Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EFFECT OF CULTIVAR AND WATER REGIME ON YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS IN SAFFLOWER (Carthamus tinctorius L.)

Safflower seeds have a high content of oil of good nutritional value. In cereal-based rotations, it can help diversify cropping systems, break disease cycles and control grass weeds. Three winter safflower cultivars (Goldasht, Padideh and K.w.2) were evaluated during two years under five different water regimes in Karaj, Iran. The five water regimes consisted of a control (full irrigated) treatment and four treatments where irrigation was interrupted at bud formation, beginning of flowering, end of flowering, and seed filling. Measurements involved yield and yield components, biomass, plant height, seed oil content, phenological traits and agronomic and irrigation water use efficiency (WUEa and WUEi, respectively). No year effect was noted for most measured traits. Highly significant effects of the water regime were found on seed yield, oil yield, days to maturity and the number of capitula per plant. Seed yield and the number of capitula per plant were particularly affected by water shortage at bud formation (36.5 and 37.8%, respectively). The lowest agronomic WUEa was consequently when irrigation was stopped at beginning of flowering (28.9% less than in full irrigated) and at bud formation (18.3% less than in full irrigated). WUEi decreased with the quantity of water supplied by irrigation. Water regime did not affect seed oil content. Significant effects of cultivar were found for seed yield, number of capitula per plant, 1000-seed weight, plant height, seed oil content and phenological traits, except days to flowering. Padideh yielded 12.8% more than K.w. 2 and 7.6% more than Goldasht. Seed yield was significantly associated with the number of capitula per plant but not with the number of seeds per capitulum and 1000-seed weight. These results demonstrate that bud formation is particularly sensitive to water deficit, and will allow better water management of safflower in semi-arid agriculture.
Improving the Active Role of Employees and Quality of Academic Service to Achieve Implementation of Department Accreditation

The goal of this research is to explore the important role of educational staff involvement in the achievement of department accreditation in institutions of higher education. Perception data was obtained from questionnaires from 263 respondents who work as educational staff in various departments with an accreditation level of A or B in a number of different institutions of higher education in Indonesia. The research model is derived from the concept of total quality management and involves five important factors in the department accreditation process. These are involvement intensity, functional progressive interaction, integrated academic documentation, academic service quality, and department accreditation implementation. The data processing with SEM-AMOS proves that educational staff involvement plays an important role in the planning, executing, and monitoring process of accreditation implementation activities. This model offers a new perspective on the interrelationships between the dimensions of total quality management and the primary activities in department accreditation as stipulated by the Director General of Higher
Observing Actions Through Immersive Virtual Reality Enhances Motor Imagery Training

Visual information plays an essential role in enhancing neural activity during mental practices. Previous research has shown that using different visual scenarios during mental practices that involve imagining the movement of a specific body part may result in differences in performance. Many of these scenarios utilize the concept of embodiment, or one’s observation of another entity to be a part of oneself, to improve practice quality of the imagined body movement. We therefore hypothesized that applying immersive virtual reality headsets, with their ability to provide rich immersion and illusion by presenting egocentrically simulated virtual scenarios, and action observation to motor imagery practice will result in significant improvement. To explore the possible synergy between immersive systems and motor imagery, we analyzed the electroencephalogram signals of our participants as they were presented the same virtual hand movement scenario with two different mediums: an immersive virtual reality headset and a monitor display. Our experimental results provide evidence that the immersive virtual reality headsets induced improved rhythmic patterns with better discriminating spatial features from the brain compared to the monitor display. These findings suggest that the use of immersive virtual reality headsets, with the illusion and embodiment they provide, can effectively improve motor imagery training.
Plasmid-Mediated Resistance Genes among Ciprofloxacin-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae Isolates in Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Units

Ciprofloxacin resistant Enterobacteriaceae due to plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance genes (PMQR) is a rising problem worldwide. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of ciprofloxacin resistant Enterobacteriaceae isolates in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units (NICUs and PICUs) through the detection of qnrA, qnrB, and qnrS in clinical isolates. Methods: A total of 329 Enterobacteriaceae isolates were collected from patients attending Misr children hospital. Identification was performed by biochemical reactions, whereas antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done by disk diffusion test. Detection of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of ciprofloxacin was done using E-test method. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed for the detection for qnrA, qnrB and qnrS genes simultaneously. Results: The prevalence of ciprofloxacin resistance among Enterobacteriaceae isolates was 15.2%. Klebsiella pneumoniae was the main pathogen isolated from both ICUs, but significantly higher in NICU than PICU (88% and 60%) respectively. This was followed by Escherichia coli and Enterobacter cloacae with higher isolation rates in PICU (24% and 16%) than in NICU (4% and 8%). The qnr genes among all ciprofloxacin resistant Enterobacteriaceae isolates were present at 68%. Among qnr -positive isolates; qnrS and qnrB were detected at 82.4% and 11.8% respectively. In conclusion: The high prevalence of qnr genes detected in Enterobacteriaceae from neonatal and pediatric patients is of serious concern, as ciprofloxacin, although with limited indications in these age groups, it is usually used in life-threatening infections in which they may represent the only effective antibiotic. In addition, this finding highlights the possibility of horizontal transmission of these genes to other pathogenic bacteria.
Small-Signal Modeling and Cross-Regulation Suppressing for Current-Mode Controlled Single-Inductor Dual-Output DC–DC Converters

A current-mode control, which can be applied to three basic single-inductor dual-output (SIDO) dc–dc converters to suppress cross-regulation, is proposed in this article. The control circuits and operation principles under different inductor current trends and switch sequences are introduced. The SIDO boost converter operating in continuous conduction mode (CCM) is taken as an example to establish the complete and accurate small-signal model in detail. Based on which, the optimal compensators design are presented in this article. And then, the cross-regulation and transient performance are analyzed via Bode plots, and the SIMPLIS simulation results are presented to validate the small signal model. In addition, the stability condition for current mode controlled CCM SIDO boost converter is studied by using Routh–Hurwitz criterion. Finally, experimental results verify the correctness of the theoretical analysis. The research results indicate that the proposed current-mode control significantly reduces the cross-regulation of SIDO dc–dc converter compared with the existing control schemes.
Review on African traditional cereal beverages

Spontaneous fermentation typically result from the competitive activities of different microorganisms; strains best adapted and with the highest growth rate will dominate during particular stages of the process. Microorganisms involve usually in spontaneous fermentation belong mainly lactic acid bacteria and yeast. Production of African traditional cereal non or alcoholic beverages need two spontaneous fermentations steps : a lactic acid fermentation which is carried out by a complex population of environmental microorganisms and an alcoholic fermentation which is usually initiated by pitching sweet wort with a portion of previous brew or dried yeast harvested from previous beverage. This review deals of the raw materials used for production of non and alcoholic beverages, their technologies production, their importance and risks associated with consomption of these beverages. The review focuses also on the role of spontaneous fermentations in the improving of preservation, nutritional value and sensory quality of these cereal beverages. The socio-cultural and economic aspects, nutritional aspect, sensory characteristics, preservative properties and health benefit aspects of these beverages and microflora involve during spontaneous fermentations will also be reviewed.
The Effect of Compensation, Training and Knowledge Transfer, and Creativity Culture on Employee Performance within the hotel industry in Lebanon

Within the current stormy economic situation, organizations struggle to survive. They tend to achieve their organizational goals and develop their competencies to meet future demands. Enhancing employees’ performance is one way to secure the achievement of organizational goals and development. That been said, all organizations strive to boost the performance of their employees. Noting that, several strategies are applied. Among them, compensation, training and knowledge transfer, and creativity culture tend to increase employees performance. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of these variables on employees’ performance. Accordingly, secondary research has been done to come up with dimensions that evaluate the variables of the study. Furthermore, a quantitative approach was done via a questionnaire. Compensation was measured through monetary and non-monetary compensation; Training and knowledge transfer was measured through training provision, feedback, and self-efficacy; Creativity culture was measured through space of creativity, relationship with supervisor, and job structure. Finally, employees’ performance was measured through timeliness, quality, and quantity of work. The questionnaire was randomly distributed over a sample of 400 employees working within the hotel industry in Lebanon. Data was analyzed through SPSS, using correlation, and regression tests. The findings of the study approved the positive correlation between the dependent and independent variables. The results proved that compensation, training and knowledge transfer, and creativity culture positively influence employees’ performance. Thus managers should take these variables into account when aiming to boost their employees’ performance Keywords: Compensation, monetary compensation, non-monetary compensation, training and knowledge transfer, training provision, feedback, self-efficacy, creativity culture, space of creativity, relationship with supervisor, job structure, and employee performance DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-15-05 Publication date: May 31 st 2020
Identification of Industrially Important Alkaline Protease Producing Bacillus subtilis by 16s rRNA Sequence Analysis and Its Applications

Proteolytic bacterial isolates from the effluent of Leather Processing industry were screened by using Skim milk agar medium. The isolate showed greater proteolytic activity was used for the further study. The isolate was identified as Bacillus subtilis by the sequencing of 16s rRNA gene and BLAST. In this study, protease production was optimized with wheat bran substrate, glucose (carbon source) and peptone (nitrogen source) with optimum pH 7.0, temperature of 45 oC and incubation time 96h. The activity of the enzyme was checked by the DNS method. Application in the dehairing of animal hide and defibrinolytic activity revealed the future scope and utility of the enzyme produced in the present study.
Perdas e custos associados à erosão hídrica em função de taxas de cobertura do solo

O objetivo deste estudo e estimar custos da erosao hidrica associados as perdas de nutrientes em quatro taxas de cobertura artificial do solo. O experimento foi conduzido de 1987 a 1996, em talhoes coletores de perdas por erosao, em Campinas (SP), em Latossolo Vermelho distroferrico, sob chuva natural. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente ao acaso, com quatro tratamentos (taxas de cobertura do solo: 0%, 24%, 40% e 90%) e tres repeticoes. Para estimar os custos, os teores de P, K+, Ca2+ e Mg2+ na agua da enxurrada e na terra carreada pela erosao foram somados, convertidos em superfosfato triplo, cloreto de potassio e calcario dolomitico, e multiplicados pelos seus precos de mercado. Os resultados indicam, para as condicoes experimentais, que quanto maior o percentual de cobertura do solo, menores as perdas de agua, terra, materia orgânica e nutrientes. O solo com 90% de cobertura, em comparacao aquele com 0%, reduziu as perdas medias de agua em 51,97%, de terra em 54,44% e de materia orgânica em 54,91%. Em solo sem cobertura, foram estimadas perdas de 16% de P2O5 e 8% de KCl em relacao a quantidade de fertilizantes recomendada. Os custos variaram de US$ 107,76 ha–1 ano–1 no solo com 0% de cobertura a US$ 18,15 ha–1 ano–1 no solo com 90%. A partir desses valores, estimaram-se para o Brasil perdas de 616,5 milhoes de toneladas de terra ao ano, decorrentes do processo de erosao do solo em lavouras anuais, e custos da ordem de US$ 1,3 bilhao ao ano.
Risk Assessment Of Toxic CyanobacteriaIn Polish Water Bodies

Cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins constitute a serious problem for water supply systems and recreation. The most common in Polish water bodies are microcystin-producing Cyanobacteria. Polish regulations regarding the quality of drinking water indicate the limit of 1 µg/l for microcystin-LR. Regulations for recreational water are addressed through a guideline that the water should only be inspected visually. Poland’s regulations, unfortunately, do not recommend any specific standardized methods, equipment or programmes for the risk assessment resulting from Cyanobacteria exposure. Therefore, this study is aimed at developing and evaluating a toxicity monitoring programme that would be based on the early identification of microcystin-producing genera, followed by examination of their toxic potential and toxicity. The risk of cyanobacterial blooms was assessed in six eutrophic water bodies located in different regions of Poland in the summers of 2004 and 2005. The first step of the proposed monitoring programme included a microscopic analysis of seasonal variation in phytoplankton composition and measurement of the cyanobacterial biomass. Then the toxigenic strains of cyanobacteria were determined by amplification of selected mcy genes in the microcystin biosynthesis pathway using PCR. The presence of the mcy genes in sampling water were detected at the beginning of the July, which coincided with a low cyanobacterial biomass (0.1 mg/l). In the last step, the water samples toxicity and microcystins concentration were examined by a screening method, called protein phosphatase inhibition assay, and an analytical method, called high-performance liquid chromatography, respectively. The greatest concentration of microcystins were found to be 31.22 µg/l (October) and 11.25 µg/l (September) in samples dominated by Planktothrix agardhii and Microcystis aeruginosa, respectively. Since a relationship between amplification of mcy genes and production of microcystins was not always found, it seems to be necessary to use a microscopic analysis and molecular method in parallel with toxicity analysis for providing more complete information on the cyanobacterial risk in water.
Osteological Differentiation of the Iguana Laurenti, 1768 (Squamata: Iguanidae) Species: Iguana iguana (Linnaeus, 1758) and Iguana delicatissima Laurenti, 1768, with some Comments on their Hybrids

Abstract The origins of the two iguana species (Iguana delicatissima [Lesser Antillean Iguana] and Iguana iguana [Green Iguana]) occurring today in the Lesser Antilles are frequently questioned using mostly historical and genetic data. Osteological remains of iguanas are common in archaeological and paleontological deposits in the Lesser Antilles, however, and they could be important for understanding the past colonization processes of these two iguana species and subsequent sympatry. Unfortunately, although numerous questions exist about the past occurrence of those two species and their respective arrival dates, no osteological study has led to proper identification of subfossil iguana skeletal elements. Here we present a series of characters that allow for distinguishing the two species using isolated bones and emphasize the reliability of each recognized specific character. We also provide some comments about skeletal morphology of hybrids between both species and their identification based on osteology. Résumé L'origine des deux espèces d'iguanes peuplant actuellement les Petites Antilles (Iguana delicatissima et Iguana iguana) est souvent sujette à question notamment via l'utilisation des sources historiques et génétiques. Cependant, les restes ostéologiques d'iguanes sont fréquemment retrouvés dans les sites archéologiques et paléontologiques des Petites Antilles et pourraient être de première importance pour comprendre les processus de colonisation de la zone par ces deux espèces. Malheureusement, bien que de nombreuses questions persistent quant à la présence passée et aux périodes d'arrivées de ces deux taxons, aucune étude ostéologique ne permet d'aboutir à une identification satisfaisante de leurs restes sub-fossiles. Nous présentons ici une série de caractères permettant d'identifier ces deux espèces via des fragments osseux isolés tout en discutant la fiabilité de chacun des caractères. Nous émettons également quelques commentaires relatifs à la morphologie squelettique des hybrides de ces deux espèces et à leur identification via des restes osseux.
The Mediating Effect of Grit in the Relationship between Calling and Academic Achievement and Career Stress

In this paper, we show the career path of college students from the perspective of positive psychology. Specifically we conducted the study to investigate a role of grit in the relationship between college students’ occupational calling and academic achievement and career stress. 151 college students participated in this study and they completed the Korean version of the Calling and Vocational Questionnaire, Grit Scale, and Career Stress Scale. To assess their academic achievement, participants agreed to obtain their GPA from online system. The results of this study showed that occupational calling had a positive correlation with academic achievement and negatively correlated with career stress. In addition, it was confirmed that grit mediated the relationship between calling and academic achievement and career stress. Based on these results, the positive effects of occupational calling of college students, implications of this study, and suggestions for future research are discussed.
The impact of capital structure on smes in the selected countries-A study on India, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand

The present research paper examines relationship between the capital structure impacts on SMEs performance. The study test hypothesis is that financial leverage positively affects SMEs (Malaysia, India, Thailand and Singapore) activity through disciplining managers, but the main important components has considered for this paper tax shield and signalling effects. According to Modigliani & Miller (1958, 1963) the analysis of the capital structure decisions has been significant area of research inside the field of finance. In present study it is SMEs and examined whether the factors that affect capital structure are the same for companies belonging to these different size-based groups of SMEs. In besides, given that considerable proportions of SMEs from selected countries have zero long-term debt, the paper analysed the determinants of the probability that a SMEs is using long-term debt financing are the same as determinants of the proportion of this type of financing in capital structure.
Spatial Information Based OSort for Real-Time Spike Sorting Using FPGA

Objective: Spiking activity of individual neurons can be separated from the acquired multi-unit activity with spike sorting methods. Processing the recorded high-dimensional neural data can take a large amount of time when performed on general-purpose computers. Methods: In this paper, an FPGA-based real-time spike sorting system is presented which takes into account the spatial correlation between the electrical signals recorded with closely-packed recording sites to cluster multi-channel neural data. The system uses a spatial window-based version of the Online Sorting algorithm, which uses unsupervised template-matching for clustering. Results: The test results show that the proposed system can reach an average accuracy of 86% using simulated data (16–32 neurons, 4–10 dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio), while the single-channel clustering version achieves only 74% average accuracy in the same cases on a 128-channel electrode array. The developed system was also tested on in vivo cortical recordings obtained from an anesthetized rat. Conclusion: The proposed FPGA-based spike sorting system can process more than 11000 spikes/second, so it can be used during in vivo experiments providing real-time feedback on the location and electrophysiological properties of well-separable single units. Significance: The proposed spike sorting system could be used to reduce the positioning error of the closely-packed recording site during a neural measurement.
Quantification of growth, yield and radiation use efficiency of promising cotton cultivars at varying nitrogen levels.

Cotton cultivars response to different doses of nitrogen for radiation interception, canopy development, growth and seed yield were studied in 2006. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with split arrangement under the climatic conditions of Bahawalpur. Data on seed yield, total dry matter (TDM), leaf area index (LAI), fraction of intercepted radiation (Fi), accumulated radiation interception during the growth season (Sa) and radiation use efficiency (RUE) were taken into account. TDM pattern showed sigmoid growth curve for both cultivars and nitrogen levels and showed strong relationship (R 2 = 0.98) with the accumulated intercepted radiation (Sa) for the season. Mean maximum value of fraction of incident PAR (Fi) remained 90% at 120 days after sowing (DAS) harvest due to maximum crop canopy development. Cultivar NIAB-111 produced 0.81 g m -2 of TDM for each MJ of accumulated PAR and nitrogen @185 kg ha -1 statistically proved to be better in converting radiation into dry matter production.