Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increased Plant Carbon Translocation Linked to Overyielding in Grassland Species Mixtures

Plant species richness and productivity often show a positive relationship, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood, especially at the plant species level. We examined how growing plants in species mixture influences intraspecific rates of short-term carbon (C-) translocation, and determined whether such short-term responses are reflected in biomass yields. We grew monocultures and mixtures of six common C3 grassland plant species in outdoor mesocosms, applied a 13C-CO2 pulse in situ to trace assimilated C through plants, into the soil, and back to the atmosphere, and quantified species-specific biomass. Pulse derived 13C enrichment was highest in the legumes Lotus corniculatus and Trifolium repens, and relocation (i.e. transport from the leaves to other plant parts) of the recently assimilated 13C was most rapid in T. repens grown in 6-species mixtures. The grass Anthoxanthum odoratum also showed high levels of 13C enrichment in 6-species mixtures, while 13C enrichment was low in Lolium perenne, Plantago lanceolata and Achillea millefolium. Rates of C loss through respiration were highest in monocultures of T. repens and relatively low in species mixtures, while the proportion of 13C in the respired CO2 was similar in monocultures and mixtures. The grass A. odoratum and legume T. repens were most promoted in 6-species mixtures, and together with L. corniculatus, caused the net biomass increase in 6-species mixtures. These plant species also had highest rates of 13C-label translocation, and for A. odoratum and T. repens this effect was greatest in plant individuals grown in species mixtures. Our study reveals that short-term plant C translocation can be accelerated in plant individuals of legume and C3 grass species when grown in mixtures, and that this is strongly positively related to overyielding. These results demonstrate a mechanistic coupling between changes in intraspecific plant carbon physiology and increased community level productivity in grassland systems.
Assisting persons with dementia during handwashing using a partially observable Markov decision process.

This paper presents a real-time system to assist a person with dementia wash their hands. Assistance is given in the form of verbal and/or visual prompts, or through the enlistment of a human caregiver's help. The system uses only video inputs, and combines a Bayesian sequential estimation framework for tracking hands and towel, with a decision theoretic framework for computing policies of action -- specifically a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP). A key element of the system is the ability to estimate and adapt to user states, such as awareness, responsiveness and overall dementia level. We demonstrate the system in a set of simulation experiments, and we show examples of real-time interactions with actors.
Physical and Genetic Structure of the Maize Genome Reflects Its Complex Evolutionary History

Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important cereal crops and a model for the study of genetics, evolution, and domestication. To better understand maize genome organization and to build a framework for genome sequencing, we constructed a sequence-ready fingerprinted contig-based physical map that covers 93.5% of the genome, of which 86.1% is aligned to the genetic map. The fingerprinted contig map contains 25,908 genic markers that enabled us to align nearly 73% of the anchored maize genome to the rice genome. The distribution pattern of expressed sequence tags correlates to that of recombination. In collinear regions, 1 kb in rice corresponds to an average of 3.2 kb in maize, yet maize has a 6-fold genome size expansion. This can be explained by the fact that most rice regions correspond to two regions in maize as a result of its recent polyploid origin. Inversions account for the majority of chromosome structural variations during subsequent maize diploidization. We also find clear evidence of ancient genome duplication predating the divergence of the progenitors of maize and rice. Reconstructing the paleoethnobotany of the maize genome indicates that the progenitors of modern maize contained ten chromosomes.
Farm Labor Networks, Cooperatives and Fair Trade: An Empirical Analysis of Peruvian Coffee Growers

Agricultural marketing cooperatives are potentially important tools for rural development. However, many cooperatives experience significant outside sales to private intermediaries. This study analyzes the problem of outside sales in a coffee cooperative in northern Peru, and finds that the labor practices of cooperative members exert significant influence on their level of outside sales. I find that coffee growers who use more intensively cooperative labor networks known as choba-choba, as well as family household labor, engage in fewer outside sales and channel more sales through the cooperative. These results imply a symbiotic relationship between agrarian marketing cooperatives and non-market labor practices, and suggest an important role for robust community structures in building sustainable livelihoods in agrarian regions of the developing world.
A Family of Algorithms for Computing Consensus about Node State from Network Data

Biological and social networks are composed of heterogeneous nodes that contribute differentially to network structure and function. A number of algorithms have been developed to measure this variation. These algorithms have proven useful for applications that require assigning scores to individual nodes–from ranking websites to determining critical species in ecosystems–yet the mechanistic basis for why they produce good rankings remains poorly understood. We show that a unifying property of these algorithms is that they quantify consensus in the network about a node's state or capacity to perform a function. The algorithms capture consensus by either taking into account the number of a target node's direct connections, and, when the edges are weighted, the uniformity of its weighted in-degree distribution (breadth), or by measuring net flow into a target node (depth). Using data from communication, social, and biological networks we find that that how an algorithm measures consensus–through breadth or depth– impacts its ability to correctly score nodes. We also observe variation in sensitivity to source biases in interaction/adjacency matrices: errors arising from systematic error at the node level or direct manipulation of network connectivity by nodes. Our results indicate that the breadth algorithms, which are derived from information theory, correctly score nodes (assessed using independent data) and are robust to errors. However, in cases where nodes “form opinions” about other nodes using indirect information, like reputation, depth algorithms, like Eigenvector Centrality, are required. One caveat is that Eigenvector Centrality is not robust to error unless the network is transitive or assortative. In these cases the network structure allows the depth algorithms to effectively capture breadth as well as depth. Finally, we discuss the algorithms' cognitive and computational demands. This is an important consideration in systems in which individuals use the collective opinions of others to make decisions.
The plasma membrane of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: structure, function, and biogenesis.

The composition of phospholipids, sphingolipids, and sterols in the plasma membrane has a strong influence on the activity of the proteins associated or embedded in the lipid bilayer. Since most lipid-synthesizing enzymes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae are located in intracellular organelles, an extensive flux of lipids from these organelles to the plasma membrane is required. Although the pathway of protein traffic to the plasma membrane is similar to that of most of the lipids, the bulk flow of lipids is separate from vesicle-mediated protein transport. Recent advances in the analysis of membrane budding and membrane fusion indicate that the mechanisms of protein transport from the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi and from the Golgi to plasma membrane are similar. The majority of plasma membrane proteins transport solutes across the membrane. A number of ATP-dependent export systems have been detected that couple the hydrolysis of ATP to transport of molecules out of the cell. The hydrolysis of ATP by the plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase generates a proton motive force which is used to drive secondary transport processes. In S. cerevisiae, many substrates are transported by more than one system. Transport of monosaccharide is catalyzed by uniport systems, while transport of disaccharides, amino acids, and nucleosides is mediated by proton symport systems. Transport activity can be regulated at the level of transcription, e.g., induction and (catabolite) repression, but transport proteins can also be affected posttranslationally by a process termed catabolite inactivation. Catabolite inactivation is triggered by the addition of fermentable sugars, intracellular acidification, stress conditions, and/or nitrogen starvation. Phosphorylation and/or ubiquitination of the transport proteins has been proposed as an initial step in the controlled inactivation and degradation of the target enzyme. The use of artificial membranes, like secretory vesicles and plasma membranes fused with proteoliposomes, as model systems for studies on the mechanism and regulation of transport is evaluated.
Technology mapping for speed-independent circuits: Decomposition and resynthesis

This paper presents theory and practical implementation of a method for multi-level logic synthesis of speed-independent circuits. An initial circuit implementation is assumed to satisfy the monotonous cover conditions but is technology independent. The proposed method performs both combinational (inserting new gates) and sequential (inserting new memory elements) decomposition of complex gates in a given standard cell library, while preserving original behaviour and speed-independence. The algorithm applies known efficient algebraic factorization techniques from combinational multi-level logic synthesis, but achieves also boolean simplification and sequential decomposition. The method allows sharing of decomposed logic.
Measuring Gains in Operational Efficiency from Information Technology: A Study of the Positran Deployment at Hardee'S Inc.

This paper presents a new approach to measuring the input productivitygains from information technology (IT) in complex managerial environments. Theapproach is illustrated in the context of a study of a pilot deployment at Hardee's Inc.of a new cash register point-of-safe and order-coordination technology called âPositran. "The method employs data envelopment analysis (DEA) and nonparametricproduction frontier hypothesis testing to determine whether the performance ofrestaurants that have deployed Positran is better, on average, than for those that havenot. The design of the study is of special interest because it approximates a controlledexperiment. Our results show that Positran helped to reduce input materials costs, sincerestaurants that deployed the technology were less likely to be inefficient It is furtherpossible to characterize the class of restaurants for which the relationship holds.Operational efficiency measures such as the ones we have developed provide managerswith the opportunity to implement deployment strategies for new ITs in order tomaximize value.
Adaptive second-order asynchronous CCI cancellation: maximum likelihood benchmark for regularized semi-blind technique

An asynchronous interference cancellation problem is addressed when training and working intervals are available, containing the desired signal and arbitrary overlapping interference. A likelihood ratio (LR) maximization approach is developed for estimation of the structured correlation matrices over both training and working intervals for the Gaussian data model and exploited to obtain a performance benchmark for ad-hoc estimators. A regularized non-iterative estimation of the antenna array coefficients is proposed, which employs the autocorrelation matrix estimation as a weighted sum of the autocorrelation matrices estimated over the training and working intervals. It is shown by means of simulation in TDMA and OFDM environments that the regularized semi-blind solution significantly outperforms the conventional estimators and demonstrates performance close to the LR based benchmark.
Policy Uncertainty, Irreversibility, and Cross-Border Flows of Capital

We examine the effects of political uncertainty on cross-border capital flows using election timing as a source of fluctuations in political uncertainty. FDI flows from US companies to foreign affiliates drop significantly during the period just before an election and increase after the uncertainty is resolved, consistent with the view that political uncertainty deters foreign investment. The electoral patterns in FDI flows are more pronounced when elections are more competitive. The impact of political uncertainty on FDI flows depends on the level of institutional quality. Countries with higher levels of institutional quality experience significantly less variation in FDI around election cycles.
Behavioral Neuroscience

Hohmann et al., 2007). Together, these studies suggest a relation between changes in cortical morphology as a consequence of disturbed serotonin signaling during development and social behavior later in life. In this study, we sought to determine whether the 5-HT 3A receptor knockout mouse displays similar forms of impaired social behavior. Therefore, we subjected male and female 5-HT 3A receptor knockout mice and their wildtype littermates to the social transmission of food preference task, social interaction test and social approach test. Whereas the social transmission of food preference test investigates social communication by analyzing the natural preference for food previously scented on an unfamiliar mouse during an interaction phase, the social interaction test primarily focuses on reciprocal social interactions (Kogan et al., 1997; Bolivar et al., 2007). The social approach test, in turn, measures the preference for social novelty in a three compartment cage during two distinct phases (Moy et al., 2004; Sankoorikal et al., 2006). To control for anxiety, which might be an important driving force for impaired social behavior, 5-HT 3A knockout mice were in addition tested in the novelty suppressed feeding test.
Display of Bombyx mori Alcohol Dehydrogenases on the Bacillus subtilis Spore Surface to Enhance Enzymatic Activity under Adverse Conditions

Alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs) are oxidoreductases catalyzing the reversible oxidation of alcohols to corresponding aldehydes or ketones accompanied by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP) as coenzyme. ADHs attract major scientific and industrial interest for the evolutionary perspectives, afforded by their wide occurrence in nature, and for their use in industrial synthesis. However, the low activity of ADHs under extremes of pH and temperature often limits their application. To obtain ADH with high activity, in this study, we used Bombyx mori alcohol dehydrogenases (BmADH) as foreign gene and constructed a recombinant integrative plasmid pJS700-BmADH. This pJS700-BmADH was transformed into Bacillus subtilis by double cross-over and produced an amylase inactivated mutant. The fusion protein containing BmADH was expressed on the spore surface and recognized by BmADH-specific antibody. We also assayed the alcohol dehydrogenase activity of the fusion protein together with the native BmADH at different pH and temperature levels, which indicated the recombinant enzyme exhibits activity over wider ranges of temperature and pH than its native form, perhaps due to the resistance properties of B. subtilis spores against adverse conditions.
A Phenomenological Exploration of Secondary Teachers' Perceptions of the Flipped Classroom Model

The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to describe secondary teachers’ experiences implementing a secondary flipped classroom model (FCM) in the United States. A FCM is a framework wherein students work at their own pace and use inclass time for active learning activities. The following questions were researched: (a) How do secondary FCM teachers describe their lived experiences from implementing the FCM? (b) What benefits, if any, do secondary teachers describe from implementing the FCM? (c) What challenges, if any, do secondary teachers describe from implementing the FCM? (d) What necessary resources do teachers perceive important for successful implementation of the FCM? The theory guiding this study was the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, which helps uncover the processes involved with the spread of an innovation or idea in a specific social system. DOI aids in the analysis of technology acceptance and adoption patterns of teachers. Data collection included questionnaires, interviews, and virtual focus groups from 12 participants, selected because they successfully used the FCM for at least one year and collaborate via social media regarding their experiences. Data were collected and analysis included organizing, synthesizing, reduction, and enumeration to develop themes. In-depth explorations of the participants’ perceptions of the FCM provided rich descriptions and to answer the four research questions, five themes were identified: changes to planning and preparation, best practices, resources and tools, benefits of implementation, and gaining buy-in. Overall, although participants stated they experienced challenging situations with implementing the FCM, the benefits outweighed the challenges.
Experimental growing of wild pea in Israel and its bearing on Near Eastern plant domestication.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The wild progenitors of the Near Eastern legumes have low germination rates mediated by hardseededness. Hence it was argued that cultivation of these wild legumes would probably result in no yield gain. Based on the meagre natural yield of wild lentil and its poor germination, it was suggested that wild Near Eastern grain legumes were unlikely to have been adopted for cultivation unless freely germinating types were available for the incipient farmers. Unlike wild cereals, data from experimental cultivation of wild legumes are lacking. METHODS Replicated nurseries of wild pea (Pisum elatius, P. humile and P. fulvum) were sown during 2007-2010 in the Mediterranean district of Israel. To assess the effect of hardseededness on the yield potential, seeds of the wild species were either subjected to scarification (to ensure germination) or left intact, and compared with domesticated controls. KEY RESULTS Sowing intact wild pea seeds mostly resulted in net yield loss due to poor establishment caused by wild-type low germination rates, while ensuring crop establishment by scarification resulted in net, although modest, yield gain, despite considerable losses due to pod dehiscence. Harvest efficiency of the wild pea plots was significantly higher (2-5 kg seeds h(-1)) compared with foraging efficiency in wild pea populations (ranging from a few grams to 0·6 kg h(-1)). CONCLUSIONS Germination and yield data from 'cultivation' of wild pea suggest that Near Eastern legumes are unlikely to have been domesticated via a protracted process. Put differently, the agronomic implications of the hardseededness of wild legumes are incompatible with a millennia-long scenario of unconscious selection processes leading to 'full' domestication. This is because net yield loss in cultivation attempts is most likely to have resulted in abandonment of the respective species within a short time frame, rather than perpetual unprofitable cultivation for several centuries or millennia.
A Rodent Model of Chikungunya Virus Infection in RAG1 -/- Mice, with Features of Persistence, for Vaccine Safety Evaluation

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a positive sense, single stranded RNA virus in the genus Alphavirus, and the etiologic agent of epidemics of severe arthralgia in Africa, Asia, Europe and, most recently, the Americas. CHIKV causes chikungunya fever (CHIK), a syndrome characterized by rash, fever, and debilitating, often chronic arthritis. In recent outbreaks, CHIKV has been recognized to manifest more neurologic signs of illness in the elderly and those with co-morbidities. The syndrome caused by CHIKV is often self-limited; however, many patients develop persistent arthralgia that can last for months or years. These characteristics make CHIKV not only important from a human health standpoint, but also from an economic standpoint. Despite its importance as a reemerging disease, there is no licensed vaccine or specific treatment to prevent CHIK. Many studies have begun to elucidate the pathogenesis of CHIKF and the mechanism of persistent arthralgia, including the role of the adaptive immune response, which is still poorly understood. In addition, the lack of an animal model for chronic infection has limited studies of CHIKV pathogenesis as well as the ability to assess the safety of vaccine candidates currently under development. To address this deficiency, we used recombination activating gene 1 (RAG1-/-) knockout mice, which are deficient in both T and B lymphocytes, to develop a chronic CHIKV infection model. Here, we describe this model as well as its use in evaluating the safety of a live-attenuated vaccine candidate.
Why Children/Youth Drop Out of Sports

Forty percent of kids played team sports on a regular basis in 2013. Yet, numerous children and youth drop out of sports every year as well. This article explores the reasons why children and youth drop out of sports and offers suggestions for how parents, coaches, and youth development professionals can help to minimize unwarranted and premature dropping out. Three sets of reasons or constraints have been offered for why children and youth drop out of sports. Intrapersonal constraints include lack of enjoyment (not having fun, being bored); low perceptions of physical competence; intrinsic pressures (e.g., stress); and perceptions of negative team dynamics (negative feelings toward team or coach). Interpersonal constraints include parental pressure and loss of feelings of ownership and not having enough time to participate in other age-appropriate activities. Finally, structural constraints include time (for training and travel), injuries, cost, and inadequate facilities. Suggestions for minimizing dropping out of sports and increasing youth engagement include redefining sports goals away from winning toward having fun, balancing parental involvement, encouraging multiple sport participation, enabling children to have autonomy and ownership over game experiences, encouraging rules that give every child a chance to play, decreasing parental pressure about winning, urging parents to avoid living their sports dreams through their children, and beginning sport participation at an appropriate age. Subscribe to JPRA