bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
FULL DIALLEL CROSSES FOR ESTIMATION OF GENETIC PARAMETERS IN MAIZE
Authors: & et al. Sadalla
Published: November 2022

This research was conducted to estimate some genetic parameters by using full diallel crosses in maize (Zea mays L.) at Grdarasha Agricultural Research Station, College of Agriculture, University of Salahaddin, Erbil. During the spring season of 2015, four diverse maize inbred line seeds were sown and exhibited full diallel cross between them. In fall season 2015, the F1 hybrids with their parental lines were sown in randomized complete block design with three replications. The results revealed there were highly significant differences among genotypes for almost all of the evaluated traits which were days to 50% tasseling, plant height, ear height,  ear length, no. of rows ear-1, 150-kernels weight and total yield except the character no. of ears plant-1. GCA and SCA mean squares were highly significant for some traits, but mean squares for reciprocal combining ability were highly significant for traits plant height, ear height and 150-kernels weight. Pertaining the parents, Kr 640 revealed the best values among the parents for most of the traits, and for diallel and reciprocal hybrids the crosses 3007× Kr 640 and 5012× Kr 640 demonstrated more desired values respectively. Regarding the σ2gca/σ2sca ratio, for all the traits exclude no. of rows ear-1, showed to be less than one, this showed the importance of non-additive gene effect in the inheritance of these traits, and the average degree of dominance were more than one in the same traits. Heritability estimation in both broad and narrow senses were proceed, the results submitted that heritability in broad sense was high for all the traits, it was recommended hybridization and selection method to improve these traits.
PREDICTION OF SOIL AVAILABLE PHOSPHOROUS CONTENT USING SPECTRA-RADIOMETER AND GIS IN SOUTHERN OF IRAQ
Authors: & Ali Al-Shujairy
Published: November 2022

In this study, soil samples were collected from two locations: Samawa and Rumetha in southern Iraq. The samples from each location were split into two datasets: calibration set and validation set. A representative soil sample for each location was chosen for application of 5 levels of potassium phosphate fertilizer in 3 replications. Vis-NIR reflectance (350-2500 nm) and GIS-Kriging were used in combination with Partial Least Square (PLS) to predict soil available P. According to the results of this study, three wavelength regions were reported as a main sensitive bands for soil available P. The best prediction ability was achieved for Rumetha location at 1400-1600 nm with an R2 of 0.85, lowest RMSE of 1.405, and lowest standard deviation of 1.577 and for Samawa location at 900-1000 nm with an R2 of 0.81, RMSE of 2.666 and lowest standard deviation of 2.879. The capability of the Vis-NIRS- based and GIS-Kriging prediction models were evaluated by using cross-validation values Q2 and R2 between measured and predicted soil available P of each model. The selection principle parameters showed best prediction by NIRS-models with an R2 of 0.79 for Rumetha and 0.75 for Samawa location. While the prediction ability of GIS-Kriging models were in worst with an Q2 of 0.17 for Samawa location and reasonable with an Q2 of 0.58 for Rumetha location. These empirically result is an evident of the superiority of NIRS-based models for prediction soil available P over the GIS-Kriging models.
EVALUATION PERFORMANCE OF BREAD WHEAT PURE LINES TO GROWTH TRAITS AND PROLINE
Authors: &  Baktash Dhahi
Published: November 2022

A field experiments were carried out at Abu- Graib Research Station- Agricultural Research Office- Ministry of Agriculture during 2014- 2015 season to investigate the performance of 225 pure lines of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), which at sixth generation after crossing among local and exotic genotypes (during 2008 to 2014) with their parents. The experiment was conducted using Simple Lattice Design with three replications. The results were revealed highly significant differences among genotypes for all studied traits. The genotypes 39 and 192 had higher number of days to 50% flowering (140 days), the longest period of physiological maturity 159 days of genotype 49. The highest means of flag leaf area (80.4 cm2)  were found by genotype 199, the genotype 101 gave higher flag leaf angle (720), the genotype 28 gave higher plant height (94.6 cm), higher number of tillers (47.4 tillers) produced by genotype 99, genotype 207 gave higher length of spike (19.3 cm). The genotype 156 superior in number of spikelet spike-1 and highest proline content (6.91 µ moles mg-1)  in flag leaf was found in  genotype 39.
BACTERIOLOGIGAL AND GENETIC STUDY OF Pseudomonas aeruginosa ISOLATES
Authors: M. Tawfiq S.
Published: November 2022

Fifty  P. aeruginosa isolates were isolated from patients suffered of wound, ear and chronic pulmonary infections  to assess the presence of nan1 and nan2 genes .P. aeruginosa isolates were 10(20%) from chronic pulmonary infection ,20(40%) from each of ear and wound infections. isolates exhibted highly sensitivity to (Cefepime ,Meropenem ,Azitheromycin) and version resistance to Cefotaxime, Gentamicin, Ceftazidim ,Clorithromycin, Tobramicin,Ciprofluxacin In percentages (70% ),(60%) ,(50%), (40%) , (36%) and(34%) respectively.Seventeen isolates were choosen  to searching nan1 and nan2 genes by PCR technique depending on the resist to four groups of antibiotics (Aminoglycoside,Third generation of beta-lactam ,quinolones ,Macrolides , (29.4%) possess both genes.nan1 were distributed in(41.2%) in percentages (50%) for each of wound and ear isolates and (20%)for chronic pulmonary isolates,while nan2 was dissemination (70.6%) in percentages100%, 66.6% and 50% for chronic pulmonary, ear and wound isolates respectively In conclusion, these data suggest that the prevalence of nan2 in all infections ,that suggest apossible role of this gene in disease evolution especially in pulmonary patients while nan1 was low prevalence in isolates may be related to infection site.
ESTIMATION OF THE ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF LOCAL CAPPARIS SPANOSA LEAVES
Authors: &  Al Janabi Al Badri
Published: November 2022

The objective of this experiment was to estimate the antioxidant actitivity of the plant  Capparis spinosa leaves were collected during (April- Sept,2017) from Baghdad. Water and alcohol extracts were prepared from them and more methods were used to estimate the antioxidant efficacy, the iron binding method, The hydrolysis of hydroxide peroxide and the effect of free radical inhibiting. The water extract of alkaline leaves for April and May samples was characterized by the correlation of iron ion (97.8 and 98.1%) respectively, as well as the alcoholic extract of the April,June,July (89.47, 95.5 and 96.9%) respectively at  same concentration of 10 mg / ml, these samples were superior to EDTA-Na and citric acid with 94.73% and 81% respectively at  same concentration. The water and alcohol extracts of April and May samples were superior to the water and alcohol extracts of the other samples , and the highest percentage of hydrogen Peroxide inhibitor in the water extracts of the months (April, June, July and September) of 4.3%, 4.2%, 4.3% and 4% respectively, and the alcohol extract for May, June, July and August (4.3, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.2% )respectively at same concentration 400 μg / mL, These percentages are higher than that of industrial oxidants than BHT (3.9%) in the same concentration. The water extract for August and Abstract samples (87%) and 85.74% respectively (1250 μg / ml) on the water and alcohol extracts of the rest of the samples in the manner of effective suppression of free radicals. However, these percentages were lower than the percentage of ascorbic acid of 87.56% for the same concentration.
NON-GENETIC FACTORS AFFECTING THE MORTALITY IN KURDI LAMBS
Authors: O. Raoof S.
Published: November 2022

This study was carried out using 94 ewes at Erbil plain - Kurdistan region-Iraq, during the period from May 2016 to April 2017. The overall mean mortality rates from birth to 7 days and from 8 days to weaning age were 8.6 and 6.6%, respectively. Age of dam, type of birth, weight of the dam at matting, Body Condition Score (BCS) and birth weight had an important significant (P<0.05) impact on lamb mortality from birth to 7 days and from 8 days to weaning age. This research revealed  that a higher  lamb  mortality (4.2%) was registered for  dams aged  2 years, while a  lower mortality(6.6%) was found in dams aged 5-6 years, no significant differences in mortality among males and females were appeared, male lambs showed a higher mortality than females, type of birth showed an important impact (P<0.05) on lamb mortality. Single born lamb mortality was 5.5%, whereas that of the twin born lamb was significant (13.6%). Ewes with the (BCS) of 2-3 showed a higher mortality (14.2%), while those ewes with (BCS) more than 3 recorded the lowest lamb mortality (5.4%). Lambs weighting less than 3 kg at birth registered a higher mortality compared with lambs weighing 3 kg, or more which showed the lowest mortality. It has appeared from the results of this study that most of the non-genetic factors studied involve: Age of dam, type of birth, birth weight, and weight of the dam, and body condition score showed a substantial significant influence on lamb mortality between birth and weaning of Kurdi sheep.
GROWTH AND YIELD COMPONENTS OF SOME BREAD WHEAT CULTIVARS AS AFFECTED BY DIFFERENT SOWING DATES
Authors: &  Al-Hilfy Wahid
Published: November 2022

An experiment was conducted at Research Station, State Board for Seeds Testing and Certification, Baghdad, Iraq during 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 seasons to determine the effect of  four sowing dates (20th October, 10th November, 30th November and 20th December) on grain yield and it's components of three wheat cultivars (Bohooth 22, Bohooth 158 and Rasheed). The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Blocks Design (RCBD) within split plot arrangement. Sowing dates distributed in main plots and cultivars in sub plots with three replications. Sowing date 10th November was superior in grain yield (4.96 and 5.21 t ha-1) and most of its components (number of spikes 403.3 and 408.6 spike m-2 and number of spikelets per spike 22.08 and 22.26 spikelet spike-1 and number of grains per spike 56.37 and 58.63 grain spike-1), and some other traits (number of tillers 448.6 and 442.0 tiller m-2 and spike length 15.84 and 14.39 cm) for both seasons, respectively, whereas sowing in 20th October was superior in 1000 grain weight (42.94 and 43.72 g) for both seasons, respectively. Cultivar Rasheed was superior in grain yield (4.50 and 4.71 t ha-1) and most of yield components (number of spikes 389.5 and 397.3 spike m-2 and number of spikelets per spike 22.52 and 22.59 spikelet spike-1 and 1000 grain weight 41.61 and 43.02 g) and in some other traits (number of tillers 428.7 and 432.4 tiller m-2 and spike length 17.27 and 16.69 cm) for both seasons, respectively. It's clear from the results that 10th November is the best sowing date at central Iraq to get highest grain yield, and the early or late sowing could be decrease the grain yield, although the effect of early sowing is greater than the effect of late sowing on this trait in wheat.
INCIDENCE AND EXPERIMENTAL INFECTION OF CRYPTOSPORIDIUM BAILEYI IN CHICKEN
Authors: &  et al. AL-Zubaidi
Published: November 2022

This study was aimed to investigate the incidence of Cryptosporidiosis in 200 fecal samples from slaughtered broiler chicken carcasses in the local markets in some areas of Baghdad city (Al-Hurriya, Al -Kadhimiya and Al-Shuala), during March to May 2017. Three diagnostic techniques used (flotation by Sheather's sugar solution, staining with Modified Zeihl-Neelsen stain, and measuring of isolated Cryptosporidium oocysts by ocular micrometer) to determine the type of Cryptosporidium species, and for conform that the isolated species of parasite from infected cases belong to the C.baileyi.  Experimental infection done in, 18 broiler chicken chicks aged one week divided to three groups first (G1) and second (G2) inoculated orally with, (500, 1000) oocysts per chick respectively, while the third group remain as a control (G3), than pathological lesions detected in some internal organs of infected chicks (trachea, intestine and bursa of fabricius). The study recorded a total infection rate 35% (75/200) in slaughtered broiler chicken. The result were revealed that the highest rate of infection occurs in April, reached 46% (23/50), while the lowest rate of infection in June, reached 20% (10/50). The experimental study revealed, the infection was occur in all chicks, of (G1) and (G2), and the first clinical signs appear after 7days post infection (PI) which include diarrhea, dullness, anorexia, and increased consumption of water, which represented the incubation period of the parasite, while the shedding of oocysts  in feces started after 6-9days PI.
THE ACTIVITY OF ANTIOXIDANTS ENZYMES AND NPK CONTENTS AS AFFECTED BY WATER QAULITY, KINETIN, BIO AND ORGANIC FERTILIZATION IN LETTUCE (Lactuca sativa L.)
Authors: & Majid Altaey
Published: November 2022

A  field experiment was conducted using split – split block design to study the effect of irrigation water quality ,organic composts ,kinetin and Bio- health application on N.P.K contents and anti-oxidant enzymes activity  in lettuce, The experiment included three factors ,quality of irrigation water (W) at two levels (1.2, 6.1 dS m-1 ), kind of organic composts Plam fronds and Rice wastes(20)  ton /hectare , kinetin application (50 mg.L-1)  and bio-health fertilizers (5 kg/ hectare). The results indicated that elevation of water salinity levels led to elevation in activity of  Peroxidase POX , Catalase CAT, Malondialdehyde MDA, Superoxide dismutase SOD enzymes and proline contents in leaves, while it decrease leaves contents of ( N.P.K), Organic composts ,  kinetin and bio-health applications alleviated from the negative effects of saline water by increasing  the  (NPK)  contents  in  leaves  ,reduced  POX  ,CAT,  MDA,SOD  and proline , That possible to mitigation the negative affect of salt stress in lettuce the  application of plant growth regulators , bio fertilizers and decomposed organic matter.
AN ECONOMIC STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL TRADE AND SOME MACROECONOMIC VARIABLES ON THE EXCHANGE RATE IN IRAQ USING THE FMOLS MODEL FOR THE PERIOD (1990 -2015)
Authors: & Alhiyali Jubair
Published: November 2022

Since the establishment of the global monetary system, economic relations have been intertwined as well as the high rates of trade and the multiplicity of currencies traded as the economies of the world are linked to each other in such a way that monetary policies applied in certain countries affect the economic policies of other countries. The objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of foreign agricultural trade and some macroeconomic variables on the behavior of exchange rate whose effect is reflected on the structure of foreign agricultural trade. To fulfill paper requirement data were collected from secondary sources and one source was depended in collecting data which is ministry of planning – central statistics organization. The research reached a number of results, the most important of which is the absence of an impact on both the agricultural exports and the interest rate on the exchange rate, while the agricultural imports and the inflation rate and the GDP significantly affected the Exchange rate fluctuations, and recommended the need to diversify the sources of financing the balance of public payments perhaps the agricultural sector is one of the important sources after the oil sector to obtain hard currency as Iraq's dependence on the export of oil only makes it vulnerable to fluctuations in oil prices globally, at an exchange rate level commensurate with the nature of the Iraqi economic life and the use of the managed exchange rate (administratively controlled).
HETEROSIS, COMBINING ABILITY AND GENE ACTION ESTIMATIO IN PEA (Pisum sativa L.) USING FULL DIALLEL CROSSES
Authors: &  et al. Askandar
Published: November 2022

This study was carried out at the experimental field, College of Agriculture, University of Duhok, during 2013- 2015, using six genotypes of pea. The objective of this experiment to investigate heterosis and several genetic parameters by using full diallel cross. The results revealed that general combining ability were significant in all studied traits except No. of grain pod-1, also special combining ability and reciprocal were significant in all traits at probability 5%.
CLAY MINERAL TYPING IN THE SHALE UNITS OF THE KAISTA AND ORA FORMATIONS OF North IRAQ: IMPLICATIONS FOR DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS
Authors: Al-Hazaa S. H.
Published: November 2022

This paper reports the results of X-ray diffraction mineralogical and Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) studies of the shale units in the Devonian-early Carboniferous Kaista and Ora formations from northern Iraq. The mineral composition is uniform throughout the studied succession, kaolinite, illite, chlorite, and palygorskite form the main clay mineral assemblage while quartz, feldspar, calcite and dolomite form the non-clay fraction of the studied shales. Kaolinite dominates over illite in the Kaista shale, whereas, illite and chlorite with common palygorskite dominate over kaolinite in the Ora shale. The clay mineral assemblage is largely of detrital origin and indicates rather cool and/or dry climatic conditions favouring mechanical erosion of the source rocks. Palygorskite is of authigenic origin in evaporative conditions mostly in the subtidal Ora shales.
EFFECTIVENESS OF FOUR INSECTICIDES TO CONTROL CITRUS LEAFMINER (PHYLLOCNSTIS CITRELLA STAINTON) (LEPIDOPTERA: GRACILLARIDAE) ON ORANGE TREES AT RIVER NILE STATE, SUDAN
Authors: & Ali Ali
Published: November 2022

The efficacies of four insecticides with two different formulations liquid and solid viz; two as foliar sprays, Match 050 EC (lufenuron) and Icaros 1.8% EC (abamectin) as well as soil drench of Actara 25% WG (thiamethoxam) and Furadan 10% G (carbofuran) to control citrus leafminer (CLM) in orange orchard located in River Nile State during winter seasons 2015and 2016. The experiment was assigned in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. At each year two foliar and soil drench insecticidal were applied one time in late January. CLM larval counts were recorded at 3, 7, 14 and 21 days after treatment (DAT). Results showed that regardless the agricultural season and the time of all tested insecticidal application nearly almost suppressed in the number of CLM larvae compared to the untreated-control. At the 21st day after treatment (DAT), the insecticidal activities of all chemicals were declined. However, the two formulations, Actara and Furadan exhibited the highest residual activity more than three weeks compared to the tow foliar sprays by Icaros 1.8% EC or Match 050 EC. Thus, Actara 25% WG and Furadan10% G showed the higher soil drench insecticidal activity and persistence against CLM infestation on orange trees.
DESCRIPTION OF NEW SPECIES OF SCORPIONS Compsobuths iraqnsis, (ARACHNIDA : BUTHIDAE) FOR THE FIRST TIME IN IRAQ AND WORLD
Authors: Al-Azawii Z. N.
Published: November 2022

A new species of the scorpions Compsobuthus iraqensis sp.nov ,  was described for the first time in Iraq and  world which is collected  from Salahuddin governorate  in Iraq .This species are characterized by pedipalps and chela are very thin and very long,the sixth segments of metasoma are very tall and less in width.The  body color and legs are yellowish except the end of acelus is radish ,the total length between 26-40 mm, and the rows of granules on the movable finger of pedipalp  have 10 rows,The Compsobuthus. iraqensis sp. nov. is almost similar to the species Compsobuthus. persicus,(11) from Iran, which it differed  by some characters , Internal granules in all rows on the movable finger of pedipalp and in the number of granular in the metasoma segment. This study for the first time is described and recorded this species.
THE EFFICIENCY OF PREPARED BIOFERTILIZER FROM LOCAL ISOLATE OF BRADYRHIZOBIUM SP ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF MUNGBEAN PLANT
Authors: Alkurtany A. E.  S. , Ali S. A. M. , Mahdi W. M.
Published: November 2022

Bradyrhizbium sp. was isolated from 40 legumes roots and soil samples collected from various agricultural areas of Iraq by growing them on yeast extract mannitol agar (YEMA) and identification based on culture and microscopic characteristics, biochemical and physiological test and PCR technology.  A split plot experiment was carried out to study the effect of biofertilizer prepared from this isolate on the growth and yield of mungbean plant in sterile and non-sterile soil. The results showed a significant increases in all studied growth and yield traits due to biofertilization. The increase percentage  for the biofertilized treatments was 159.35% and 266.66% compare to the non-fertilized treatments in the number and  dry weight of nodules,  respectively. The increase in dry weight of  root and vegetative part were 114.28% and 86.57% respectively , while the increase in the nitrogen concentration in the vegetative part was 16.94%. The results showed that the biofertilized treatment was significantly superior in number of plant pods, total yield and protein % in seeds compare with non-biofertilized, the percentage increase was 49.44%, 90.59% and 16.86% respectively. As for sterilization, the results showed no significant differences between sterilized and non-sterile soil in all growth and yield parameters of mungbean plant. The effect of interaction was significant, the biofertilized and sterilized treatment gave the highest value for all studied traits except the concentration of nitrogen in the vegetative part.
COMPARATIVE DIAGNOSTIC STUDY OF AVIAN SALMONELLOSIS IN SALAHALDEEN PROVINCE
Authors: Noomi B. S.
Published: November 2022

The aims of this study were to detection of dominant Salmonella species that caused poultry infection Salahaddin province , and evaluation  local prepared and manufactured serological kits that used in diagnosis of poultry salmonellosis, for this purpose 100 diarrheatic  hen checked by culture methods, PCR, ELISA, Whole blood agglutination test and Slide agglutination test. The results showed that Salmonella isolation from hen  in rate 34% , intestine is most suitable site for Salmonella isolation and Salmonella. typhimurium is most dominant spp. The sensitivity of ELISA test was 76.4%, while for other used tests were 100%. The specificity of ELISA test, Whole blood agglutination test,  slide agglutination test for S. typhimurium and slide agglutination test for  S enteritidis were: 80.3%, 86.3%,77.9% and 66.6% respectively.
ROLE OF SPCIALIZED ASSOCIATION IN BEEKEEBER DEVELOPMENT IN SOME CENTRAL AND SOUTHREN GOVERNORATER OF IRAQ
Authors: & Naji Al –khfaji
Published: November 2022

The objective of this research was to identify the roles played by the specialized beekeepers associations in the central and southern governorates of Iraq in the following fields .Data management, extension, equipment, coordination, marketing, encourage of innovation , as well as to identify the problems facing the specialized associations ,from sample of 122 respondents ( All members of the board of the specialized associations of 40 respondents,and random sample of 18% of beekeepers belonging to these associations of 457 beekeepers and 82 respondents). The results of the research concluded that the percentage of specialized associations for these roles was 80%, 83%, 56.25%, 75.6%, 54.5% and 75.4% degree respectively. The weighted average of the level of services provided to beekeepers in the above mentioned fields except for the field of data and information management , 1.54 , 1.11  , 1.49 , 0.96 , 1.31  degree and on the next The results of the research found that the problem of lack of funding sources for the association to perform the tasks required came first with a weighted average 1.97 degree and a percentage weight 98.5% degree
EFFECT OF FOLIAR APPLICATION WITH CALCIUM, MAGNESIUM AND FERTILIZING WITH HUMIC ACID ON GROWTH , YIELD, AND STORAGE ABILITY OF POTATO TUBERS.
Authors: & Al-a'amry Saaseea
Published: November 2022

Two experiments were carried out, the first at the College of Agriculture - University of Baghdad during spring season 2017 Everest cv. class (Elite) was used to study the effect of foliar application of calcium and magnesium and addition of humic acid to the soil on potato growth and yield, The layout of the experiment was factorial within RCBD design using three replicates. Calcium and Magnesium sprayed with concentrations (0, 500, 1000 mg.L-1), while the  humic acid was added to the soil with (0, 0.75 gm.m2),  The second experiment included  storage of tubers produced from the spring season, with to study the effect of field treatments  on improving the storability of the tubers. The results showed that the treatment of calcium spray was superior a concentration of 1000 mg.L-1 in plant height, leaf area, weight of tuber, plant yield and protein %  in tubers after storage and reduced the percentage of damaged in tubers stored by 1.57%. The magnesium spray treatment with 1000 mg. L-1 exceeded the number of leaves, leaf area, number of tubers per plant, plant yield, the accumulation of dry matter and the percentage of  protein in the stored tubers. Humic acid with 0.75 gm.m2 was superior in the plant height , the tuber weight  and the single plant yield , the concentration of dry matter and the protein percentage in the stored tubers produced. The interaction treatment (500 mg.L-1 calcium + 0.75 gm2 of Humic acid + 0 mg.L-1 of Mg) was superior in the single  plant yield which 1.28 kg.plant-1.
EVALUATION OF USED EXUDATIVE IRRIGATION TUBES AND DRIP IRRIGATION FOR SOME SOIL WATER PARAMETERS AND CONSUMPTIVE USE OF CUCUMBER
Authors: & et al. Aldulaimy
Published: November 2022

A field experiment was conducted during the spring season of 2017 at AL-Ramadi district, AL-Anbar Governorate, Iraq. The research was conducted in a silty Loam soil, to evaluate of the performance and used exudative irrigation tubes for previous season compared to drip irrigation in some hydraulic parameters: Irrigation systems, moisture distribution, Application efficiency cucumber crop factor of the  and cucumber yield. The experiment was conducted according to randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. Results showed an increase in uniformity coefficient at drip irrigation as it reached 97% compared with 96.2% for exudation, with variation percentage of 8.33% for drip irrigation and 11.32% for irrigation of exudative. Moisture content decreased with distance from emitters horizontally for the three growth stages and irrigation methods. Cucumber water consumptive use was 356.32 mm for exudative irrigation compared with 456.6 mm for drip irrigation with decrease 21.96 %. Exudative irrigation method significantly increased in WUE as it reached to 15.29 kg m-3 compared with 13.13 kg m-3 for drip irrigation with an increase of 12.82%. The result showed an increment in irrigation efficiency giving 89.12% for drip irrigation compared with 85.88% for exudative irrigation with an increase 3.64%. The crop factor was 0.61, 0.66, 0.77, and 0.51 for the initial vegetative growth stage, second vegetative growth stage, start of flowering and fruit set and end flowering and fruit set respectively.
Vehicle Crash Mitigation Strategy in Unavoidable Collision Scenarios: Focusing on Motion Planning by Considering a Generalized Crash Severity Model
Authors: Li Daofei , Zhang Jiajie , Xiao Bin , Tang Binbin , Hu Zhaohan
Published: November 2022

Driving strategy in dynamic environment is crucial to the automated vehicle safety. In extremely emergency scenarios with unavoidable collision (UC), especially those with complex impact patterns, the potential crash risk should be well considered. This paper proposes a crash mitigation (CM) algorithm for UCs, which directly embeds a generalized crash severity index (CSI) model to vehicle-to-vehicle collisions of multiple impact patterns. The idea is that during the short time before a collision, the vehicle will actively adapt its position and poses to minimize the potential crash severity level after the collision. To this end, the generalized CSI model is introduced to estimate the potential crash severity of all sample paths, from which a crash-severity-optimal trajectory is obtained. To improve the inferring time efficiency of the planning module, a neural network is constructed and deployed to approximate the nonlinear severity model. The proposed algorithm is first validated through simulations of UC scenarios, including entry ramp merging, intersection crossing and downhill/uphill crossing. Then for the intersection crossing scenario, the algorithm is deployed to a real car and validated through digital-twin experiments. Results show that by combining the braking and steering interventions for better crash severity reduction, the proposed strategy can achieve better mitigation effects than commonly-used collision avoidance (CA) strategies. This reveals that a new mindset of comprehensive safety strategy should not focus only on CA, but also the last resort of CM if collision is unavoidable. Our work may contribute as a promising solution to the safety problem in emergency scenarios.
Assessment of thoracic spinal curvatures in static postures using spatially tracked 3D ultrasound volumes: A proof-of-concept study
Authors: Meszaros-Beller Laura , Antico Maria , Fontanarosa Davide , Pivonka Peter
Published: November 2022

Measurement of vertebral spinal motion is a difficult endeavor given the lack of reachable bony landmarks for placement of reflective markers for common optoelectronic systems and large skin movement artifacts along the spine affecting the accuracy of surface-mounted techniques. The objective of this proof-of-concept study was to develop an experimental framework to assess spinal curvatures with high accuracy by using ultrasound (US) imaging. A phantom spine model (T1-T12) immersed in water was scanned using both Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and three dimensional (3D) US. The US scans were obtained for the phantom spine in different postures while the US probe was localized by three electromagnetic tracking sensors (NDI system) attached to the probe head and later identified on the acquired US volumes via visual inspection. Spinal landmarks were selected on the US images and validated using US-MRI registration. Their position was then related to the position of the tracking sensors, enabling the precise localization of landmarks and reconstruction of spinal curvatures in a global reference frame. The obtained anatomical reconstructions were further refined using an automatic registration algorithm and validated by an experienced sonographer (ground-truth solution). Results of this study show that localized 3D US enables tracking of spinal landmarks and allows for an accurate reconstruction of static postures. A high reliability in sensor identification of 0.49 mm was found on average while the inter-observer variability was strongly correlated to the intra-observer error with maximum deviance of 0.8 mm. The NDI-based spine reconstruction had a mean error of 5.6 mm compared to the ground-truth, which is significantly lower than errors obtained by current gold standards (>10 mm). Combining US probe tracking and semi-automatic registration methods anatomical reconstructions comparable to clinical standards were obtained. This study implies that US holds the potential for advancing vertebral motion assessment and the reconstruction of spinal curvatures. In future, this could overcome limitations of marker-based approaches.
On the hit problem for the polynomial algebra and the algebraic transfer
Authors: Võ Phúc Đặng
Published: November 2022

Let $\mathcal A$ be the classical, singly-graded Steenrod algebra over the prime order field $\mathbb F_2$ and let $P^{\otimes h}: = \mathbb F_2[t_1, \ldots, t_h]$ denote the polynomial algebra on $h$ generators, each of degree $1.$ Write $GL_h$ for the usual general linear group of rank $h$ over $\mathbb F_2.$ Then, $P^{\otimes h}$ is an $\mathcal A[GL_h]$-module. As well known,  the (mod 2) cohomology groups of the Steenrod algebra, ${\rm Ext}_{\mathcal A}^{h, h+*}(\mathbb F_2, \mathbb F_2)$ is still largely mysterious for all homological degrees $h \geq 6.$ The $h$-th algebraic transfer $Tr_h^{\mathcal A}: (\mathbb F_2\otimes_{GL_h}{\rm Ann}_{\overline{\mathcal A}}[P^{\otimes h}]^{*})_n\longrightarrow {\rm Ext}_{\mathcal A}^{h, h+n}(\mathbb F_2, \mathbb F_2),$ defined by Singer [Math. Z. \textbf{202} (1989), 493-523], is a helpful tool to describe that Ext groups. Singer conjectured that this homomorphism is a monomorphism for any $h>0.$ There is currently no information about the conjecture for $h = 6.$ The purpose of this Note is to study Singer's conjecture for all $h\geq 1$ in degrees $n\leq 10 = 6(2^{0}-1) + 10\cdot 2^{0}$ and for $h=6$ in general degree $n:=n_s=6(2^{s}-1) + 10\cdot 2^{s},\, s\geq 0.$ Our approach is based on techniques of the hit problem for $P^{\otimes h}.$ This also extends a result in Mothebe et al. [J. Math. Res. \textbf{8} (2016), 92-100] on the hit problem for $P^{\otimes 6}$ in degree $n_s.$ More generally, for $h\geq 6,$ we show that the dimension of the cohit module $\mathbb F_2\otimes_{\mathcal A}P^{\otimes h}$ in degrees $2^{s+4}-h$ is equal to the order of the factor group of $GL_{h-1}$ by the Borel subgroup $B_{h-1}$ for every $s\geq h-5.$ Especially, for the Galois field $\mathbb F_{q}$ ($q$ denoting the power of a prime number), based on Hai's recent work [C. R. Math. Acad. Sci. Paris \textbf{360} (2022), 1009-1026], we claim that the dimension of the space of the indecomposable elements of $\mathbb F_q[t_1, \ldots t_h]$ in degrees $q^{h-1}-h$ is equal to the order of the factor group of $GL_{h-1}(\mathbb F_q)$ by a subgroup of the Borel group $B_{h-1}(\mathbb F_q).$ As applications, we establish the dimension result for the cohit module $\mathbb F_2\otimes_{\mathcal A}P^{\otimes 7}$ in degrees $n_{s+5},\, s > 0.$ At the same time, we prove that the non-zero elements $h_2^{2}g_1 = h_4Ph_2\in {\rm Ext}_{\mathcal A}^{6, 6+n_1}(\mathbb F_2, \mathbb F_2)$, and $D_2\in {\rm Ext}_{\mathcal A}^{6, 6+n_2}(\mathbb F_2, \mathbb F_2)$ are not in the image of $Tr_6^{\mathcal A}.$ We also give some conjectures on the $h$-th cohomology groups of the algebra $\mathcal A$ for $h\geq 6,$ and discuss their relationship to previous works. 
KUBAI: Sensor Fusion for Non-Invasive Fetal Heart Rate Tracking
Authors: Kasap Begum , Vali Kourosh , Qian Weitai , Saffarpour Mahya , Ghiasi Soheil
Published: November 2022

This work has been submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessible.

Objective: Fetal heart rate (FHR) is critical for perinatal fetal monitoring. However, motions, contractions and other dynamics may substantially degrade the quality of acquired signals, hindering robust tracking of FHR. We aim to demonstrate how use of multiple sensors can help overcome these challenges, and improve measurement of desired signal. Methods: We develop KUBAI, a novel stochastic sensor fusion algorithm, to improve FHR monitoring accuracy. To demonstrate the efficacy of our approach, we evaluate it on data collected from gold standard large pregnant animal models, using a novel non-invasive fetal pulse oximeter. Results: The accuracy of the proposed method is evaluated against invasive ground-truth measurements. We obtained below 6 beats-per-minute (BPM) root-mean-square error (RMSE) with KUBAI, on five different more than 30-minutes long datasets. KUBAI’s performance is also compared against a single-sensor version of the algorithm to demonstrate the improvement in accuracy due to sensor fusion. KUBAI’s multi-sensor estimates are found to give 23.5% to 84% lower RMSE than single-sensor FHR estimates. Furthermore, KUBAI is shown to have 84% lower RMSE and ∼3 times higher R2 correlation with reference compared to another multi-sensor FHR tracking method found in literature. Conclusion: The results support the effectiveness of KUBAI, the proposed sensor fusion algorithm, to non-invasively and accurately estimate fetal heart rate with varying levels of noise in the measurements. Significance: The presented method can benefit other multi-sensor measurement setups, which may be challenged by low measurement frequency, low signal- to-noise ratio, or intermittent loss of signal in measurements. 
An Efficient CNN Inference Accelerator Based on Intra- and Inter-Channel Feature Map Compression
Authors: Xie Chenjia , Shao Zhuang , Zhao Ning , Du Yuan , Du Li
Published: November 2022

Deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) generate intensive inter-layer data during inference, which results in substantial on-chip memory size and off-chip bandwidth. To solve the memory constraint, this paper proposes an accelerator adopted with a compression technique that can reduce the inter-layer data by removing both intra- and inter-channel redundant information. Principal component analysis (PCA) is utilized in the compression process to concentrate inter-channel information. The spatial differences, truncation, and reconfigurable bit-width coding are implemented inside every feature map to eliminate the intra-channel data redundancy. Moreover, a particular data arrangement is introduced to enhance data continuity to optimize PCA analysis and improve compression performance. A CNN accelerator with the proposed compression technique is designed to support the on-the-fly compression process by pipelining the reconstruction, CNN computation, and compression operation. The prototype accelerator is implemented using 28-nm CMOS technology. It achieves 819.2GOPS peak throughput and 3.75TOPS/W energy efficiency with 218.5mW. Experiments show that the proposed compression technique achieves a compression ratio of 21.5%~43.0% (8-bit mode) and 9.8%~19.3% (16-bit mode) on state-of-the-art CNNs with a negligible accuracy loss. 
High-Rate Secret Key Generation Using Physical Layer Security and Physical Unclonable Functions
Authors: Assaf Tasneem , Al-Dweik Arafat , Iraqi Youssef , Jangsher Sobia , Pandey Anshul , Giacalone Jean-Pierre , Abulibdeh Enas , Saleh Hani , Mohammad Baker
Published: November 2022

Physical layer security (PLS) can be adopted for efficient key sharing in secured wireless systems. The random nature of the wireless channel and channel reciprocity (CR) are the main pillars for realizing PLS techniques. However, for applications that involve air-to-air (A2A) transmission, such as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications, the channel does not generally have sufficient randomness to enable reliable key generation. Therefore, this work proposes a novel system design to mitigate the channel randomness constraint and enable high-rate secret key generation (SKG) process. The proposed system integrates physically unclonable functions (PUFs) and CR principle to securely exchange secret keys between two nodes. Moreover, an adaptive and controllable artificial fading (AF) level with interleaving is used to mitigate the impact of low randomness variations in the wireless channel. The proposed system can operate efficiently even when the channel is nearly flat or time invariant. Consequently, the time required for generating and sharing a key is significantly shorter than conventional techniques. We also propose a novel bit extraction scheme that reduces the number of overhead bits required to share the intermediate keys. The obtained Monte Carlo simulation results show that a key agreement can be reached at the first trial for moderate and high signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), which is substantially faster than other PLS techniques. Moreover, the results show that inducing AF into static channels reduces the mismatch ratio between the generated secret sequences and degrades the eavesdropper’s capability to predict the secret keys. 
Nuclear Fusion Framework for Simulating Universe
Authors: Yoon Jihyeon
Published: November 2022

Background: Energy and matter is two basic forms of existence in a universe. So, there are two types of interaction in a universe. One is about between energies which takes a form of heat, and the other is about energy and matter which takes a form of work. As of the discussion between energies, interaction could be described. On the other hand, interaction between energy and matter takes another subject. In this paper, symmetrical identitcalness would be discussed between these two forms - heat and work.

Methods: By showing mathematical identity of principle between heat and work, law of interaction between energy and matter could be described. Using category theory, way of expression pattern for addressing any reality would be addressed. By using dimensional metric for logical expression, logical structure would be in an expression of number in real number. By exemplifying constructing and deconstructing logical structure by basic matrix decomposition methods, explanation for transforming dimensionality by factorizing matrix would be introduced. And identity between heat and work by this mechanism would be shown.

Results: Methods of decomposing matrix could be explained as a basic way of operator that could be adapted to transforming dimensionality. And this transformation gives justification of notation for heat and work.

Conclusions: It could be natural to say there is a universal expression that is consists of numerical ordinals and cardinals. And both heat and work are identical as an expression form of energy and matter. Nuclear fusion could be introduced by simulating universe.
Semi-supervised Multi-graph-attention for Breast Cancer Detection
Authors: Ibrahim Mohamed
Published: November 2022

Mammography is the most widely used breast screening method for early detection and routine monitoring of breast cancer. Most mammogram classification or segmentation techniques are limited to simple binary classifications of the abnormalities in mammograms or classifying specific cropped regions. However, these methods encode merely the texture features of the X-ray-filmed lesions, despite the relationships and patterns. Thus, most of these models have inefficient learning capacities, hindered by supervised learning processes that require extensive annotated data, which is not feasible in the medical domain. To overcome these challenges, we model the deep texture and spatial features of every small segment of the mammogram in a complex multi-graph network.

Moreover, we proposed a semi-supervised mammogram multi-graph attention network (MMGAT) to classify each element into all probabilistic categories. The attention and the dense relationships in the multi-graph network empower the proposed model with significant learning capacities, resulting in a competitive performance outperforming the recent state-of-the-art mammogram classification models. The proposed model can localise every abnormal segment of the mammogram and classify each as a malignant or benign region of a mass or calcification cancerous. The proposed MMGAT requires only 40\% of the data for training to achieve the highest AUC of 0.97 and an F1 score of 0.95 on the publically available DDSM.
Machine Learning in Network Slicing - A Survey
Authors: Phyu Hnin Pann , Naboulsi Diala , Stanica Razvan
Published: November 2022

5G and beyond networks are expected to support a wide range of services, with highly diverse requirements. Yet, the traditional “one-size-fits-all” network architecture lacks the flexibility to accommodate these services. In this respect, network slicing has been introduced as a promising paradigm for 5G and beyond networks, supporting not only traditional mobile services, but also vertical industries services, with very heterogeneous

requirements. Along with its benefits, the practical implementation of network slicing brings a lot of challenges. Thanks to the recent advances on Machine Learning (ML), some of these challenges have been addressed. In particular, the application of ML approaches is enabling the autonomous management of resources, in the network slicing paradigm. Accordingly, this paper presents a comprehensive survey on contributions on

ML in network slicing, identifying major categories and sub-categories in the literature. Key takeaways are also presented and open research challenges are discussed, together with potential solutions.
Efficient Computation of Scattered Fields from Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces for Propagation Modeling
Authors: Liu Yuanzhi , Sarris Costas
Published: November 2022

We propose a method to efficiently compute the scattered electric field of a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) for multiple configurations. In contrast to most existing methods that assume that each unit cell scatters an incident wave individually instead of collectively, our method accounts for the mutual coupling of unit cells. This allows us to estimate the scattered fields in the main scattering direction of an RIS, at an accuracy that is comparable to full-wave analysis. Furthermore, combined with ray-tracing, the computed scattered fields can be used to model wave propagation in realistic, multipath radio environments with RISs. Hence, our method efficiently addresses three critical considerations for the analysis of RIS-enabled links: mutual coupling between unit cells of an RIS, mutlipath effects in the channel due to the RIS acting as a diffuse scatterer, and the variability of the RIS scattering properties that requires extensive computational effort to account for.
Zero-Energy Devices Empowered 6G Networks: Opportunities, Key Technologies, and Challenges
Authors: Naser Shimaa , Bariah Lina , Muhaidat Sami , Basar Ertugrul
Published: November 2022

The sixth generation (6G) of wireless networks are envisioned to support a plethora of human-centric applications and offer connectivity to a massive number of devices with diverse requirements, thus enabling massive Machine Type Communications. Nevertheless, with the rapid growth of the number of connected devices as well as the ever-increasing network traffic, network energy consumption has become a major challenge. Additionally, 6G is expected to catalyze the emergence of new applications that are characterized by their harsh environmental conditions, with ultra-small and low-cost wireless devices. Therefore, there is a pressing need for developing sustainable solutions that take into consideration all these requirements in order to realize the full potential of 6G networks. Within this context, zero-energy devices (ZEDs) have emerged as a prominent solution for the next generation green communication architecture. Such devices eliminate the need for recharging plugins and replacing batteries by integrating disruptive technologies, such as radio frequency energy harvesting, backscatter communications, low power computing, and ultra-low power receivers. Motivated by this, this article provides an in-depth review of the existing literature on the newly emerging ZEDs for future networks. We further identify different relevant use cases and provide an extensive overview on the key enabling technologies and their requirements for realizing ZED-empowered networks. Finally, we discuss potential future research directions and challenges that are envisioned to enhance the performance and efficiency of ZED-based networks. 