Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Potassium nutrition in ratoon sugarcane under a conservation cropping system

La respuesta en la aplicacion de potasio en cana soca depende de las condiciones ambientales de la zona de cltivo. El sistema de cosecha de la cana de azucar sin eleiminacion por la quema de paja deja residuos en el suelo puede alterar la dinamica de nutrientes en el sistema suelo-planta y la necesidad de fertilizacion. El objetivo del trabajo fue evaluar el efecto de la fertilizacion potasica en la primera y segunda soca de cana de azucar sobre los niveles de potasio en el suelo y la planta, la produccion y la calidad tecnologica de los tallos bajo un sistema de manejo conservacionista sin quema de la paja. Los tratamientos consistieron en dosis de potasio: 0, 27, 54, 108 y 162 kg K Ha. dispuestos en un diseno experimental de bloques al azar con cinco replicas. Los trabajos se llevaron a cabo en el segundo ciclo de la cana de azucar en un Hapludox tipico de textura media. La aplicacion de potasio en el suelo aumento la concentracion K en el suelo a los seis meses, alcanzando 2´87 y 2,61 mmol dm3 con la mayor dosis en la primera uy segunda soca respectivamente. El aumento en el contenido disponible de K-intercambiable del suelo promovio el aumento de la absorcion de potasio por la planta se vio reflejado en la produccion de tallos, con una mayor (87,0 y 132,9 t ha) con el uso de la dosis mas alta de 162 kg K ha en la primera y segunda soca de cana de azucar, respectivamente.
A Theory of Education and Health

This paper presents a unified theory of human capital with both health capital and, what we term, skill capital endogenously determined within the model. By considering joint investment in health capital and in skill capital, the model highlights similarities and differences in these two important components of human capital. Health is distinct from skill: health is important to longevity, provides direct utility, provides time that can be devoted to work or other uses, is valued later in life, and eventually declines, no matter how much one invests in it (a dismal fact of life). Lifetime earnings are strongly multiplicative in skill and health, so that investment in skill capital raises the return to investment in health capital, and vice versa. The theory provides a conceptual framework for empirical and theoretical studies aimed at understanding the complex relationship between education and health, and generates several new testable predictions.
Gamification as a Mean of Driving Online Consumer Behaviour: SOR Model Perspective

Gamification recently attracted attention from practitioners and researchers aiming to gain understanding about gamification applicability. According to forecasts of various market research agencies, application of gamification in activities of companies increases and gamification market growth will continue in the future. As gamification is usually focused on customers, it is naturally related to consumer behaviour. However, there is a lack of studies approaching gamification from consumer behaviour perspective. Because gamification is strongly driven by information technologies, the paper seeks to propose an integrated framework for gamification impact on online consumer behaviour. In order to achieve it, the paper explores origins of gamification concept, compares it to similar concepts, proposes gamification definition and provides an overview of pyramid of key gamification elements: game components, game mechanics, game dynamics. Further paper analyses different models of online consumer behaviour emphasing on the application of the stimulus-organism-reaction (SOR) model. SOR model is used for characterising online stimulus (company controlled elements) and their impact on online consumer behaviour. In order to develop the framework, interdependencies of approaches of the pyramid of key gamification elements and SOR model are analysed by identifying factors related to virtual environment, process, and social dimensions.DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.5755/j01.ee. 27.1. 13198
HABITAT CHARACTERISTICS OF WINTERING WOOD WARBLER ( Phylloscopus 1 sibilatri x ) IN CENTRE REGION OF CAMEROON : CONSERVATION 2 IMPLICATIONS 3 4 T

20 21 Populations of many Afro-Palearctic birds have declined, with those wintering in sub-Saharan 22 Africa, such as Wood Warbler Phylloscopus sibilatrix, particularly affected. In this study we 23 investigated the relationship between habitat characteristics on Wood Warbler 24 presence/absence in Centre Region of Cameroon. A total of six transects were established in 25 three habitat types (forest, forest-savannah transitional zone and savannah). Call playback 26 surveys were conducted monthly from November 2015 to April 2016 to determine Wood 27 Warbler presence / absence. Detailed habitat measurements were also recorded in each 28 transect. A total of 86 responses were recorded: 33 (mean 6.6 ± 2.3) in forest habitat, 47 29 (mean 9.4 ± 3.36) in forest-savannah transitional zone, and 6 (mean 2 ± 1.1) in savannah 30 habitat. Wood Warbler presence increased significantly with the number of trees between 3 31 7 m in height, and decreased significantly with the number of shrubs between 0.5 3 m in 32 height. Anthropogenic disturbance such as agriculture cycle and burning were not found to 33 have an effect on Wood Warblers presence / absence. We conclude that Wood Warblers 34
Chronology of Cauvery Delta Sediments from Shallow Subsurface Cores Using Elevated-Temperature Post-IR IRSL Dating of Feldspar

Chronology of Cauvery Delta Sediments from Shallow Subsurface Cores Using Elevated-Temperature Post-IR IRSL Dating of Feldspar We present the results of luminescence dating of sediments from two cores from the Cauvery Delta in south-east India. Since all natural quartz OSL signals except one sample were in saturation, the elevated temperature post-IR IRSL protocol for K-feldspar was applied to establish a chronology. Internal dose rates of K-feldspar grains were calculated from the measured internal content of potassium, uranium, thorium and rubidium in the bulk of K-feldspar grains using solution ICP-OES and ICP-MS analysis. A substantial scatter in single-aliquot De values was observed which is most probably due to the effect of incomplete bleaching of fluvial sediments before burial. A minimum age model was applied to extract possible depositional ages. The study revealed that except an upper layer of Holocene sediments (< 5m), the majority of the upper ~50m of Cauvery delta sediments were deposited between marine isotope stage MIS-5 and MIS-10 or older. The feldspar luminescence ages also indicate the existence of a period of non deposition or erosion in the upper part of the cores.
Learning Organisation Concepts in Open and Distance Learning University: Their Application in Fluid Times of Discontinuity and Uncertainty

Abstract This study explored the key elements in applying learning organisation concepts in changing environments of uncertainty and discontinuity in the Zimbabwe Open University. Drawing on the interpretive paradigm and grounded theory, an open–ended questionnaire generated data from a convenient sample of 20 lecturers and 120 students. Findings suggest that ODL institutions are pivotal for effective collaborative engagement to meet institutional goals. Thus, they need to apply organisational learning concepts and function as “learning organizations”. This may be achieved by fostering both collaborative and individual life-long learning, professional development and intellectual stimulation, research, creativity and innovation. Transformational leadership and autonomy, collective accountability and responsibility and, appropriate incentive schemes also emerged as important. The study suggests re-designing of the ODL university leadership and aligning it to the dictates of modern learning organisations. Being mindful of such issues may assist the university in navigating its way through the uncertainties in the terrain.
L-Arginine and aminoguanidine reduce colonic damage of acetic acid-induced colitis in rats: potential modulation of NF-κB / p65 Running title: L-Arginine reduces acetic acid-induced colitis

The transcription factor, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) is a key inducer of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene expression. The aim of the present study is to investigate the potential protective effect of L-arginine (NO precursor) and aminoguanidine (iNOS inhibitor) against acetic acid (AA) -induced colitis in rats
Critical Coalescence Concentration (CCC) for Surfactants in Aqueous Solutions

This paper presents results of tests performed to determine the minimum concentration of a surfactant used at which the probability of occurrence of coalescence of air bubbles during flotation is low. Tests of the coalescence phenomenon were carried out using selected flotation frothing agents such as poly(ethylene glycol) butyl ethers, which are the ingredients of industrial flotation frothers known under the brand name of CORFLOT. Studies were carried out for three successive butyl ethers in the homologous series: ethylene glycol butyl ether (C4E1), diethylene glycol butyl ether (C4E2), triethylene glycol butyl ether (C4E3). Critical coalescence concentration (CCC) surfactant values were determined using the linear regression method. The investigation proved the existence of a clear relationship between the number of ethylene glycol groups in the ether molecule CnH2n+2(OC2O5)nOH and the value of the CCC. The results obtained show a correlation between the CCC values and the molecular weights (MW) of the tested frothers. This article shows the relationship between CCC value and hydrophilic–lipophilic balance (HLB)/MW for the family of polyglycol ethers. Results show the correlation between the critical coalescence concentration and the value of HLB index, being the measure of hydrophilic–lipophilic balance of surfactants (such as flotation frothers), expressed by the weight ratio of hydrophilic portion of the surfactant molecule and its molecular weight. Histograms of air bubbles created a distribution curve similar to the Gauss distribution pattern. The average diameter of air bubbles tends to decrease along with increasing concentration of the tested surfactants. Two characteristic zones that may be distinguished on the graphs show the relationship between Sauter mean diameter and frother concentration. The tests carried out demonstrate that the critical coalescence concentration may be used to characterize the flotation process, as, knowing the CCC values of the frothers used, we are able to control the consumption of foaming agents during mineral processing.
Carbon-nitrogen feedbacks in the UVic ESCM

Abstract. A representation of the terrestrial nitrogen cycle is introduced into the UVic Earth System Climate Model (UVic ESCM). The UVic ESCM now contains five terrestrial carbon pools and seven terrestrial nitrogen pools: soil, litter, leaves, stem and roots for both elements and ammonium and nitrate in the soil for nitrogen. Nitrogen cycles through plant tissue, litter, soil and the mineral pools before being taken up again by the plant. Biological N2 fixation and nitrogen deposition represent external inputs to the plant-soil system while losses occur via leaching. Simulated carbon and nitrogen pools and fluxes are in the range of other models and observations. Gross primary production (GPP) for the 1990s in the CN-coupled version is 129.6 Pg C a−1 and net C uptake is 0.83 Pg C a−1, whereas the C-only version results in a GPP of 133.1 Pg C a−1 and a net C uptake of 1.57 Pg C a−1. At the end of a transient experiment for the years 1800–1999, where radiative forcing is held constant but CO2 fertilisation for vegetation is permitted to occur, the CN-coupled version shows an enhanced net C uptake of 1.05 Pg C a−1, whereas in the experiment where CO2 is held constant and temperature is transient the land turns into a C source of 0.60 Pg C a−1 by the 1990s. The arithmetic sum of the temperature and CO2 effects is 0.45 Pg C a−1, 0.38 Pg C a−1 lower than seen in the fully forced model, suggesting a strong nonlinearity in the CN-coupled version. Anthropogenic N deposition has a positive effect on Net Ecosystem Production of 0.35 Pg C a−1. Overall, the UVic CN-coupled version shows similar characteristics to other CN-coupled Earth System Models, as measured by net C balance and sensitivity to changes in climate, CO2 and temperature.
New observations on the squamation patterns of articulated specimens of Loganellia scotica (Traquair, 1898) (Vertebrata: Thelodonti) from the Lower Silurian of Scotland

ABSTRACT Articulated squamations of Loganellia scotica (Traquair, 1898) from the Lower Silurian Lesmahagow inliers of southern Scotland have been studied. They include seven articulated specimens, three of them representing complete thelodont fossils, and four partially preserved postpectoral, precaudal and caudal parts of the exoskeleton. All the five main types of thelodont scales that is rostral, cephalo-pectoral, postpectoral, precaudal and pinnal sacles, as well as respective squamation patterns have been observed on articulated specimens. The specific orbital, branchial, and bucco-pharyngeal scales, characteristic of L. scotica, have not been found due to the poor or non-preservation of these particular areas within the specimens studied. Tail morphology and squamation pattern of the caudal fin have been studied with particular attention, and the constitution of the caudal fin rays has been analyzed. The rostral squamation pattern is argued to be characteristic to L. scotica.
Median-Based Classifiers for High-Dimensional Data

Conventional distance-based classifiers use standard Euclidean distance, and so can suffer from excessive volatility if vector components have heavy-tailed distributions. This difficulty can be alleviated by replacing the L2 distance by its L1 counterpart. For example, the L1 version of the popular centroid classifier would allocate a new data value to the population to whose centroid it was closest in L1 terms. However, this approach can lead to inconsistency, because the centroid is defined using L2, rather than L1 distance. In particular, by mixing L1 and L2 approaches, we produce a classifier that can seriously misidentify data in cases where the means and medians of marginal distributions take different values. These difficulties motivate replacing centroids by medians. However, in the very-high-dimensional settings commonly encountered today, this can be problematic if we attempt to work with a conventional spatial median. Therefore, we suggest using componentwise medians to construct a robust classifier that is relatively insensitive to the difficulties caused by heavy-tailed data and entails straightforward computation. We also consider generalizations and extensions of this approach based on, for example, using data truncation to achieve additional robustness. Using both empirical and theoretical arguments, we explore the properties of these methods, and show that the resulting classifiers can be particularly effective. Supplementary materials are available online.
Density, population structure and activity pattern of Hydromedusa tectifera (Testudines-Chelidae) in a mountain stream of Córdoba province, Argentina

The Snake-necked Turtle ( Hydromedusa tectifera ) is mainly distributed in the northeastern provinces of Argentina; however, some isolated populations occur in central Cordoba. This is the first report on some ecological aspects of one of these populations. Population density and annual activity pattern were characterized at Toro Muerto Stream in the Sierras region of the Cordoba province, central Argentina. Turtles were hand-captured and sex and carapace length were determined for each individual. Mark-recapture data were used to estimate population density, variation in monthly capture rates, and sex ratios throughout the sampling months. A total of 96 turtles were captured and density was estimated at 218 individuals ha −1 . Individuals were captured all year round, but showed activity peaks in spring and summer. This seasonal pattern has also been observed in other freshwater turtles. During the mating season a higher number of males were captured, which suggested a seasonal difference in activity patterns between sexes.
Population study of the protected bivalve Pinna nobilis (Linnaeus, 1758) in Thermaikos Gulf (North Aegean Sea)

The population structure and the age and growth of the protected bivalve Pinna nobilis were studied in the Thermaikos Gulf (North Aegean Sea). The density was 1.04 ± 0.17 ind m -2 , the highest reported until now in the Mediterranean Sea. Mean length was 34.35 ± 11.78 cm and maximum length (L max ) was 69.10 cm, which indicated an undisturbed natural population. Allometric relations between morphometric and/or weight parameters were calculated and they indicated that P. nobilis has the priority to ensure the living space for its body growth and protection. Length frequency distribution and the observed age structure indicated that the P. nobilis population studied was constructed mainly of small and medium sized/aged individuals. In comparison with other Mediterranean populations of P. nobilis, the growth rate of the East Thermaikos population was among the smallest ones (k = 0.063), while the maximum length (L∞ = 73.77) was among the largest ones.
Influence of mutational pressure on protein coding sequences in bacterial genomes

Composition of protein coding sequences is a result of compromise between selective constraints on their coding function and the mutational pressure, which can modified to some extent the nucleotide composition preferred by the selection. To analyze the influence of mutational pressure on protein coding sequences, we simulated evolution of protein coding sequences from two bacterial genomes, Borrelia burgdorferii and Chlamydia muridarum. The sequences were subjected to mutational substitution matrices and the selection process was modeled by the modified version of the commonly used algorithm GeneMark for finding protein coding sequences in prokaryotic genomes. We considered the effect of three types of selection mechanisms (’negative’, ’stabilizing’ and ’positive’) on changes in the coding potential during the simulations. We also studied the influence of mutational and selection pressures on the nucleotide composition of three codon positions in protein coding genes.
A theoretical rationale for flexicurity policies based on education

The paper provides a theoretical rationale for flexicurity policies, which consist of low employment protection, generous unemployment insurance and active labor market programmes. It analyzes in which conditions flexicurity can be optimal. Low employment protection encourages costly education efforts to access high productivity and high innovation sectors, with firms more likely to survive and thus not exposing much their workers to unemployment risk. Activation programmes support the reallocation flow from unproductive to productive firms, helping to reduce unemployment. Low employment protection thus provides incentives for costly self-insurance against unemployment risk through education, mitigating the moral hazard cost of unemployment insurance and activation programmes. The paper provides realistic numerical illustrations where flexicurity is optimal, and where it is not optimal.
Simultaneous identification of a plasmaspheric plume by a ground magnetometer pair and IMAGE Extreme Ultraviolet Imager

[1] We have compared two quantities which were simultaneously observed by two different instruments at the same point of the plasmaspheric plume. One quantity is the field-line eigenfrequency, which was obtained by applying the dual-station H-component power ratio method to geomagnetic data obtained from two ground magnetometers (at Tixie and Chokurdakh) of the Circum-pan Pacific Magnetometer Network (CPMN). The other is the He+ column abundance obtained by the IMAGE satellite Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (IMAGE/EUV). We used the EUV He+ column abundance data mapped to the equatorial footpoint of the field-line whose eigenfrequency we obtained from the ground data. The mapped EUV He+ column abundance is roughly proportional to the equatorial density of He+. The result of the IMAGE/EUV analysis showed an increase-then-decrease pattern of the He+ column abundance. On the other hand, as a result of analyzing the simultaneously observed ground magnetometer data, we found that the eigenfrequency showed a coherent decrease-then-increase pattern. Since this pattern takes place if the equatorial plasma density along the field line increased and then decreased, these two results are qualitatively consistent. In addition, the H-power ratio showed an offset when either Tixie or Chokurdakh (these stations are longitudinally separated) stayed inside the plume. This feature can be explained if the overall ULF wave power was weaker in the plume than in the surrounding trough. With the above findings, this paper is the first to identify a plume from both the spacecraft image and the ground magnetometer ULF waves.
Life history traits of Characidium pterostictum (Characiformes, Crenuchidae) along the longitudinal gradient of a Neotropical river in southern Brazil

Life history traits of Characidium pterostictum Gomes, 1947 (Characiformes, Crenuchidae) from three diff erent reaches of the upper Sinos river, southern Brazil, were described and comparatively analyzed according to the longitudinal gradient. For all reaches, results indicated a seasonal reproductive strategy with a higher intensity during warmer months of higher photoperiod (November to February). Only females were found in the upstream reach and they were more numerous than males in all the sampled reaches. Mean absolute fecundity ranged from 5,189 (±2,131 SD) to 7,394 (±3,807 SD), whereas mean relative fecundity (oocytes per mg of female total weight) ranged from 1.08 (±0.40 SD) to 1.12 (±0.29 SD). Oocyte development was characterized as synchronic in two groups, typical of total spawning. Longitudinal gradient comparison suggests that body size (standard length) of C. pterostictum individuals and sex ratio were the only characteristics that diff ered between sampled reaches. Larger individuals and thus females tended to be more frequently found in upstream reaches of the Sinos river, with a decrease in body size and in the proportional number of females towards downstream.
Real positivity and approximate identities in Banach algebras

Blecher and Read have recently introduced and studied a new notion of positivity in operator algebras, with an eye to extending certain $C^*$-algebraic results and theories to more general algebras. In the present paper we generalize some part of this, and some other facts, to larger classes of Banach algebras.