Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Soil properties, growth and spears yield quality of five asparagus cultivars grown in tropical soil affected by NaCl applications

To cultivate asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) in the tropics is constrained by high temperature and humidity that are potentially stimulating the development of soil-borne diseases. The research was aimed to observe the NaCl applications effects on properties of soil physicochemical, growth and spears yield quality of asparagus in the tropical medium elevation (730 meters above sea levels). The experiment used Split-Plot Design with three levels of NaCl concentrations (1, 2 and 3 g L−1, respectively) as the main plot and five asparagus cultivars (Atlas F1, de Paoli F1, Jing Green F1, San Knight F1 and Jaleo) as the subplot with three repetitions. No interaction was found between NaCl applications and asparagus cultivars at 12 weeks after planting. NaCl concentrations significantly increased soil electrical conductivity (2.14 -2.68dS m−1); levels of soil Na+ (1.77-2.34 cmol kg−1) and Cl- (25.02 -27.79 mg kg−1), but decreased the levels of Ca2+ and Mg2+, respectively by 1.23 and 1.44 cmol kg−1. Higher spears number and weight of asparagus were produced by cultivars of Jaleo (54.3% and 66.4%, respectively) and Atlas F1 (50.9% and 62.6%, respectively). The conclusion shows that Jaleo and Atlas F1 can adapt to the tropical medium environment due to their genetic traits.
The political economy of degrowth

What is degrowth and what are its implications for political economy? Divided in three parts, this dissertation explores the why, what, and how of degrowth. The first part (Of growth and limits) studies the nature, causes, and consequences of economic growth. Chapter 1: Understanding economic growth answers a series of questions about the nature of economic growth: What is it exactly that grows? By how much does it grow? When and where does it grow? How does it grow? And why should it grow? The three following chapters develop a triple objection to economic growth as no longer possible (Chapter 2: Biophysical limits to growth), plausible (Chapter 3: Socioeconomic limits to growth), and desirable (Chapter 4: Social limits of growth). The second part (Elements of degrowth) is about the idea of degrowth, especially its history, theoretical foundations, and controversies. Chapter 5: Origins and definitions traces the history of the concept from 1968 to 2018. Chapter 6: Theoretical foundations presents a normative theory of degrowth as de-economisation, that is a reduction in importance of economic thoughts and practices. Chapter 7: Controversies reviews the attacks the concept has received. Whereas the first part diagnosed economic growth as the problem, this part offers a solution. The take-home message is that degrowth is not only a critique but also a fully-fledged alternative to the growth society. The third part (Recipes for degrowth) is about the transition from a growth economy to a degrowth society. It opens with an inventory of the policies that have been mobilised by degrowthers until today (Chapter 8: Strategies for change). The three following chapters on property (Chapter 9: Transforming property), work (Chapter 10: Transforming work), and money (Chapter 11: Transforming money) go from theory to practice and translate the values and principles of degrowth into operational transition strategies. Chapter 12: Transition strategy presents a method to study the interactions between degrowth policies in order to craft effective transition strategies. The central claim of this final part is that degrowth is a powerful conceptual tool to think about societal transformations for social-ecological justice.
The Thai Group Cognitive Behavior Therapy Intervention Program for Depressive Symptoms among Older Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract: Depression is a mental health problem worldwide, often a co-occurring condition with disabilities and contributes to a low quality of life and suicide. Older women are more likely to experience depression than older men and need specific interventions to reduce their depressive symptoms. This randomized controlled trial examined the effect of a group administered cognitive behavior therapy program for reducing depressive symptoms amongolder women. Sixty Thai older women living in the community, who met the inclusion criteria and presented at primary care units in Northern Thailand, were randomly assigned into either a group undertaking a cognitive behavior therapy program (n=30) or a usual care control condition (n=30). Depression was measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Thai version at baseline, immediately after the time needed to complete The Thai Group CBTIntervention Program, and then at 1 and 3 months follow-up. Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent sample t-test were used to test the program efficacy. Results indicated that the mean depression scores in the CBT condition at every point were significantly lower than at baseline and also statistically lower than those of the usual care condition after completing the program. Thus, The Thai Group CBT Intervention Program was found to be efficacious in reducing depression. Nurses should considerintegrating this intervention for older persons with depression into primary care; however, further study is needed to demonstrate the durability of the depression reduction effects.
Spillover Effects in Securities Litigation

This study examines the spillover effect of securities litigation. Peers of the sued firm have negative three-day abnormal returns around case filings and continue underperforming over sixty trading days. Peers also improve financial reporting quality and change qualitative disclosure characteristics by providing more readable and positive annual reports while reducing the use of litigation-related terms. Finally, peers increase voluntary earnings guidance but reduce disclosure timeliness and precision. Results are primarily driven by meritorious cases (i.e., those that eventually settle), while nonmeritorious cases have little spillover. These peer changes appear largely successful as they have lower future litigation incidence.
Olive Leaves Extract Improved Sperm Quality and Antioxidant Status in the Testis of Rat Exposed to Rotenone

Background: Olive( Oleaeuropaea ),fromtheOleaseaefamily,isaverypopularplantforitsbiologicalandpharmacologicalcharac-teristics. Olive tree derivatives possess antioxidant, anti-inﬂammatory, antihyperlipidemic, and cardioprotective eﬀects. Objectives: Thecurrentstudyaimedatevaluatingtheeﬀectof oliveleavesextract(OLE)onspermqualityandantioxidantcapacity in testis of rats exposed to rotenone (ROT). Methods: In the current experimental study, 36 male Wistar rats were divided into 6 groups (n = 6). Control, Sham, ROT, and 3 ROTs treated with OLE (75, 150, and 300 mg/kg/day). ROT 3 mg/kg/48 hours was injected subcutaneously (s.c), and vehicle or OLE was ad-ministratedbyoralgavagefor30days. Attheendof thestudy,animalswerescariﬁedandtheirtestistissueandepididymissamples wereremovedandtheirspermparameters(viability,motility,andspermcount),totalantioxidantcapacity(TAC),andmalondialde-hyde (MDA) level were measured. Results: TheresultsshowedasigniﬁcantdecreaseinspermparametersandTACintheROTgroup. MDAlevelincreasedinROTgroup compared to that of the control group. The 30 day administration of OLE signiﬁcantly improved the sperm qualitative parameters and TAC, and decreased the elevation of MDA in the treated groups (P value < 0.05). Conclusions: In conclusion, the antioxidant eﬀects of OLE signiﬁcantly increased sperm quality and TAC, and decreased MDA level in the testis of rats exposed to ROT. These results revealed that OLE improved the sperm quality and suggested that OLE may treat infertility.
Signaling in Mast Cells Ablation on Proinflammatory Adenosine Adenosine Receptor Gene 2B Effect of A

Blackburn, Italo Biaggioni and Igor FeoktistovSergey V. Novitskiy, Mikhail M. Dikov, Michael R. Sergey Ryzhov, Rinat Zaynagetdinov, Anna E. Goldstein,http://www.jimmunol.org/content/180/11/7212J Immunol€2008; 180:7212-7220; ;Referenceshttp://www.jimmunol.org/content/180/11/7212.full#ref-list-1This article cites 61 articles, 36 of which you can access for free at: Subscriptionshttp://jimmunol.org/subscriptionsInformation about subscribing to The Journal of Immunology is online at: Permissionshttp://www.aai. org/ji/copyright.htmlSubmit copyright permission requests at: Email Alertshttp://jimmunol.org/cgi/alerts/etocReceive free email-alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up at:
The Seven Sustainability Competences according to the RESFIA+D Model

Aim:The article describes the origins, structure and applications of a model for professional competences for sustainable development, called RESFIA+D. The model provides an assessment and policy instrument that can easily be applied practically.Companies, NGO’s and other organizations may apply RESFIA+D as a structured tool for human resource development (HRD). Institutions for higher and vocational education can use the instrument for education (re)development, where curricula and didactic approaches are derived from a systematically designed competence profile in which sustainable development is integrated. Finally, individual professionals may use RESFIA+D as a tool for professional development. Design / Research methods:The article defines the concepts of ‘competence’ and ‘competent professionals’, in an easily understandable style. Next, the structure of the RESFIA+D model is described. Scientific details, such as origins and validation, are described elsewhere; references are made to other sources.The basic set of RESFIA+D competences is combined with a structure of seven competence levels, which allows users to express the assessment results on an ordinal scale. This scale enables users to design plans for systematic improvements, both at a strategic and an operational level. Conclusions / findings:As illustrated in the article, RESFIA+D was applied successfully within companies, universities, and by individual professionals. Originality, value of the article:The article focuses in a unique way on the roles towards sustainability of individual professionals, whereas most or all usual assessment models focus on the roles of either entire organizations, or of individual persons seen as civilians or customers.
Interface between general adult and old age psychiatry

SUMMARY Older people with mental health problems are entitled to the same level and quality of care as younger people. Several factors continue to influence policy and delivery of older adults' mental health services in the UK. Following the introduction of the Equality Act 2010, there has been a drive to create an ‘ageless’ National Health Service. This has opened up the debate about whether such a service is best equipped to meet the specific needs of older adults. In this contribution we consider the concepts of ‘old age’ and ‘frailty’ and their clinical and service provision implications in psychiatry. The management of late-life depression and early-onset dementia, advance care planning and palliation in dementia are also considered. LEARNING OBJECTIVES • Appreciate how old age psychiatric services and the concept of ‘old age’ have evolved over time• Gain an understanding of issues at the interface between old age and general adult psychiatry and those specific to old age psychiatry• Gain an overview of procedures involved in transferring care between general adult and old age psychiatric services and the need for a separate old age psychiatry subspecialty DECLARATION OF INTEREST None.
Design and Implementation of a Full-Digital Beamforming Array With Nonreciprocal Tx/Rx Beam Patterns

This letter reports a strategy of full-digital arrays with nonreciprocal transmitting (Tx) and receiving (Rx) beam patterns, for the first time, for 5G/6G wireless communications. The proposed full-digital array contains a smaller number of Rx channels than that of the Tx channels. The unequal number of Tx and Rx channels makes the transmitting and receiving patterns asymmetrical, which would not only release the burden of data processing but also reduce the hardware cost and power consumption of the entire system. Importantly, as compared with conventional large-scale beamforming arrays, the proposed strategy will not deteriorate the range of coverage at an instantaneous time. A 64-element full-digital beamforming array prototype was designed, fabricated, and characterized for a proof-of-concept demonstration.
Association Between Adaptive Sports Programs and Quality of Life Among Amputee Veterans

Association Between Adaptive Sports Programs and Quality of Life Among Amputee Veterans by Sean V. Seay MS, Trident University, 2008 BS, Lincoln University, 1994 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public Health—Epidemiology Walden University February 2018
Towards a natural classification of Dothidotthia and Thyrostroma in Dothidotthiaceae (Pleosporineae, Pleosporales)

Dothidotthia and Thyrostroma (Dothidotthiaceae, Pleosporineae, Pleosporales) species are plant pathogens causing canker, dieback and leaf spots on a wide range of hosts. However, the naming species is difficult, due to insufficient protologues, poor phylogenetic understanding due to the lack of sequence data from type species and low-quality illustrations. Moreover, the connections between asexual and sexual morphs of these genera are unclear. In this study, fresh samples of Dothidotthia and Thyrostroma were collected from symptomatic twigs and branches in southern European Russia. Multi-gene phylogenetic analyses based on a concatenated LSU, SSU, ITS and TEF1-α sequence dataset were used to investigate the phylogenetic position and confirm relationships of the asexual and sexual morphs in these genera of Dothidotthiaceae. In this study, Dothidotthia can easily be distinguished from Thyrostroma based on multi-gene phylogenetic analyses coupled with morphological characters. The new species, Dothidotthia robiniae, Thyrostroma celtidis, T. lycii, T. moricola, T. robiniae, T. styphnolobii, T. tiliae, T. ulmicola and T. ulmigenum are introduced. In addition, Neodothidotthia negundinicola clusters with species of Dothidotthia and hence Neodothidotthia is synonymized under Dothidotthia. Two new combinations, D. negundinicola and D. negundinis, are introduced.
Porous two-dimensional materials (MXenes) for high capacity energy storage

Energy storage is becoming a key challenge of the 21st century as the global energy system transitions away from the use of fossil fuels, which have been linked to damaging climate change and increasing air pollution. Electrochemical energy storage devices, such as batteries and supercapacitors, offer great potential to enable the clean energy transition, but require significant improvements to their performance characteristics such as energy density, power density and lifetime. The design and study of new electrode materials is key to achieving these improvements. MXenes are a new class of two-dimensional transition metal carbides and nitrides which have shown early promise in the field of electrochemical energy storage. Particularly interesting is the discovery of pseudocapacitive intercalation as their charge storage mechanism, since this could enable high power and energy densities with long cycling lifetimes into one device. However, the performance of MXene electrodes greatly depends on the electrode architecture, with multilayered or restacked MXenes showing unsatisfactory performances. This thesis reports on the development of pillaring techniques to increase the interlayer spacing between MXene (Ti3C2 and Mo2TiC2) sheets creating porous electrode architectures. This is shown to lead to large increases in the interlayer spacings, with up to 60-fold increases in the specific surface areas, among the highest reported for MXenes to-date. The pillared MXenes are then tested in a variety of systems for metal-ion capacitor applications, including organic Li-ion and Na-ion and aqueous Zn-ion systems. It was found that the pillared materials outperformed the non-pillared materials in each system studied, with improvements in capacities, rate capabilities, cycling stabilities and coulombic efficiencies. In addition, the pillaring and electrochemical mechanisms are studied using a combination of microscopy, spectroscopy and electrochemical techniques, providing important understanding to assist with the further development of this field.
A Two-Year Simulated Crop Rotation Confirmed the Differential Infestation of Broomrape Species in China Is Associated with Crop-Based Biostimulants

In Yanqi County of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, broomrape species (Orobanche cumana Wallr and Phelipanche aegyptiaca Pers.) contribute to significant losses of processing tomato and sunflower. During the past decades, a significant infestation pattern was observed between these broomrape species with no scientific peer-reviewed explanation. A two-year pot experiment simulating the crop rotation and an independent hydroponic experiment were performed to address the problem and indicate the main reason behind the differential infestation pattern. Different varieties of three crops (sugar beet, pepper, and wheat) were grown in rotation with tomato and sunflower to identify a crop-rotation induced control mechanism on these two broomrape species. Germination bioassays were performed in vitro to identify stimulation of plant biochemicals collected as methanolic shoots/roots extracts and root exudates on the germination patterns of broomrape seeds. Results indicated that sunflower broomrape soil seed banks reduced during the two-year crop rotation; however, Egyptian broomrape seed banks did not alter and the resulting parasitism significantly reduced tomato growth. Seed germination bioassays confirmed that the methanolic shoot/root extracts successfully stimulate sunflower broomrape seeds germination but fail to stimulate Egyptian broomrape seeds germination. Root exudates collected from hydroponically grown crops also confirmed differential germination patterns in both broomrape species. Current results are of vital importance to explain the control effect of a crop rotation system and moreover, lay the foundation to study the genetic evolution of broomrape species that results in their differential germination responses to natural stimuli.
Teachers’ Attitudes and Beliefs about Adolescents’ Use of Digital Technology and the Effect on Copresence Face-To-Face Social Skills: An Exploratory Study Using Q-Methodology

As people increasingly use digital technology to communicate with others, social networks and Smartphone's are changing the ways people interact with each other and what they disclose about themselves. The purpose of this study is to examine teachers’ attitudes and beliefs regarding how digital technology affects adolescents’ copresence face-to-face social skills as they grow up in a digital world and its impact upon the academic setting. This research will utilize Qtechnique, a scientific mixed methods interdisciplinary approach, which uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to identify viewpoints that are shared among teachers. Teachers’ points of view can be investigated using Q-technique as this technique preserves the meaning of participants as it reveals their perspectives via Q-sort. The demographic characteristics that will be examined are gender, professional teaching experience, educational degree, and technology experience. This study will analyze data from thirty to forty teachers in Nassau and Suffolk county school districts in New York. The results of this study may have contributions to curriculum development, teacher education, and policymaking.
Multitasking Incentives and the Informative Value of Subjective Performance Evaluations

Using personnel records from a car sales company, this study shows that subjective performance evaluations of sales representatives are less sensitive to objectively measured sales in the presence of hard-to-measure, non-sales tasks. Findings confirm that supervisors use the evaluations to incentivize employees to pursue these tasks, such as mentoring junior representatives and building long-term customer relationships. The authors show that subjective evaluations predict future sales, suggesting that the evaluations have informative content related to actual worker performance. The authors find that the response of workers who receive lower-than-expected evaluations differs by supervisor experience: Those who are evaluated by inexperienced supervisors quit more often, whereas those who are evaluated by experienced supervisors respond with lower sales in the next period, even though distribution of evaluations does not vary by supervisor experience. Results are consistent with the interpretation that experienced supervisors are better able to communicate with workers to induce desired behavior.
Platina in the 18th century: mineralogy of the crude concentrate used in the first modern attempts at refining platinum

Abstract A platina sample brought to Spain in the last quarter of the 18th century is nowadays exhibited at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid. It originated from the ancient Mineralogical Museum of the School of Applied Chemistry at El Turco Street in Madrid and most probably corresponds to the material used by François Chabaneau for his experiments to purify platinum metal in the late 18th century. The sample is a heavy-mineral concentrate consisting of Pt–Fe alloys and gold nuggets associated with ilmenite–hematite, chromian spinel, goethite and minor quartz, sphene, rutile, magnetite, hornblende, garnet, calcite, pyrite, native bismuth and bismite. The Pt–Fe alloys exhibit a characteristic composition (81.97–90.75 wt.% Pt and 5.08–10.81 wt.% Fe with minor amounts of Cu, Os, Ir, Ru, Rh and Pd) and mineralogy of solid inclusions (abundant inclusions of Ir alloy as well as Os alloy, laurite–erlichmanite, bowieite, tulameenite and undetermined Pt–Pd–Ir–Rh antimonides and tellurides) that are very similar to those Pt–Fe alloys currently mined in western Colombia (the Chocó Department). These features allow us to discuss the provenance of the sample (probably from the proximal or medial reaches of any of the Chocó rivers) and evaluate the suitability of the Chabaneau's method for purifying platina. Our results show that the method became effective only with platina samples depleted or lacking iridium.
Microwave Breast Imaging: experimental tumour phantoms for the evaluation of new breast cancer diagnosis systems

In this paper, a new set of tumour phantoms for the experimental evaluation of Microwave Breast Imaging (MBI) as a method to diagnose breast cancer is presented. The phantoms were based on previously developed numerical models that had been clinically validated, supporting the appropriateness of the phantoms for the development of experimental systems. The proposed tumour phantom set was developed using polyurethane rubber with graphite and carbon-black powders and is the first to incorporate a large number of different shapes and levels of spiculation to emulate different levels of tumour malignancy. A series of spherical, non-spiculated targets was fabricated to model benign tumours, and a series of targets with irregular shapes and increasing spiculation was fabricated to model malignant tumours. The tumour phantoms can be combined with a variety of breast phantoms fabricated with the same method, which are unique in their diversity of glandular tissue content. The modular design of the phantom set allows for tumour and breast phantoms to be dynamically combined, creating an experimental test platform for MBI with a total of 154 cases. Moreover, the dielectric properties of the phantoms display good agreement with the literature, and the phantoms are constructed using materials that have demonstrated stable properties over time. Results also demonstrate how the shape and level of spiculation of a tumour can influence microwave reflections, and therefore impact the performance of imaging and diagnostic systems.