Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of salt stress on germination and some growth parameters of marigold (Calendula officinalis L.)

Marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) was cultivated so long as ornamental plant until its medicinal properties was known and it was used as medicinal plant. Marigold type fruit is achene. It has type variation and it sees as three types: carenate, alate and orbicular. Despite of the abundant resources in salinity, little information exists on the effects of salinity on marigold. Thus, the great need exist for detailed understanding reaction of this important economic plant to salt stress conditions. To study tolerance of three type seeds of marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) to salinity stress, a laboratory experiment was conducted in Completely Randomize Design Factorial with three replications in North Khorasan Agricultural and Natural Resource Research Center. The main factor was salinity with six levels (0, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 dS/m) and sub factor was three types of marigold seed (carenate, alate and orbicular). Results of experiment showed that the germination percent and germination rate decreased with increasing in salinity. Cinarenate had more germination rate than two other types of marigold seeds in all salinity levels. Alate had also more germination rate than orbicular in low salinity levels (0, 1 and 3 dS/m). Salinity decreased radicle and plumule length in all three type seed. Maximum of plumule and radicle length was observed in orbicular and carenate seeds respectively. Plumule wet weight was max in medium salinity levels (3 and 5 dS/m). But, radicle wet weight decreased with salinity increasing. Minimum decreasing in radicle wet weight and maximum salinity tolerant under effect of seed type was observed in carenate seed. Maximum sensitivity to salinity stress was also observed in orbicular marigold seed. Maximum and minimum of radicle to plumule length ratio was observed in 5 and 10 salinity levels respectively and carenate seed of marigold under effect of seed type .
Conservation and Management of Anacapa Island Deer Mice

Abstract: We investigated the genetic and morphological status of an endemic subspecies of deer mice ( Peromyscus maniculatus anacapae) on Anacapa Island of California through mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, morphometric discriminant function analysis, and population viability analysis. We sought to assist the development of a management plan that may include captive breeding, reintroduction, or translocation of mice following eradication of introduced rats. The genetic and morphological data were used to investigate whether the subspecies or populations on each of the three islets of Anacapa represent evolutionarily significant units for conservation. The status of the East Anacapa population was of particular concern because deer mice have recently been caught there following more than 15 years of no records of deer mice. Sequences of the mtDNA cytochrome oxidase c subunit II gene (COII ) indicated that the Anacapa subspecies had unique haplotypes not found on neighboring islands or the mainland and thus represents a distinct unit for conservation. Further, one of these haplotypes was shared among the islets, including most of the East Anacapa mice, suggesting that the East Anacapa population had either recovered from a severe bottleneck or had been recolonized by P. m. anacapae, but that it was not derived from other subspecies. Discriminant function analysis of morphological data also supported classification of the East Anacapa mice as P. m. anacapae. The mitochondrial mtDNA sequence data yielded estimates of two to seven migrants per generation among the Anacapa islets, suggesting a functioning metapopulation. Incorporating these data and information available on the life history and demographics of deer mice, we used a novel type of population viability analysis to develop a captive breeding and reintroduction plan for Anacapa deer mice should they be eradicated along with the rats. A sine wave was incorporated into the population viability analysis to simulate population size cyclicity. Our study provides baseline information needed for developing a comprehensive conservation and management plan for a threatened island endemic.
Proline Accumulation and Related Genes in Wheat Leaves under Salinity Stress

This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of salinity stress (16 dS m -1 ) on proline accumulation and expression pattern of three genes involved in the proline synthesis (P5CS, P5CR) and degradation (PDH) in the fourth and the flag leaves. The experimental treatments consisted of two levels of salinity stress including 1.6 (control) and 16 dS m -1 and three wheat cultivars, namely, Hirmand and Chamran (as tolerant cultivars) and Atrak (as sensitive). These were arranged as factorial based on a Completely Randomized Design with three replications. There was an increase in Na + concentration and decrease in K + concentration in salinity stress compared to the control condition in the fourth and the flag leaves of all cultivars. However, the tolerant cultivars showed lower level of Na + concentration and higher level of K + concentration and K + / Na + ratio. Seemingly, the increase in proline accumulation was due to P5CS, P5CR up-regulation and PDH downregulation. On the other hand, the higher proline degradation in the fourth leaf of the tolerant cultivars was probably due to the provision of a source for energy or nitrogen, which helped to enhance the yield of these cultivars under salinity stress.
The Behavioral Response of Mosquitoes to Different Snake Odors

Due to it causing high mortality rates, Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEEV) is considered to be one of the most medically important encephalitic viruses in the Eastern United States. In order to be able to control the transmission of this virus, understanding of vector behavior and feeding preferences is necessary. In this study, the response of Culex nigripalpus to different snake skin odors was tested to determine if this species of mosquito responded to particular snake species. Culex nigripalpus showed the greatest response to Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) and Cottonmouth (A. piscivorus) snakes, as compared to other venomous snakes or non-venomous snakes, suggesting that odorants of these snakes associated with EEEV overwintering are more attractive to known vector mosquitoes. Future studies should additionally examine the response of this mosquito, and other mosquito species related to the transmission of EEEV, to live snakes. Efforts should also be made to identify which components of snake odorants are attractive to mosquitoes. Thesis Mentor:________________________ Dr. William Irby Honors Director:_______________________ Dr. Steven Engel April 2018 Department of Biology University Honors Program Georgia Southern University
Oceanographic observations at the shelf break of the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica

The part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet that drains into the Amundsen Sea is currently thinning at such a rate that it contributes nearly 10% of the observed rise in global mean sea level. Acceleration of the outlet glaciers appears to be caused by thinning at their downstream ends, where the ice goes afloat, indicating that the changes are probably being forced from the ocean. Observations made since the mid-1990s on the Amundsen Sea continental shelf have revealed that the deep troughs, carved by previous glacial advances, are flooded by almost unmodified Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) with temperatures around 3-4°C above the freezing point, and that this water mass drives rapid melting of the floating ice. Here we report observations of water properties and currents made in the region where one of those troughs reaches the continental shelf edge. We estimate the absolute circulation within the trough from a combination of detided Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler data and geostrophic shear derived from Conductivity-Temperature-Depth sections. The shelf edge region is characterised by a landward deepening of the pycnocline separating CDW from the overlying colder and fresher surface waters. This feature, the so-called Antarctic Slope Front (ASF), is almost circumpolar in extent, and is typically a full-depth feature, the pycnocline intersecting the seabed over the upper continental slope. However, the ASF is weaker in the Amundsen Sea, where it is rarely a full-depth feature. Geostrophic shear associated with the ASF leads to a weakening of the associated westward current with depth, and an eastward undercurrent of varying strength has been reported at other locations. At the time of our Amundsen Sea observations the westward surface flow was weak, giving rise to a strong eastward undercurrent flowing along the continental shelf edge and upper slope. At the upstream (western) side of the trough the undercurrent turns south, driving a net on-shelf flow of CDW in the western part of the trough, and leaving a weakened shelf edge flow that re-establishes itself on the downstream (eastern) side of the trough. An analogous feature was captured, albeit crudely, in an earlier coarse-resolution model of the circulation on the Amundsen Sea shelf, and variability in its strength, associated with variability in the surface wind stress, was the main cause of variations in the heat content of the waters on the inner continental shelf. Our observations thus lend support to the earlier hypothesis that changes in atmospheric forcing over the continental shelf edge could be the ultimate driver of changes in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet outlet glaciers that drain into the Amundsen Sea.
The European Single Currency and MENA's Exports to Europe

The paper investigates future exchange rate policy of the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries vis-ý-vis the euro aimed at fostering their manufactured exports towards Euroland. The exchange rate policy is captured through three different indicators: the real effective exchange rate changes, volatility, and misalignment. The investigation is conducted for 11 sectors over the period 1970-1997. The sample includes four North African countries (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt) and Turkey. The results show that exchange rate management plays a crucial role in providing incentives for manufactured exports toward Euroland. The food sector is weakly responsive to real exchange rate changes while the textile sector is highly responsive. Four growing sectors (electronic, electrical, mechanical, and vehicles) were also found to be highly sensitive to exchange rate changes. The results suggest that policymakers should be more concerned with misalignment than with volatility. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003.
A comprehensive comparison between LE and LM-based methodologies for optimisation of digital circuits

This paper presents a comprehensive comparison between Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) and logical effort (LE) theory-based optimisation techniques. While LM is a classical approach for optimisation and is embedded in SPICE, logical effort-based approach is contemporary, design specific and needs simple back of the envelope calculations for optimisation of digital circuits. Both the approaches have been used by digital circuit designers in the literature for comparing a proposed digital circuit with the existing designs while optimising any given design for timing, power and area parameters. The goal of writing this paper is to make digital system designers gain an insight into the procedures used for optimising digital circuits while at the same time a well-defined approach using LM algorithm is provided that can be easily automated with the current generation CAD tools. For the purpose of comparison some standard circuits were chosen and optimised for minimum PDP and PDAP. SPICE simulations have been extensive.
Mahler measures of elliptic modular surfaces

In this article we develop a new method for relating Mahler measures of three-variable polynomials that define elliptic modular surfaces to L-values of modular forms. Using an idea of Deninger, we express the Mahler measure as a Deligne period of the surface and then apply the first author's extension of the Rogers-Zudilin method to Kuga-Sato varieties to arrive at an L-value.
Mass at zero in the uncorrelated SABR model and implied volatility asymptotics

We study the mass at the origin in the uncorrelated stochastic alpha, beta, rho stochastic volatility model and derive several tractable expressions, in particular when time becomes small or large. As an application—in fact the original motivation for this paper—we derive small-strike expansions for the implied volatility when the maturity becomes short or large. These formulae, by definition arbitrage free, allow us to quantify the impact of the mass at zero on existing implied volatility approximations, and in particular how correct/erroneous these approximations become.
Intergenerational relations: a South African research agenda

Intergenerational relations is not a new focus area of study in Southern Africa. Trends in changing relationships between age cohorts have been traced in family, migration and urbanization studies. This special issue of the Southern African Journal of Gerontology presents a case for studying intergenerational relations from a gerontological perspective. The issue includes work from leading international gerontologists and experts in the field of intergenerational relations writing on the United States. Two further contributions come from other parts of Africa - Ghana and Kenya. The articles on intergenerational relations in South Africa, tellingly, come from outside the field of gerontology, a point to be picked up below.
THE NATURE OF FILAMENTARY COLD GAS IN THE CORE OF THE VIRGO CLUSTER

We present a multi-wavelength study of the emission-line nebulae located ∼38″ (3 kpc in projection) southeast of the nucleus of M87, the central dominant galaxy of the Virgo Cluster. We report the detection of far-infrared (FIR) [C ii] line emission at 158 μm from the nebulae using observations made with the Herschel Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS). The infrared line emission is extended and co-spatial with optical Hα+ [N ii], far-ultraviolet C iv lines, and soft X-ray emission. The filamentary nebulae evidently contain multi-phase material spanning a temperature range of at least five orders of magnitude, from ∼100 K to ∼107 K. This material has most likely been uplifted by the active galactic nucleus from the center of M87. The thermal pressure of the 104 K phase appears to be significantly lower than that of the surrounding hot intracluster medium (ICM), indicating the presence of additional turbulent and magnetic pressure in the filaments. If the turbulence in the filaments is subsonic then the magnetic field strength required to balance the pressure of the surrounding ICM is B ∼ 30–70 μG. The spectral properties of the soft X-ray emission from the filaments indicate that it is due to thermal plasma with kT ∼ 0.5–1 keV, which is cooling by mixing with the cold gas and/or radiatively. Charge exchange can be ruled out as a significant source of soft X-rays. Both cooling and mixing scenarios predict gas with a range of temperatures. This is at first glance inconsistent with the apparent lack of X-ray emitting gas with kT < 0.5 keV. However, we show that the missing very soft X-ray emission could be absorbed by the cold gas in the filaments with an integrated hydrogen column density of NH ∼ 1.6 × 1021 cm−2, providing a natural explanation for the apparent temperature floor to the X-ray emission at kT ∼ 0.5 keV. The FIR through ultraviolet line emission is most likely primarily powered by the ICM particles penetrating the cold gas following a shearing induced mixing process. An additional source of energy may, in principle, be provided by X-ray photoionization from cooling X-ray emitting plasma. The relatively small line ratio of [O i]/[C ii] <7.2 indicates a large optical depth in the FIR lines. The large optical depth in the FIR lines and the intrinsic absorption inferred from the X-ray and optical data imply significant reservoirs of cold atomic and molecular gas distributed in filaments with small volume filling fraction, but large area covering factor.
Succes or Failure in the City? : Social Mobility and Rural-Urban Migration in Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century Groningen, the Netherlands

This article studies the relation between rural-urban migration and chances on (upward and downward) social mobility of different social groups from the perspective of the sending countryside and not of the receiving city, utilizing two datasets regarding people born in the Groningen clay soil region (the Netherlands). Applying a revised version of HISCLASS for social stratification, it compares the social mobility of urban migrants with those staying in the countryside. Analysis of both databases shows distinct social differences in rural-urban migration, with children from non-agrarian rural elite families moving very frequently to a city, whereas – despite restricted job opportunities in agriculture – children from farmers and unskilled (farm) labourers were much less attracted by urban centres. Children from lower managers, skilled and lower-skilled workers in industry and services were taking an intermediate position. For all social groups (except for children of farmers), male urban migrants had on average a better social mobility performance than rural stayers, whereas for females the differences were rather limited. Especially children of unskilled workers, who relatively rarely went to large cities, were far more successful than rural stayers, suggesting positive selection. For Groningen, the findings oppose the pessimistic view of nineteenth and early-twentieth century rural-urban migrants mainly being pushed to the city by local circumstances, although their social opportunities in the countryside were indeed limited. The detailed database shows also that even a temporary movement to the city resulted on average in an improved social mobility performance, an indication that urban migrants of nearly all social backgrounds often accrued extra human capital during their stay in a large city.
A Comparative Study of Mindfulness between Male and Female Intervarsity Taekwondo Players of India

Mindfulness refers to being completely in touch with and aware of the present moment, as well as taking a non-evaluative and non-judgmental approach to one’s inner experience. The present empirical investigation was conducted to compare the mindfulness of male and female intervarsity taekwondo players of India. One hundred and four Taekwondo players (Male = 52 and Female = 52) who participated in the All India Intervarsity Taekwondo tournament held at Manipur University, Canchipur (India) in 2012 were taken as the subjects. Their age ranged from 17 to 27 years. Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) developed by Brown and Ryan (2003) was administered on the subjects to assess the level of mindfulness of the subjects of two experimental groups. ‘t’ test was employed to analyze the data. Results of the study revealed insignificant difference between male and female intervarsity taekwondo players of India in regard to mindfulness. Keywords: Mindfulness and Taekwondo
Coordinating supplier-retailer using multiple common replenishment epochs with retailers’ choices

Purpose: Provide a coordination strategy using multiple common replenishment epochs (MCRE) for a single-supplier multi-retailer supply chain. Design/methodology/approach: The demand of a product occurs only with a group of heterogeneous and independent retailers with constant rates, whereas all their order requests are fulfilled by the supplier. The supplier decides a set of MCREs with general price and extra bonus to entice the retailers to join any one of the MCREs, or to let them remain with their original order time epochs. A retailer is willing to participate in a CRE as long as the retailer’s cost increase is within its tolerance. This paper provide a mixed integer programming to determine the MCRE strategies in order to minimize the total costs of the supplier. Findings: The results illustrate that MCRE model provided in the paper can generate a better replenishment coordination scheme than single CRE models. Practical implications: Replenishment coordination is one of the most important mechanisms to improve the efficiency in supply chains, e.g., chain convenience stores in the modern retail industry. Originality/value: This is a follow-up research on Joint Economic Lot Size (JELS) models with a focus on multiple retailers with their replenishment coordination.
Improved irrigation through technology and community engagement

While many irrigators are aware that improved technology can increase their control of water, the implementation of these improvements is often limited by external supply and regulatory systems. In a study of a large irrigated area of south eastern Australia, it was evident that significant improvement in water productivity and irrigation efficiency came when irrigated communities were able to combine improved delivery systems and on-farm irrigated practice. The study brought together the bio-physical and socio-economic information that illustrates the use of resources, the water productivity and the differences in performance of different regions. From this analysis it was possible to identify where new opportunities might be available and how irrigation might adapt to an increasingly variable resource and market environment. Further improvement in water productivity will be possible when the introduction of more control technology is combined with improvements in water delivery systems, institutional arrangements and learning support. ________________________________________________________________ The irrigated areas of inland, south eastern Australia are largely associated with two large, connected river systems, the Murray and Murrumbidgee. These rivers arise in the catchments of the eastern and southern highlands and then generally run in a westerly direction through 1000 km of semi arid country. Water from these rivers and their associated storages is used in extensive surface irrigated areas on the flat riverine areas in the east, while in the downstream, westerly regions irrigation occurs in quite narrow ribbon developments along either side of the river. Almost all of these irrigated developments are less than 100 years old, several are less than 50 years old but all areas are actively upgrading and refurbishing the water delivery infrastructure. Irrigated regions in the Murray and Murrumbidgee Basins For this study the irrigated areas of the Murray and Murrumbidgee Basins were grouped into ten regions as illustrated in Figure 1. Within the study regions, the total area irrigated grew by 21% between 1996/97 to 2000/01 to reach 1,243,000 ha. This accounted for 49% of the total irrigated area of Australia. These regions diverted 8,608 GL of water for irrigation which is about half the total water used for irrigation in Australia. Of the water diverted, 6,656 GL (77%) 1 GL = Gigalitre = 10 m = 1000 Megalitres (ML) = 10 litres