Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy of different light-emitting diodes (LEDs) attached to yellow sticky cards to capture the whitefly trialeurodes vaporariorum

Since adult insects respond to particular wavelengths, some investigations have proposed to use such behavior as potential target for novel monitoring and pest control tools.Yellow sticky cards have been commonly used for monitoring whiteflies population in open-fields as well as in greenhouses. However, the attractiveness depends on various factors such as the reflected intensity (brightness) and the hues of yellow color (wavelength) of the trap surface, which is often influenced by environmental conditions and may sometimes affect the capture of white flies.There fore, the use of light emitting diodes (LEDs) can be a significant complementary tool to strengthen attractiveness and the selectivity of these cards. This research was carried out to investigate the efficacy of the yellow sticky traps equipped with LEDs in the capturing mechanism of adult whiteflies Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae). This study has taken place in a glass little greenhouse at the Argentine Agricultural Experiment Station (EEA) of the National Institute for Agricultural Technology (INTA) of Concordia, Province of Entre Rios (Argentina), where rearing insect cages were placed together with tobacco plants, Solanum tabacum L. and beans Phaseolus vulgaris L. from June to July, 2013. The yellow sticky traps covered an area of 64cm2and were supplemented with LED sof different wavelengths, namely green LEDs (525 nm), UV (380 nm) and without LED sas control treatment. The trials showed that adults of T. vaporariorum on average preferred (α>0,05) traps equipped with green LEDs (525nm),which could have a promising use in greenhouses for the identification, monitoring and control of whiteflies.
Sex in Space! Does Sexual Selection Accelerate or Hinder Adaptation?

Theory suggests sexual selection should accelerate adaptation in novel environments. A number of past studies used Drosophila species to test this prediction, and yielded inconsistent result. However, these experiments were all conducted in settings where the test populations are being housed in spatially restricted, simple mating environments. The use of high-density, small and physically simple arenas can exacerbate the effect of male harassment, which reduces both selection on high condition females, and selection against low condition males. Adult fly interaction in large and complex mating environment is predicted to alter selection by alleviate the intensity of male harassment, and increase selection on males. As a necessary extension to past studies, we give evidence suggesting that sexually selected populations evolving under complex ecological environment yields fitness measure more consistent with the alignment of natural and sexual selection.
The role of 1-hexene comonomer content in thermal behavior of medium density polyethylene (MDPE) synthesized using Phillips catalyst

In this work, the role of comonomer content of 1-hexene-medium density polyethylene (MDPE) copolymer, synthesized using Phillips catalyst, on thermal behavior parameters such as: crystallization, melting temperature and thermal degradation was investigated in detail. The copolymer was fractionated to homogenous short-chain branching (SCB) fractions by "preparative temperature rising elution fractionation" (P-TREF) method and then it was subjected to thermal analyses. A broad chemical composition distribution (CCD) in terms of SCB content and molecular weight (Mw) was observed by P-TREF and gel permeation chromatography (GPC), respectively. Based on P-TREF results, a parabolic relationship between methylene sequence length (MSL) and elution temperature (ET) was presented. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed distinct, well-defined melting peaks over a 22 °C temperature range for SCB contents of about 3-12 (br/1000 C). The variations in physical characteristics such as melting temperature (Tm), crystallinity (Xc), crystallization temperature (Tc) and lamellae thickness (Lc) against SCB content were correlated. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) suggested linear relationships between the temperature at maximum degradation rate (Tmax) as well as the degradation initiation temperature (T5%) versus SCB content. Moreover, the TGA curves exhibited distinct differences at both initiation and propagation stages of thermal degradation at dissimilar comonomer contents.
Hydrothermal Synthesis and Structural Characterization of NiO/SnO2 Composites and Hydrogen Sensing Properties

Pure SnO2 and NiO doped SnO2 nanostructures were successfully synthesized via a simple and environment-friendly hydrothermal method. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) were used to investigate the crystalline structures, surface morphologies and microstructures, and element components and their valences of the as-synthesized samples. Furthermore, planar chemical gas sensors based on the synthesized pure SnO2 and NiO/SnO2 composites were fabricated and their sensing performances to hydrogen, an important fault characteristic gas dissolved in power transformer oil, were investigated in detail. Gas sensing experiments indicate that the NiO/SnO2 composites showed much higher gas response and lower working temperature than those of pure SnO2, which could be ascribed to the formation of p-n heterojunctions between p-type NiO and n-type SnO2. These results demonstrate that the as-synthesized NiO/SnO2 composites a promising hydrogen sensing material.
Global Virtual Water Trade: Integrating Structural Decomposition Analysis with Network Theory

The consideration of both the direct and the indirect effects of global production and trade is the first step in order to assess the sustainability of resource exploitation, in particular water usage. This paper applies the Global Multi-Regional Input-Output model to quantify the interdependencies of different sectors and to determine the overall water consumption of each country. This procedure allows the measurement of Virtual Water Trade, that is the volume of water embedded in traded goods. This paper introduces further extensions based on network analysis to overcome the limitations of I-O models. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to build a bridge between two different, but related, methodologies. Firstly, we assess the evolution of the structure of international trade in Virtual Water (VW). Secondly, we present the results from the Structural Decomposition Analysis. Finally, we introduce other measures from Network Theory, in order to integrate the previous results. Community Detection assessment reveals the emergence of regional VW systems composed by a limited set of countries. Thus our study confirms the need of elaborating and implementing transboundary policies for water management, especially in the European Union.
Physico-chemical Properties and Antioxidant Activities of Under Protected and Organically Cultivated Some Banana Cultivars at Different Ripening Stages

In this research, several physico-chemical properties such as fruit weight, fruit width, fruit length, fruit height, fruit length/fruit width, peel thickness, peel weight, total soluble solids (TSS), pH, titratable acidity (TA), fruit firmness, fruit color and antioxidant activities of the fresh (harvest stage) green and yellow (ripe stage) fruit pulp of two different cultivar of banana plants (Dwarf Cavendish and Gross Michel) cultivated in under protection and organic growing system were determined. At the end of the research, the heaviest (170.297 g) and the largest (37.059 mm) fruit was obtained from Gross Michel (with peel) cultivar. Also, in terms of the highest fruit length and fruit height was found with peel and without peel forms of Gross Michel cultivar. In point of total soluble solid content, pH and titratable acidity values were obtained 22.1 %, 4.1 and 0.48 % for Dwarf Cavendish banana cultivar, these values were found 21.533 %, 4.6 and 0.503 % for Gross Michel banana cultivar, respectively. On the other hand, fruit firmness value was found to be 4.233 N/mm for Dwarf Cavendish cultivar and 4.500 N/mm for Gross Michel cultivar. However, no statistically significant differences were found in terms of fruit peel color among the varieties in the experiment. In addition, the antioxidant activities of the fruit pulp extracts were evaluated by using -the free radical scavenging, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) scavenging and metal (Fe) chelating activities methods. Dwarf Cavendish banana cultivar fruit pulp had higher antioxidant activity at the ripe stage than Gross Michel banana cultivar.
Error budgeting and tolerancing of starshades for exoplanet detection

A flower-like starshade positioned between a star and a space telescope is an attractive option for blocking the starlight to reveal the faint reflected light of an orbiting Earth-like planet. Planet light passes around the petals and directly enters the telescope where it is seen along with a background of scattered light due to starshade imperfections. We list the major perturbations that are expected to impact the performance of a starshade system and show that independent models at NGAS and JPL yield nearly identical optical sensitivities. We give the major sensitivities in the image plane for a design consisting of a 34-m diameter starshade, and a 2-m diameter telescope separated by 39,000 km, operating between 0.25 and 0.55 um. These sensitivities include individual petal and global shape terms evaluated at the inner working angle. Following a discussion of the combination of individual perturbation terms, we then present an error budget that is consistent with detection of an Earth-like planet 26 magnitudes fainter than its host star.
Relationship between Rainfall-Runoff on the White Volta River at Pwalugu of the Volta Basin in Ghana

Rainfall and runoff patterns affect mans activities in so many ways and as such, designs of agricultural, storm water management, telecommunication, erosion, droughts, food security etc. It is essential that the role of rainfall and stream flow are recognized, understood and taken into account when modelling hydrological processes within any Basin. The Pwalugu catchment in the White Volta Basin experiences one rainy season which usually begins from April and peaks up in July, August, and September and gradually end with some showers in October and part of November. The basis of the analysis comprises of the rainfall events and runoff of the White Volta River at Pwalugu, to determine the relationship between the rainfall events and runoff and also estimates the contribution of rainfall to runoff by a certain threshold of rainfall. The analysis shows that the period is characterized by high inter-seasonal rainfall and discharge variability with a correlation coefficient of 0.78 which showed a strong positive relationship between rainfall and runoff in the catchment. For the linear regression relationships of cumulated rainfall events and discharges for the various years considered for the study, it is realized that 2003 and 2009 recorded the highest coefficients of correlation of 0.96 and 0.92 respectively. The studies showed that the minimum rainfall that can cause runoff in the catchment is 25mm which was set as a threshold. It is also observed from the analysis that a rainfall of at least 18mm can contribute 0.2m 3 /s of water to river flow with a correlation coefficient of 0.90 indicating a strong relationship between rainfall and riverflow. Keywords : Rainfall, Runoff, Volta Basin, Intensity, Threshold
Modelling population effects of juvenile offshore fish displacement towards adult habitat

Recent studies of fish distribution patterns highlight shifts in the spatial distributions of particular life-stages. Focus has thus far been on changes in habitat use and possible drivers for these changes. Yet, small-scale shifts in habitat use of certain life stages may have profound consequences on population dynamics through changes in resource use and competition. To explore this, a conceptual stage-structured model was developed with 3 stages and 2 resources and allowing a move of large juveniles from the shallow to the deep habitat. Large juveniles compete with small juveniles in shallow waters and with adults in deeper waters. Alternative stable states occur, with one state dominated by small juvenile biomass and the other dominated by adult biomass. The model results show for both states that while large juvenile biomass responds to a change in time spent in the deep habitat, the biomass of small juveniles and adults is barely affected. Between the 2 states there is a profoundly different population response to increased fishing mortality. In the adult biomass dominated state, adult biomass is hardly affected while juvenile biomass increases until population collapse, with increased fishing. In the small juvenile dominated state, adult and small juvenile biomass decrease, and large juvenile biomass increases. This state persists at much higher fishing mortality than the adult biomass dominated state. This study highlights that safeguarding nursery functions in a changing environment requires monitoring of juvenile life-stages in a range of habitats and a spatially adaptive management strategy
RELATIVE COMPETITIVENESS OF GOOSEGRASS BIOTYPES AND SOYBEAN CROPS 1

- The goosegrass ( Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn) is an annual plant that has a low-level resistance to glyphosate (LLRG), resulting in control failure in genetically modified soybean crops for resistance to this herbicide. Alleles related to resistance may cause changes in the plant biotype, such as inferior competitive ability. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluated the competitive ability of soybean crops and susceptible and resistant (LLRG) goosegrass biotypes. Replacement series experiments were conducted with soybean crops and goosegrass biotypes. The ratios of soybean to susceptible or resistant (LLRG) goosegrass plants were 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 0:100, with a total population of 481 plants m -2 . The leaf area, plant height and shoot dry weight were evaluated at 40 days after emergence of the soybean crops and weeds. The soybean crop had superior competitive ability to the susceptible and resistant (LLRG) goosegrass biotypes. The soybean crop showed similar competitive ability in both competitions, either with the susceptible or resistant (LLRG) goosegrass biotypes. The intraspecific competition was more harmful to the soybean crop, while the interspecific competition caused greater damage to the goosegrass biotypes competing with the soybean crop .
Evaluation of Bread Wheat Varieties to Dominant Races of Stem Rust ( Puccinia graminis f. sp. Tritici ) Pathogen

Stem rust (Black rust) caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici is one of the most important air borne diseases of wheat (Triticum aestivum) in the central high lands of Ethiopia, including west and southwest Shewa zones. The pathogen is capable to produce new physiological races that attack resistant varieties and develop epidemic under optimal environmental conditions which results in a serious yield loss. However, information on the reaction of bread wheat varieties to dominant races in west and southwest Shewa zones is lacking. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the reaction of 12 commonly grown bread wheat varieties by artificial inoculation against the major virulent races at seedling stage in green house (TKTTF and TTKSK) and at adult plant growth stage under field condition (TTKSK). In the green house test, varieties Huluka and Ogena showed resistance to TTKSK and TKTTF races. Likewise, the two varieties showed moderately resistance reaction at adult plant growth stage with terminal severity of below 10%. Whereas, ET-13A2 was susceptible to both races at both plant growth stages. Digalu was susceptible to TKTTF, but resistant to TTKSK at seedling stage, and under field condition it showed severity of 63.3S. The lowest mean AUDPC was recorded on the Ogena, Huluka and Shorima varieties with 37, 52.7 and 103.7 values in the mentioned order. In contrast, the highest mean AUDPC of 1225 on Morocco and 805.8 on Digalu were recorded. Similarly, the maximum mean disease infection rate was also recorded on Morocco and Digalu varieties. Hence, varieties Ogena and Huluka that showed resistance to both virulent races at seedling and adult plant growth stages can be used as sources of resistance in wheat breeding program.
Distribution of discontinuous mudstone beds within wave-dominated shallow-marine deposits: Star Point Sandstone and Blackhawk Formation, Eastern Utah

Deposits of wave-dominated shorelines are typically considered to act as relatively simple hydrocarbon reservoirs and are commonly modeled as “tanks of sand. ” However, important heterogeneities that can act as barriers to fluid flow occur at the parasequence, bedset, and bed scales, especially in viscous oil or low-permeability oil fields. Heterogeneities at the parasequence and bedset scales have been well studied, but discontinuous mudstone beds occurring within the shoreface have received little attention. The Book Cliffs and Wasatch Plateau are among the best-exposed and best-studied deposits of wave-dominated shallow-marine systems in the world. Two parasequences within these outcrops have been studied in detail to investigate the distributions of intrashoreface shales and to propose models for the controls on their distribution. A data set consisting of 30 km (18.6 mi) of virtual outcrops derived from oblique helicopter-mounted light detection and ranging (LIDAR) scanning with supporting stratigraphic sections makes it possible to collect a large quantity of accurate geometric data of depositional elements from inaccessible cliffs. Nine-hundred and twenty-one discontinuous mudstone beds were measured. These occur as ellipses with long axes oriented normal to the paleoshoreline. Lengths and widths of these mudstone beds exhibit a lognormal distribution, with means of 21.9 and 13.8 m (71.9 and 45.3 ft), respectively. Within the shoreface succession, the number of mudstone beds increases downward whereas size does not vary significantly with stratigraphic height. An average of 100 m (328 ft) cumulative length of shale exists per 100 m (328 ft) of horizontal outcrop; this increases threefold near both wave-dominated deltas and bedset boundaries that reflect minor sea-level fluctuations during progradation.
Description and evaluation of tropospheric chemistry and aerosols in the Community Earth System Model (CESM1.2)

Abstract. The Community Atmosphere Model (CAM), version 5, is now coupled to extensive tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry, called CAM5-chem, and is available in addition to CAM4-chem in the Community Earth System Model (CESM) version 1.2. The main focus of this paper is to compare the performance of configurations with internally derived "free running" (FR) meteorology and "specified dynamics" (SD) against observations from surface, aircraft, and satellite, as well as understand the origin of the identified differences. We focus on the representation of aerosols and chemistry. All model configurations reproduce tropospheric ozone for most regions based on in situ and satellite observations. However, shortcomings exist in the representation of ozone precursors and aerosols. Tropospheric ozone in all model configurations agrees for the most part with ozonesondes and satellite observations in the tropics and the Northern Hemisphere within the variability of the observations. Southern hemispheric tropospheric ozone is consistently underestimated by up to 25%. Differences in convection and stratosphere to troposphere exchange processes are mostly responsible for differences in ozone in the different model configurations. Carbon monoxide (CO) and other volatile organic compounds are largely underestimated in Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes based on satellite and aircraft observations. Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are biased low in the free tropical troposphere, whereas peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) is overestimated in particular in high northern latitudes. The present-day methane lifetime estimates are compared among the different model configurations. These range between 7.8 years in the SD configuration of CAM5-chem and 8.8 years in the FR configuration of CAM4-chem and are therefore underestimated compared to observational estimations. We find that differences in tropospheric aerosol surface area between CAM4 and CAM5 play an important role in controlling the burden of the tropical tropospheric hydroxyl radical (OH), which causes differences in tropical methane lifetime of about half a year between CAM4-chem and CAM5-chem. In addition, different distributions of NOx from lightning explain about half of the difference between SD and FR model versions in both CAM4-chem and CAM5-chem. Remaining differences in the tropical OH burden are due to enhanced tropical ozone burden in SD configurations compared to the FR versions, which are not only caused by differences in chemical production or loss but also by transport and mixing. For future studies, we recommend the use of CAM5-chem configurations, due to improved aerosol description and inclusion of aerosol–cloud interactions. However, smaller tropospheric surface area density in the current version of CAM5-chem compared to CAM4-chem results in larger oxidizing capacity in the troposphere and therefore a shorter methane lifetime.