Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Productivity and profitability of Bt cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) under various plant geometry and fertilizer levels

Field experiments were conducted for 3 years at Akola during kharif 2006-07 to 2008-09, to find out the impact of plant geometry and levels of N, P and K fertilization on performance of Bt cotton. From the pooled analysis of 3 years data, it was observed that 90 cm x 45 cm spacing recorded 50.5 and 17.7% higher seed cotton yield than 90 cm x 90 cm and 90 cm x 60 cm spacing, respectively. Wider spacing plants had more boll/plants (23.1) than closer spaced (20.8 bolls/plant). Application of 125% recommended dose of fertilizer/ha was at par with recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) i.e. 50-25-25 kg N-P-K/ha and significantly higher than 75% RDF. Increase in yield was due to improvement in bolls/plant. There was increasing trend in N, M and R with increasing N, P and K levels. Mon- etary returns showed increasing trend with decreasing intra row spacing. Consequently spacing of 90cm x 45 cm and recommended dose of fertilizer of non Bt (50-25-25 kg N-P-K /ha) were found suitable for RCH-2 Bt cotton also under rainfed conditions.
Absorption efficiencies and biochemical fractionation of assimilated compounds in the cold water appendicularian Oikopleura vanhoeffeni

Using 68Ge:14C dual‐labeling, we investigated the absorption efficiency of diatom carbon for the cold water appendicularian Oikopleura vanhoeffeni. The absorption efficiency of bulk carbon (mean = 67%) was not influenced by body size or ingestion rate. For the first time for a pelagic tunicate, food and feces were fractionated into their major biochemical constituents (i.e., low‐molecular‐weight compounds, lipid, protein, and polysaccharide), allowing calculation of absorption efficiencies for each fraction. Low‐molecular‐weight compounds and proteins were pref‐erentially absorbed over lipids and polysaccharides. However, predicted C:N ratios of the fecal pellets of O. vanhoeffeni were in the lower range of C:N ratios reported for zooplankton feces. The results are relevant for modeling biogeochemical cycles because pelagic tunicates contribute greatly to vertical particulate organic carbon flux.
Unit 8 Migration and Acculturation Subunit 1 Acculturation and Adapting to Other Cultures Article 4 8-1-2002 Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors Across Cultures

One of the fundamental aspects of culture is the relationship it prescribes between individuals and environment. Am I part of the natural environment, or am I separate and perhaps superior to nature? The answer to this question influences the types of attitudes that individuals within a given culture are likely to develop, the types of environmental behaviors that individuals are likely to adopt, and more generally, beliefs about how to solve environmental problems. This chapter examines differences in attitudes about environmental issues across cultures. We distinguish between egoistic environmental attitudes, and biospheric environmental attitudes, and summarize recent cross-cultural research on the relationship between cultural values and attitudes about the natural environment. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. This article is available in Online Readings in Psychology and Culture: http://scholarworks.gvsu. edu/orpc/vol8/iss1/4
Large Corn and Soybean Crops Confirmed

Today, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released new forecasts of the size of the 2013 corn and soybean crops. In addition the USDA’s World Agricultural Outlook Board released updated forecasts of the supply and consumption of those crops for the 2013-14 marketing year. The reports contained no major surprises, confirming large crops, improved exports, and prospects for larger year ending stocks and lower prices.
Targeting Tax Dollars More Efficiently: Proposed Modifications to the 421-a Real Property Tax Exemption

This note discusses Section 421-a of the Real Property Tax Law in New York, which awards a tax exemption to building owners who construct new multi-family housing units under certain conditions. The stated purpose of the statute is to provide safe, habitable dwellings in New York City. This note examines whether 421-a should remain applicable to all multi-family dwellings, including luxury buildings. The author argues that the present standards for granting exemptions represent an inefficient use of tax dollars and that the legislature should limit its application to
Generalized Possibilistic C-Means Clustering Based on Differential Evolution Algorithm

In this paper, a new clustering model called generalized possibilistic c-means (GPCM) is proposed, and an efficient global optimization technique-differential evolution algorithm is used to optimize the proposed model. GPCM modifies possibilistic c-means (PCM) by limiting each cluster center in a fixed feasible region respectively. The feasible region is determined by the fuzzy c-means clustering algorithms, and then the optimal solution of GPCM model is searched by the differential evolution algorithm within the determined feasible region. GPCM inherits the noise robustness property of PCM, and it eliminates the coincident clusters problem of PCM by limiting different cluster centers in disjoint feasible regions. Experiments on the synthetic and real world data sets illustrate the effectiveness of GPCM.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports Fundamental Disagreement Fundamental Disagreement

paper presents preliminary findings and is being distributed to economists and other interested readers solely to stimulate discussion and elicit comments. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System. Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the authors. Abstract We use the term structure of disagreement of professional forecasters to document a novel set of facts: (1) forecasters disagree at all horizons, including the long run; (2) the term structure of disagreement differs markedly across variables: it is downward sloping for real output growth, relatively flat for inflation, and upward sloping for the federal funds rate; (3) disagreement is time-varying at all horizons, including the long run. These new facts present a challenge to benchmark models of expectation formation based on informational frictions. We show that these models require two additional ingredients to match the entire term structure of disagreement: First, agents must disentangle low-frequency shifts in the fundamentals of the economy from short-term fluctuations. Second, agents must take into account the dynamic interactions between variables when forming forecasts. While models enriched with these features capture the observed term structure of disagreement irrespective of the source of the informational friction, they fall short at explaining the time variance of disagreement at medium-and long-term horizons. We also use the term structure of disagreement to analyze the monetary policy rule perceived by professional forecasters and show that it features a high degree of interest-rate smoothing and time variation in the intercept. Matthew Yeaton provided excellent research assistance. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Banque de France, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, or the Federal Reserve System.
Positive Selection of a Pre-Expansion CAG Repeat of the Human SCA2 Gene

A region of approximately one megabase of human Chromosome 12 shows extensive linkage disequilibrium in Utah residents with ancestry from northern and western Europe. This strikingly large linkage disequilibrium block was analyzed with statistical and experimental methods to determine whether natural selection could be implicated in shaping the current genome structure. Extended Haplotype Homozygosity and Relative Extended Haplotype Homozygosity analyses on this region mapped a core region of the strongest conserved haplotype to the exon 1 of the Spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 gene (SCA2). Direct DNA sequencing of this region of the SCA2 gene revealed a significant association between a pre-expanded allele [(CAG)8CAA(CAG)4CAA(CAG)8] of CAG repeats within exon 1 and the selected haplotype of the SCA2 gene. A significantly negative Tajima's D value (−2.20, p < 0.01) on this site consistently suggested selection on the CAG repeat. This region was also investigated in the three other populations, none of which showed signs of selection. These results suggest that a recent positive selection of the pre-expansion SCA2 CAG repeat has occurred in Utah residents with European ancestry.
PENGUATAN MODAL SOSIAL DALAM PENANGANAN PRODUK OLAHAN KOPI PADA KOMUNITAS PETANI KOPI DI KABUPATEN JEMBER

Study of social capital in coffee farmer community to diversify product has not been done. This study aimed: (1) to describe the conditions of social capital in farmer community who diversify coffee products, (2) to map the components of social capital which are still strong and which still need strengthening, (3) to formulate development strategies of product diversification on coffee products. The location of study is determined purposively in 5 (five) village in five sub districts in Jember District: Sidomulyo in Silo Sub District, Sucopangepok in Jelbuk Sub District, Rowosari in Sumberjambe Sub District, Sumbersalak in Ledokombo Sub District and Kemiri in Panti Sub District. The data were analyzed using descriptive method. The results of this study are: the strong element of social capital are: partnership, trust, norm, custom and local culture value, tolerance, local wisdom and knowledge, social leadership, community participation, independence, freedom of mobility , the ability to buy "small" and "large" commodity, household decisions, relative freedom and domination of family also economic security and contribution to family. The elements of social capital that is still weak and should be strengthened are: transaction network (sale), product processing for diversification, packaging, togetherness and involvement in a campaign or protest. Strategy to develop product diversification of coffee based on social capital are: (1) lending with approriate scheme to coffee harvest time, (2) utilizing strong social capital in diversification product of coffee as well as strengthening elements of social capital that is still weak, (3) increasing capacity of coffee farmers through training to improve skill and self-reliance in coffee processing, (4) providing machinery to apply wet coffee processing, (5) establishing program for capacity development of coffee farmers in processing, (6) strengthening farmer institutions, (7) expanding marketing network, (8) strengthening institution of cooperation to improve bargaining position of farmers (9) sustainable guidance and assistance in application of innovative technology (10) determinating regions as coff e e centres by utilizing strong elements of social capital within community. Key words: social capital, community, coffee farmer.
Identifying Changes in the Synaptic Proteome of Cirrhotic Alcoholic Superior Frontal Gyrus

Hepatic complications are a common side-effect of alcoholism. Without the detoxification capabilities of the liver, alcohol misuse induces changes in gene and protein expression throughout the body. A global proteomics approach was used to identify these protein changes in the brain. We utilised human autopsy tissue from the superior frontal gyrus (SFG) of six cirrhotic alcoholics, six alcoholics without comorbid disease, and six non-alcoholic non-cirrhotic controls. Synaptic proteins were isolated and used in two-dimensional differential in-gel electrophoresis coupled with mass spectrometry. Many expression differences were confined to one or other alcoholic sub-group. Cirrhotic alcoholics showed 99 differences in protein expression levels from controls, of which half also differed from non-comorbid alcoholics. This may reflect differences in disease severity between the sub-groups of alcoholics, or differences in patterns of harmful drinking. Alternatively, the protein profiles may result from differences between cirrhotic and non-comorbid alcoholics in subjects’ responses to alcohol misuse. Ten proteins were identified in at least two spots on the 2D gel; they were involved in basal energy metabolism, synaptic vesicle recycling, and chaperoning. These post-translationally modified isoforms were differentially regulated in cirrhotic alcoholics, indicating a level of epigenetic control not previously observed in this disorder.
Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli Isolated from Bovine Mastitic Milk: Serogroups, Virulence Factors, and Antibiotic Resistance Properties

The aim of this study was to detect the virulence factors, serogroups, and antibiotic resistance properties of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, by using 268 bovine mastitic milk samples which were diagnosed using California Mastitis Test. After E. coli identification, PCR assays were developed for detection of different virulence genes, serogroups, and antibiotic resistance genes of Escherichia coli. The antibiotic resistance pattern was studied using disk diffusion method. Out of 268 samples, 73 (27.23%) were positive for Escherichia coli, and, out of 73 positive samples, 15 (20.54%) were O26 and 11 (15.06%) were O157 so they were the highest while O111 was not detected in any sample so it was the lowest serogroup. Out of 73 STEC strains, 11 (15.06%) and 36 (49.31%) were EHEC and AEEC, respectively. All of the EHEC strains had stx1, eaeA, and ehly, virulence genes, while in AEEC strains stx1 had the highest prevalence (77.77%), followed by eaeA (55.55%). Totally, aadA1 (65.95%) had the highest while blaSHV (6.38%) had the lowest prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes. The disk diffusion method showed that the STEC strains had the highest resistance to penicillin (100%), followed by tetracycline (57.44%), while resistance to cephalothin (6.38%) was the lowest.
Benders Decomposition for Simultaneous Aircraft Routing and Crew Scheduling

Given a set of flight legs to be flown by a single type of aircraft, the simultaneous aircraft routing and crew scheduling problem consists of determining a minimum-cost set of aircraft routes and crew pairings such that each flight leg is covered by one aircraft and one crew, and side constraints are satisfied. While some side constraints such as maximum flight time and maintenance requirements involve only crews or aircraft, linking constraints impose minimum connection times for crews that depend on aircraft connections. To handle these linking constraints, a solution approach based on Benders decomposition is proposed. The solution process iterates between a master problem that solves the aircraft routing problem, and a subproblem that solves the crew pairing problem. Because of their particular structure, both of these problems are solved by column generation. A heuristic branch-and-bound method is used to compute integer solutions. On a set of test instances based on data provided by an airline, the integrated approach produced significant cost savings in comparison with the sequential planning process commonly used in practice. The largest instance solved contains more than 500 flight legs over a 3-day period.
Localized Sphingolipid Signaling at Presynaptic Terminals Is Regulated by Calcium Influx and Promotes Recruitment of Priming Factors

Activity-dependent changes in presynaptic function represent a critical mechanism by which synaptic strength is controlled. However, how changes in synaptic activity couple to presynaptic components to control synaptic vesicle release and recycling are poorly understood. Sphingosine kinase (SphK) is a sphingolipid metabolic enzyme whose activity-dependent recruitment to membrane regions within presynaptic terminals promotes neurotransmitter release. Here, we show that synaptic recruitment of SPHK-1, the SphK ortholog in Caenorhabditis elegans, is mediated by presynaptic calcium influx. Quantitative fluorescence imaging of live presynaptic terminals reveals that blocking presynaptic calcium influx reduces synaptic SPHK-1 abundance whereas increasing calcium influx increases SPHK-1 synaptic abundance. CALM-1, the calcium and integrin binding protein ortholog, colocalizes with SPHK-1 at release sites and regulates muscarinic-mediated synaptic SPHK-1 recruitment. We identify two additional sphingolipid metabolic enzymes that are concentrated at presynaptic terminals, and mutants lacking one of these, HYL-1/ceramide synthase, have defects in synaptic transmission and in synaptic vesicle cycling. Finally, we show that SPHK-1 activity is required for the recruitment of the priming protein UNC-13/Munc13 to presynaptic terminals following activation by muscarinic signaling. These findings suggest that calcium-dependent regulation of local S1P metabolism at synapses may be an important mechanism by which synaptic vesicle priming factors are recruited to release sites to promote synaptic transmission.
Bioinformatics and Gene Network Analyses of the Swine Mammary Gland Transcriptome during Late Gestation

We used the newly-developed Dynamic Impact Approach (DIA) and gene network analysis to study the sow mammary transcriptome at 80, 100, and 110 days of pregnancy. A swine oligoarray with 13,290 inserts was used for transcriptome profiling. An ANOVA with false discovery rate (FDR < 0.15) correction resulted in 1,409 genes with a significant time effect across time comparisons. The DIA uncovered that Fatty acid biosynthesis, Interleukin-4 receptor binding, Galactose metabolism, and mTOR signaling were among the most-impacted pathways. IL-4 receptor binding, ABC transporters, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, and Jak-STAT signaling were markedly activated at 110 days compared with 80 and 100 days. Epigenetic and transcription factor regulatory mechanisms appear important in coordinating the final stages of mammary development during pregnancy. Network analysis revealed a crucial role for TP53, ARNT2, E2F4, and PPARG. The bioinformatics analyses revealed a number of pathways and functions that perform an irreplaceable role during late gestation to farrowing.
Optimal Electric Vehicle Charging Station Placement

Many countries like Singapore are planning to introduce Electric Vehicles (EVs) to replace traditional vehicles to reduce air pollution and improve energy efficiency. The rapid development of EVs calls for efficient deployment of charging stations both for the convenience of EVs and maintaining the efficiency of the road network. Unfortunately, existing work makes unrealistic assumption on EV drivers' charging behaviors and focus on the limited mobility of EVs. This paper studies the Charging Station PLacement (CSPL) problem, and takes into consideration 1) EV drivers' strategic behaviors to minimize their charging cost, and 2) the mutual impact of EV drivers' strategies on the traffic conditions of the road network and service quality of charging stations. We first formulate the CSPL problem as a bilevel optimization problem, which is subsequently converted to a single-level optimization problem by exploiting structures of the EV charging game. Properties of CSPL problem are analyzed and an algorithm called OCEAN is proposed to compute the optimal allocation of charging stations. We further propose a heuristic algorithm OCEAN-C to speed up OCEAN. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithms significantly outperform baseline methods.
The language of social media : identity and community on the Internet

The internet has revolutionised the way we live our lives in untold ways, but the most far-reaching is the impact it is having on the way we communicate. Social media sites in particular allow us to maintain friendships beyond geographical barriers, to build up and exploit networked contacts, and to cultivate a public image. And how we communicate online has a profound and lasting impact on language and society. This very timely book brings together a broad selection of the exciting and diverse research that is currently being conducted into language on social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, and TripAdvisor. Studies from leading language researchers, and those at the cutting edge of analysis into social media, explore the impact of social media on how we relate to each other, the communities we live in, and the way we manage and present a sense of self in twenty-first century society.
Astragalus membranaceus Improves Exercise Performance and Ameliorates Exercise-Induced Fatigue in Trained Mice

Astragalus membranaceus (AM) is a popular “Qi-tonifying” herb with a long history of use as a Traditional Chinese Medicine with multiple biological functions. However, evidence for the effects of AM on exercise performance and physical fatigue is limited. We evaluated the potential beneficial effects of AM on ergogenic and anti-fatigue functions following physiological challenge. Male ICR strain mice were randomly assigned to four groups (n = 10 per group) for treatment: (1) sedentary control and vehicle treatment (vehicle control); (2) exercise training with vehicle treatment (exercise control); and (3) exercise training with AM treatment at 0.615 g/kg/day (Ex-AM1) or (4) 3.075 g/kg/day (Ex-AM5). Both the vehicle and AM were orally administered for 6 weeks. Exercise performance and anti-fatigue function were evaluated by forelimb grip strength, exhaustive swimming time, and levels of serum lactate, ammonia, glucose, and creatine kinase after 15-min swimming exercise. Exercise training combined with AM supplementation increased endurance exercise capacity and increased hepatic and muscle glycogen content. AM reduced exercise-induced accumulation of the byproducts blood lactate and ammonia with acute exercise challenge. Moreover, we found no deleterious effects from AM treatment. Therefore, AM supplementation improved exercise performance and had anti-fatigue effects in mice. It may be an effective ergogenic aid in exercise training.
Endothelin‐converting enzyme‐1 is a downstream target of the homeobox transcription factor Nkx2‐5

The homeobox transcription factor Nkx2‐5 and the zinc metalloprotease endothelin‐converting enzyme‐1 (ECE‐1) are essential for cardiac development. Here, we demonstrate for the first time a functional link between Nkx2‐5 and ECE‐1. In transiently transfected rat H9c2 cardiomyoblasts, the alternative promoters specific for ECE‐1a, ECE‐1b, and ECE‐1c are activated by Nkx2‐5 coexpression. Lack of a consensus sequence for Nkx2‐5 binding within the ECE‐1c promoter and mutational analyses of Nkx2‐5 consensus sequences identified in the ECE‐1a and ECE‐1b promoters, respectively, reveal an indirect mechanism of activation that is supported by gel shift assays. Furthermore, we have evidence of an additional direct activation mechanism of the ECE‐1b promoter by Nkx2‐5. With the use of RNase protection assay, Northern blot, and real‐time PCR, the activating effect of Nkx2‐5 on mRNA expression of ECE‐1 isoforms was confirmed in the chromatin context of H9c2 and endothelial EA.hy926 cells, respectively, by stable Nkx2‐5 overexpression. The interaction presented in this work provides a possible explanation for distinct phenotypic aspects of patients carrying mutations in the Nkx2‐5 gene and may also be of significance for the pathophysiology of heart failure.