Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of plant spacing and fertility levels on growth, yield and economics of long duration pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp)

The field experiment entitled “Influence of Plant spacing and Fertility Levels on Growth, Yield and Economics of Long Duration Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L. Millsp)” was conducted at OilSeed Research farm, Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur. The experimental field was levelled and well drained. The soil was clay loam in texture, low in organic carbon and available nitrogen, medium in available phosphorus, high in available potassium and moderately alkaline in reaction. The environmental conditions prevailed during experimental period was favorable for normal growth and maturity of pigeonpea crop. The experiment was laid out in Factorial RBD with four spacing and three levels of fertilizer which comprises twelve treatment combinations. Each experimental unit was replicated three times. Experiment was conducted continuously two years in kharif2016 and 2017 with four spacing (60x30cm2, 60x45 cm2, 75x30cm2 and 75x45cm2) and three fertility levels (RDF 75%, RDF 100% and RDF 125%) as per treatments. Crop variety “AMAR” was sown on ridges. Significant plant height, 100 grain weight, seed yield, stalk yield, net return and benefit cost ratio were recorded with plant spacings on the basis of two years pooled data, whenever, number of branches and pod plant-1 were found non-significant. In case of fertility levelscrop produced significant number of branches, number of pods plant-1, 100 grain weight, seed yield, stalk yield, net return and benefit cost ratio on pooled basis. The interaction effects of plant spacings and fertilizer levels were found significant with seed yield and straw yield and also given significant net monetary returns and benefit cost ratio. On the basis of two years mean data highest seed yield (2270 kg ha-1), stalk yield (11470 kg ha-1), net monetary return (Rs. 44095.00 ha-1) and B:C ratio (2.24) were recorded, it may be due to higher number of plant population and application of high fertilizer dose (125% RDF).
EXAMINATION OF POLLEN MORPHOLOGY OF SOME AETHIONEMA (BRASSICACEAE), FROM TURKEY

Pollen morphology of 23 species of taxonomically difficult genus Aethionema W.T. Aiton was examined by light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Pollen grains have showed significant variation in aperture number and type. Generally pollen is tricolpate, but tricolpate-syncolpate, tetracolpate, or merely syncolpate apertures also occur and make a heteromorphic assemblage. Pollen shape is prolate, prolate-spheroidal, subprolate, spheroidal or suboblate, and pollen ranges from 9.4 to 29 µm (P), 6.2 to 23.9 µm (E). Five main pollen types were identified based on the sculpturing of the exine. The pollen shape, size, surface ornamentation, muri and lumina shape and size are found as important and useful features for distiguishing of the taxa
Lessons learned when looking for non-neutral ecological processes in the built environment: the bacterial and fungal microbiota of shower tiles

With periodic pulses of water, bathroom showers represent a habitat in the built environment with a high potential for microbial growth. We set out to apply a neutral model of microbial community assembly and to identify deviations from the model that would indicate non-neutral dynamics, such as selective pressures for individual taxa, in this particular indoor habitat. Following a cleaning event, the bacterial and fungal microbiota of the shower stalls in two residences in the San Francisco Bay Area were observed over a four-week period. We observed strong differences in composition between houses, preventing us from combining samples and thus limiting our statistical power. We also identified different aspects of the sampling scheme that could be improved, including increasing the sampling area (to ensure sufficient biomass) and increasing the number of replicates within an individual shower. The data from this pilot study indicate that immigrants to the built environment arising from human shedding dominate the shower ecosystem and that growth conditions are relatively unfavorable despite the water availability. We offer suggestions on how to improve the studying and sampling of microbes in indoor environments.
Pollen carryover between sequential foraging trips by a solitary bee: Implications for distant outcrossing

Animal pollination depends on foragers moving pollen between conspecific flowers and plants. Pollinating bees often exhibit patch fidelity and frequent grooming during a foraging trip, which results in intensely localized pollen carryover. If their host’s seed dispersal is likewise limited, then spatial mosaics of small genetic neighbourhoods should result. However, spatial distributions of genetic markers of seeds often reveal infrequent long-distance gene flow mediated by pollinating bees, seemingly at odds with expectations of bees’ local patch fidelity and suggesting an additional mechanism at work.A greenhouse experiment that used nesting Osmia californica bees foraging at sunflowers tested the pollination fate of any bodily pollen that lingers on females even after they discharge a pollen load at their nest. Once a provisioning female had returned to her nest, we moved the nest with her inside from a cage with male-fertile sunflowers to a cage with male-sterile sunflowers. There females quickly resumed foraging. They nearly always pollinated and set seed at the first male-sterile flowerhead that they visited, the result of fertile bodily pollen carried over from the previous foraging trip. Every visit to a second male-sterile flowerhead set additional seed.If, as seems likely, outbound nesting females sometimes switch between host patches, then this mechanism of pollen carryover could explain occasional distant pollen-mediated gene flow events, as summarizes in a graphic model. Carryover should mitigate inbreeding depression in threatened plant populations, or conversely, sometimes contaminate seed crops, with relevance for spatially isolating foundation seed fields and coexistence of GMO and conventional crops.
Food-web structure and ecosystem function in the Laurentian Great Lakes-Toward a conceptual model

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Authors. Freshwater Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Any use of trade, product or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government. 1Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Ann Arbor, Michigan 2Department of Biology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada 3Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada 4Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada 5Glenora Fisheries Station, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Picton, Ontario, Canada 6US Geological Survey Great Lakes Science Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan 7Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Ocean Sciences Division, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
Systolic Blood Pressure Estimation from Electrocardiogram and Photo Plethysmogram Signals Using Convolutional Neural Networks

Background: Digital continuous blood pressure (BP) monitoring is increasingly being used in clinical and remote settings. Although it could significantly help clinicians in vital signs monitoring, the analyzing of such amount of BP data is challenging. Objective: This study is aimed to investigate the feasibility of applying deep convolutional neural network (CNN) to the estimation of the systolic blood pressure (SBP) using electrocardiogram (ECG) and photo plethysmography (PPG) signals. Method: A total of 62500 ECG and PPG signals, sampled at 125 Hz, with 250 corresponding SBP, sampled at 1 Hz, were selected from Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC-III) Waveform Database. The collected signals from 22 subjects were divided into training (80%) and testing (20%) datasets. A CNN-based model was designed with five convolutional layers, one fully connected layer, and one regression layer to predict the SBP. Two different methods of applying data to the input of the CNN model was evaluated. In the first method, the continuous wavelet transform of the data was used while in the second method, the raw ECG and PPG signals without preprocessing were used as the input dataset. Results: The results showed a high accuracy of 87.42% for the first method and 90.31% for the second method. Moreover, the mean square errors of 5.43 mmHg and 4.82 mmHg were measured for first and second models, respectively. Conclusions: Both methods are capable of learning how to extract relevant features from the ECG and PPG signals and estimate SBP within an acceptable error margin set by Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI).
Investigating Sequence Patterns of Collaborative Problem-Solving Behavior in Online Collaborative Discussion Activity

Collaborative problem solving (CPS) is an influential human behavior affecting working performance and well-being. Previous studies examined CPS behavior from the perspective of either social or cognitive dimensions, which leave a research gap from the interactive perspective. In addition, the traditional sequence analysis method failed to combine time sequences and sub-problem sequences together while analyzing behavioral patterns in CPS. This study proposes a developed schema for the multidimensional analysis of CPS. A combination sequential analysis approach that comprises time sequences and sub-problem sequences is also employed to explore CPS patterns. A total of 191 students were recruited and randomly grouped into 38 teams (four to six students per team) in the online collaborative discussion activity. Their discussion transcripts were coded while they conducted CPS, followed by the assessment of high- and low- performance groups according to the developed schema and sequential analysis. With the help of the new analysis method, the findings indicate that a deep exploratory discussion is generated from conflicting viewpoints, which promotes improved problem-solving outcomes and perceptions. In addition, evidence-based rationalization can motivate collaborative behavior effectively. The results demonstrated the potential power of automatic sequential analysis with multidimensional behavior and its ability to provide quantitative descriptions of group interactions in the investigated threaded discussions.
Dysregulation of Circular RNAs in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) constitute a recently re-discovered class of non-coding RNAs functioning as sponge for miRNAs and proteins, affecting RNA splicing and regulating transcription. CircRNAs are generated by “back-splicing”, linking covalently 3’- and 5’-ends of exons. Thus, circRNA levels might be deregulated in conditions associated to altered RNA-splicing. Indeed, increasing evidence indicates their role in human diseases. Specifically, myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is a multisystemic disorder caused by expanded CTG-repeats in the DMPK gene, resulting in abnormal mRNA-splicing. In this investigation, circRNAs expressed in DM1 skeletal muscles were identified by analyzing RNA-sequencing data-sets followed by qPCR validation. In muscle biopsies, out of 9 tested, 4 transcripts showed an increased circular fraction: CDYL, HIPK3, RTN4_03 and ZNF609. The circular fraction values correlated positively with skeletal muscle strength and Receiver-Operating-Characteristics curves showed that these four circRNAs allow to distinguish DM1 patients from controls. The identified circRNAs were also detectable in peripheral-blood-mononuclear-cells (PBMCs) and plasma of DM1 patients, but they were not regulated significantly, indicating a tissue-selectivity of the identified modulations. Finally, increased circular fractions of RTN4_03 and ZNF609 were also observed in differentiated myogenic cell lines derived from DM1 patients. In conclusion, this proof-of-principle study identified circRNA dysregulation in DM1 patients.
Effect of some genetic and non-genetic factors on productive and reproductive traits of Egyptian buffaloes

Objective: The objectives of our study were to estimate the effect of some non-genetic factors on production and reproduction traits of Egyptian buffaloes and to estimate the breeding values for these traits. Materials and Methods: Data from 965 lactation records of 305 Egyptian buffalo cows mated by 73 sires that were raised at Mahallet Mousa Experimental farms of Animal Production Research Institute were collected. Dairy records covered the period from 2001 to 2015. The data were arranged and statistically analyzed using SAS version 9.1. 3 to study the effect of non-genetic factors and the MTDFREMAL program was included in estimating the expected breeding values. Results: Our results showed that buffalo cows that calved in winter season recorded the highest and significant total milk yield (TMY) and daily milk yield (DMY) traits and the best reproductive performance was indicated by the lower number of services per conception and the shortest calving interval (CI) period. Moreover, age at first calving and dry period (DP) showed a highly significant effect on the TMY and DMY. A significant effect for the level of milk production on days open (DO) period was recorded in our study. The range of sires EBV was 540 kg, 295.2 days, 113.9 days, 2.8 months, and 71.1 days for TMY, LL, DO, CI, and DP, respectively. Conclusion: Buffalo’s breeders must consider the season of calving, parity, and DP in management program because they greatly affect the farm productivity and profitability and they must select animals with higher breeding values to be the parent of the next generation.
Caractérisation des formations végétales pâturées de la zone guinéenne du Togo : typologie, évaluation de la biomasse, diversité, valeur fourragère et régénération

L'elevage contribue a l'economie des populations locales dans les pays en developpement, mais reste tributaire de la disponibilite de la vegetation naturelle. Le but de cette etude est de caracteriser les formations vegetales pâturees (FVP) du bassin Mono. Un total de 63 parcelles d'echantillonnage realisees dans les communautes vegetales de la zone ont permis de recenser 311 especes reparties dans 58 familles et 204 genres. Cinq (05) types de pâturages discrimines sont faconnes par 22 determinants (topo-edaphiques, anthropogeniques et environnementaux). Le pâturage a Lonchocarpus sericeus et Diheteropogon amplectens (H '= 5,99) a l'indice de Shannon le plus eleve tandis que Mitragyna inermis et Cynodon dactylon pâturent l'indice le plus bas (1,51). Les groupes vegetaux etudies sont domines par les phanerophytes (43%) et les therophytes (34%). La flore fourragere est dominee par des graminees annuelles (37%), des graminees perennes (23%) et des graminees vivaces (12%). Les graminees moyennes et les legumineuses pauvres constituent la majeure partie de la flore fourragere de la zone. La regeneration naturelle des ligneux dans les aires de pâture est faible et est due aux impacts des determinants ecologiques et topo-edaphiques. Cette etude servira d'outil d'evaluation et de suivi de la biomasse des FVP dans ces ecosystemes. Mots cles : Biomasse, diversite, paysages pastoraux, caracterisation, regeneration, Togo.
Comprehensive Analysis of a Cu Nitride Passivated Surface That Enhances Cu-to-Cu Bonding

As 3-D packaging is expected to meet new requirements for next-generation system-in-packaging (SiP), various technologies have been discussed for vertical integration. To enable high-performance vertical interconnects, Cu-to-Cu bonding is an essential process for decreasing the metal-interconnect size between vertically stacked devices and for improving system performance. However, the high-temperature and high-pressure conditions of the Cu bonding process and copper surface oxidation are important issues to be resolved for better mass production, especially for chip-to-wafer bonding. In this study, a comprehensive analysis was performed on the effects of a two-step Ar and N2 plasma treatment used to create a copper nitride passivated surface. Chemical and structural analyses of the copper nitride surface showed that this two-step plasma treatment removed nonuniformly formed native copper oxides and formed an ultrathin copper nitride passivation layer. Electrical and mechanical analyses showed that the resulting uniform conductive copper nitride surface and plastic property have the potential to improve the quality of thermocompression bonding. The results of these comprehensive analyses demonstrate the excellent ability of copper nitride to passivate copper surfaces and indicate the possibility of achieving effective Cu bonding in air.
Effects of dietary Zeolite supplementation on milk yield and composition and blood minerals status in lactating dairy cows

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine effects of inclusion of Zeolite in lactating dairy cows’ rations on blood Ca, P, and Mg status during periparturient period, as well as on milk yield and composition during early lactation. Forty-two pregnant dry Holstein cows were randomly assigned as Zeolite treated cows (EG) or untreated cows (CG) comprising 21 cows each. The EG group received the same diet as the CG group, but with addition of 200 g/cow/day of Zeolite. There was no treatment effect on milk total solids, milk fat, milk protein, lactose, milk ash, milk Ca, milk P, milk Mg, plasma P, and plasma Mg for CG and EG. Conversely, milk yield, fat corrected milk (FCM), fat yield, protein yield, lactose yield, and plasma Ca were significantly increased by Zeolite addition. These results indicate that Zeolite can be effectively used in the rations of dry and lactating cows with positive effects on milk production and components yields and no deleterious effects on milk composition or blood parameters. Blood Ca was enhanced around calving and at the beginning of lactation. It is suggested that prepartum Zeolite supplementation may alleviate the negative Ca balance and therefore reduce the incidence of subclinical hypocalcaemia during the periparturient period.
Social Determinants of Health, the Family, and Children’s Personal Hygiene: A Comparative Study

Habits of personal hygiene are mostly acquired during childhood, and are, therefore, influenced by one’s family. Poor hygiene habits are a risk factor for preventable disease and social rejection. Social Determinants of Health (SDH) consist of contextual factors, structural mechanisms, and the individual’s socioeconomic position, which, via intermediary determinants, result in inequities of health and well–being. Dysfunctional family situations may, therefore, be generated by an unequal distribution of factors determining SDH. Little attention has been paid to the influence of the family on personal hygiene and the perception of social rejection in children. We designed a study to examine differences in personal hygiene and in the perception of social rejection between children in reception centers and children living in a family setting. A validated questionnaire on children’s personal hygiene habits was completed by 51 children in reception centers and 454 children in normal families. Hygiene habits were more deficient among the children in reception centers than among the other children in all dimensions studied. Deficient hygiene habits were observed in the offspring of families affected by the main features of social inequality, who were more likely to perceive social rejection for this reason and less likely to consider their family as the greatest influence on their personal hygiene practices.
Prevalence and factors associated with re-laparotomy among patients operated in Debre-Markos referral hospital, north west Ethiopia: Retrospective cross-sectional study

Background Re-laparotomy is one of the causes of morbidity and mortality among patients with abdominal surgery; unless efforts are made to prevent in advance by identifying the potential risk factors. Methods Retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted at Debre-Markos Referral Hospital from three hundred and ninety charts (390) from January 1, 2015, to January 30, 2017. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22. The associated factors for re-laparotomy were identified using multivariable logistic regression. P-value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results We studied 390 patients based on charts. Two hundred seventy-four patients (70.3%) were males. Forty-eight patients (12.3%) performed re-laparotomy. Patients with the duration of operating on initial surgery >60 hrs, AOR=3.30(95%CI [1.40-7.41, p=0.05]), diabetes mellitus, AOR=4.79(95%CI [1.55-14.80, p=0.007]), elective surgery, AOR=0.17(95%CI [0.05-0.56, p= 0.004]) Conclusion Even re-laparotomy is preventive; it is found to be in-patients underwent abdominal surgery. Therefore, appropriate preventive intervention to be taken to change those factors of the first surgery.
Perspectives of Private Forest Owners toward Investment in Forest Carbon Offset Projects: A Case of Geumsan-Gun, South Korea

Understanding and promoting South Korean private forest owners’ investment in the Forest Carbon Offset (FCO) scheme is crucial for enhancing carbon sequestration using forests in South Korea. This study aims to identify the factors of private forest owners associated with the investment decision in FCO projects. A total of 132 forest owners in Geumsan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do responded to a mixed-method survey. A chi-square test on the respondent groups shows that a forest management contract has a positive correlation with the forest owners’ willingness to invest in FCO projects. We also developed a logistic regression model for each forest owner group to estimate the effects of forest characteristics, experience of financial support, forest owner characteristics, and management characteristics on the forest owners’ willingness to invest in FCO projects. The results indicate that beliefs in climate change, size of forest holdings, tree species, stand age, experience in cost-sharing for forestry operations with public agencies, and timber harvest experience were significantly associated with the likelihood of a forest owner’s willingness to invest in FCO projects. Therefore, forest policies should take account of the factors influencing the likelihood of forest owners’ investment in FCO projects. We also found that the forest management contract scheme can be used as a policy instrument for promoting private forest owners’ action for climate change in South Korea.