Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation on growth and production of convergent breeding wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes adaptive to lowland

This study aimed to determine the genotype of wheat from a convergent breeding program that adaptive to lowland and produce high yield, and determine the parameters with high heritability. The study was conducted at the Screen House of Indonesian Cereals Research Institute (ICERI), Maros Regency from October 2017 to February 2018. The study used a Randomized Block Design with 10 wheat genotypes of convergent breeding crossbreeds including CBF 124, CBF 159, CBF 192, CBF 169, CBF 137, CBF 195, CBF 119, CBF 145, CBF 156 and CBF 231 as well as four comparators, namely two national superior varieties (Selayar and Dewata) and two introduced genotypes (Oasis and HP. 1744) resulted in 14 genotypes. The results show that the genotype of wheat from convergent breeding that adaptive to lowland and had high productivity are CBF 192 (1.80 tons ha−1), CBF 169 (1.66 tons ha−1), CBF 195 (1.54 tons ha−1), CBF 137 (1.44 tons ha−1), CBF 124 (1.42 tons ha−1) and CBF159 (1.34 tons ha−1). Characters that have high heritability are plant height, number of tillers and productive tillers, age of flowering and harvest, panicle length, number of spikelet, number of floret, number of grains on the main panicle and on the tillers, weight of grains on the main panicle and on the tillers, and production.
Regge gravity from spinfoams

We consider spinfoam quantum gravity in the flipped limit, which is the double scaling limit γ → 0, j → ∞ with γj = const. , where γ is the Immirzi parameter, j is the spin and γj gives the physical area in Planck units. In this regime the amplitude for a 2-complex becomes effectively an integral over Regge-like metrics and seems to enforce Einstein equations in the semiclassical regime. The Immirzi parameter must be considered as dynamical in the sense that it runs to zero when the fine structure of the foam is averaged. In addition to quantum corrections which vanish for ℏ → 0, we find new corrections due to the discreteness of geometric spectra.
Factors influencing blood donation practices among students of private universities in Thika Town, Kiambu County, Kenya

Background: In spite of extensive efforts on blood donation programs conducted worldwide, the availability of adequate blood supply continues to be a demanding challenge in developing countries, including Kenya. This study was conducted with the objective to assess factors influencing voluntary blood donation practices among students of private universities in Thika town, Kiambu County, Kenya.Methods: This cross-sectional study using both qualitative and quantitative methods was conducted at Mount Kenya University and Gretsa University. Multi-stage sampling was used to select 385 students from the two universities. Questionnaire was used in gathering information from students. The Pearson chi-square analysis and p value<0.05 were found statistically significant. Logistic regressions analysis was used to predict factors influencing blood donation.Results: The study found that knowledge and the time respondents received information on blood donation in university were predictive factors influencing blood donation. The study also found that 57.1% of the respondents received information on blood donation from high school. In addition, 60% of the students were identified as having no blood donation history. Respondent major reasons for not donating blood were not asked to donate (44.3%), lack of information (28.5%), and fear of needles (23.2%). Some of the donors identified negative effects of post-blood donation such as dizziness, tiredness, and feeling weak.Conclusions: The study concludes that not asking students to donate and lack of timely information on blood donation were the main reasons for low blood donation practices among students in private universities in Thika Town, Kiambu County, Kenya.
The Kadison-Singer Problem

We give self-contained presentation of results related to the Kadison-Singer problem, which was recently solved by Marcus, Spielman, and Srivastava. This problem connects with unusually large number of areas including: operator algebras (pure states), set theory (ultrafilters), operator theory (paving), random matrix theory, linear and multilinear algebra, algebraic combinatorics (real stable polynomials), algebraic curves, frame theory, harmonic analysis (Fourier frames), and functional analysis.
Nondestructive monitoring storage quality of apples at different temperatures by near‐infrared transmittance spectroscopy

Abstract Apple is the most widely planted fruit in the world and is popular in consumers because of its rich nutritional value. In this study, the portable near‐infrared (NIR) transmittance spectroscopy coupled with temperature compensation and chemometric algorithms was applied to detect the storage quality of apples. The postharvest quality of apples including soluble solids content (SSC), vitamin C (VC), titratable acid (TA), and firmness was evaluated, and the portable spectrometer was used to obtain near‐infrared transmittance spectra of apples in the wavelength range of 590–1,200 nm. Mixed temperature compensation method (MTC) was used to reduce the influence of temperature on the models and to improve the adaptability of the models. Then, variable selection methods, such as uninformative variable elimination (UVE), competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS), and successive projections algorithm (SPA), were developed to improve the performance of the models by determining characteristic variables and reducing redundancy. Comparing the full spectral models with the models established on variables selected by different variable selection methods, the CARS combined with partial least squares (PLS) showed the best performance with prediction correlation coefficient (R p) and residual predictive deviation (RPD) values of 0.9236, 2.604 for SSC; 0.8684, 2.002 for TA; 0.8922, 2.087 for VC; and 0.8207, 1.992 for firmness, respectively. Results showed that NIR transmittance spectroscopy was feasible to detect postharvest quality of apples during storage.
Norwegian teenagers’ experiences of developing second language fluency in an outdoor context

ABSTRACT This article explores how Norwegian teenagers experienced the development of spoken fluency of English as a second language (L2) through varied and sensuous learning in an outdoor environment. The article is based on six semi-structured group interviews with 23 year-8 students (13–14 years old) in a lower secondary school in Norway. The interviews were analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis, and the results indicate that the students found their English fluency to be improved and that the outdoors environment increased their confidence and intrinsic motivation for developing their spoken English skills. The results are interpreted as a consequence of new and varied affordances in an outdoor environment. Students reported increased willingness to communicate in the target language due to increased confidence, real-life language use, and interesting ways of learning.
Influence of Soil Fabrics and Stress State on the Undrained Instability of Overconsolidated Binary Granular Assemblies

Abstract The instability of saturated granular soils in field conditions generates drastic collapse in terms of runoff deformation because of its failing to sustain naturally applied loading conditions such as earthquakes, wave actions and vibrations. The objective of this laboratory investigation is to study the effects of the depositional methods, overconsolidation ratio (OCR) and confining pressure on the undrained instability shear strength of medium dense (Dr = 52%) sand–silt mixtures under static loading conditions. For this purpose, a series of undrained monotonic triaxial tests were carried out on reconstituted saturated silty sand samples with fines content ranging from 0% to 40%. Three confining pressures were used (P’c = 100, 200 and 300 kPa) in this research. The sand–silt mixture samples were prepared using two depositional methods, dry funnel pluviation (DFP) and wet deposition (WD), and subjected to two OCRs (1 and 2). The obtained instability lines and friction angles indicate that the funnel pluviated samples exhibit strain hardening compared to the wet deposited samples and that normally consolidated and overconsolidated wet deposited clean sandy samples were very sensitive to static liquefaction. The test results also indicate that the instability friction angle increases with the increase in the OCR expressing soil dilative character tendency increase. The instability friction angle decreases with the increase in the fines content for DFP and the inverse tendency was observed in the case of WD.
Male Lures and the Detection of Bactrocera Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae): Performance of Solid Dispensers with Separate Insecticidal Strips Relative to Standard Liquid Lures

Detection of pestiferous Bactrocera fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) relies largely on deployment of traps baited with male-specific attractants. Two species in particular, B. dorsalis (Hendel) and B. cucurbitae (Coquillett), pose seri- ous threats to US agriculture, and males of these species are attracted to methyl eugenol (ME) and cue lure (CL), respectively. At present, these lures are applied as liquids (with naled added as an insecticide) to cotton wicks placed inside Jackson traps, a procedure that entails considerable handling time and potential health risk owing to inadvertent contact with the chemicals. Recent studies have demonstrated that solid dispensers containing male lures and the toxicant DDVP (dichlorvos) capture as many or more B. dorsalis and B. cucurbitae males as the standard liquid formulation. Owing to registration requirements, deployment of solid dispensers requires the lure and the killing agent be presented in separate devices. The goal of this study was to compare capture of Bactrocera males between traps baited with the liquid formulation (lure and naled mixed) versus traps baited with solid lure-bearing plugs or wafers and separate DDVP strips (lure and DDVP separate). Field trapping was conducted in various areas of Oahu, Hawaii, using variable amounts of DDVP (0.09 - 0.295 g) in the traps with the solid dispensers. In gen- eral, for both B. cucurbitae and B. dorsalis, traps with wafers performed as well as traps with liquids regardless of lure age (fresh or aged 6 weeks), DDVP dose, test location, or lure presentation (ME and CL presented singly or combined). Traps with aged plugs also performed as well as aged liquids for both Bactrocera species under nearly all test conditions. However, in a large proportion of tests, fresh plugs captured significantly fewer males of both species than fresh liquids over the full range of DDVP doses tested. The implications of these findings for Bactrocera detection are discussed.
Apparent Digestibility Coefficient of Proteic and Energetic Ingredients for Goldfish

Kinguios sao uma das mais importantes especies de peixes ornamentais criadas mundialmente, entretanto, sao insuficientes os estudos com digestibilidade de ingredientes para a especie. O objetivo com este estudo foi determinar os coeficientes de digestibilidade aparentes (CDAs) da materia seca, proteina bruta e energia bruta de ingredientes energeticos (quirera de arroz, farinha de milho e farelo de trigo) e proteicos (farelo de soja, farinha de peixe, farinha de visceras de aves) para kinguios (Carassius auratus). O oxido de cromo III foi usado como marcador inerte. Os CDAs da materia seca e energia dos ingredients energeticos foram, em ordem decrescente: quirera de arroz (97,19 e 94,55%), farinha de milho (76,61 e 77,65%) e farelo de trigo (45.43 e 48.83%); enquanto nos ingredientes proteicos foram: farelo de soja (72,14 e 73,54%), farinha de visceras de aves (61,77 e 69,50%) e farinha de peixe (47,48 e 60,65%). CDAs da proteina foram mais altos para o farelo de soja (96,11%) e de milho (90,77%), enquanto os menores valores foram observados para a farinha de peixe (75,53%) e farelo de trigo (73,06%). Em geral, os nutrientes da quirera de arroz e do farelo de soja foram aproveitados mais eficientemente pelos peixes. Ainda que todos os ingredientes estudados sejam passiveis de uso em dietas de kinguios, o farelo de trigo deve ser utilizado com precaucao, em decorrencia da baixa digestibilidade. Palavras-chave: Carassius auratus. Farinha de Peixe. Farinha de Visceras de Aves. Milho. Quirera de Arroz. Abstract Kinguios are one of the most important ornamental fish, however the studies about ingredients digestibility for this species are insufficient. The objective of this study was to determine apparent digestibility coefficients (ADC) of dry matter, gross energy and crude protein of energetic (broken rice, corn meal, and wheat bran) and proteic (soybean meal, fishmeal and poultry by-product meal) feedstuffs for goldfish (Carassius auratus). Chromium oxide III was used as an external marker. The digestibility values of dry matter and energy, in decreasing order, were higher for broken rice (97.19 and 94.55%), corn meal (76.61 and 77.65%) and wheat bran (45.43 and 48.83%) in energetic ingredients; and soybean meal (72.14 and 73.54%), poultry by-product meal (61.77 and 69.50%) and fish meal (47.48 and 60.65%) in proteic ingredients. Protein digestibility values were higher for soybean meal (96.11%) and corn meal (90.77%) and the lowest values were observed for fishmeal (75.53%) and wheat bran (73.06%). In general, broken rice and soybean meal nutrients were more efficiently used by fish. Although all the studied ingredients are suitable for use in diets for goldfish, wheat bran should be used with caution because of its low digestibility. Keywords: Carassius auratus. Corn, Broken Rice. Fishmeal. Poultry Meal.
Collaborative Approach Using Psychophysiology and Psychophysics for Optimal Threshold Determination in HAS Service QoE Management

In HTTP adaptive streaming (HAS) services, Quality of Experience (QoE) management has increasingly played an important role in guaranteeing the expected video quality perceived by the users with the minimal network resource. To achieve this, QoE must be automatically monitored and accurately controlled when it falls to a specific threshold. However, how to determine the QoE threshold with a scientific basis has not been carefully studied yet. In this paper, a new method to determine a QoE threshold based on biological information is proposed for a QoE management in HAS services. More concretely, the QoE threshold is determined by modeling the impact of the stimulus on the biological information obtained from the users who are watching videos. As the biological information, Skin Conductance and Heart Rate associated with Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) have been investigated. The evaluation results demonstrate that the QoE management by using the determined threshold can save more than 4.855% of the bandwidth consumption per control ensuring as high video quality as by using the fair threshold.
Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? Readers’ responses to experimental techniques of speech, thought and consciousness presentation in Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway

Woolf’s work has been the object of several studies concerned with her experimental use of techniques of speech, thought and consciousness presentation. These investigated the way in which different perspectives coexist and alternate in her writing, suggesting that the use of such techniques often results in ambiguous perspective shifts. However, there is hardly any empirical evidence as to whether readers experience difficulty while reading her narratives as a result of these narrative techniques. This article examines empirically readers’ responses to extracts from Woolf’s two major novels – To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway – to provide evidence for whether Woolf’s techniques for the presentation of characters’ voices, thoughts and perspectives represent a challenge for readers. To achieve this, a mixed-methods approach that combines a stylistic analysis with a detailed questionnaire has been employed. Selected extracts that were hypothesised to be complex due to the presence of free indirect style and/or interior monologue were modified by substituting these with less ambiguous modes of consciousness presentation, such as direct speech or direct thought. Readers’ responses to the modified and unmodified versions of the same extracts were compared: results show that the presence of free indirect style and/or interior monologue increases the number of perspectives identified by readers, suggesting that this technique increases the texts’ difficulty, laying a more solid ground for future investigations.
The impact of transformational leadership style on job satisfaction

The purpose of thisstudy is to examine the relationship between transformational leadership style and employee job satisfaction. Attaining employees’ job satisfaction is crucial to retain productive and efficient employees. Therefore, one of the ways that may be effective help managers in increasing the satisfaction among their followersis employing the right leadership style.An effective leader is one that command respect and trust by their followers.Four transformational leadership characteristics which are idealized influence, inspiration motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration are discussed.Transformational leaders perform in behavior that permits them to dole out as act models for their followers. They act in manners that inspire and stimulate those concerning them by bestowing challenge and meaning to their followers’ work. They need to rouse their followers’ efforts and wage distinct attention to every single individual follower’s needs for development. Base on literature review, most previous studies confirmed that these characteristics are significantly related to employees job satisfaction. An empirical study was conducted in a Government Linked Company in Malaysia. 378 employees from 6 different departments are invited to be the respondents of this research.The number of completed surveys which were returned to the researcher was 255.This represents a return rate of 67.46%. The findings show that only one of the four transformational leadership characteristics are found to have significant relationship with job satisfaction. Characteristic of individualized consideration are found to be contributed most in job satisfaction.
Messaging Mask Wearing During the COVID-19 Crisis: Ideological Differences

As the U.S. Government works to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, messaging is important in getting individuals to comply with public health recommendations, especially as the response from the public seems to be polarized along partisan and ideological lines. Using a recent Centers for Disease Control recommendation of wearing facemasks, I use Regulatory Focus Theory to predict that conservatives will be more responsive to messages related to promotion, while liberals are more responsive to messages related to prevention. Using a pre-registered experimental design, I find no evidence that prevention messages influence attitudes toward mask wearing. Promotion messages, however, cause conservatives to become less supportive of mask wearing, in contrast to theoretical predictions. These findings suggest that, related to messaging about mask wearing, strong ideological differences do not emerge related to the focus of the message.
Physiological Factors and their Relationship with the Productivity of Processing Tomato under Different Water Supplies

Measurement of physiological traits can be used to monitor plant water status, for irrigation scheduling or to predict the expected yield in open-field production of vegetables. This study evaluates the changes in stomatal conductance, chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm), relative chlorophyll content (SPAD), and canopy temperature at different stages of development of processing tomato to show their relationships with the yield and quality under well-irrigated, deficit irrigated, and non-irrigated conditions. Under non-irrigated conditions, during flowering with fruit setting and early fruit development the highest canopy temperature, lowest stomatal conductance, and Fv/Fm were measured, while the SPAD value was the highest. Under this condition, the correlation between the SPAD value, fruit weight, and marketing yield was positive, but it was negative with the total soluble solid (°Brix). During flowering with fruit setting, under deficit irrigation conditions a close significant positive correlation was found between the SPAD value and the fruit weight, marketing yield, and vitamin C content of fruits. During this period, under regularly irrigated conditions, the SPAD, Fv/Fm, and canopy temperature related to stomatal conductance. Stomatal conductance had significant influence on yield and quality under non-irrigated and well-irrigated conditions while the SPAD value and canopy temperature had significant influence on under deficit irrigated conditions.
Effectiveness of the Felixer grooming trap for the control of feral cats: a field trial in arid South Australia

Abstract Context Feral cats pose a significant threat to wildlife in Australia and internationally. Controlling feral cats can be problematic because of their tendency to hunt live prey rather than be attracted to food-based lures. The Felixer grooming trap was developed as a targeted and automated poisoning device that sprays poison onto the fur of a passing cat, relying on compulsive grooming for ingestion. Aims We conducted a field trial to test the effectiveness of Felixers in the control of feral cats in northern South Australia where feral cats were present within a 2600-ha predator-proof fenced paddock. Methods Twenty Felixers were set to fire across vehicle tracks and dune crossings for 6 weeks. Cat activity was recorded using track counts and grids of remote camera traps set within the Felixer Paddock and an adjacent 3700-ha Control Paddock where feral cats were not controlled. Radio-collars were placed on six cats and spatial mark–resight models were used to estimate population density before and after Felixer deployment. Key results None of the 1024 non-target objects (bettongs, bilbies, birds, lizards, humans, vehicles) that passed a Felixer during the trial was fired on, confirming high target specificity. Thirty-three Felixer firings were recorded over the 6-week trial, all being triggered by feral cats. The only two radio-collared cats that triggered Felixers during the trial, died. Two other radio-collared cats appeared to avoid Felixer traps possibly as a reaction to previous catching and handling rendering them neophobic. None of the 22 individually distinguishable cats targeted by Felixers was subsequently observed on cameras, suggesting death after firing. Felixer data, activity and density estimates consistently indicated that nearly two-thirds of the cat population was killed by the Felixers during the 6-week trial. Conclusions Results suggest that Felixers are an effective, target-specific method of controlling feral cats, at least in areas in which immigration is prevented. The firing rate of Felixers did not decline significantly over time, suggesting that a longer trial would have resulted in a higher number of kills. Implications Future studies should aim to determine the trade-off between Felixer density and the efficacy relative to reinvasion.