Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Direct shoot organogenesis and plant regeneration from cotyledonary node of kenaf ( Hibiscus cannabinus L.)

Using the whole cotyledonary node as explants, a rapid and efficient regeneration protocol was established for kenaf ( Hibiscus cannabinus L.) on Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium. The effects of the plant growth regulators: N6-benzyladenine (BA), indole-3-aceticacid (IAA) and the non-ironic surfactant pluronic F-68 (F-68) on shoot regeneration were evaluated by the orthogonal design L16 (4 5 ). The best combination for shoot regeneration was MS medium supplemented with 5.0 mg l -1 BA, 0.3 mg l - 1 IAA and 0.2% (m/v) F-68. The maximum number of shoots per explant and the frequency of shoot regeneration were 12.97 and 100%, respectively, after cultivation for 21 days. The results indicated that BA had the greatest contribution on shoot inducing, followed by F-68, and IAA showed no significant effect on shoot formation. Furthermore, 0.5 ~ 2.0 mgl -1 of IAA and 1-naphthyleneacetic acid (NAA) were used respectively for root induction. More than 13 roots were obtained on MS medium supplemented with 2.0 mgl -1 of IAA after culturing for 14 days. IAA was more effective than NAA on root induction. According to this method, the plantlets could be obtained within 2 months and showed no morphological difference from those naturally grown plants. This protocol could be used for kenaf genetic improvement by Agrobacterium mediated transformation. Keywords: Kenaf, Hibiscus cannabinus L. , cotyledonary node, shoot regeneration, rooting
An everyday affair: deciphering the sociological significance of women’s attitudes towards infidelity

This article draws on interview material to examine the recent hardening of attitudes towards infidelity. The visibility and apparent frequency of both consensual non-monogamy, as well as more common covert experiences, would suggest a challenge to dominant mononormative assumptions about the feasibility of lifelong monogamy. However, infidelity remains the lone area of adult sexual practice that is disapproved of under any circumstances. I argue that increasing hostility towards affairs is located in the discursive context of the ‘specialness’ of sex and the centrality of trust and communication to constructions of contemporary relationships. With the monogamous sexual couple at the centre of personal life, infidelity is regarded as a particular threat, revealing wider limitations to claims about the extent to which relationships have been detraditionalized.
Water-soluble Antioxidant Potential of Turkish Pepper Cultivars

In this work, 29 pepper cultivars that represent the diversity of types and varieties grown in Turkey were analyzed for water-soluble antioxidant capacity and phenolic and vitamin C contents. In addition, 14 non-Turkish cultivars were tested for comparison. Significant diversity was observed in the different cultivars with the most variation (7.4-fold) seen for total antioxidant capacity, which ranged from 2.57 to 18.96 mmol Trolox/kg. Vitamin C content for the peppers ranged from 522 to 1631 mgkg -1 ,a 3.1-fold difference, whereas total phenolic content for the pepper cultivars ranged from 607 to 2724 mgkg -1 , a 4.5-fold difference. When cultivars were grouped by morphology/ use, it was found that some types had significantly more variation and higher antioxidant activities than other types. Thus, for water-soluble antioxidant capacity, most variation was seen in long, blunt-ended C xarliston types, whereas long, pointed Sivri peppers had the highest mean capacity. Bell-shaped Dolmalik and Sivri peppers had the most variation for phenolic content, but fancy Sus and Sivri types had the highest means for this trait. Dolmalik types showed the most variation for vitamin C content, whereas Sus and Sivri peppers had the highest means for this character. All three parameters were significantly and positively correlated with the strongest correlation between total anti- oxidant capacity and phenolic content (r = 0.71). The presence of significant variation for antioxidant content in Turkish germplasm indicates that this material can be used for improvement and genetic mapping of nutritional content in pepper.
Species richness estimators: how many species can dance on the head of a pin?

Summary 1Several species richness estimators (two non-parametric, four based on rarefaction curves and two from fitting of abundance distributions) were compared by examining their performance in estimating the species richness for two moth data sets from the United Kingdom. Comparisons were also made using data simulated from the fitted abundance distributions. 2The different species richness estimators gave different estimates. The non-parametric estimates and the rarefaction estimates were similar, but were smaller than the parametric estimates. When the simulated data were used, the only methods to give estimates near the true value was the parametric method using the distribution from which the data were simulated. 3At present it is impossible to decide whether any of the estimation methods will give a realistic estimate, as not enough is known about the true numbers of species in communities. Until this is rectified, the most that can be hoped for is to obtain upper and lower bounds on species richness.
Habitat Assessment for Giant Pandas in the Qinling Mountain Region of China

Abstract Because habitat loss and fragmentation threaten giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), habitat protection and restoration are important conservation measures for this endangered species. However, distribution and value of potential habitat to giant pandas on a regional scale are not fully known. Therefore, we identified and ranked giant panda habitat in Foping Nature Reserve, Guanyinshan Nature Reserve, and adjacent areas in the Qinling Mountains of China. We used Mahalanobis distance and 11 digital habitat layers to develop a multivariate habitat signature associated with 247 surveyed giant panda locations, which we then applied to the study region. We identified approximately 128 km2 of giant panda habitat in Foping Nature Reserve (43.6% of the reserve) and 49 km2 in Guanyinshan Nature Reserve (33.6% of the reserve). We defined core habitat areas by incorporating a minimum patch-size criterion (5.5 km2) based on home-range size. Percentage of core habitat area was higher in Foping Nature Reserve (41.8% of the reserve) than Guanyinshan Nature Reserve (26.3% of the reserve). Within the larger analysis region, Foping Nature Reserve contained 32.7% of all core habitat areas we identified, indicating regional importance of the reserve. We observed a negative relationship between distribution of core areas and presence of roads and small villages. Protection of giant panda habitat at lower elevations and improvement of habitat linkages among core habitat areas are important in a regional approach to giant panda conservation.
Regeneration of leaf explants of anthurium andraeanum Lind. in vitro

Summary The effect of various factors on callus formation on excised leaf expiants of Anthurium andraeanum was studied; special attention was paid to the regeneration of sprouts in this callus. A strong positive correlation was found between callus formation and the regeneration of sprouts. Adventitious sprout formation was optimal under the following conditions: addition of 0.25-1.00 ml/litre Tween 20 during leaf sterilization, adenine 0.1 mg/litre, zeatin 1 mg/litre, 2,4-D 0.08 mg/litre, culture during 16 weeks in darkness followed by 4 weeks of light, 206 mg/litre NH 4 N0 3 in the medium. It was shown that the promoting effect of low levels of NH 4 N0 3 on sprout regeneration in callus is caused by the NH 4 + ion and not by the N0 3 ^ ion.
Natural selection and age-related variation in morphology of a colonial bird

Unusual climatic events often lead to intense natural selection on organisms. Whether episodic selection events result in permanent microevolutionary changes or are reversed by opposing selection pressures at a later time is rarely known, because most studies do not last long enough to witness rare events and document their aftermath. In 1996, unusually cold and wet weather in southwestern Nebraska led to the deaths of thousands of Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) over a 6-day period. Survivors were skeletally larger, with shorter wings and tails, and had less asymmetry in wing length than those that died. We determined trajectories of morphological traits in the decade following this event by measuring yearling birds each year from 1997 to 2006. Wing and middle tail-feather lengths continued to decrease, bill length and width continued to increase, tarsus length was unchanged, and levels of asymmetry in wing length increased. Cumulative directional change in wing, tail, and bill length was greater in the decade after selection than during the selection event itself. Morphological variation could not be explained by phenotypic plasticity resulting from better environmental conditions during growth, because weather variables (that influence food supply and ectoparasitism) were not significantly different before and after selection. There was no evidence that opposing selection restored skeletal size or wing or tail length to that before the selection event. The reasons for continued change in morphology in this population are unclear but may represent a population shift to a different fitness peak in the adaptive landscape as a consequence of the intense selection in 1996.
Climate Urgency

This composite of two presentations by Dr. Hansen outlines crucial topics in climate research and implores our President to support and defend the rights of young people and future generations. Unless urgent actions are undertaken to curtail fossil fuel emissions, today’s children and future generations will inherit a world in which irreversible climate effects are underway and largely out of their control. The tragedy of this situation is that the actions needed to avoid climate problems are economically beneficial for most people—but they are resisted by a powerful fossil fuel industry that uses its financial clout for undue influence on our governments.
The Voices of School Counselors: Essential Characteristics of School Counselor Leaders

The majority of school counselor leadership studies focus on quantitative data. The current study contributes to the limited qualitative research surrounding school counselor leadership. The analysis of an open-ended statement from a national study gives voice to school counselor perceptions about leadership characteristics pertinent to the profession. Five themes emerged from the findings: leadership attributes, relationship attributes, communication and collaboration, exemplary program design, and advocacy. The themes align with characteristics previously identified in the school counseling literature.
Sources Cited in the Journal of Research in Music Education: 1953 to 2015

The Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME) is the longest running serial dedicated to music education research, and its articles are widely considered exemplars in the field worldwide. This is a bibliometric study of the sources cited in articles published in the JRME from its inception in 1953 to 2015. We extracted 31,679 references from 1,341 the JRME articles; rank-ordered those frequently cited journals, articles, and authors; investigated the interdisciplinarity of cited journals; observed the age density of cited sources; and studied the proportional distribution of reference types. Results were then compared across 10-year spans, except for the first, which was 12 years, and discussed in light of known parameters for research in other fields. These analyses have revealed several interesting trends reflecting the evolution and maturation of the journal and music education research.
Echolocation behaviour of Phyllops falcatus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae): unusual frequency range of the first harmonic

ABSTRACT We studied the echolocation calls emitted by Phyllops falcatus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) during foraging, in the field and in the lab. Calls emitted in free flight, in a more or less uncluttered situation, were about 4.5 ms (up to 5.3 ms) long and characterized by a sweep of the first harmonic (= fundamental) from ca. 73 kHz down to about 23 kHz, which is unusually large for phyllostomid bats. A less intense second harmonic was always present. The intervals between pulses varied between 55 and 170 ms with a mean of about 110 ms. During approach to bushes or trees (or during flight in confined space between bushes), or in the flight room, calls became shorter (ca. 2 ms) and more energy was allocated to the second harmonic, sometimes also a third harmonic appeared. During approach to a fruit calls were further shortened (about 1 ms or less), and call frequency increased to about 5 calls/100 ms, calls often being grouped. The large bandwidth of the first harmonic separates Phyllops from all other Cuban bat species and allows identification in the field.
DIEL AND SEASONAL VARIATION IN SPECIES COMPOSITION AND ABUNDANCE OF CARIDEAN SHRIMPS (CRUSTACEA, DECAPODA) FROM SEAGRASS MEADOWS ON THE NORTH COAST OF PUERTO RICO

Seagrass meadows dominated by Thalassia tesiudinum near Dorado, on the north coast of" Puerto Rico, were sampled for 13 months by pushnel with a 1-mm mesh bag. Ten random samples were taken monthly both day and night at each of two replicate sites. Eighteen species of caridean shrimp were collected but 99.9% of the total abundance (N = 74.816) was ac­ counted for by nine species: Lutreuies fucorum (57.0%). Periclimenes americanus (10.9%), Thor manning! (9.5%), Alpheus normanni (8.3%), Hippolyte curacaoensis (6.0%), Latreutes parvulus (3.1%), Processa bermudensis (2.3%), Processa riveroi (1.4%), and l^eander tenuicornis (1.4%). Night samples were similar to day samples in overall species composition except that the day-burrowing processids were conspicuously absent from daytime collections. However, with the possible exception of Hippolyte curacaoensis, mean abundances of all species were consistently higher at night. Greatest night-day differences in frequency of occurrence in samples were found in the two Processa species, the least in leaf-inhabiti ng species such as Hippolyte curacaoensis and Latreutes fucorum. Laboratory observations strongly indicate that nocturnal emergence onto the surface of the seagrass beds from daytime burrows below the sediment accounts for the increased night colleciability of Alpheus normanni and the two Processa species. Laboratory observations also indicate increased nocturnal activity (in the form of increased swimming) for the other species, especially Latreutes fucorum and Hippolyte curacaoensis, which may make them more susceptible to net capture at night. Abundances of the principal (most numerous) nine caridean species were markedly sea­ sonal, with highest abundances in late spring and summer and again in December and January', with population lows in October and November and again in February and March. Caridean densities estimated in this study (overall, 16 shrimps/m- of sampling effort in day samples, 49/m2 in night samples) are much higher than those of most previous studies in seagrasses. The small mesh net used (I mm) probably accounts, in part, for the high abundances measured for these very small carideans; much lower densities are reported in studies using nets with larger mesh (e.g., 6-7 mm).
Some Psychometric Properties of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule among Australian Youth 1

The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) was designed to measure two independent or orthogonal dimensions of mood. The present study concerned selected psychometric characteristics of the schedule in a convenience sample of 237 Australian adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. The results were generally supportive of the schedule's reported psychometric properties and for its use across age and nationality.
Variation in Chemical Constituents and Antioxidant Activity in Yellow Himalayan (Rubus ellipticus Smith) and Hill Raspberry (Rubus niveus Thunb.)

Phytochemicals and antioxidant activity in the fruits of Rubus ellipticus and Rubus niveus were studied. A significant variation (P < 0.05) in total phenolics, flavonoids, monomeric anthocyanins, ascorbic acid and β-carotene content among genotypes of R. ellipticus was observed. Total phenolics ranged from 2.56 to 3.28 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/gram (g) fresh weight (fw) for R. ellipticus and 3.21 mg GAE/g fw for R. niveus. Gallic acid, catechin, chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid were the major phenolic compounds identified by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Antioxidant activity measured by three in vitro assays (i.e., ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging activity and ferric-reducing antioxidant power) demonstrated the utility of both the species as a source of natural antioxidants. Furthermore, the results of this study may provide baseline data for future breeding programs for variety improvement. Practical Applications Rubus ellipticus and Rubus niveus are important wild edible fruits commonly consumed as food and serve as important ingredients in traditional medicine in Asia. These species are directly collected from wild for consumption. The assessment of the antioxidant properties (ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging activity and ferric-reducing antioxidant potential), phenolic content and composition of both the species may provide possible role against health benefits and future applications in functional foods and nutraceutical development. Furthermore, the variation in antioxidant properties, phenolic content and other phytochemical composition in different plants may provide baseline data for future breeding programs for variety improvement.
Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) monitoring using navigation buoys

In the present study, navigational buoys were used to monitor Dreissena polymorpha (zebra mussel), an aquatic invasive species in Otsego Lake, New York. Buoys from the north and south sites of Otsego Lake were taken out of the water on December 29 and December 31, 2012, respectively, after being in the water since April 14, 2012. All sampled mussels were frozen until further analyzed; an electronic caliper and compound microscope were used to measure shell lengths. We observed growth, settlement, and density of each colonized buoy and determined that light shielded bottom sides of the buoy had the most colonization whereas the shallowest submersed side had the least. Shell length of mussels from the south site was significantly larger than those from the north site. The mussels from the metal anchor-chain ring at the deepest end of the buoy were the largest, while no difference was found among the rest. Colonization of zebra mussels can be due to specific substrate types and amount of nutrition available in the habitat. Additionally research is recommended comparing buoy designs to determine if buoys without light shielded bottoms will be less colonized.
Predicting current and future spatial community patterns of plant functional traits

Community-level patterns of functional traits relate to community assembly and ecosystem functioning. By modelling the changes of different indices describing such patterns – trait means, extremes and diversity in communities – as a function of abiotic gradients, we could understand their drivers and build projections of the impact of global change on the functional components of biodiversity. We used five plant functional traits (vegetative height, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, leaf nitrogen content and seed mass) and non-woody vegetation plots to model several indices depicting community-level patterns of functional traits from a set of abiotic environmental variables (topographic, climatic and edaphic) over contrasting environmental conditions in a mountainous landscape. We performed a variation partitioning analysis to assess the relative importance of these variables for predicting patterns of functional traits in communities, and projected the best models under several climate change scenarios to examine future potential changes in vegetation functional properties. Not all indices of trait patterns within communities could be modelled with the same level of accuracy: the models for mean and extreme values of functional traits provided substantially better predictive accuracy than the models calibrated for diversity indices. Topographic and climatic factors were more important predictors of functional trait patterns within communities than edaphic predictors. Overall, model projections forecast an increase in mean vegetation height and in mean specific leaf area following climate warming. This trend was important at mid elevation particularly between 1000 and 2000 m a.s. l. With this study we showed that topographic, climatic and edaphic variables can successfully model descriptors of community-level patterns of plant functional traits such as mean and extreme trait values. However, which factors determine the diversity of functional traits in plant communities remains unclear and requires more investigations.
Cultural Epigenetics

Taking a Waddingtonian system approach, I discuss some of the implications of recent epigenetic research for the study of social systems. A growing number of investigations show that life-style changes resulting from nutritional, toxicological, and psychological stresses are reflected in changes in the epigenetic profile of individuals, and that learning and memory have epigenetic correlates. Moreover, various types of epigenetic changes can be inherited and affect the characters of descendants. Studying epigenetics can forge new experimental and conceptual bridges between biology, the social sciences and the humanities. For example, new techniques that allow the deciphering of methylation patterns in ancient DNA could be used to study the epigenetics of human cultures in long-gone historical periods, thus enriching and extending our knowledge of human history. Conceptually, an epigenetic perspective blurs traditional distinctions such as those between nature and nurture, plasticity and evolvability.
A “Universal Forces” Dimension of Locus of Control in a Population of Spiritual Seekers

A replication and an extension of the Levenson multidimensional locus of control scales was conducted to investigate control attributed to “Universal Forces” in a population pursuing spiritual development through meditation and prayer. The new scale was an independent dimension of locus of control and significantly correlated . 26 with absorption, . 20 with Purpose in Life, . 22 with frequency of meditation, and . 20 with frequency of prayer. The correlation with social desirability was . 07 and not significant.