Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How Authentic Experience Affects Traditional Religious Tourism Development: Evidence from the Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage, Taiwan

The purpose of the present study is to examine a theoretical model using authentic experience, perceived benefit, perceived cost, and support for tourism development among attendees of the Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage in Taiwan. Overall, 1,244 usable responses were collected and analyzed. Analytic findings indicated that authentic experience and perceived benefits are precedents of support for tourism development. Perceived benefits significantly mediate the relationship between authentic experience and support for tourism development in both first-time and repeat attendees. The present study concludes that an individual who attends a traditional religious festival has authentic experiences of pilgrimage that create perceived benefits and lead to behavior that supports tourism development. The theoretical and managerial implications presented in this article elucidate an original theoretical framework and valuable insights for promoting support for tourism development, potentially also contributing to the literature.
The influence of active involvement on learning outcomes of physics pre-service teachers: A case study of blended learning on statistics course

This research aimed at identifying the influence of active involvement on blended learning for Statistics course on the learning outcomes of Physics pre-service teacher. This research also attempted to depict the benefits and challenges during the implementation of blended learning in the higher education context, particularly the implementation of blended learning for Statistics course among Physics pre-service teachers. The sample of this research was the entire students of Physics education department who attended Statistics course in the Fifth semester. Based on the results of the research, the active involvement of Physics pre-service teachers during blended learning session on Statistics course contributes as much as 56.5%. While the correlation equation obtained was Y= 44.509 + 0.503 X. The average responses of blended learning given by the Physics preservice teacher on Statistics course was 81.5%. The implementation of blended learning for Statistics course improves the active involvement of Physics pre-service teachers.
Selected social aspects in the life of patients with multiple sclerosis

Aim: To describe and interpret the impact of multiple sclerosis (MS) on selected social aspects of life, on the family and working life. Design: A qualitative cross-sectional study. Methods: The group consisted of 14 probands with MS, with an average age of 44.7 years (± 9.8) and average disease duration of 9.93 years (± 5.97). To collect empirical data, we used a semi-structured interview according to a pre-prepared protocol of our own design, in the period between January–October 2018. The interviews were analysed via an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Results: Due to the disease symptoms, the probands experienced limitations when performing daily activities. They also experienced fear of losing self-sufficiency and were worried about the future. With the progression of the disease, there were also limitations in their working life which affected the quality of their lives. For most of them, MS also had an impact on the quality of family relationships including relations with their partners. Although the partners and children of probands were a source of social support, these people needed some time to accept MS and live with it. Conclusions: Knowledge of selected aspects of life in individuals with MS can contribute to knowing their problems, and makes it possible to provide specific help within complex care provision.
Seasonal patterns of light transmission through boreal mixedwood canopies

Measurements of light transmission were made at three heights (ground, 0.5 m, and 1.3 m) in six stands in each of three overstory types: pure young aspen (Populustremuloides Michx.); pure old aspen; and mixed old aspen–white spruce (Piceaglauca (Moench) Voss). Light transmission was measured in the spring, summer, and autumn. In the summer, the amount of light that reached the forest floor was very low in all overstory types (5.9% of incident light). In the mixed stands, the overstory intercepted 87% of above-canopy light, and the understory intercepted 52% of its above-canopy light. In the old aspen stands, there was more light transmission through the overstory, which led to increased understory cover and light interception at that level. In the autumn, 26% of light reached the forest floor in the pure aspen stands because of the loss of deciduous over- and understory foliage. In the mixed stands only 8% of above-overstory light reached the forest floor in the autumn. The deciduous leaf-off period in th.
THE BIOLOGY OF CANADIAN WEEDS.: 13. Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop.

This contribution on Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop. , Canada thistle (Compositae) is part of a series which presents biological information on plants that are weedy in Canada. Canada thistle is a serious weed of agricultural land of all types and is one of the most serious weeds of temperate regions. Introduced from Europe in the 17th century, it now occurs in all provinces of Canada.
A Multi-Tone Rectenna System for Wireless Power Transfer

Battery-less sensors need a fast and stable wireless charging mechanism to ensure that they are being correctly activated and properly working. The major drawback of state-of-the-art wireless power transfer solutions stands in the maximum Equivalent Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) established from local regulations, even using directional antennas. Indeed, the maximum transferred power to the load is limited, making the charging process slow. To overcome such limitation, a novel method for implementing an effective wireless charging system is described. The proposed solution is designed to guarantee many independent charging contributions, i.e., multiple tones are used to distribute power along transmitted carriers. The proposed rectenna system is composed by a set of narrow-band rectifiers resonating at specific target frequencies, while combining at DC. Such orthogonal frequency schema, providing independent charging contributions, is not affected by the phase shift of incident signals (i.e., each carrier is independently rectified). The design of the proposed wireless-powered system is presented. The main advantage of the solution is the voltage delivered to the load, which is directly proportional to the number of used carriers. This is fundamental to ensure fast sensor wakes-up and functioning. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system, the work has been complemented with the manufacturing of two rectennas, and the analysis of experimental results, which also validated the linear relationship between the number of used carriers.
New Genus and Species of Nectar-Feeding Bat from the Atlantic Forest of Southeastern Brazil (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae: Glossophaginae)

ABSTRACT The lowland Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil is well known for its biological diversity and numerous endemic taxa. Among bats collected recently at the Reserva Natural Vale and previously in the Floresta Nacional de Goytacazes, in the state of Espírito Santo, are specimens easily recognized as nectar-feeding glossophagines, but that exhibit a suite of morphological traits that preclude assignment to any of the 10 genera currently recognized in the subfamily Glossophaginae. Here we describe a new genus and species based on this material. This new taxon, named Dryadonycteris capixaba, is diagnosed based on both external and craniodental features, including traits not seen in other nectar-feeding phyllostomids, such as similar-sized calcar and foot and inflated maxillary bones. The combination of character states seen in Dryadonycteris suggests that it belongs in the Tribe Choeronycterini, subtribe Choeronycterina, but the mosaic nature of primitive and derived states seen in this taxon precludes easy assessment of its relationships to other choeronycterine genera. Future explicit phylogenetic analyses of morphological data and DNA sequencing studies will be necessary to resolve its phylogenetic position within Choeronycterini.
Field Evaluation of Coir Geotextile Reinforced Subgrade for Low Volume Pavements

ABSTRACT This investigative study focuses on the response of full scale coir reinforced low volume roads when subjected to static loading. The test track of 1.736 km consists of a control section and eight reinforced sections including two types of coir geotextiles and subbase with varying thickness. An assessment of the general behavior of coir geotextile-reinforced sections, to static plate load tests, California Bearing Ratio tests, geogauge and dynamic cone penetration tests is done for evaluation. The study summarizes the results of the executed tests on the reinforced test track in comparison to the unreinforced one. The results reveal that the geotextile with higher apparent opening size is not as good as that of the finer mesh geotextile. A maximum of 112% improvement in the elastic modulus of subgrade is achieved by using a woven coir geotextile of 740 g/m2 mass per unit area whereas 70% increment is attained while using an alternate geotextile of 365 g/m2 mass per unit area. The elastic modulus values are determined from the various field tests and the overall damage analysis is carried out using KENPAVE software. From the analysis, it is noted that an appreciable decrease in the aggregate layer thickness is achieved by using coir geotextile as reinforcement. Use of coir geotextiles in pavements as a reinforcement can therefore help in reducing the demand and consumption of fast-depleting natural resources.
Knowledge and awareness regarding spread and prevention of COVID-19 among the young adults of Karachi.

OBJECTIVE To measure the awareness of COVID-19 infection among the general population following the outbreak in China. METHODS This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out during January and February 2020 amongst the general population of Karachi, Pakistan. A pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire was used among 399 young adult participants. The questionnaire was developed keeping in view of the already published study on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the available literature on COVID-19. It included sociodemographic information, assessment of knowledge, beliefs regarding coronavirus and the perception of precautionary measures taken by an individual. Chi-square test was used for categorical variables and p<0.05 was used as statistically significant. RESULTS There were more females 299 (75%) than male participants 100 (25%). The mean age was 20.9 ±2.30 years and 232 (58%) had graduate degrees. There is lack of knowledge and awareness about coronavirus as 226 (56.6%) participants claimed that coronavirus is actually the most dangerous virus in the world, and 171 (43%) did know that the common flu virus is potentially more lethal than coronavirus. Although a large majority of participants correctly identified sources of transmission, measures and precautions to be taken for coronavirus, their knowledge for symptom identification was deficient. The most pursued platform for information for coronavirus was found to be social media, followed by television and print media. CONCLUSIONS The study highlighted the level of awareness of coronavirus among young adults in Karachi, Pakistan. The study further pointed out the public knowledge gaps for the authorities concerned to help them develop more effective and successful awareness campaigns using preferred channels.
Determination of photosynthetic pigments in fleabane biotypes susceptible and resistant to the Herbicide Glyphosate

Chlorophylls and carotenoids are the main photosynthetic pigment in plants. In the weeds, the greatest amount of photosynthetic pigments can result in high competitiveness of the species. The aim of this study was to quantify the content of photosynthetic pigments in biotypes of fleabane (Conyza bonariensis) susceptible and resistant to glyphosate, by two different methods, as well as a correlation between chlorophyll content obtained by portable and classical methodology (extractable chlorophyll). An experiment was conducted in greenhouse and laboratory, 2 x 5 factorial scheme, where factor A was equivalent to biotypes of fleabane (resistant and susceptible to glyphosate) and factor B to developmental stages plants (rosette vegetative I, II and III and reproduction). At all stages of development, fleabane plants were evaluated with the portable determiner (chlorophyll content) and then the same leaves were subjected to classical methodology laboratory (extractable pigments). The resistant biotype of fleabane showed higher contents of chlorophyll a, b, and total carotenoids, inferring a greater competitive potential regarding the susceptible population to the herbicide. The portable determiner of chlorophyll showed high correlation with the classical method of determination of photosynthetic pigments, and can thus be used to accurately assess this, saving time and reagents.
Assessment of pollutant loads discharged from aquaculture ponds around Taihu Lake, China

China is the world's largest producer of aquatic animals, and the Taihu Lake area is one of the most important contributors within China. To obtain the basic information needed to minimize environmental impacts of aquaculture, the water quality and volume of effluents from 48 ponds used for raising crab, shrimp, river prawn, black carp, grass carp and turtles near Taihu Lake were monitored, and their pollutant loads were estimated. Effluent volumes ranged from 12.7 ± 1.7 (crab) to 50.9 ± 15.8 (turtle) thousand tons ha−1 year−1. The concentration of pollutants in the effluents often exceeded acceptable limits for Taihu Lake. Crab ponds produced the lowest gross loads of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, chemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids, whereas turtle ponds produced the highest. The net loads of monitored pollutants comprised only 4–53% of the gross loads in crab ponds, but > 50% in other species ponds. Results indicate that the pollutant loads discharged from aquaculture ponds around Taihu Lake are mild, but precautions are still needed to treat the wastewater. Connecting the ponds in series with crab ponds downstream is a feasible way to decrease pollutant loads.
Temporal scale‐dependence of plant–pollinator networks

The study of mutualistic interaction networks has led to valuable insights into ecological and evolutionary processes. However, our understanding of network structure may depend upon the temporal scale at which we sample and analyze network data. To date, we lack a comprehensive assessment of the temporal scale-dependence of network structure across a wide range of temporal scales and geographic locations. If network structure is still limited (but see Olesen et al. 2008, Morente-López et al. 2018). Particularly, it remains unclear how sampling effort, species turnover and link network structure is temporally scale-dependent, networks constructed over different temporal scales may provide very different perspectives on the structure and composition of species interactions. Furthermore, it remains unclear how various factors – including species richness, species turnover, link rewiring and sampling effort – act in concert to shape network structure across different temporal scales. To address these issues, we used a large database of temporally-resolved plant–pollinator networks to investigate how temporal aggregation from the scale of one day to multiple years influences network structure. In addition, we used structural equation modeling to explore the direct and indirect effects of temporal scale, species richness, species turnover, link rewiring and sampling effort on network structural properties. We find that plant–pollinator network structure is strongly temporally-scale dependent. This general pattern arises because the temporal scale determines the degree to which temporal dynamics (i.e. phenological turnover of species and links) are included in the network, in addition to how much sampling effort is put into constructing the network. Ultimately, the temporal scale-dependence of our plant–pollinator networks appears to be mostly driven by species richness, which increases with sampling effort, and species turnover, which increases with temporal extent. In other words, after accounting for variation in species richness, network structure is increasingly shaped by its underlying temporal dynamics. Our results suggest that considering multiple temporal scales may be necessary to fully appreciate the causes and consequences of interaction network structure.
EVALUATION OF ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIACETYLCHOLINESTERASE ACTIVITIES OF THE EXTRACTS OF PISTACIA ATLANTICA DESF. LEAVES

ABSTRACT Pistacia atlantica Desf. (Anacardiaceae), a tree that is widely distributed in the Marmara, Mediterranean and Central Anatolia regions of Turkey, has been utilized traditionally for culinary and medicinal purposes. In the present study, methanolic and ethyl acetate extracts were prepared from young leaves of P. atlantica Desf. , which were collected during the spring, and their antioxidant, scavenging, chelating and anti-acetylcholinesterase activities were evaluated. Both of the extracts showed strong antioxidant activity compared to synthetic antioxidants such as butylated hydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoluene and α-tocopherol whereas they exhibited relatively lower level of anti-acetylcholinesterase activity. The acetylcholinesterase inhibitory effect of the ethylacetate extract was higher than the inhibitory effect of the methanolic extract. Therefore, the extracts of the young leaves of P. atlantica Desf. might be a potential antioxidant supplement for food and pharmaceutical products. It might also be used to stabilize the foods against oxidative deterioration. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Pistacia atlantica Desf. (Anacardiaceae) is a tree located in the Marmara, Mediterranean and Central Anatolia regions of Turkey. The genus Pistacia includes at least 11 species. The mastic obtained from Pistacia species has been used as urinary and respiratory antiseptic in Turkish folk medicine. During the spring, the young leaves of P. atlantica Desf. are used as a vegetable and commonly consumed as cooked food in the Mediterranean and East Anatolian parts of Turkey. Pistacia species have been reported to posses anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antifungal, antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-insect, anti-atherogenic, hypoglycemic, anticancer and hepatoprotective activities. The aerial parts and/or resin of the plant has been also used in traditional medicine for the treatment of eczema, paralysis, diarrhea, throat infections, renal stones, jaundice, asthma and stomach ache, and also as an astringent and a pectoral stimulant. According to our results, the high antioxidant properties of the leaves of P. atlantica Desf. might be beneficial to the antioxidant protection system of the human body against oxidative damage.
Effect of Corridors and Habitat Edges on Dispersal Behavior, Movement Rates, and Movement Angles in Roesel's Bush‐Cricket (Metrioptera roeseli)

Abstract: One method proposed for moderating the negative effects of habitat isolation is the preservation or restoration of linear landscape elements that structurally link isolated habitat remnants. An understanding of how animals react to landscape elements and move through the landscape is vital for species management and theory development. To achieve this understanding, detailed information on movement rates and specific movement behavior of individual animals in different ecosystems is essential. In an experimental study, we investigated whether individuals of Roesel's bush‐cricket ( Metrioptera roeseli) prefer to use corridors or move over the matrix when they leave a habitat patch. We examined whether movement rates and movement angles in corridors and matrix differed and whether individuals showed edge‐avoidance behavior. Differences in these behaviors were analyzed in relation to the softness of habitat edges. We found that approximately 30% more individuals used the corridor than would be expected if dispersal behavior was random. All individuals using the corridor as a dispersal route moved to the end of the corridor and into the surrounding habitat, which is 1000% more than would be expected if dispersal was random. The edge type ( hard or soft) did not influence whether individuals moved through corridors or the matrix. Individuals that moved through the corridor moved straighter but slower than individuals that moved over the matrix. A higher movement rate over the matrix than through corridors may be explained by an increased risk of predation, starvation, or dehydration in the open habitat causing individuals to move more quickly toward the higher vegetation. Our results suggest that individuals avoid the edge and the matrix and that the corridor is a preferred alternative for dispersal. We conclude that for this species, and probably other similar species of Orthoptera, linear elements in the form of corridors have a positive influence on the individual's dispersal through the landscape. This demonstrates the value of corridors in reducing the negative effect of habitat fragmentation on the persistence of local species.
Social Capital and Sustainable Innovation in Small Businesses: Investigating the Role of Absorptive Capacity, Marketing Capability and Organizational Learning

Facing resource constraints and fierce competition, it is relatively difficult for small firms to achieve product innovation to gain sustainable development independently. Previous studies have explored the positive relationship between social capital and product innovation, yet there is still a lack of a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanism and the boundary conditions. Drawing upon the dynamic capabilities framework, we expect that absorptive capacity and marketing capability will mediate the relationship between social capital and new product development. Moreover, since product innovation is considered a process of learning, we also examine the moderating effects of explorative learning, and exploitative learning within moderated mediation models. Employing a sample of 221 small firms based in China, we find that social capital is indeed positively associated with new product development and is simultaneously fully mediated by absorptive capacity and marketing capability. Furthermore, the impact of absorptive capacity on new product development is amplified when a condition of explorative learning exists. This study, therefore, advances the current understanding on the predictors of innovation and enriches the dynamic capabilities theory, and also provides empirical support for the sustainable development of small firms.
Identification of Diphyllobothrium dendriticum and Diphyllobothrium latum from some freshwater fishes of central Canada.

Two species of Diphyllobothrium occurred in Quigly Lake, Manitoba: plerocercoids of D. dendriticum encapsulated on the viscera of shallow water cisco (Coregonus artedii) and lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) and plerocercoids of D. latum unencapsulated in the muscle of walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) and northern pike (Esox lucius). Adult D. dendriticum were obtained through experimental infections of both herring gulls (Larus argentatus) and hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), but adult D. latum developed experimentally only in the latter. The scolex position of adult D. dendriticum was more anterior than D. latum in the small intestine of hamsters. Eggs were present in utero and in the faeces by days 10–11 postinfection (PI) for D. dendriticum in hamsters and gulls and by day 17 PI for D. latum in hamsters. Adult D. dendriticum grew longer and had more segments in gulls than in hamsters. The neck length of adult D. latum was at least five times greater than the neck length of adult D. dendriti.