component Analyses (PCA) to demonstrate variations in the composition of the volatile compounds identified. Isolated samples of EO and hydrosols were analyzed for their antioxidant activity using two methods, DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity). The essential oils showed higher antioxidant activity than the hydrosols in ORAC method, but lower activity by the DPPH method. The isolates were also tested for their antiproliferative activity on different types of cancer cells and also on two lines of healthy cells, and the results showed that the extracts were not toxic to the cell lines tested. Total polyphenols, total tannins, total flavonoids and total phenolic acids were also analyzed and determined spectrophotometrically. The free volatile compounds of Veronica austriaca ssp. jacquinii can be considered as a safe natural product.
Coupled-inductor single-stage boost inverter for grid-connected photovoltaic system

This study presents a coupled-inductor single-stage boost inverter for grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system, which can realise boosting when the PV array voltage is lower than the grid voltage, converting dc voltage into ac voltage, feeding current to the grid with high-power factor and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) together. By introducing an impedance network including coupled inductor in front of the three-phase inverter bridge, and adjusting the previously forbidden shoot-through zero state, the converter can step up input voltage to a higher voltage level. System reliability is also improved by using shoot-through zero state as a normal operation mode. Cost can be reduced by single-stage operation and also by using economical MPPT method only via grid current. Theoretical analysis, simulation and experimental results are presented to verify its good performance.
Aerodynamic Analysis of Novel Savonius Rotor

Abstract: Wind is a renewable form of energy that holds vital solutions to energy crisis that will be faced in the possible future. Apart from the viable lift based turbines that we have been working on, research can be done on drag based turbines that can be installed in urban areas for short power requirements. The research aims at developing a novel design for Savonius type rotor which will help to improve the power producing characteristics of the turbine. CFD fluent analysis will help in analysis of the proposed blade shape. The results explain how the combination of elliptical profiled blade improves coefficient of power for Savonius type rotor. Keywords: Aerodynamics, Wind Energy, Savonius, VAWT, Wind Turbine
Development of an efficient in vitro callus proliferation protocol for edible wild rhubarb (Rheum ribes L.)

Rheum ribes L. is a perennial wild species. Young shoots and flower bunches are freshly consumed, and root and rhizomes are generally used for medicinal purposes. The aim of the present study was to improve the callus proliferation protocol for R. ribes L. under in vitro conditions. For callus induction, hypocotyl explants taken from 14-day old plantlets germinated in Murashige and Skoog (MS) media were cultured in MS media with 9 plant growth regulator (PGR) combinations containing 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) (2, 3, and 4 mg/L) + naphthylacetic acid (NAA) (0.1, 0.5, and 1 mg/L). Then, for callus proliferation, 4 PGR combinations containing NAA (0.2 mg/L) + thidiazuron (TDZ) (0.5, 1, 2, and 3 mg) were used in the first set of experiments, and 36 PGR combinations containing BAP (1, 2, 3, and 4 mg/L) + indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) (0.2, 0.5, and 1 mg/L), BAP (1, 2, 3, and 4 mg/L) + NAA (0.2, 0.5, and 1 mg/L), and TDZ (1, 2, 3, and 4 mg/L) + NAA (0.2, 0.5, and 1 mg/L) were used in the second set of experiments. At the end of the second set of experiments, the greatest callus regeneration ratios were obtained due to the combinations including BAP and IBA as well as the low-dose TDZ- (especially 1 mg/L) and NAA- (0.2, 0.5, 1 mg/L) combinations. Regarding callus fresh weights, TDZ + NAA combinations were found to be more successful. The greatest callus fresh weight (12.7 ±0.4 g) was obtained from MS medium supplemented with 2 mg/L TDZ and 0.2 mg/L NAA.
Effect of in ovo injection of some B-group vitamins on performance of broiler breeders and their progeny

SUMMARY Many researchers around the world have been attracted by the delivery of various nutrients, supplements, safety factors, vaccines and drugs through in ovo injection to enhance the production performance, immunity and health of broilers. The purpose of this review is to summarise the information on in ovo injection of some B-group vitamins into the eggs of broiler breeder flocks and their progeny. The available results of different trials showed that in ovo injection of thiamine as well as riboflavin at 100 μg concentration improved hatching, conversion factor and body weight in broilers. It improved the chickens’ performance and other performance indices such as conversion coefficient, one-day weight and body weight, and also had a positive effect on the immunity (such as increasing IgM and IgG levels and increasing lysozyme activity) of experimental treatments. On the other hand, in ovo injection of choline did not affect the hatchability rate, but improved the performance indices of the experimental treatments, as well as the effect found with in ovo injection of folic acid. In ovo injection of 40–100 μg of folic acid had no effect on hatchability rate, but had significant effects on the immune system (increasing IgM and IgG levels, and increasing lysozyme activity, and increasing lymph node weight in experimental treatments) and performance. In addition, in ovo injection of pyridoxine at a concentration of 100 μg as well as cobalamin at 40 μg improved the hatchability and performance indices (feed conversion ratio, body weight). Furthermore, in this review, we attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of this issue by outlining the reports and explaining the mechanism of action of these vitamins.
Coordinated secondary voltage control to eliminate voltage violations in power system contingencies

In order to achieve more efficient voltage regulation in a power system, coordinated secondary voltage control has been proposed, bringing in the extra benefit of enhancement of power system voltage stability margin. This paper investigates a new potential application of coordinated secondary voltage control by multiple FACTS voltage controllers in eliminating voltage violations in power system contingencies. The study is presented by the example New England ten-machine power system with two SVCs and two STATCOMs installed. The coordinated secondary voltage control is assigned to the SVCs and STATCOMs in order to eliminate voltage violations in system contingencies. In the paper, it is proposed that the secondary voltage control is implemented by a learning fuzzy logic controller. A key parameter of the controller is trained by P-type learning algorithm via offline simulation with the assistance of injection of artificial loads in controller's adjacent locations. A multiagent collaboration protocol, which is graphically represented as a finite-state machine, is proposed in the paper for the coordination among multiple SVCs and STATCOMs. As an agent, each SVC or STATCOM can provide multilocation coverage to eliminate voltage violations at its adjacent nodes in the power system. Agents can provide collaborative support to each other which is coordinated according to the proposed collaboration protocol.
The Efficiency of Selected Extenders against Bacterial Contamination of Boar Semen in a Swine Breeding Facility in Western Slovakia

Simple Summary This study evaluated the efficiency of selected semen extenders to prevent bacterial overgrowth in boar ejaculates stored for 72 h. Among the identified bacterial isolates, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the most prevailing species. While all extenders supplemented with antibiotics ensured a satisfactory sperm vitality during the storage period, neither of them was able to achieve a complete elimination of bacteria from extended semen. Furthermore, a number of bacterial isolates exhibited resistance to several antibiotics chosen for the microbial susceptibility test (e.g., tigecyklin and ciprofloxacin). Abstract Bacteriospermia has become a serious factor affecting sperm quality in swine breeding, this is why antibiotics (ATBs) are a critical component of semen extenders. Due to ever-increasing antimicrobial resistance, the aim of this study was to assess the efficiency of selected commercially available semen extenders to prevent a possible bacterial contamination of boar ejaculates. Three Androstar Plus extenders containing different combinations of antibiotics were used to process ejaculates from 30 healthy Duroc breeding boars. Androstar Plus without antibiotics was used as a control. The extended samples were stored at 17 °C for 72 h. Sperm motility, viability, mitochondrial activity, DNA integrity and oxidative profile of each extended sample were assessed following 24 h, 48 h and 72 h. Furthermore, selective media were used to quantify the bacterial load and specific bacterial species were identified with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. The results indicate that semen extenders enriched with ATBs ensured a significantly higher preservation of the sperm quality in comparison to the ATB-free control. The total bacterial count was significantly decreased in the extenders supplemented with ATBs (p < 0.001), however gentamycin alone was not effective enough against Gram-positive bacteria, while a few colonies of Enterococcus hirae, Bacillus subtilis and Corynebacterium spp. were present in the samples extended in the presence of a triple combination of ATBs. In conclusion, we may suggest that semen extenders enriched in antibiotics were not able to fully eliminate the bacteria present in the studied samples. Furthermore, selection of suitable antibiotics for semen extension should be accompanied by adequate hygiene standards during the collection and handling of boar ejaculates.