Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contribution of TAL effectors in Xanthomonas to diseases of rice and wheat

Rice and wheat are two major crops that suffer losses from the diseases of bacterial blight and bacterial leaf streak, which are caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) and Xanthomonas translucens pv. undulosa (Xtu), respectively. Transcriptional-Activator Like (TAL) effectors, a special family of type III effector proteins from Xanthomonas, have been demonstrated as critical virulence factors that act by inducing corresponding susceptibility (S) genes in several disease complexes of plants. In this study, I analyzed the contributions of TAL effectors from Xoo and Xtu to virulence and in modulating host gene expression to enhance susceptibility. Specifically, the TalC effector from the African Xoo strain AXO1947 was identified as a critical virulence factor, which functions by promoting expression of the gene OsSWEET14 in rice. TalC is interchangeable with other major TAL effectors from Asian strains of Xoo on the basis of functional complementation. The TAL effector PthXo2 from the Asian Xoo strain JXO1 is a major virulence factor and contains 21.5 repeats in the central repetitive region that targets OsSWEET13 in indica rice varieties but not in japonica rice varieties. A one repeat deletion in the PthXo2 effector enabled effector specificity to switch from indica rice to japonica rice. TAL effector genes from a genomic analysis of the Xtu strain XT4699 and related strains were characterized with regards to their involvement in virulence and the modulation of host gene expression in the Chinese Spring wheat cultivar. The identification of TAL effectors with virulence contributions and their target S genes is important for understanding the virulence mechanisms of Xanthomonas bacteria and promises to provide new strategies for disease control. CONTRIBUTION OF TAL EFFECTORS IN Xanthomonas TO DISEASES OF RICE AND WHEAT
Ontogeny of Squamation in Swordfish, Xiphias gladius

Abstract Spinoid scales appear early in the development of Swordfish, Xiphias gladius, and are first discernable in the larval stage. Scales vary in form between two principal types: small single and multispined scales and large multispined scales. Unlike the typical teleostean condition, Xiphias scales are attached along their base, not at their proximal end within scale pockets. Scales persist in juveniles and adults, that is, scales are not shed or resorbed. Scales become more deeply embedded within the dermis as the dermis thickens in ontogeny; consequently only the tips of spines protrude through the dermis of adults. A network of mucous canals with regularly spaced pores to the exterior develop in the dermis of adults, and the mucus produced further insulates scales from the surface of the integument. The ontogeny of the squamation of Xiphias differs from that of the related Istiophoridae.
Wildcat occurrence in Scotland: food really matters

European wildcat Felis silvestris silvestris (Schreber, 1775) populations are suffering considerable threats, making conservation action a priority. In Scotland, the establishment of Special Areas of Wildcat Conservation (SAWC) have been recommended; however, few studies have addressed wildcat ecological requirements in this region. Our goal was to identify the environmental determinants limiting wildcat occurrence at a broad scale in Scotland.
Biological control of pathozone behaviour and disease dynamics of Rhizoctonia solani by Trichoderma viride

SUMMARY This paper presents and tests a method to scale up from the dynamics of infection and disease on single plants in order to predict the behaviour of epidemics in populations of plants, in the presence of a biological control agent. Specifically, we quantify the effect of the antagonistic fungus, Trichoderma viride, Pers ex. Gray, on the pathozone dynamics of the damping-off fungus, Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn on radish. The results from these individual-based experiments are used to predict the progress of an epidemic and the results are compared with experimental epidemics in microcosms. The addition of T. viride close to a germinating radish plant reduced the extent of the pathozone influence from 22.6 to 13.8 mm. Trichoderma viride also inhibited the evolution of infection efficiency of R. solani. The evolution of infection efficiency over time is described by a simple non-linear model for the probability of infection with distance, in which certain of the parameters vary with time. By combining this with a model based on conditional probabilities for the location and infectivity of randomly dispersed propagules within the pathozone, we were able to scale up and predict the disease progress of R. solani in a population of radish plants, and the extent of control effected by T. viride. Disease progress rose progressively to a maximum of 42 % diseased plants in the unprotected crop compared with a sigmoidal approach to 13 % in the protected crop. We show that these properties are consistent with a monomolecular function for primary infection with a temporally-varying rate parameter. We also show that the central region of the pathozone, where the joint probabilities of occurrence of a randomly located propagule and its ability to infect are maximal, has a large influence on the sensitivity of epidemics to pathozone dynamics. This is an important example of interpreting population behaviour of an epidemic from the infection and disease of single plants.
Reproductive Biology of Three Cosmopolitan Mealybug (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) Species, Pseudococcus longispinus, Pseudococcus viburni, and Planococcus ficus

ABSTRACT Experiments confirmed that female Pseudococcus longispinus (Targioni Tozzetti), Pseudococcus viburni (Signoret), and Planococcus ficus Signoret (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) must mate to produce viable offspring. Females of all three species were capable of mating multiple times on the same day and on sequential days (range, 1–8 times). Female reproductive output was not increased by multiple copulations. Male P. longispinus, P. viburni, and P. ficus also mated multiple times during their lifetimes (maximum of 9, 11, and 19 times, respectively). Male P. ficus had the highest mean number of copulations (9.6 ± 0.6), followed by P. longispinus and P. viburni. More than half of the P. ficus males survived their first day of copulations and remated the next day when presented with unmated females. P. viburni males also readily mated with unmated females on the day subsequent to their first copulations. Median times between copulations were short for males of all species (<2 min). Constant exposure to pheromone had no detectable effect on the activity levels of male P. ficus and P. longispinus, whereas P. viburni males exposed to pheromone emerged significantly earlier from their cocoons than control males without pheromone exposure. Constant exposure to pheromone had no effect on the longevity of males of any species compared with controls. The implications of the results of these experiments for pheromone-based methods of managing mealybugs are discussed.
Labor Market Dynamics and Informality over the Business Cycle in LAC1

Labor markets in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are characterized by high levels of informality, low female participation rates, and relatively rigid employment protection legislation. Our results show that informality plays an important role in the dynamics of labor markets in the region. Informality is countercyclical, and the formal/informal adjustment margin reduces the importance of the employment/unemployment margin, that is, informality dampens the usual Okun’s coefficient relating unemployment to cyclical changes in GDP. However, evidence suggests that informality makes the adjustment to shocks slower, with negative impact on growth. We find that higher redundancy costs, cumbersome dismissal regulations and high minimum wages are associated with increased informality. Also, changes in aggregate participation rates are positively related to changes in GDP, but we find some evidence that the female participation rate is countercyclical in recessions in LAC.
Genetic and environmental influences on the cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of Goniozus wasps

The cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profiles of insects are well known to be variable. This variation may be due to genetic influences, environmental influences, or both. Most prior studies have focused on social insects, mainly those in the Hymenoptera, and have shown that hydrocarbons play an important role mediating social behaviour, particularly via kin recognition. Here, we assess the CHC profiles of three species of parasitoid wasps in the genus Goniozus (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae), some of which are known to attune their behaviour according to both environmentally based and genetically based recognition of kin. We find that CHC profiles vary according to both the genetic background (wasp species) and the developmental environment (host species) of individual parasitoids. This indicates that kin recognition could be based on CHC profiles in these parasitoids, as it is in social Hymenoptera. Because the CHC profiles of species within the genus Goniozus are dissimilar, we also conclude that chemical analysis could be used as a taxonomic tool alongside morphological and molecular genetic identification for Goniozus and other species.
Comparison of two perennial energy crops for biomass production at the end of their life cycle

Nowadays fossil fuels are decreasing, causing the world's interest in renewable energy sources to rapidly grow. One of the most interesting renewable and ecologically pure fuels is biomass, which is considered to be carbon neutral. Biomass is a promising source of energy, as it can be used directly as an energy resource. Its quality characteristics such as gross calorific value and ash content are of paramount importance so as to improve the combustion process. Furthermore, during the last three decades, there has been an increasing interest in the production of biomass pellets for domestic and industrial use. Alternative feed stocks will need to be sourced to meet the demand for biomass pellets. Investigation for new energy crops that produce high amounts of biomass under low inputs and of high energy efficiency are the main tasks of this field. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess the biomass yield and the quality characteristics (gross calorific value and ash content) of two perennial energy crops (Cynara cardunculus L. and Panicum virgatum L.) growing in a typical soil (Fluventic Xerochrept) of the main agricultural land of central Greece. The comparison for both cultivated crops was made in order to show the results during their 8 growing year. The examined factors were the irrigation (two levels: irrigated and rainfed) and the nitrogen fertilization (two levels: 0 and 80 kg N ha) as well as their effect on the dry biomass yield and the gross calorific value. It was found that higher dry biomass yield was produced from cardoon (21.3 vs. 14.23 t ha), while the higher average gross calorific value was observed for switchgrass biomass (17.31 vs. 15.65 Mj kg). Finally, multiplying the dry biomass yield (t ha) with the gross calorific value (Mj kg) it was found that 334 and 245 Gj ha from a cardoon and a switchgrass cultivation could be produced, respectively. Cardoon has better results than switchgrass probably due to the fact that switchgrass is growing from March till October; while cardoon’s growing period is from October to June and in such areas precipitation is in shortage during summer months. Both crops could achieve high amounts of energy per hectare and thus their introduction in future land use systems, for an environmentally friendly energy production should be seriously taken into consideration.
3 Lessons Learned from Implementing a Deep Reinforcement Learning Framework for Data Exploration

We examine the opportunities and the challenges that stem from implementing a Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) framework for Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA). We have dedicated a considerable eﬀort in the design and the development of a DRL system that can autonomously explore a given dataset, by performing an entire sequence of analysis operations that highlight interesting aspects of the data. In this work, we describe our system design and development process, particularly delving into the major challenges we encountered and eventually overcame. We focus on three important lessons we learned, one for each principal component of the system: (1) Designing a DRL environment for EDA, comprising a machine-readable encoding for analysis operations and result-sets, (2) formulating a reward mechanism for exploratory sessions, then further tuning it to elicit a desired output, and (3) Designing an eﬃcient neural network architecture, capable of eﬀectively choosing between hundreds of thousands of distinct analysis operations. We believe that the lessons we learned may be useful for the databases community members making their ﬁrst steps in applying DRL techniques to their problem domains.
Modeling and Optimization of Arsenic (III) Removal from Aqueous Solutions by GFO Using Response Surface Methodology

Arsenic is a highly toxic element for human beings, which is generally found in groundwater. Dissolved Arsenic in water can be seen as As+3 and As+5 states. The adsorption process is one of the available methods to remove Arsenic from aqueous solutions. Thus, this papers aims at removing Arsenic (III) from aqueous solutions through adsorption on iron oxide granules. The relation among four independent variables, namely the initial concentration of Arsenic (III), pH, adsorbent dose, and contact time have been investigated through Response Surface Methodology. Design-Expert software and Central Composite Design method have been used to design and analyze the experiments and results. Also, SEM and FTIR analysis have been conducted to characterize the absorbent morphology. The optimum initial concentration of Arsenic (III), pH, contact time, and adsorbent dosage are 30ppm, 5, 49.99min, and 8g/l, respectively. Under these optimum conditions, the Arsenic (III) removal efficiency is 67%. The predicted 2FI model shows the highest Arsenic removal coefficient (R2=0.887).
Positive effects of Re;axation and Music in Limiting Off-task behaviour of Young Children

Teachers at all levels invariably report that off-task behaviour in all its forms, represents the most serious problem that they regularly face in the classroom. For the teacher, having children calling out when not called upon, chatting about non-work related matters and making unwanted comments and remarks are behaviours which, at best, are irritating and time wasting and, at worst, are a source of considerable stress leading to physical and emotional exhaustion (Wheldall, 1991). Such children and those around them, are also at a significant educational disadvantage, since their ability to learn effectively is almost inevitably impaired. As a consequence, the benefits of creating a stable and harmonious classroom environment which minimises such behaviour are considerable for both teacher and pupil.
DIVERSITY AND RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF FISHES IN SOME TEMPORARY AND PERENNIAL WATER BODIES OF THE BARO BASIN, GAMBELLA, ETHIOPIA

The diversity and relative abundance of fish species of the Baro basin were studied using samples taken from seven sites. Fishes were sampled using seines, dip nets (mesh sizes 0.5 cm and 1 mm), hook and line, fish traps, cast net (local fishermen) and electro-fishing. Specimens were identified to species level using taxonomic keys found in the literature. Shannon diversity index (H’) and Index of Relative Importance (IRI) were computed to evaluate diversity and relative abundance of fish species, respectively. A total of 51 species belonging to 38 genera, 20 families and 11 orders were identified. The number of species varied among sampling sites. Thus, the highest number of species was recorded from Alwero (H’=2.56) followed by Obela, Baro at Gambella and Gilo (H’=2.03 each), Itang (H’=1.91) and Tdha (H’=0.35). Mormyridae, which comprised 8 species, was the most dominant family in number of species followed by Mochokidae (7 species) and Cyprinidae (6 species). Barbus prince was found in six of the studied sites whereas Oreochromis niloticus was found in five sites, Brycinus macrolepidotus, Siluradon auritus, Clarias gariepinus, Barbus stigmatopygus and Polypterus senegalus were each found in four sites, and thus, were considered the most dominant. IRI showed that O. niloticus (IRI=37.2%) was the most abundant species followed by S. auritus (IRI=14.6%), B. macrolepidotus (IRI=13.1%), B. stigmatopygus (IRI=10.0%), B. prince (IRI=9.8%), and P. senegalus (IRI=7.4%). Further comprehensive assessment of the fish diversity of the basin and socio-economic aspects for sustainable fish resource utilization is recommended. Key words/phrases: Baro basin, Ethiopia, Fish diversity, Relative abundance.
Morphological and virulence variation among isolates of Mycosphaerella pinodes the causal agent of pea leaf blight

Mycosphaerella blight caused by Mycosphaerella pinodes (Berk. and Blox.) Vestergr. is an important disease, causing severe damage in peas. Variability of 20 Algerian isolates of M. pinodes representative of four agro climatic regions were investigated on the basis of cultural, morphological and pathogenicity. Culture and morphology showed variations in colony color, radial growth pattern and production of pycnidia and pycnidiospores. Significant differences (P < 0.05) in both pycnidia and pycnidiospores size among isolates were observed. Hence, the size of pycnidia and pycnidiospores of M. pinodes varied from 145 × 143 µm to 280 × 265 µm and from 11.5 × 2.3 µm to 22.5 × 6.3 µm respectively. Using the factor analysis, this revealed that the first principal component (pc) was more related to the growth and sporulation aspect, hence, the colony growth and both the pycnidia and pycnidiospore density were more related to the first pc, while the second pc contributed for the pycnidiospores size. The isolates were also evaluated for their pathogenicity on seven cultivars in controlled conditions. Cluster analysis based on disease rating on a scale of 1 to 5, indicated higher similarity coefficient. In addition, using Euclidian distances method, the clusters were subdivided at 70% of similarity in seven pathotype groups (PG). The two first pathotypes grouped the most isolates (70%), representing isolates from the four agro climatic regions. However, the members of same group were different in their cultural and morphological characteristics. A detailed study to investigate molecular and genetic basis of diversity is suggested. Key words: Mycosphaerella blight, morphometry, cluster analysis.
A G-box motif (GCCACGTGCC) tetramer confers high-level constitutive expression in dicot and monocot plants

Summary GUS reporter expression from 11 basal promoters (CaMV –90) with G-box cores (CACGTG) was analysed to evaluate the regulatory roles of G-box flanking sequences. While most G-box motifs exhibited some tissue preference of gene expression, a distinct tissue-specific expression was not apparent. However, one of 11 G-box sequences, the G-box 10 (GCCACGTGCC) tetramer, conferred a high-level constitutive expression in seed, root, leaf, axillary bud, almost all parts of flower buds and pollen of transgenic tobacco plants. Furthermore, the G-box 10 tetramer promoter exhibited high-level expression in transgenic dicot carrot and monocot rice. This is apparently the first report of a G-box motif conferring a high-level constitutive expression in a non-tissue-specific manner.
Resistance of cocoa to swollen‐shoot virus in Ghana. I. Field trials

SUMMARY In Ghana, field resistance to cocoa swollen-shoot virus (CSSV) in young, bearing trees was assessed by monitoring natural spread by mealybug vectors from adjacent graft-inoculated line sources. Apparent rates of virus spread were estimated by regressing proportions of infected trees on time from inoculation. In some hybrids between parents derived from Upper Amazonian material, spread was only 25–40% that in currently recommended varieties. This resistance is the most effective, feasible measure to reduce economic losses and the resistant hybrids could be made available quickly for large scale use. The results from trials in which virus spread most rapidly were the easiest to interpret. Spread of CSSV is erratic, necessitating large experiments, and in trials with equal replication the largest plots gave the greatest precision. Neighbouring plot adjustment proved unsatisfactory as it improved precision but appeared to reduce accuracy.
Evaluation of some selected options for managing brinjal shoot and fruit borer in two intensive brinjal growing areas.

The efficacy of 5 selected insecticides, two resistant lines and female sex pheromone against Brinjal shoot and fruit borer (BSFB) (Leucinodes orbonalis Guenee) were evaluated in Gazipur and Jessore of Bangladesh during May to October, 2007. The treatments comprised T = Cultivation of resistant line 1 ISD006 without any insecticide use; T = Cultivation of resistant line BL114 without any insecticide use; 2 T = Cultivation of susceptible variety Uttara without any insecticide use; T = Use of female sex Pheromone 34 placed at canopy and in the center of the plot without any insecticide use; T = Spray Abamectin® 100 5 WSC @ 2 ml a.i. per litre of water; T = Spray Nimbicidin® @ 4 ml L of water; T = Spray Suntap® 50 SP @ 67 1 5 mg L of water; T = Spray Marshal® 20 EC @ 1.5 ml L of water; T = Spray Ripcord® 10 EC @ 1 ml L of 1 1 1 89 water and T = Untreated control. The effectiveness of the treatments in reducing shoot and fruit infestation 10 by the BSFB did not differ significantly between the different locations, the shoot and fruit infestation was recorded at 19.90% and 16.16% respectively, which was 20.88% and 15.08% in Jessore. However, the effectiveness of the options in reducing the shoot and fruit infestation differed significantly with different treatments and all treatments except T (the variety Uttara) significantly reduced shoot and fruit infestation over 3 the control. Marshal 20 EC @ 1.5 ml L (T ) performed the best ensuring the lowest shoot and fruit infestation 1 8
Rapid dry weight determination of kiwifruit pomace and apple pomace using an infrared drying technique

Abstract Oven drying is the accepted method for determining the dry matter content of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) and can be used as an indicator of harvest maturity and quality. The disadvantage of this method is the time taken to complete the test, typically overnight. Infrared drying of kiwifruit and apple pomace is shown to be an alternative, giving the same level of accuracy as oven drying but with a much reduced determination time. This method is also comparable in drying time to microwave drying, but with the advantage of continuous recording of drying progress, through to final dry weight.