Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Germination and sensitivity to desiccation of Cola anomala (K. Schum.) seeds

Introduction. As a step in the process of Cola anomala domestication, investigations were undertaken on germination requirements and desiccation tolerance of its seeds. Materials and methods. Three seed provenances (Bamenda, Bayangam and Dschang), three substrates (forest top soil, river sand and a mixture of forest top soil and river sand) and two photoperiods (12 h day-1 and continuous darkness) were investigated for their effects on seed germination. To evaluate their desiccation tolerance, fresh seeds were dried at room temperature (24 ± 1 °C) for 16 days during which seed moisture content, seed germination percentage and electrical conductivity of seed leachate were monitored at two-day intervals. Results and discussion. Germination rates were significantly (P There is a significant variation in germination responses between C. anomala seed batches The best substrate for germination is forest top soil supplemented or not with river sand in a 1/1 (v/v) ratio. The seeds of C. anomala are particularly desiccation-sensitive which is a significant constraint for conservation storage.
Distribution, feeding habits and morphology of killer whales Orcinus orca in the Caribbean Sea

Killer whales Orcinus orca are found in all oceans of the world, but most of our knowledge on the species comes from studies conducted at higher latitudes. Studies on killer whales in the Caribbean have been scarce. We compiled 176 records of killer whales from the Caribbean, including 95 previously unreported records and 81 records recovered from the literature, consisting of 27 capture or kill records, 4 stranding records and 145 sighting records. Our results indicate that killer whales are widespread in the Caribbean Sea and can be found year-round in the region. Mean group size was 3.7 animals. A diversity of prey items was recorded, including sea turtles and marine mammals and possibly fish. We cannot exclude ecotype or morphotype-specific dietary specialization in the Caribbean population. A preliminary morphological analysis of 10 characters in 52 individuals from 21 different groups suggests that Caribbean killer whales do not represent any of the four Antarctic and subantarctic types, type 1 from the northwest Atlantic, or ‘resident’ and ‘transient’ killer whales from the northwest Pacific. Some Caribbean killer whales share a combination of characters typical of type 2 in the North Atlantic, whereas others share those typical of ‘offshore’ killer whales in the northwest Pacific. The significance of this is unclear. Comparison of Caribbean killer whales to previously described morphotypes and ecotypes is hampered by the lack of detailed, quantitative data on variation within other types, as well as by the lack of comparisons of genetic diversity. Our study adds to the growing knowledge of the diversity of killer whales worldwide but underscores that additional research is warranted in the tropics.
Acylated Pelargonidin 3-sambubioside-5-glucosides from the Red-purple Flowers of Lobularia maritima

Six acylated pelargonidin 3-O-sambubioside-5-O-glucosides were isolated from red-purple flowers of Lobularia maritima (L.) Desv. ‘Easter Bonnet Deep Rose’. These pigments were determined by chemical and spectroscopic methods to be pelargonidin 3-O-[2-O-(2-O-(acyl-II)-β-xylopyranosyl)-6-O-(acyl-I)-β-glucopyranoside]-5-O-β-glucopyranoside, in which the acyl-I group was replaced by 4-O-glucosyl-p-coumaric acid, p-coumaric acid or ferulic acid, and acyl-II by caffeic acid or ferulic acid, respectively. In comparison with the floral anthocyanins of purple-violet flowers in L. maritima cultivar ‘Easter Bonnet Violet’, the molecular composition of organic acids and sugars of ‘Easter Bonnet Deep Rose’ were identical, however, aglycones of both cultivars were different, and pelargonidin is the floral anthocyanin of ‘Easter Bonnet Deep Rose’ and cyanidin is that of ‘Easter Bonnet Violet’. Variations of the flower colors of these cultivars are responsible for the aglycone component in their floral anthocyanins. In this paper, the relation between flower color and anthocyanins in L. maritima cultivars is discussed.
Empirical evaluation of Bluetooth and Wifi scanning for road transport

Recently there has been significant interest of researchers and practitioners on the use of Bluetooth Media Access Control Scanner (BMS) as a complementary transport data source. Wifi Media Access Control Scanners (WMS) which scan the MAC-ID used for Wifi communication can also be used. Currently WMS are not widely used, and their usage is still being explored. The communication difference in BT and Wifi technology; availability of live BT and Wifi in the devices; and technical differences between BMS and WMS can result in significant differences in the quality and quantity of data being collected by each device type. This objective of this research is to empirically evaluate the BMS and WMS devices in terms of availability of the traffic data and accuracy of travel time estimation. The strengths and weakness of the two scanners (BMS and WMS) are identified. Real surveys along the arterial corridor in Brisbane are performed to empirically support the findings. The performed survey includes measurements of real flow traffic, BMS data and WMS data along Ipswich Road, Brisbane. The proportion of traffic being captured by each BMS and WMS are evaluated and the type of device being captured by BMS and WMS are also identified. The knowledge gained is helpful for researchers and practitioners to understand the current and long term insight on the use of both BMS and WMS as complementary traffic data sources.
Quantum Dynamic Effects at Insertion Minimum Reaction : H + LiF Reaction

In transition state (TS) region, almost all systems (reactions) have weak van der waals complex structures. When these systems include heavy atom transfer, the forming quantum tunneling effects are suppressed. At TS region these reactions, especially including insertion minimum energy wells, demonstrate to rapidly the formation of product molecules at low temperature region. This study has focused on H+LiF system, one of systems that have this feature. In this system, since unstable H--F--Li complex quasibound states have the barriers in the TS, it is important to investigate and understand to depending on specific quantum states of the initial and the product molecule for this reaction. The results in collision energy range of 0-0.8 eV were obtained and corrected by using Reel Wave Packet (RWP) methods. Integral reaction cross sections as a function of collision energy were calculated via simple J-shifting (SJS) and reaction rate constants were examined in temperature range of 100-1000 K.
Potencialidades e desafios de uma política pública intersetorial em drogas: o Programa “De Braços Abertos” de São Paulo, Brasil

Resumo O Programa “De Braços Abertos” (DBA) é uma política pública de São Paulo que tem por objetivo promover a reabilitação psicossocial de usuários de drogas em situação de vulnerabilidade social por meio da oferta de um pacote de direitos e de ações assistenciais. O DBA tem o diferencial de trabalhar de forma intersetorial, sendo uma inovação no campo das políticas públicas sobre drogas. Este trabalho é fruto da pesquisa de campo do doutorado em saúde pública da ENSP/Fiocruz. Foram realizadas entrevistas com gestores e profissionais do programa de vários setores. Utilizou-se a metodologia qualitativa, apresentando a sistematização das principais “fortalezas, fragilidades, desafios e sustentabilidade” do DBA. Os resultados principais foram a redução do uso prejudicial do crack; a inserção em trabalho e a melhoria do acesso ao cuidado em saúde. Os principais desafios seriam o aprimoramento das moradias e o avanço no trabalho apoiado para a reinserção social. Conclui-se que o DBA se mostrou uma iniciativa inovadora, conseguindo a redução do consumo de drogas e promovendo a reinserção social de seus usuários. No entanto, ainda é um grande desafio fazer uma gestão intersetorial com diferentes interesses políticos e disputas de poder, mas entende-se que esse é o caminho a ser trilhado.
A Common Currency for China, Japan and Korea

China, Japan and Korea have recently shown their collective interest for adopting a common monetary unity. It could serve in the long run as the base of a common currency in Asia. In an OCA analysis framework, this study analyzes their economic conditions for assessing the viability of a possible common currency for these three countries. Results indicate that their economic conditions, represented by macro-structural shock symmetries, plead in favor of a common currency among them.
Relationship of fish catch and composition to water quality in a suite of agriculturally eutrophic lakes

We examined the fish community, water quality, and morphometry of 32 agriculturally eutrophic lakes. Our purpose was to explore the relationships between eutrophication and fish catch per unit effort by weight (CPUEw) and fish community composition of the six most important species in this suite of the world's most nutrient-rich lakes. We found that the CPUEw of the sum of all species increased with lake trophic status measured as chlorophyll a (r = 0.45, p < 0.009). By dissecting total fish CPUEw into individual species and functional groups, we found that only common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and benthivore CPUEw increased significantly with trophic status (p < 0.03 and 0.001, respec- tively). Sport fish (principally piscivores) decreased as a proportion of total CPUEw by approximately 50%, while benthivores, primarily common carp, increased by approximately 80% over an increase in cholorophyll a from 10 to 100 µg·L -1 . Common carp CPUEw was correlated with and may have a negative influence on CPUEw of bluegill
Q BOARD INTERVIEWS - AN EFFECTIVE METHOD TO RESEARCH USER OPINIONS

Q board interviews can be applied as an effective method to get insight in the opinions of participants. Q board interviews form the interviewing part of Q methodology. Q methodology can be used to identify typical sets of opinions. However, in many studies, the research goal is to order opinions and see which ones play the most important roles, instead of identifying groups of people with similar opinions. In such cases, full Q methodology is not required. Yet, the Q board interviewing method has a number of characteristics that are also advantageous in such situations. Therefore, we decided to apply Q board interviews, although our goal was not to do factor analysis. With Q board interviews, participants order pre-formulated statements. Besides, participants are encouraged to provide background information. This enables them to bring in issues that go beyond the fixed set of statements. Because of this combination, Q board interviews stimulate engagement of the participants, without making the interview time consuming. The paper describes how Q board interviews were used by students of the course Social Cohesion Design and how the application of Q board interviews functioned as a preparation for applying Q methodology in the second stage of the course.
Physical Factors Affecting the Interior Radon-Concentrations

Researchers have realized that radon-contaminated air inside buildings is a principal way of human exposure to certain healthy-risks. A model is developed to estimate radon concentrations which consider various parameters: in indoor air radon (radon-222) concentration, air permeability of ground, air pressure difference between outdoor and indoor at ground level, ventilation of building ground and number of air changes per hour due to ventilation. The radon-222 transport into building might dominated by diffusion, pressure driven flow or/and a mixture of both depending on the actual values of the various parameters. So, in several and regular periods of time: January, April, July and October, radon-222 concentrations have been measured in ten rooms of five elementary schools and in five rooms of one high school at Qena city (Upper Egypt). This has been carried out using alpha scintillation counters. We have noticed that in three rooms the value has exceeded 200 Bqm -3 at the basement and only one room at the first floor, and all values have changed with respect to time and localization: They have decreased from July to January and from basement to first floor. For example, radon-222 concentrations obtained by exposing track detectors varied in the range from 20 Bqm-3 up to 100 Bqm-3. The experimental results of the present work have been well fitted with the presented model (calculations) which supports the validity of the presented model. So, to decrease the level of indoor air radon-222 concentrations and to reduce its harmful effects it is recommended to follow the suggestions in the present study and to limit as possible the use of ceramic in the building construction, increase the hours of ventilation and to restrict the use of underground floors in buildings, the underground Metro and garage parking should be carefully (and even mandatory) ventilated.
Salivary Cortisol, Rank, and Perceived Control Among Law Enforcement Personnel

This exploratory secondary analysis examined rank (position on occupational hierarchy), perceived control, and salivary cortisol (biomarker for stress) using archival data from the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) study (Violanti et al., 2006). It was expected that higher-ranking officers (detective, sergeant, lieutenant, and captain) would have more perceived control, and would have lower waking cortisol values than lower-ranking officers (patrol officer/police officer). Perceived control was assessed using the control facet of the Short Hardiness Scale (Dispositional Resilience Scale, DRS-15) developed by Paul T. Bartone (1995). Awakening salivary cortisol (AC) samples include samples immediately upon waking (AC0), with repeated measures 15 (AC 15), 30 (AC 30), and 45 (AC 45) minutes thereafter. The awakening cortisol response (ACR) was computed by using the mean increase (MnInc) in cortisol levels (AC 15 + AC 30 + AC45)/3-AC0). There were no statistically significant findings; however, there are a number of implications to be derived from this analysis for future research.
Broadband and High-Gain Planar Vivaldi Antennas Based on Inhomogeneous Anisotropic Zero-Index Metamaterials

Vivaldi antennas have broad applications in real practice due to the ultra wideband properties. However, their gain and directivity are relatively low. In this paper, a new method is presented to improve the gain and directivity of Vivaldi antennas in a broad band using inhomogeneous and anisotropic (IA) zero-index metamaterials (ZIM). ZIM have the ability to enhance the antenna directivity; anisotropic ZIM with only one component of the permittivity or permeability tensor approaching to zero can make impedance match to improve the radiation e-ciency; and IA-ZIM can broaden the frequency bandwidth. Single- and multiple-layered planar IA-ZIM have been analyzed, designed, and fabricated, which can be embedded into the original Vivaldi antenna smoothly and compactly. The IA- ZIM-based Vivaldi antennas have good features of high gain, high directivity, low return loss, and broad bandwidth. Compared to the original Vivaldi antenna, the measurement results show that the gain has been increased by 3dB and the half-power beam width has been decreased by 20 degrees with the re∞ection coe-cient less than i10dB from 9.5GHz to 12.5GHz after using IA-ZIM.
Three-year monitoring of stable isotopes of precipitation at Concordia Station, East Antarctica

Abstract. Past temperature reconstructions from Antarctic ice cores require a good quantification and understanding of the relationship between snow isotopic composition and 2 m air or inversion (condensation) temperature. Here, we focus on the French–Italian Concordia Station, central East Antarctic plateau, where the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) Dome C ice cores were drilled. We provide a multi-year record of daily precipitation types identified from crystal morphologies, daily precipitation amounts and isotopic composition. Our sampling period (2008–2010) encompasses a warmer year (2009, +1.2 °C with respect to 2 m air temperature long-term average 1996–2010), with larger total precipitation and snowfall amounts (14 and 76 % above sampling period average, respectively), and a colder and drier year (2010, −1.8 °C, 4 % below long-term and sampling period averages, respectively) with larger diamond dust amounts (49 % above sampling period average). Relationships between local meteorological data and precipitation isotopic composition are investigated at daily, monthly and inter-annual scale, and for the different types of precipitation. Water stable isotopes are more closely related to 2 m air temperature than to inversion temperature at all timescales (e.g. R2 = 0.63 and 0.44, respectively for daily values). The slope of the temporal relationship between daily δ18O and 2 m air temperature is approximately 2 times smaller (0.49 ‰ °C−1) than the average Antarctic spatial (0.8 ‰ °C−1) relationship initially used for the interpretation of EPICA Dome C records. In accordance with results from precipitation monitoring at Vostok and Dome F, deuterium excess is anti-correlated with δ18O at daily and monthly scales, reaching maximum values in winter. Hoar frost precipitation samples have a specific fingerprint with more depleted δ18O (about 5 ‰ below average) and higher deuterium excess (about 8 ‰ above average) values than other precipitation types. These datasets provide a basis for comparison with shallow ice core records, to investigate post-deposition effects. A preliminary comparison between observations and precipitation from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis and the simulated water stable isotopes from the Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique Zoom atmospheric general circulation model (LMDZiso) shows that models do correctly capture the amount of precipitation as well as more than 50 % of the variance of the observed δ18O, driven by large-scale weather patterns. Despite a warm bias and an underestimation of the variance in water stable isotopes, LMDZiso correctly captures these relationships between δ18O, 2 m air temperature and deuterium excess. Our dataset is therefore available for further in-depth model evaluation at the synoptic scale.
Effects of Far Infrared Heat on Recovery in Power Athletes

Effects of Far Infrared Heat on Recovery in Power Athletes Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the far infrared (FIR) heat on the recovery of the power athletes during the 5-day intensive training period. Methods: The experimental group acted also as its own control group and it consisted of ten national level male athletes (22.3 ± 4.5 years) from power events. Training consisted of strength-, power-, and technique sessions. Performance tests included isometric strength tests, a countermovement jump (CMJ) and a Wingate 30 s test. Serum concentration of testosterone, cortisol, sex hormone binding globulin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and creatinekinase were analysed. During the experimental condition the participants used whole body infrared bag (40 min at temperature of 50 oC) every evening on consecutive four days. Results: CMJ height (p ≤ 0.05) and peak power in the Wingate test (p ≤ 0.05) were greater after the experimental condition. The increase in the testosterone/cortisol (T/C) ratio between the preand post-measurements was significantly greater (p ≤ 0.05) during the experimental condition than during the control condition. Conclusions: The present study indicates that the FIR heat improves recovery of the neuromuscular performance during the 5-day intensive training period associated with the increase in the T/C ratio. Improved recovery can enable harder training and can further accelerate athletic development. FIR heat provides a useful tool to accelerate recovery, but it does not replace other strong recovery supporting modalities like nutrition, sleep, and muscle massage.
CORRELATION OF THE NIGHTTIME VISIBILITY OF PAVEMENT MARKING TAPES WITH PHOTOMETRIC MEASUREMENT

A primary visual guide for a motor vehicle driver is the use of pavement markings on the centerline and edge line of the roadway. The nighttime visibility performance of these markings is predicted by a surrogate method of laboratory or field photometric measurement. There are currently several photometric systems in use that vary widely in geometric and precision capabilities. With the advent of modern pavement markings with a variety of retroreflective optical systems and surface characteristics, common retroreflective measurements in the laboratory and field have generally been found to lack correlation with the markings visibility performance of drivers. The nighttime visibility of new, dry centerline pavement markings as viewed from a stationary automobile and semitruck are compared with laboratory and field photometric measurements. The visibility results are compared with the photometric methods. The common test geometries used in the industry today are found to have poor correlation with driver visual perception at most distances. A laboratory test method has been developed with the hope of better characterizing actual pavement marking retroreflective performance. This test method measures products at the same photometric geometries at which a driver actually observes pavement markings. Excellent agreement between driver visual observation and this test method was obtained at multiple distances.
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF SPRINKLER IRRIGATION SYSTEM AT MAMBILLA BEVERAGE LIMITED, KAKARA-GEMBU, TARABA STATE-NIGERIA

Irrigation systems are designed to achieve a desired efficiency which in turns improve food productivity. This paper evaluated the Kakara Tea Irrigation System (KTIS) based on its coefficient of uniformity CU, delivery performance ratio (DPR), irrigation productivity (IP), labour requirements and water quality. Standard procedure was used for the evaluation. Christiansen’s equation was used to compute CU. EDTA and flame photometer methods were used to analyse water quality. The result indicated that KTIS has a CU of 90.9%, DPR of 0.79 which indicated an efficiency of 79%. Sprinkler discharge rate was 1.2l/s and application rate was 7.5mm/hr. It is capable of irrigating 41.1ha/day with an average irrigation cycle of 9days and irrigation productivity of 2613.7kg/ha. Total irrigation production contributes 68.6% to the annual production; case study of 2016 production record. The exchangeable cations analysis of Kakara irrigation System water indicates thus; Na (0.75mgL -1 ), Ca (1.01mgL -1 ) and Mg (0.20mgL -1 ) and Sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) value of (9.64mmoleL 1 ), while the pH was 5.6. The result also indicated variation in discharge. Comparing the irrigation productivity (IP) with previous production records from 2011-2016 showed good irrigation performance trend of Mambilla Beverage Company irrigation scheme. However, the system is labour intensive since the laterals have to be moved after some period of time. The implementation or adoption of permanent laterals and risers will reduce manual labour demand. Variation in discharge can also be adjusted via use of uniform laterals, risers, and nozzles. This study further recommends an incorporation of a soil and water laboratory for the company to aid in monitoring the soil and water quality of the irrigation area. http://dx.doi. org/10.4314/njt.v37i1. 35