Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hygroscopic properties of aminium sulfate aerosols

Abstract. Alkylaminium sulfates originate from the neutralisation reaction between short-chained amines and sulfuric acid and have been detected in atmospheric aerosol particles. Their physicochemical behaviour is less well characterised than their inorganic equivalent, ammonium sulfate, even though they play a role in atmospheric processes such as the nucleation and growth of new particles and cloud droplet formation. In this work, a comparative evaporation kinetics experimental technique using a cylindrical electrodynamic balance is applied to determine the hygroscopic properties of six short-chained alkylaminium sulfates, specifically mono-, di-, and tri-methylaminium sulfate and mono-, di-, and tri-ethyl aminium sulfate. This approach allows for the retrieval of a water-activity-dependent growth curve in less than 10 s, avoiding the uncertainties that can arise from the volatilisation of semi-volatile components. Measurements are made on particles > 5 µm in radius, avoiding the need to correct equilibrium measurements for droplet-surface curvature with assumed values of the droplet-surface tension. Variations in equilibrium solution droplet composition with varying water activity are reported over the range 0.5 to > 0.98, along with accurate parameterisations of solution density and refractive index. The uncertainties in water activities associated with the hygroscopicity measurements are typically 0.9 and ∼ ±1 % below 0.9, with maximum uncertainties in diameter growth factors of ±0.7 %. Comparison with previously reported measurements show deviation across the entire water activity range.
Higher education students as political actors: evidence from England and Ireland

ABSTRACT Higher education (HE) students have often been viewed as important political actors in wider society, stemming largely from their activities in the 1960s. Nevertheless, like much of the literature on youth political participation, research has rarely explored the extent to which student political participation varies across nation-states. This article begins to redress this gap by drawing upon data collected from focus groups with undergraduate students in England and Ireland, alongside an analysis of relevant policy documents from both countries. Overall, we argue that, whilst English and Irish students expressed similar desires to be politically active, they differed in the extent to which they felt empowered to take up such roles and the perceived scope of their influence. Similar differences were evident, to some extent, in the way in which students’ political activity was seen by policymakers. These cross-national differences are explained with reference to contextual factors and, in particular, variation in the degree of HE marketisation in the two countries. There is also evidence to suggest that students are sensitive to the way in which they are constructed in policy, which affects their sense of themselves as political actors.
Photosynthesis versus irradiance characteristics in phytoplankton assemblages off Patagonia (Argentina): temporal variability and solar UVR effects

From November 2002 to June 2003, we carried out experiments to determine the temporal variability of P vs. E curves and the effects of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR, 280-400 nm) on photosynthetic parameters of natural phytoplankton assemblages from Patagonia. Samples were collected at 2 sites, Bahia Nueva and Bahia Camarones (Chubut, Argentina), and exposed to solar radiation for 4 to 6 h under 3 quality radiation treatments (i.e. PAR + UVR, 280-700 nm; PAR + UV-A, 320-700 nm; and PAR only, 400-700 nm), and under 6 to 8 levels of ambient irradiance (i.e. by using 0 to 5-7 layers of neutral density screens). Samples collected at Bahia Nueva had relatively high Pmax values (~3-4 µg C (µg chl a) -1 h -1 ) during the pre-bloom period (i.e. late summer to late fall) and relatively low values (~1.5-2.5 µg C (µg chl a) -1 h -1 ) during the post-bloom period (i.e. late spring to early summer); similar results were observed in samples collected at Bahia Camarones. The light saturation parameter Ek, on the other hand, did not show a clear pattern and values ranging from 50 to 400 µmol m -2 s -1 were observed throughout the study period. High Pmax values were significantly correlated with the concentration of large diatoms (R 2 = 0.6, p < 0.05), the taxonomic group that characterized the pre-bloom period. UVR significantly reduced Pmax values (p < 0.05) during the pre- bloom but not during the post-bloom period. UVR also significantly affected Ek (p < 0.05) in all Bahia Camarones samples but only in some from Bahia Nueva. UV-A was responsible for the bulk of photosynthetic inhibition throughout the study period; the highest UV-A-induced integrated inhibi- tion values in the water column were ~16.5 and 7% for Bahia Nueva and Bahia Camarones, respec- tively. On the other hand, UV-B-induced photosynthetic inhibition reached maximum values of 2.3 and 3.9% for Bahia Nueva and Bahia Camarones, respectively. Since under certain environmental conditions P vs. E parameters can be significantly reduced by UVR, we suggest that remote sensing algorithms using these parameters should also consider the impact of UVR in their estimates of primary production.
Education and Cognition of Major Depressive Disorder in a Chinese Population

Abstract Objective: Cognitive impairments have been identified as a core feature of major depressive disorder (MDD). To date, no studies on the association between education level and cognitive impairments of MDD from a Chinese population adopting the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) for cognitive measurement emerged. This study is the first to adopt the RBANS to examine whether cognitive impairments of MDD were influenced by education level in a Chinese population. Methods: 90 patients with MDD and 90 healthy controls with matched gender and age were recruited in a case-control study. Cognitive functions were assessed using the RBANS. Moreover, the demographic and clinical data were collected from patients with MDD and healthy controls. Results: There were significant differences in the RBANS total score (F=19.56, p<0.001), subscales of language (F=58.21, p<0.001) and delayed memory (F=7.72, p=0.006) between two groups after controlling for the variables. These differences still passed Bonferroni corrections (all, p<0.05). Education level of MDD was significantly correlated with the RBANS total score (r=0.277, p=0.010), language score (r=0.255, p=0.018) and delayed memory score (r=0.220, p=0.042). Stepwise multivariate regression analysis indicated that education level was an independent contributor to the RBANS total score (t=2.666, p=0.009), language score (t=3.644, p<0.001), and delayed memory score (t=3.312, p=0.001) of MDD. Conclusions: Our findings supported that patients with MDD had poorer cognitive functions than healthy controls, especially in language and delayed memory. Moreover, education level could influence cognitive performance of MDD in a Chinese population.
Life history and emergence patterns of stonefly species in mountain streams of the Futaleufú basin, Patagonia (Argentina)

The temporal dynamics in density, life histories, and emergence patterns were described for the first time for five Plecoptera species in tributaries of the Futaleufu River in Patagonia, Argentina. Benthic samples and adult collections were made in five low order Nothofagus forested streams. Four species of Gripopterygidae; Aubertoperla illiesi, Notoperlopsis femina, Antarctoperla michaelseni and Senzilloides panguipulli had simple, highly synchronized univoltine life histories. The austroperlid Klapopteryx kuscheli takes more than two years to develop. Emergence periods of most of the species were concentrated in late spring and summer (October to February), which suggests seasonal and synchronized life histories. Most N. femina adults were collected in mid spring indicating this species emerged first, whereas S. panguipulli emerged last from January to April. Aubertoperla illiesi showed a slightly delayed emergence at the high elevation site (La Hoya Stream) when compared to a piedmont stream, suggesting that temperature was an important control. Although we were unable to describe the life history of Limnoperla jaffueli (Gripopterygidae) its adult emergence period was November to January. Life histories of Plecoptera species in the studied streams seem to have a high degree of seasonality at least at this latitude, and are possibly determined by predictable temperature patterns and discharge regimes. This first contribution on the life histories of Plecoptera species helps us to better understand the dynamics and functioning of pristine but fragile aquatic environments in Patagonia.
What fuels the fire: Job- or task-specific motivation (or both)? On the hierarchical and multidimensional nature of teacher motivation in relation to job burnout

ABSTRACT Drawing on a hierarchical (job and task level) and multidimensional conceptualisation of work motivation (intrinsic, identified, introjected, and external regulations), this study examines relationships between motivational regulations and burnout. Participants were 806 French-Canadian teachers working in public elementary and high schools. Results reveal different associations between burnout and the regulations that drive teachers to engage in their overall job or in specific tasks: autonomous regulations (intrinsic and identified) are negatively associated with burnout but more negatively at the job than task level, whereas controlled regulations (introjected and external) are positively associated with burnout but more positively at the task than job level. This study provides valuable insights into how teachers’ motivations towards both the job and tasks can foster or prevent burnout symptoms. Implications for theory and research on burnout and work motivation are discussed.
Time-orthogonal unitary dilations and noncommutative Feynman-Kac formulae

An analysis of Feynman-Kac formulae reveals that, typically, the unperturbed semigroup is expressed as the expectation of a random unitary evolution and the perturbed semigroup is the expectation of a perturbation of this evolution in which the latter perturbation is effected by a cocycle with certain covariance properties with respect to the group of translations and reflections of the line. We consider generalisations of the classical commutative formalism in which the probabilistic properties are described in terms of non-commutative probability theory based on von Neumann algebras. Examples of this type are generated, by means of second quantisation, from a unitary dilation of a given self-adjoint contraction semigroup, called the time orthogonal unitary dilation, whose key feature is that the dilation operators corresponding to disjoint time intervals act nontrivially only in mutually orthogonal supplementary Hilbert spaces.
Physiological Activities of Anti-Juvenile Hormone Agents Against Insects and Their Role For Devising Fourth Generation Insecticides: A Comprehensive Review

To overcome those problems caused by repeated and indiscriminate uses of conventional insecticides, it is necessary to seek environmentally safe and low-cost alternatives for pest control. Among the effective alternatives are anti-JH compounds. The present articlewas prepared aiming to present an updated overview of different categories of compounds possessing anti-JH activity and their effects on survival, growth, development, metamorphosis, and reproduction of several insects of different orders. This article focused, also, on the effects of these compounds of other physiological processes in insects, such as polyphenism, behavior, diapause, metabolism, enzymatic activities, chemoreceptors and pheromone production, as well as their antifeedant effects against some insect pests. Compounds with anti-JH activity are considered as new representatives of IGRs lacking some disadvantages of juvenoid-type chemicals. In this review we described some advantageous uses of some anti-JH compounds, imidazoles in particular, in the sericulture and silk research fields. In addition, it shed some light on the action mechanisms of anti-JH agents and described the fate of them in the insect body. It is obvious from the present review that the practical use of anti-JH compounds in the pest management has been challenged by some limitations and restrictions. These compounds should be assessed against different insect pests under field conditions. However, these anti-JH agents can be considered as new leads for devising fourth generation insecticides. On the other hand, some of the anti-JH analogues of imidazoles have been successfully used in the practical production of natural silkin the world.
Closed surface bundles of least volume

Since the set of volumes of hyperbolic 3-manifolds is well ordered, for each fixed g there is a genus-g surface bundle over the circle of minimal volume. Here, we introduce an explicit family of genus-g bundles which we conjecture are the unique such manifolds of minimal volume. Conditional on a very plausible assumption, we prove that this is indeed the case when g is large. The proof combines a soft geometric limit argument with a detailed Neumann-Zagier asymptotic formula for the volumes of Dehn fillings. Our examples are all Dehn fillings on the sibling of the Whitehead manifold, and we also analyze the dilatations of all closed surface bundles obtained in this way, identifying those with minimal dilatation. This gives new families of pseudo-Anosovs with low dilatation, including a genus 7 example which minimizes dilatation among all those with orientable invariant foliations.
Is inherent variation in RGR determined by LAR at low irradiance and by NAR at high irradiance? A review of herbaceous species

In this review we analysed inherent differences in Relative Growth Rate (RGR) between herbaceous species or genotypes in terms of variation in the growth parameters Net Assimilation Rate (NAR), Leaf Area Ratio (LAR), Specific Leaf Area (SLA) and Leaf Mass Ratio (LMR). We did so after introducing the 'Growth Response Coefficients' (GRCs), which indicate how a proportional difference in any of the growth parameters scales with the observed proportional difference in RGR. A GRCNAR value of 1 indicates that a given proportional difference in RGR is accompanied by a proportional difference in NAR of the same magnitude; a GRCNAR of 0 indicates that a difference in RGR is not accompanied by any systematic difference in NAR. Averaged over all literature on herbaceous species the GRCNAR was 0.26 and the GRCLAR was 0.74, indicating that LAR is by far the most important factor in explaining inherent variation in RGR. The differences in LAR were mainly due to variation in SLA, GRCSLA being 0.63 and GRCLMR 0.11. We tested in both a direct and an indirect way whether the relative importance of LAR was highest in experiments with low-light grown plants, with variation in NAR being more important in experiments conducted at highlight. In none of the two ways did we find any support for this hypothesis.
The pulsrodon in 2+1-dimensional magneto-gasdynamics: Hamiltonian structure and integrability

An elliptic vortex-type ansatz introduced into a 2+1-dimensional system governing rotating homentropic magneto-gasdynamics with a parabolic gas law is shown to lead to a finite-dimensional nonlinear dynamical system which admits exact analytical solution in terms of an elliptic function and integral representation. The dynamical system is demonstrated to be Hamiltonian and equivalent to the stationary reduction of the integrable nonlinear Schrodinger equation coupled with a Steen-Ermakov-Pinney equation. A novel magneto-gasdynamic analogue of the pulsrodon of shallow water f-plane theory is isolated thereby. Confined and time-periodic magneto-gasdynamic flows are constructed explicitly.
A multi-context design approach for a portable ultrasound device

The world is complex. Amongst others, this means that many elements are interconnected. When designing solutions, this complexity is often seen as cumbersome, resulting in (over) simplification of the issue at hand. This leads to solutions that are optimised for one specific context. Especially when these solutions are aimed at tackling large scale development issues, redoing the process every time when a new context is entered is very resource intensive. A multi-context design approach that was recently developed, takes another premise: if multiformity of a design challenge is acknowledged from the start, this encourages to intentionally bring together insights from multiple contexts. This collective intelligence results in design solutions with higher quality that also allow for quicker scaling and adaptation to multiple contexts thereby achieving more impact against lower overall costs. The first intended result, higher quality, has been tested in various set ups. The most elaborated experiment was conducted with junior designers for a medical company. The main question was: “To which extent does a multi-context approach result in higher quality of design concepts? ” Starting from the same issue (maternal health care, a portable ultrasound device), three groups developed concept directions for solutions, with differences in the sources of insights that were provided. All assessments that were performed point in the same direction, being that the results from the multi-context group were more creative and relevant. Several lessons were obtained about the execution, which are translated into recommendations for more and better experiments and actual use in industry settings.
Organic Management: An Alternative to Control Late Blight of Potato and Tomato Caused by Phytophthora infestans

An experiment was conducted in the field laboratory, Department of Plant pathology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh to evaluate the efficacy of compost tea and poultry litter extract in controlling late blight of potato and tomato under natural infection condition. Significant effects of different organic amendments were observed on the incidence and severity of late blight in potato and toma to as compared to control. The results showed that the minimum late blight incidence, per cent late blight infected leaves per plant and per cent leaf area diseased per plant were recorded in T 3 (compost tea applied as foliar spray) followed by T2 (foliar spray of Ridomil) while these parameters of late blight assessment were recorded maximum in control treatment (T1). Application of IPM lab Biopesticide and BAU-Biofungicide performed better as compared to remaining treatments used in the study. All other c omponents such as soil application of poultry litter, mustard oil cake, soil drenching of compost tea and poultry litter extract resulted significantly lower late blight incidence and severities as compared to untreated control (T 1). Foliar application of compost tea showed best performance in increasing the plant height and yield as compared to all other treatments although soil application of mustard oil cake and compost produced tallest plant and highest number of plants, respectively in potato while the maximum plant height, number branches per plant, and fruit yield in tomato were recorded in case of compost tea applied as soil drench as compared to control. The other treatments showed significant effect in increasing all the growth and yield parameters of both potato and tomato as compared to control. Benefit cost analyses revealed that foliar spray of compost tea showed highest BCR (65.20) followed by T8 (Soil application of IPM Lab Biopesticide) with BCR 54.38 in case of potato while the highest BCR (28.32) was calculated in plots received compost tea as soil drenching followed by T9 (BAU-Biofungicide as foliar spray) in case of tomato. The other treatments showed comparatively higher BCR as compared to untreated control in both vegetables. The results indicated that an investment of Tk. 1.00 may lead to a profit up to Tk. 65.20 by foliar application of compost tea in potato and may lead to a profit of Tk. 28.32 with soil drenching of compost tea in tomato which are maximum profit in the present study.
Resistance of diamondback moth to insecticides in selected cabbage farms in southern Ghana

Resistance of diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella (L.) to insecticides applied for its control on cabbage was evaluated. DBM populations were tested for susceptibility to three pyrethroids (delatamethrin, lambdacyhalothrin, cypermethrin) and an organophosphate (chlorpyrifos-methyl) insecticide using larvae immersion dose-response technique. Non-specific carboxylesterase activity was used as a measure of DBM resistance. Partial characterization of carboxylesterase by zymogram studies was also undertaken using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Susceptibility studies revealed that DBM was resistant to the four insecticides assayed. DBM was least susceptible to chlorpyrifos-methyl, but most susceptible to deltamethrin. Esterase zymogram studies revealed between 2 to 7 bands, each with different characteristics. Higher frequency of the slow-moving esterases associated with high resistance was recorded in Mampong DBM population than the Accra suburbs. This finding confirmed results for carboxylesterase activity. Deltamethrin and cypermethrin demonstrated high negative correlation between fold resistance and carboxylesterase activity for â-isozyme. Chlorpyrifos-methyl, on the other hand showed positive correlation between fold resistance and a-carboxylesterase activity. The high carboxylesterase activities recorded for Mampong DBM, however, did not correlate with results of susceptibility studies. It is suggested that farmers should adopt an integrated approach using the IPM principles coupled with judicious use of biopesticides such as Bacillus thuringiensis. © 2010 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved.
Sexual size dimorphism in steppe tortoises (Testudo horsfieldi): growth, maturity, and individual variation

Age and size at maturity are determined through complex interactions among size at birth, growth rate, maturation, and survival. We studied sexual size dimorphism and growth rate and maturation patterns in a long-lived organism, the steppe tortoise (Testudo horsfieldi), using the scute lamina number and width as age and growth measures. There was no sexual difference in the juvenile growth rate, but females matured later and hence were larger at maturity than males. We also observed considerable inter-individual variation in age and size at maturity. In both sexes, precocious animals grew faster during the juvenile phase but matured at a smaller body size than did tardy animals. Consequently, maturity did not seem size-dependent per se but rather was determined by growth rate. The strong variation between and within the sexes in age and size at maturity suggest that different growth trajectories and maturation schedules depend upon sex and individual responses to resource availability.