Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of the entomopathogenic nematode, Steinernema feltiae, against sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) under laboratory and glasshouse conditions

Abstract The potential of using the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema feltiae to control the sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) has been established in previous laboratory studies. However, laboratory studies can overestimate the level of control achieved by biocontrol agents in the glasshouse. Glasshouse trials are therefore required to confirm laboratory results before full-scale commercial development is considered. Under both controlled laboratory and glasshouse conditions high mortality of second instar B. tabaci (>90% and >80%, respectively) was recorded after application of S. feltiae. The efficacy of the biocontrol agent at various application rates was also investigated, where halving the rate of S. feltiae application caused no significant reduction in B. tabaci mortality on tomato foliage. Steinernema feltiae has shown much potential for incorporation into integrated pest management strategies for the control of B. tabaci.
On Invariants and Strict Systems of Irreducible Polynomials Over Henselian Valued Fields

Let g(x) be a monic irreducible defectless polynomial over a henselian valued field (K, v), i.e., K(θ) is a defectless extension of (K, v) for any root θ of g(x). It is known that a complete distinguished chain for θ with respect to (K, v) gives rise to several invariants associated with g(x). Recently Ron Brown studied certain invariants of defectless polynomials by introducing strict systems of polynomial extensions. In this article, the authors establish a one-to-one correspondence between strict systems of polynomial extensions and conjugacy classes of complete distinguished chains. This correspondence leads to a simple interpretation of various results proved for strict systems. The authors give new characterizations of an invariant γ g introduced by Brown.
Post-Adoption Support Groups: Strategies for Addressing Marital Issues

Married couples who adopt older children from foster care, especially children with special needs, can often face unique marital stressors. This article explores strategies for strengthening marriages using a sample of adoptive couples who participated in marriage enrichment events sponsored by an innovative state and federally funded Healthy Marriage Initiative project. The authors found that participation in marriage enrichment events aimed at building support networks among adoptive couples can be valuable in helping couples to bolster their relationships and find needed support from couples with similar experiences. Implications and suggestions for the continued development of marriage enrichment services with adoptive couples are given.
Segmentation of books and characters for book recognition system of robot intelligence

In this paper, we propose an approach to the book recognition system where the books on bookshelves are detected and recognized by line segment, MSAC based dominant vanishing point detection, Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) based text recognition and semantic network. Our system can be equipped to robot intelligence to handle some works such as arranging, searching books which had formerly done by human beings. For the first researching stage, we make the comprehensive layout of the system and focus on segmenting process including book regions, books and characters segmentation.
Immunophenotyping of chronic B-cell neoplasms: flow cytometry versus immunohistochemistry

Morphological differentiation between benign and malignant lymphoproliferative disorders (LPDs) can be challenging. Immunophenotyping (IPT) by either technique, flow cytometry or immunohistochemistry (IHC), is an important step in solving such difficulty. Thirty-five newly diagnosed patients with chronic B-cell neoplasms (11 chronic lymphocytic leukemia, 22 non Hodgkin lymphoma and 2 hairy cell leukemia) were included in this study with age range from 20 to 70 years. Monoclonal antibodies surface expression using lymphoproliferative disorders panel (CD45, CD19, CD5, CD10, CD11c, CD20, CD22, CD23, CD38, CD79b, FMC7, CD103, CD25, kappa and lambda light chains) by flow cytometry was done on bone marrow samples. CD20, CD5, CD23, Bcl-2, Bcl-6, kappa and lambda light chain immunostaining were performed on fixed bone marrow trephine biopsy specimen. The sensitivity of IHC was 81.8% in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and 100% in non Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) as regards CD20, 100% in both groups as regards CD5, 46% in CLL and 66.7% in NHL as regards CD23, 33.3% in CLL and 50% in NHL as regards kappa chain, 20% in CLL and 33.3% in NHL as regards lambda chain. We found that IHC and flow cytometry are equally effective in diagnosing CLL; however, IHC might be slightly more sensitive than flow cytometry in detecting bone marrow infiltration in NHL and hairy cell leukemia (HCL).
High cognitive reserve is associated with a reduced age-related deficit in spatial conflict resolution

Several studies support the existence of a specific age-related difficulty in suppressing potentially distracting information. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether spatial conflict resolution is selectively affected by aging. The way aging affects individuals could be modulated by many factors determined by the socieconomic status: we investigated whether factors such as cognitive reserve (CR) and years of education may play a compensatory role against age-related deficits in the spatial domain. A spatial Stroop task with no feature repetitions was administered to a sample of 17 non-demented older adults (69–79 years-old) and 18 younger controls (18–34 years-old) matched for gender and years of education. The two age groups were also administered with measures of intelligence and CR. The overall spatial Stroop effect did not differ according to age, neither for speed nor for accuracy. The two age groups equally showed sequential effects for congruent trials: reduced response times (RTs) if another congruent trial preceded them, and accuracy at ceiling. For incongruent trials, older adults, but not younger controls, were influenced by congruency of trialn−1, since RTs increased with preceding congruent trials. Interestingly, such an age-related modulation negatively correlated with CR. These findings suggest that spatial conflict resolution in aging is predominantly affected by general slowing, rather than by a more specific deficit. However, a high level of CR seems to play a compensatory role for both factors.
A Longitudinal Study of Social Media Privacy Behavior

Existing constructs for privacy concerns and behaviors do not adequately model deviations between user attitudes and stated user behaviors. While a number of studies have examined supposed deviations from rationality by online users, the true explanations for these stated behaviors may lie in factors not previously addressed in privacy concern constructs. This dissertation presents the results of an Agile, sprint-based longitudinal study of Social Networking Site users conducted over a twenty month period between April of 2009 and March of 2011. Extending the base constructs of the Internet User Information and Privacy Concern model and Privacy Regulation Theory to an online survey of privacy attitudes and self-reported behaviors for social media use; this dissertation's findings have significant implications for the study of online privacy management. This study supports prior published observations that online users behave counterintuitively when disclosing personal information, while indicating that existing models of disclosure are inadequate, and that a new model of online privacy disclosure is required. This initial irrational disclosure behavior and subsequent tightening of privacy attitudes and behaviors indicate the importance of assessing temporality when considering models of privacy behavior. By testing an evolving set of hypotheses through 'point in time' studies using a common test instrument, this study creates a harmonized longitudinal model for the manner in which individuals regulate their privacy boundaries. This model delineates how, in each privacy disclosure choice, individuals engage in a process of privacy boundary regulation and constantly mediate between privacy threats and threat mitigation strategies. The model developed and presented within this study offers a significant contribution to greater understanding of nuanced privacy disclosure behaviors among users. Keywords: online privacy, privacy behavior, social media, social networking, security, privacy regulation.
Strategic risk behaviour and its temporalities: between risk propensity and decision context

What are the determinants of strategic risk behaviour? Are they the dispositional characteristics of decision makers or the situational constraints? Or both? The empirical evidence is on all sides. We believe the issue has not been satisfactorily resolved so far because of the continued neglect of the fundamental role of time in risk behaviour. Given that risk is embedded in time, we need to recognize two critical aspects of the temporal dimension. The first is concerned with risk horizons, as in short‐range and long‐range risk horizons. The second temporal aspect relates to individual future orientations of the top managers, as in near‐future and distant‐future orientations. We propose in this article a temporal framework of strategic risk behaviour in which the two temporalities are integrated with risk propensity and perceived decision context. We then develop, based on this temporal framework, the contingent answers for the relative roles of dispositional characteristics and situational constraints in determining strategic risk behaviour.
Differential proliferative response of fetal and adult human skin fibroblasts to transforming growth factor‐β

Since pronounced differences exist between the fetal and adult repair processes, we studied the proliferative response of skin fibroblasts from these two stages to transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β), a cytokine with a broad range of activities in tissue repair. Here, we present evidence that TGF‐β inhibits fetal human skin fibroblasts, while it is stimulatory for adult ones. This proliferative effect of TGF‐β was found to be concentration‐ dependent, but isoform‐independent. Furthermore, even a transient exposure of the cells to this growth factor was sufficient to exert its stimulatory or inhibitory action. Accordingly, we have studied the immediate responses provoked by TGF‐β in major signaling pathways, and we have found that it induces a rapid activation of the SMAD pathway, i.e., phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of SMAD2, followed by dephosphorylation, most probably due to degradation by the proteasome. However, similar intensity and kinetics of this activation have been observed in both fetal and adult fibroblasts. On the other hand, curcumin, a natural product with wound healing properties that inhibits several intracellular signaling pathways, was found to completely abrogate the inhibitory effect of TGF‐β1 on human fetal skin fibroblasts, without affecting the stimulatory action on fibroblasts from adult donors. In conclusion, there is a major radical in the proliferative response of fetal and adult human skin fibroblasts to TGF‐β, possibly reflecting the different repair strategies followed in these two stages of development.
A Comparison of Normalization Techniques for MicroRNA Microarray Data

Normalization of expression levels applied to microarray data can help in reducing measurement error. Different methods, including cyclic loess, quantile normalization and median or mean normalization, have been utilized to normalize microarray data. Although there is considerable literature regarding normalization techniques for mRNA microarray data, there are no publications comparing normalization techniques for microRNA (miRNA) microarray data, which are subject to similar sources of measurement error. In this paper, we compare the performance of cyclic loess, quantile normalization, median normalization and no normalization for a single-color microRNA microarray dataset. We show that the quantile normalization method works best in reducing differences in miRNA expression values for replicate tissue samples. By showing that the total mean squared error are lowest across almost all 36 investigated tissue samples, we are assured that the bias correction provided by quantile normalization is not outweighed by additional error variance that can arise from a more complex normalization method. Furthermore, we show that quantile normalization does not achieve these results by compression of scale.
Are New Work Practices and New Technologies Biased Against Immigrant Workers?

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to analyse if introduction of new technologies and work practices are negatively related to the employment opportunities of immigrants. Design/methodology/approach - – A representative plant-level panel survey merged with register data is used. Random effect regression Tobit models are estimated. The dependent variable is wage costs share of immigrants at the plant. The important explanatory variables are measures of new technologies and work practices. Findings - – The results show that workplaces where employees use personal computers intensively and have broad autonomy hire fewer non-western immigrants who have not been raised in Norway. The negative relationship is especially strong for low-skilled non-western immigrants. Originality/value - – The estimation framework for studying this topic is new. The paper also presents original evidence on the relationship between characteristics of the “new” economy and demand for immigrant workers.
Effective Data Acquisition Protocol for Multi-Hop Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks Using Compressive Sensing

In designing wireless sensor networks (WSNs), it is important to reduce energy dissipation and prolong network lifetime. Clustering of nodes is one of the most effective approaches for conserving energy in WSNs. Cluster formation protocols generally consider the heterogeneity of sensor nodes in terms of energy difference of nodes but ignore the different transmission ranges of them. In this paper, we propose an effective data acquisition clustered protocol using compressive sensing (EDACP-CS) for heterogeneous WSNs that aims to conserve the energy of sensor nodes in the presence of energy and transmission range heterogeneity. In EDACP-CS, cluster heads are selected based on the distance from the base station and sensor residual energy. Simulation results show that our protocol offers a much better performance than the existing protocols in terms of energy consumption, stability, network lifetime, and throughput.
Social Anxiety, Anticipatory Processing and Negative Expectancies for an Interpersonal Task in Middle Childhood

Cognitive models assume that socially anxious individuals engage in negatively-biased anticipatory processing that enhances anxiety and exacerbates maladaptive cognitions. To date little is known about this anticipatory processing and its relationship with mood and predicted performance in socially anxious children. In the present study, a school sample of 181 children (aged 10-11 years) was instructed to either engage in anticipatory processing or perform a distraction task while preparing to give a speech in front of the class. Results showed that trait social anxiety was associated with more negative estimates of personal appearance and catastrophic thoughts relating to speech performance. Following the manipulation, children in the distraction condition showed significant reductions in state anxiety, but children in the anticipation condition did not. Furthermore, children in the anticipation condition gave more negative predictions of personal appearance during the speech task than children in the distraction condition. Crucially, trait social anxiety was more strongly associated with catastrophic thinking and negative expectations of their personal appearance when children were instructed to engage in anticipatory processing rather than distraction. The findings provide further support for the suggestion that anticipatory processing plays a role in maintaining childhood social anxiety.
Religion and international development in the Canadian academic context

Abstract Although faith, religion and spirituality are central to the lives of millions in the global south, few scholars in the north explicitly address religion's role in development. This study explores this disjuncture in Canadian academia by analysing references to religion and related terms across 32 volumes of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies and in international development studies (IDS) course descriptions at Canadian universities. Fewer than 1 per cent of the articles and IDS courses explicitly address religion and development. An examination of other key publications in the field suggests that growing interest in religion and development in the past decade has not been reflected in the Canadian academy. Résumé Bien que la foi, la religion et la spiritualité soient centrales à la vie de millions de personnes du Sud, peu de chercheurs du Nord abordent son rôle dans le développement. L'analyse des références à la religion dans 32 volumes de la Revue canadienne d’études du développement et dans les descriptions de cours universitaires canadiens portant sur le développement international montre que cette disjonction est présente dans la recherche canadienne. En effet, moins d'un pour cent des articles et des cours traitent explicitement la relation entre la religion et le développement. L'intérêt croissant que d'autres publications clés dans le domaine des études du développement ont porté au rapport entre religion et développement durant la dernière décennie ne trouve donc pas son équivalent dans la recherche canadienne.
Keep wetlands wet: the myth of sustainable development of tropical peatlands – implications for policies and management

Pristine tropical peat swamp forests (PSFs) represent a unique wetland ecosystem of distinctive hydrology which support unique biodiversity and globally significant stores of soil carbon. Yet in Indonesia and Malaysia, home to 56% of the world's tropical peatland, they are subject to considerable developmental pressures, including widespread drainage to support agricultural needs. In this article, we review the ecology behind the functioning and ecosystem services provided by PSFs, with a particular focus on hydrological processes as well as the role of the forest itself in maintaining those services. Drawing on this, we review the suitability of current policy frameworks and consider the efficacy of their implementation. We suggest that policies in Malaysia and Indonesia are often based around the narrative of oil palm and other major monocrops as drivers of prosperity and development. However, we also argue that this narrative is also being supported by a priori claims concerning the possibility of sustainability of peat swamp exploitation via drainage‐based agriculture through the adherence to best management practices. We discuss how this limits their efficacy, uptake and the political will towards enforcement. Further, we consider how both narratives (prosperity and sustainability) clearly exclude important considerations concerning the ecosystem value of tropical PSFs which are dependent on their unimpacted hydrology. Current research clearly shows that the actual debate should be focused not on how to develop drainage‐based plantations sustainably, but on whether the sustainable conversion to drainage‐based systems is possible at all.
Skull and buccal cavity allometry increase mass-specific engulfment capacity in fin whales

Rorqual whales (Balaenopteridae) represent not only some of the largest animals of all time, but also exhibit a wide range in intraspecific and interspecific body size. Balaenopterids are characterized by their extreme lunge-feeding behaviour, a dynamic process that involves the engulfment of a large volume of prey-laden water at a high energetic cost. To investigate the consequences of scale and morphology on lunge-feeding performance, we determined allometric equations for fin whale body dimensions and engulfment capacity. Our analysis demonstrates that larger fin whales have larger skulls and larger buccal cavities relative to body size. Together, these data suggest that engulfment volume is also allometric, increasing with body length as . The positive allometry of the skull is accompanied by negative allometry in the tail region. The relative shortening of the tail may represent a trade-off for investing all growth-related resources in the anterior region of the body. Although enhanced engulfment volume will increase foraging efficiency, the work (energy) required to accelerate the engulfed water mass during engulfment will be relatively higher in larger rorquals. If the mass-specific energetic cost of a lunge increases with body size, it will have major consequences for rorqual foraging ecology and evolution.
Towards DSM-V: ‘Shadow Syndrome’ symptom patterns among pathological gamblers

Objective: By comparing the co-occurring symptoms instead of co-occurring diagnoses, we will determine if there are symptoms independent of DSM diagnoses that are capable of differentiating between pathological gamblers (PG) and non-pathological gamblers. Method: This study identified past 12-month co-occurring sub-diagnostic psychiatric symptoms (i.e. shadow symptoms) among the 43,093 individuals who participated in the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. We compared the prevalence of these shadow symptoms among individuals with five or more DSM-IV (PG) symptoms to the prevalence among individuals who gamble with no associated problems. Factor analyses applied to 428 non-duplicated past-year symptoms compiled from 29 DSM-IV diagnostic schedules yielded 13 symptom clusters that included 212 symptoms. Results: Most (58%) PGs reported symptoms that were not directly related to gambling, but were more prevalent among gamblers without gambling-related problems. Conclusions: These findings provide evidence that people who satisfy DSM-IV diagnostic criteria (e.g. pathological gambling) are likely to report meaningful co-occurring sub-clinical symptoms that are associated with other diagnostic classes. Consequently, diagnostic classification should be complemented with an awareness of co-occurring sub-clinical symptom patterns (i.e. shadow syndromes).
Effects of continuous ivermectin treatment from birth to puberty on growth and reproduction in dairy heifers.

The effect of continuous ivermectin treatment from birth to puberty on growth and reproductive performance was studied in Holstein heifer calves grown on pastures in comparison to naturally nematode-infected, untreated animals. Ivermectin effectively abated the presence of nematode eggs in feces. Eggs per gram (EPG) in parasitized animals increased rapidly from wk 12 to 18 of age and then decreased. Animals treated with ivermectin grew faster than untreated ones, and differences in body weight became significant at 6 wk of life, even before eggs appeared in the feces of either treatment group. Ivermectin-treated heifers reached puberty 3 wk earlier than infected ones as assessed with serum progesterone concentrations (ivermectin, 30.4 +/- .8 vs untreated, 33.7 +/- 1.3 wk of age). This delay was not directly related to body weight. In addition, pelvic area at 39 wk and at 15 mo of age was increased in treated heifers (8 and 11%, respectively) compared with parasitized animals. No differences in the wither heights were observed. We conclude that ivermectin treatment in dairy heifers may increase growth rate during development, advance the onset of ovarian function, and positively affect yearling pelvic area.