Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Weather and soil in the US Midwest influence the effectiveness of single‐ and split‐nitrogen applications in corn production

Splitting the N application into two or more timings may improve corn (Zea mays L.) grain yield and N recovery relative to a single‐N application. A 49 site‐year study across eight U.S. Midwestern states compared the effect of an at‐planting (single‐N application) and two split‐N applications [45 (45+SD) or 90 kg N ha−1 (90+SD) at planting with the remainder of the total rate (180 or 270 kg N ha−1) applied at V9]. For split‐N applications, soil and plant responses were similar between 45+SD and 90+SD 93–98% of the time, indicating the at‐planting N rate of 45 kg N ha−1 may be all that is needed in most cropping scenarios. Splitting the N application compared to a single‐N application changed soil NO3–N at VT and post‐harvest <35% of the time and plant N uptake and grain yield <15% of the time. Split‐N applications had greater grain yield in areas with uniform precipitation around the sidedress timing (Shannon Diversity Index >0.56–0.59) to incorporate N in the root zone, and in coarse‐textured soil (sand content >4–10%) that had greater potential for N loss. Single‐N applications produced greater grain yield in soils with more total N (>2.1–2.4 g kg−1) to support N mineralization and greater cation exchange capacity (CEC) (> 27–31 cmolc kg−1), silt content (>66–74%), or clay content (>24–37%) to improve nutrient and water retention. Decisions on nitrogen application timing should be made based on soil parameters and typical weather conditions around the sidedress timing. Disciplines Agriculture | Agronomy and Crop Sciences | Climate | Soil Science Comments This article is published as Clark, Jason D. , Fabián G. Fernández, James J. Camberato, Paul R. Carter, Richard B. Ferguson, David W. Franzen, Newell R. Kitchen et al. "Weather and soil in the US Midwest influence the effectiveness of single‐and split‐nitrogen applications in corn production. " Agronomy Journal (2020). doi: 10.1002/agj2.20446. Authors Jason D. Clark, Fabián G. Fernández, James L. Camberato, Paul R. Carter, Richard B. Ferguson, David W. Franzen, Newell R. Kitchen, Carrie A. M. Laboski, Emerson D. Nafziger, John E. Sawyer, and John F. Shanahan This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/agron_pubs/686 Received: 17 June 2020 Accepted: 3 September 2020 DOI: 10.1002/agj2.20446
Antibody Therapeutic Prediction and Design: Immunogenicity and Stability

One third of all drugs currently in development are monoclonal antibody therapeutics. Key to the efficacy and safety of therapeutic antibodies is the avoidance of immunogenic reaction upon administration. Immunogenicity describes a patient’s immune response to an antibody therapeutic that leads to poor drug efficacy and allergic reaction that can vary in severity. Immunogenicity is influenced both by the presence of T and B cell epitopes and by antibody stability. The aim this thesis was to develop in silico methods to aid the selection and design of antibody therapeutics by focusing on the prediction B-cell epitopes and biophysical stability. IntPred, an in-house high-performance general protein-protein interface predictor, was applied to the problem of B cell epitope prediction. Tested on set of antigen structures, IntPred was shown be unable to predict B cell epitopes. Thus, IntPred was retrained and amended to create the IntPred:Epi method. IntPred:Epi was able to outperform all methods tested, except SEPPA 2.0. However, further testing on larger test set shows that IntPred:Epi outperforms SEPPA 2.0. Next, the influence of ‘tolerated surfaces’ on the selection of epitopes was considered. Specifically, libraries of surfaces were created through analysis and generalization of human and mouse PDB structures. From these, descriptors were generated to describe the tolerance state of an antigen surface. These were then applied as a novel label in the B cell epitope prediction problem. Using tolerance labels as a simple filter on IntPred:Epi predictions, performance was improved on a test set of human antibody-bound antigens. The efficacy and immunogenicity of a therapeutic antibody is also affected by its stability. Natural VH-VL pair human Fabs were expressed and sequenced, and hydrophobicity and thermal stability data were generated. These data were then used to investigate the sequence determinants of the biophysical properties of antibodies. An exploratory analysis revealed promising correlations between certain sequence features and biophysical properties that can be applied in the future for the prediction of biophysical stability.
Localization and Function of RNases in Bacillus subtilis

The ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions is essential for every organism to survive. In bacteria, this adaptation relies on the control of the mRNA synthesis, stability, and turnover, which allows the expression of different sets of proteins as a response to the external conditions. In many bacteria, the enzymes responsible for the degradation of the mRNA interact to form multi-enzyme complexes, the RNA degradosomes. In the Gram-positive model organism Bacillus subtilis, several binary interactions were detected amongst RNA-related proteins in vivo, and it has been hypothesized that an RNA-degrading complex exists in this organism. These interactions involved the endoribonuclease RNase Y, the RNA helicase CshA, the exoribonucleases RNase J1 and PNPase, and the glycolytic enzymes enolase and phosphofructokinase. Moreover, the paralogue of RNase J1, RNase J2 was shown to only interact with RNase J1. However, some of these interactions could not be reproduced and the complex could never be purified as a whole, questioning the possibility of its existence. In this work, I have studied the subcellular localization of the components of the RNA degradosome of B. subtilis. The differential localization of each protein rules out the existence of a stable RNA degradosome. Furthermore, I have studied the interaction and oligomerization between the paralogous RNases J1 and J2 in vivo, and analyzed the importance of the C-terminal domain for this interaction. The results confirm the interaction of the RNases J1 and J2 through the C-terminal domain, and show that they oligomerize as dimers and tetramers. However, it is possible that the tetramers can only be formed in the presence of RNA. Moreover, it seems that the RNase J2 cannot interact with RNA on its own. Although the enzymes of the putative RNA degradosome have been extensively studied, many questions regarding activity and regulation remain open. Amongst them, the enzyme PNPase is one of the best studied, since PNPase from Escherichia coli has been studied for many decades. It has been shown that ATP, c-di-GMP and citrate, amongst others, can regulate its activity. However, the regulation of the PNPase from B. subtilis is not known. In this work, I have studied the effect of citrate, c-di-GMP and c-di-AMP, as well as enolase and phosphofructokinase, on the RNA degradation activity of PNPase. None of these metabolites and enzymes seems to have an effect on this activity. Altogether, these findings contribute to a better understanding of the complex picture of RNA degradation, while opening ways for further investigations.
UWB Indoor Localization Using Deep Learning LSTM Networks

Localization using ultra-wide band (UWB) signals gives accurate position results for indoor localization. The penetrating characteristics of UWB pulses reduce the multipath effects and identify the user position with precise accuracy. In UWB-based localization, the localization accuracy depends on the distance estimation between anchor nodes (ANs) and the UWB tag based on the time of arrival (TOA) of UWB pulses. The TOA errors in the UWB system, reduce the distance estimation accuracy from ANs to the UWB tag and adds the localization error to the system. The position accuracy of a UWB system also depends on the line of sight (LOS) conditions between the UWB anchors and tag, and the computational complexity of localization algorithms used in the UWB system. To overcome these UWB system challenges for indoor localization, we propose a deep learning approach for UWB localization. The proposed deep learning model uses a long short-term memory (LSTM) network for predicting the user position. The proposed LSTM model receives the distance values from TOA-distance model of the UWB system and predicts the current user position. The performance of the proposed LSTM model-based UWB localization system is analyzed in terms of learning rate, optimizer, loss function, batch size, number of hidden nodes, timesteps, and we also compared the mean localization accuracy of the system with different deep learning models and conventional UWB localization approaches. The simulation results show that the proposed UWB localization approach achieved a 7 cm mean localization error as compared to conventional UWB localization approaches.
Resistance is not futile

Amphibian Disease The fungal disease chytridiomycosis has wreaked havoc on amphibians worldwide. The disease is caused by the organism Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and was first identified in the late 1990s. Voyles et al. revisited protected areas in Panama where catastrophic amphibian losses were recorded a decade ago (see the Perspective by Collins). Although disease theory predicts that epidemics should result in reduced pathogenicity, they found no evidence for such a reduction. Despite this, the amphibian community is displaying signs of recovery—including some species presumed extinct after the outbreak. Increased host resistance may be responsible for this recovery. Science , this issue p. [1517][1]; see also p. [1458][2] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aao4806 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aat1996
‘Refugees are not welcome’: Digital racism, online place-making and the evolving categorization of Syrians in Turkey

This article argues that digital publics unleash and bolster everyday racism, creating an unregulated space where anonymity and ubiquity enable the dissemination of racist message. By creating broader visibility and wider reach of racist texts and facilitating more participation for racists, social media platforms such as Twitter normalize gendered and place-based racialization of refugees. Recently, hostility and hate became the norm in derogating the refugee identity on social media platforms. To investigate the complexity of digital racism, this article presents a unique case study on Twitter, capturing the widespread user reactions in the aftermath of the mass resettlement of Syrians in Turkey. It examines varying racialization of Syrians on the Turkish Twittersphere, using sentiment and qualitative content analyses of hashtags and mentions on Syrians, when they hit Twitter trends for Turkey for a year, first, for mundane events and, second, during the Turkish state’s occupation in Northern Syria.
Routinely Measured Hematological Markers Can Help to Predict American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale Scores after Spinal Cord Injury

Neurological outcomes following spinal cord injury (SCI) are currently difficult to predict. While the initial American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grade can give an estimate of outcome, the high remaining degree of uncertainty has stoked recent interest in biomarkers for SCI. This study aimed to assess the prognostic value of routinely measured blood biomarkers by developing prognostic models of AIS scores at discharge and 12 months post-injury. Routine blood and clinical data were collected from SCI patients (n = 417), and blood measures that had been assessed in less than 50% of patients were excluded. Outcome neurology was obtained from AIS and Spinal Cord Independence Measure III (SCIM-III) scores at discharge and 12 months post-injury, with motor (AIS) and sensory (AIS, touch and prick) abilities being assessed individually. Linear regression models with and without elastic net penalization were created for all outcome measures. Blood measures associated with liver function, such as alanine transaminase, were found to add value to predictions of SCIM-III at discharge and 12 months post-injury. Further, components of a total blood count, including hemoglobin, were found to add value to predictions of AIS motor and sensory scores at discharge and 12 months post-injury. These findings corroborate the results of our previous preliminary study and thus provide further evidence that routine blood measures can add prognostic value in SCI and that markers of liver function are of particular interest.
Social Media Use and Political Polarization: Political Engagement as a Mediator

Social media, in the new millennium, has become a very effective tool of communication, information, and propagation regarding all social, religious, and political discourses that further lead towards ideological divisions. In the contemporary democratic world, the role of social media for political opinion building is obvious which is done by opinion leaders through political information and debates. The purpose of this study is to explore the social media use and political polarization among social media users. The survey research method was used to examine social media use for political engagement and political polarization. Private university students were selected as participants (n=350). The result was found positive which means that social media use is responsible for political polarization. Moreover, social media use is also a significant predictor of political engagement. In addition to this, the results show that political engagement is a mediator between the relationship between social media use and political polarization. The practical implications of the study have been discussed.
Predicting the Commitment of Volunteers’ Environmental Stewardship: Does Generativity Play a Role?

This study examined factors that contribute to the commitment of volunteers’ environmental stewardship through motivations, satisfaction, and generativity. Generativity, a focus on the next generation, has not been examined in the content of environmental stewardship. Volunteers for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) were surveyed online from May to September of 2016 (n = 1111). Through structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, our findings validated six categories of motivations (helping the environment, project organization, values, learning, career, and social), four dimensions of satisfaction (organizational support, project organization, sense of empowerment, and group integration), and two factors of commitment (affective commitment and normative commitment). Our findings showed positive and significant path correlations for four latent variables (motivations, satisfaction, commitment, and generativity). This study contributes to the literature by showing the potential for generativity to contribute to environmental stewardship, and by enhancing stewardship efforts for agencies and organizations in recruiting and engaging volunteers.
A botanical, ecological and hydrological contribution to understanding the Lower River Murray and beyond

ABSTRACT This paper summarises Keith Walker’s contribution to the understanding of aquatic, littoral and floodplain understorey vegetation in inland arid, semi-arid and Mediterranean aquatic ecosystems. The work undertaken by Keith and his Ph.D. students included the vegetation dynamics of lower River Murray weir pools, wetlands and floodplains, Darling River floodplain lakes and adaptations of plants to these environments. Studies showed that hydrology was the primary driver of the vegetation of these systems and changes to hydrology brought about by abstraction and river regulation resulted in changes to floristic composition. The responses and investigations of adaptions of individual species to hydrology in controlled experiments provided information regarding the mechanisms of change brought about by altered hydrology. This information has provided the basis of our understanding of vegetation dynamics in weir pools, fundamentally changed how weirs and storages were operated in the lower River Murray, contributed to guidelines for the management of wetlands with flow control structures and the development of vegetation monitoring programs used to assess the effectiveness of restoration activities.
We Need Chinese Tourists, but are We Ready? Insights from the Tanzanian Safari Industry

ABSTRACT In 2018, over 32,000 Chinese tourists visited Tanzania. Due to Tanzania’s unique and distinct attractions, enhanced tourism promotion and marketing, and improved flight access, the total number of Chinese visitors is expected to increase (particularly after the 2019 – Corona virus pandemic which is having an enormous impact on global business). Drawing insights from informants (safari guides and tour operators), this study explores the preferences of Chinese tourists participating in safari tours in Tanzania. The results indicate that while Chinese tourists have much in common with other tourists, this group has some particular expectations in terms of the purpose of their safari, accommodation, tipping, tour guide behavior, itineraries, and shopping. Understanding these preferences may help the Tanzanian tourism industry to better serve this emerging market.
Why Don't You Join In? A Typology of Information System Certification Adopters

While the importance of information system (IS) certifications to demonstrate compliance with security and personal data protection requirements is constantly increasing, competing (theoretical) viewpoints exist that outline the rationales for organizations to adopt certifications. The results of these competing perspectives are inconclusive research findings in the certification adoption literature. While organizations may use cer-tifications to signal quality to consumers, others mainly adopt certifications to improve internal processes or create institutional legitimacy. To enhance our understanding of the motivation for online vendors to adopt IS certifications, we conduct a literature review and a ranking-type Delphi study with two unique panels comprising certified online vendors ( N = 15 ) and certification authorities ( N = 24 ). As a result, we provide a rank-order list of 24 motivators and 17 demotivators impacting online vendors’ intentions to adopt IS certifications. We reveal that certain motives are context-independent, whereas other motives are specific for electronic markets (e.g., “signal
That selfie becomes you: examining taking and posting selfies as forms of self-objectification

ABSTRACT Evidence suggests that engaging in photo behaviors on social media is associated with negative body image (i.e. negative thoughts and feelings toward the body). One potential mechanism underlying these associations is that posting photos of oneself online may represent a form of self-objectification (i.e. thinking of the self as an object) which is associated with a number of negative consequences for body image. The current study investigated whether taking a selfie and posting it on social media would result in higher state self-objectification and objectified body consciousness. A sample of undergraduates in the United States (N = 187; 141 women; Mage = 19.03; 82.4% White) were asked to take a selfie or a control photo and then post the photo on Facebook or move on without posting the photo. Results indicated that, controlling for individuals’ level of self-monitoring and frequency of social media use, taking a selfie increased state self-objectification compared to taking a control photo, regardless of whether or not the photo was posted. There were no significant effects of taking a selfie on participants’ level of objectified body consciousness. Implications, limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Efficacy of multiple consumer use washing techniques in reducing Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella enterica, and Listeria monocytogenes contamination on produce

ESCHERICHIA COLI O157:H7, SALMONELLA ENTERICA, AND LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES CONTAMINATION ON PRODUCE by JILLIAN DIANE FISHBURN (Under the Direction of Joseph F. Frank) ABSTRACT Consumption of fresh produce is on the rise. With the increased consumption of fresh produce items comes an increase in chances of a foodborne outbreak. This study evaluated the efficacy of home washing technologies (ozonated water, electrolyzed oxidizing (EO) water, Veggie Wash, dilute chlorine bleach, and running tap water) against Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella enterica, and Listeria monocytogenes on tomatoes, cantaloupe, and broccoli. Dilute chlorine bleach was the most effective on all produce, providing log reductions up to 3.89 log. EO water and ozonated water were moderately effective on all produce. Running tap water was effective on tomatoes, but not on broccoli or cantaloupes. Veggie Wash provided the lowest reductions for tomatoes and was only moderately effective on broccoli and cantaloupes. Reductions were higher for tomatoes (1.14 to 3.89 log) than for broccoli (0.63 to 1.57 log) or cantaloupe (0.55 to 2.48 log) when subjected to the same washing technologies.
Effects of cold storage on life‐history traits of Aphidius matricariae

Aphidius matricariae Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) is a polyphagous solitary endoparasitoid, attacking more than 40 species of aphids. This parasitoid is an important commercial product of many companies that produce biological control agents. Storage at low temperature increases the shelf life of many biocontrol agents, allowing companies to provide a steady and sufficient supply of insects for biocontrol programs. In the current study, the effects of cold storage of 1‐day‐old host mummies with A. matricariae for various time periods (5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 days) at 5 °C on the parasitoid’s key life‐history traits were investigated. Parameters assessed after storage included adult emergence rate, offspring sex ratio, adult longevity, oviposition period, fecundity, and life‐table parameters (R0, r, λ, T, and DT). Our results showed that the mummies of A. matricariae could be stored at 5 °C for 5 days without loss of quality and for 10–15 days with minimal reduction in quality (e.g., some reduction in adult longevity and R0). If parasitoids were stored for >15 days, quality was more strongly affected. In conclusion, A. matricariae pupae could be stored at 5 °C for up to 15 days without significant negative post‐storage effects on fitness of the parasitoid. These results could be used to improve the planning of mass rearing and mass release of A. matricariae in augmentative biological control programs.