Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multiple season-long sprays of ethephon or NAA combined with calcium chloride on ‘Honeycrisp’ apples: I. Effect on bloom and fruit quality attributes

Abstract: ‘Honeycrisp’ apple trees are highly prone to biennial bearing and predisposed to bitter pit. The hypothesis that tank mix sprays of ethephon (ETH), naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), and 1-aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid (ACC) combined with calcium chloride (CaCl2) can mitigate these production problems was tested in a 3-yr study. Mature ‘Honeycrisp’ trees were treated with either three or six summer applications of 150 mg L-1 ETH or 5 mg L-1 NAA, all tank-mixed with and without CaCl2, or two or five applications of 150 mg L-1 ACC (without CaCl2). Treatments were applied at 10-d intervals and initiated between 21 and 26 June. All treatments had little effect on enhancing return bloom of ‘Honeycrisp’. NAA, ETH, and CaCl2 all influenced fruit maturity and quality at harvest to varying degrees and across years. Fruit treated with NAA were firmer compared with untreated fruit in 2 out of 3 yr, whereas overall, fruit treated with six sprays of ETH had lower fruit firmness and were more mature. NAA had less influence on fruit quality attributes at harvest than did ETH, and decreased pre-harvest fruit drop (PFD). PFD increased with ETH in 1 out of 2 yr, whereas ACC and NAA both decreased PFD in 1 out of 2 yr. Overall, ETH and NAA, with or without CaCl2, had significant but inconsistent effects on fruit quality and maturity, all dependent on the year and number of applications. Adding CaCl2 decreased fruit firmness in 2 out of 3 yr.
Attentional modulation of neural phase is enhanced by short-term training and linked to musical experience

How does the brain follow a sound that is mixed with others in a noisy environment? A possible strategy is to allocate attention to task-relevant time intervals while suppressing irrelevant intervals - a strategy that could be implemented by aligning neural modulations with critical moments in time. Here we tested whether selective attention to non-verbal sound streams is linked to shifts in the timing of attentional modulations of EEG activity, and investigated whether this neural mechanism can be enhanced by short-term training and musical experience. Participants performed a memory task on a target auditory stream presented at 4 Hz while ignoring a distractor auditory stream also presented at 4 Hz, but with a 180-degree shift in phase. The two attention conditions were linked to a roughly 180-degree shift in phase in the EEG signal at 4 Hz. Moreover, there was a strong relationship between performance on the 1-back task and the timing of the EEG modulation with respect to the attended band. EEG modulation timing was also enhanced after several days of training on the selective attention task and enhanced in experienced musicians. These results support the hypothesis that modulation of neural timing facilitates attention to particular moments in time and indicate that phase timing is a robust and reliable marker of individual differences in auditory attention. Moreover, these results suggest that nonverbal selective attention can be enhanced in the short term by only a few hours of practice and in the long term by years of musical training.
Numerical and Experimental Analysis to Predict Life of Removable Partial Denture

Specialist has attempted to treat or replace teeth in case of human dental damage as a result of illness or misuse at certain stages of life. Alternating force affects the life of teeth, and this force causes failure. In this study, partial molar denture was manufactured from a composite material, including polymethylmethacrylate acrylic with zirconia, at different weight fractions (0, 2.5, 5 and 7.5 wt%). Mechanical tests (compression and hardness) were conducted for these samples, and the best weight fraction was selected to manufacture the partial molar denture. The chewing force was measured using a F-sensor. Numerical solution was achieved using the solid work software to determine the best sample and study the distribution of the dental stresses. To predict the life of the denture experimentally, we designed and manufactured a new device that can determine the life of the dental by applying alternative load which simulates the force generated by chewing.
Perceptions and experiences of live-in carers: why acknowledging versus neglecting personal identity matters for job satisfaction and wellbeing

Abstract For some older people and their families, live-in care offers a way of continuing to live independently at home in their local community. While research in the care industry has consistently highlighted the effects of caring on workers, little research has specifically explored the experiences of live-in carers. The current study examines the ways in which live-in carers construct their role, the different challenges they face and the strategies they use to mitigate them. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 21 live-in carers in the United Kingdom and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings suggest that carers perceive their role as complex and characterised by a heavy workload and tiredness. Participants emphasised the variability which was introduced to the role as a function of the quality of agency support, the character and condition of the client, and the carer's relationships with the client's family. Participants’ accounts reflected an acknowledgement of the need to orient and respond constantly to the needs and routine of the client. While this orientation was recognised as necessary for effectively fulfilling the demands of the role, it was also linked to feelings of dislocation and loss of identity. Drawing on understandings of personal and social identity, the implications of these findings for the psychological wellbeing of live-in carers and organisational support are discussed.
The Effect of Neem (Azadirachta indica) Leaf Extracts on Interleukin-10 Expression and Histological Score in Dextran Sodium Sulfate-induced Colitis Mice

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic or relapsing inflammation of the intestine which consists of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Interleukin (IL)-10 is an anti-inflammatory cytokine which plays important role in the pathogenesis of IBD. Neem (Azadirachta indica) is rich of azadiractoids which possesses anti-inflammatory activity. AIM: The objective of the study was to determine the effect of neem leaf extract on IL-10 expression and histological score in dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis rats. METHODS: The first phase compared 7 DSS-induced colitis rats (case group) with seven healthy rats (control group). All of them were sacrificed. The second phase compared 28 DSS-induced colitis rats treated with mesalazine (Group I) and 56 rats treated with neem leaf extract (Groups II and III). Seven rats from each group were sacrificed on days 7, 14, 21, and 28. Colon samples were harvested and underwent histopathological examination and immunohistochemical analysis to determine IL-10 expression and histological score. RESULTS: IL-10 expression and histological score were higher in case group compared to control group. There was similar IL-10 expression between Groups I and II on day 28 while the similarity was observed since day 7 between Groups I and III. Mean histological score was higher in Group II compared to Group I and it was similar between Group I and Group III on days 21 and 28. CONCLUSION: Neem leaf extract increased the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine, in particular IL-10, and improved histological score in DSS-induced colitis rats.
Antimicrobial Production by an Actinomycetes Isolated from The Termite Nest

Actinomycetes are Gram positive bacteria that have been detected in diverse ecological niches. Their member species are known to be a main source of various bioactive compounds. The discovery of Actinomycetes from diverse and unexplored resources has also been linked to increased opportunities to obtain novel bioactive compounds. Insect nest material is being investigated as a new source of novel antimicrobial producing Actinomycetes, which could be harnessed for therapeutic potential. A total of 10 Actinomycetes isolates were collected from the nest of Nasutitermes sp. in Pananjung Pangandaran Nature Reserve. These isolates were evaluated for antimicrobial activity against the challenge bacteria (Eschericia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Serratia Marcescens) and fungi (Fomitopsis palustris, Fusarium oxysporum, Trichoderma viridae) by dual culture method. The result revealed that several isolate were active against fungi and bacteria. Isolate Pn-TN2 showed the highest level of antibacterial inhibition and the highest antifungal inhibition with Inhibition Rate value more than 80%. By morphological and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis strongly suggested that the isolate Pn-TN2 belonged to Streptomyces prasinopilosus. We suggested that termite nest is a potential source of bioactive strains of cultivable Actinomycetes for future biotechnological needs.
Student Perceptions on Blended/Flipped and Traditional Face-to-Face: A Course Redesign Assessment

The blended and flipped class is often considered the most student-centered type of learning as it promotes deep and life-long learning. Using qualitative and quantitative data from anonymous surveys completed by students in two different introductory classes, one blended and flipped (N=56) and the other traditional lecture (N=74) taught by the first author during the same semester, this study reveals active learning in the blended and flipped class contributes to those students’: 1) positive perceptions of usefulness of course material; 2) perceptions of more time spent on their class; and 3) preference for blended and flipped learning. These findings provide for a deeper understanding of the results of an earlier study with these same cohorts where the blended and flipped learning outperformed the traditional face-to-face students on a pre-posttest. It also provides insight into the usefulness of blended learning and can help assuage fears that students are short changed when they don’t have face-to-face instruction. This article closes with suggestions for instructors wishing to pursue a flipped and blended classroom model.
Factors determining the forecast errors of market analysts for fiscal variables in Brazil

The objective of this study is to investigate determinant factors the forecast errors of market analysts for Brazilian fiscal variables. The data for conducting the research was obtained in the Prisma Fiscal, the Ministry of Economy’s system of collecting and disclosure of market expectations for fiscal variables. The data collected refer to collection, net revenue and total expenditure, in the period from November 2015 to December 2018. The Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) and z were used to measure the quality of the market analysts’ forecast. The use of the z value as a measure of the forecast error is one of the contributions of this research. Among the results obtained, the hypothesis that the temporal horizon interferes in the quality of the forecast was not rejected for horizons of one and two years; the dispersion of forecasts did not show a substantial change; and the optimistic bias hypothesis was not confirmed. It can be concluded that for this sample the temporality is a determinant factor of the forecast error of the market analysts for fiscal variables. The research contributes to the discussion about forecasting error in the areas of Public Financial Management and Public Accounting.
Low-Order Spherical Harmonic HRTF Restoration Using a Neural Network Approach

Spherical harmonic (SH) interpolation is a commonly used method to spatially up-sample sparse head related transfer function (HRTF) datasets to denser HRTF datasets. However, depending on the number of sparse HRTF measurements and SH order, this process can introduce distortions into high frequency representations of the HRTFs. This paper investigates whether it is possible to restore some of the distorted high frequency HRTF components using machine learning algorithms. A combination of convolutional auto-encoder (CAE) and denoising auto-encoder (DAE) models is proposed to restore the high frequency distortion in SH-interpolated HRTFs. Results were evaluated using both perceptual spectral difference (PSD) and localisation prediction models, both of which demonstrated significant improvement after the restoration process.
Cognitive regulation strategies as mediation in anxiety and academic adjustment in university students

The aim was to investigate the relationship between and among cognitive emotion regulation, test anxiety and academic adjustment and the possibility of cognitive emotion regulation (CER) to mediate the relationship between academic adjustment (TA) and academic adjustment (AA). We hypothesized that the association between test anxiety and AA is mediated by cognitive emotion regulation. Convenient sampling method was employed to recruit the participants. The sample of the study consisted of 180 students (100% males) representing students from college of education, Jazan University, KSA, aged 19-21 years, with an average of 20.2 years, with a standard deviation of 5.45. For the purpose of this study, quantitative survey research was employed, with cognitive emotion regulation as independent variable, and TA and TA as dependent variables. Findings revealed that adaptive cognitive emotion regulation correlates negatively with TA, and also negatively with AA. On the other hand, Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation was found to be positively correlated with AA. While AA found to be negatively correlated with TA. The coefficients related to the Adaptive CER regression paths to TA and AA, Maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation regression paths to TA and AA are significant at 0.01 level regardless of their direction.
Job satisfaction and value creation: antidotes for business educators’ job retention

The study assessed how job satisfaction and value creation serve as antidotes to job retention of employees in higher institutions in Edo and Delta States. Variables such as tenure, salary, excellent compensation and training and development were assessed. Four research queries were provided answers to. Two reasonable guesses were tested. Survey research was applied. 189 business educators were used for the study. A total of 179 questionnaires were found usable representing 94.7 percent. The instrument was validated by Three experts validated the items in the questionnaire. The instrument yielded 0.98 using the Cronbach alpha to enhance its face and content validity. The descriptive statistics was used to answer all questions raised for the study. The reasonable guesses were tested with the t-test statistics. Lecturers’ Job Satisfaction and Value Creation Questionnaire (LJSVCQ) were administered on the respondents by the researcher with two supporting persons. Results revealed business educators: male and female, married and single, were satisfied with job tenure, salary they earned. It also revealed business educators were satisfied with excellent compensation, training and development. Male do not differ with female business educators in their levels of job satisfaction. Married lecturers do not differ from single business educators in their levels of job satisfaction. The study recommended that business educators’ job satisfaction may be improved if management and councils of various tertiary institutions pay necessary attention to staff welfare in terms of regular review of salary paid to staff, and security of workers’ job.
Job insecurity and performance in public and private sectors: a moderated mediation model

The purpose of this study was to extend our knowledge of the relationship between quantitative and qualitative job insecurity and performance. On the basis of stress theories, we hypothesised that qualitative job insecurity (QLJI) would mediate the negative effect of quantitative job insecurity (QTJI) on two different indicators of performance: task performance (TP) and counterproductive work behaviours (CPWBs). In addition, the authors hypothesised that the effect of QTJI on QLJI would be moderated by the economic sector (public vs private) in which employees worked. Therefore, the authors empirically tested a moderated mediation model via PROCESS. ,Participants were 431 employees from various Italian organisations. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire measuring QTJI, QLJI, TP and CPWBs. ,The results indicated that economic sector moderated the relationship between quantitative and QLJI. Both quantitative and QLJI were related to performance outcomes. Furthermore, QLJI mediated the effect of QTJI on TP and CPWB. However, this mediation was particularly apparent among employees in the private sector, supporting our hypothesised moderated mediation model. ,The results suggest that managers of private and public organisations need to apply different policies to reduce the impact of job insecurity on CPWBs and increase the TP of their employees. ,This study attempted to examine the job insecurity–performance relationship in more depth. For the first time, the effects of both job insecurity dimensions on performance were simultaneously investigated, with economic sector as a moderator and QLJI as a mediator.
Impacts of Prepubertal Rearing Intensity and Calf Health on First-Lactation Yield and Lifetime Performance

Abstract The objective of the present study was to investigate possible long-term effects of calf and heifer feeding intensity on first-lactation milk yield and lifetime efficiency (milk per day of life). Detailed records from a total number of 2,252 female German Holstein calves from one commercial farm were obtained from birth to culling. Data regarding all information about calf’s birth, rearing time until first insemination, first calving, first-lactation yield and lifetime performance were collected over a 12-year period. This large data volume was merged, handled, checked for plausibility, classified and evaluated. Analyses revealed that body weight at an age of six months was significantly influenced by the average daily gain in the first two weeks of life (P<0.0001) and by the duration of treatment for respiratory diseases (P=0.0080). Moreover, first-lactation yield was affected by average daily gain in the whole first year of life (P=0.0013) and particularly in the period of month nine to twelve (P=0.00187). Lifetime efficiency was significantly influenced by body weight at first insemination (P=0.0051), average milk yield (P<0.0001) and reason for culling (P<0.0001). The results of this long-term study confirm that growth is important in general, but as shown by the negative correlation between average daily gain from month nine to twelve and the first lactation milk yield, nutrient intake (energy and protein) should be adapted to enable a controlled growth especially at certain periods of life. After six months of age, daily gain has to be controlled to avoid fat accumulation for a healthy and effective start of lactation. In addition, this analysis revealed that after passing first lactation, particularly health and fertility are the keys for a long efficient lifetime of dairy cows.
Status of chemicals and aqua-drugs used for freshwater fish health management at Rangpur district of Bangladesh

In order to know the existing situation of different chemicals and aqua-drugs used for fish health management an investigation was conducted following a time frame of May, 2019 to October, 2019 at Rangpur district of Bangladesh. Data were collected from the randomly selected fish farmers, company representatives and chemical sellers through questionnaire interview, personal contact and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). Farmers were facing several water quality problems associated with different fish diseases. To overcome those obstacles they use variety of chemicals inclulding lime, salt, potassium permanganate, urea, TSP, phitkiri and copper sulphate. Farmers used different chemicals for various purposes like Aquapure, Biopond, Zeofresh, JVzeolite, Zeorich, Megazeo plus, Geo-ren etc. for pond preparation and water quality management; Sumithion, Engreb, I-mec, Sanmarine etc. for eradication of unwanted species; Oxymax, Oxymore, Oxylife, Aci-ox, Oxyrich, Oxy-aqua, Oxyren etc. to increase oxygen concentration and Gasonil, Gastrap, Bioaqua-50, Gasonex, Metrix, Pondkleen etc. for reducing harmful gases in pond water. Used disinfectants like Timsen, Virex, Polgard+, , Micronil etc.; antibiotics include Renamycin, Eskamycin, Bactitab, Cotrim vet bolus, Chemycin, Aquamycin etc.; Aqua photo, Safegut, Biomax, Profs, Pond care etc. were the used probiotics where various growth promoters include Panvit aqua, Nutrigel, Aquazyme, Spa gelly, Charger gel etc. Some problems were reported regarding the use of chemicals such as their indiscriminate use, method of application, time of application and inappropriate doses.
Evaluation of nano-metal oxides for increased fodder production in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

A study was conducted in a net house to evaluate the effect of seed treatment with nano zinc oxide (250, 500, 750 and 1000 μg ml) and nano copper oxide (50, 100, 200 and 400 μg ml) on seed germination and growth of barley under pot conditions. The results were compared with macro forms (ZnSO4, ZnO, CuSO4 and CuO). It was found that 500 μg ml of nZnO enhanced germination percentage and shoot length as compared to other treatments while other plant growth attributes were similar in all the treatments except the control. In case of nCuO, highest germination percentage was recorded with 100 μg ml nCuO. Spikelet number and shoot fresh weight were found higher at 200 μg ml nCuO, while stem dry weight, shoot length and root fresh weight were highest in the treatment having macro CuSO4. However all the plant growth attributes were significantly higher in all the treatments than control. Our study indicated that micronutrients requirement can be fulfilled using nano-metal oxides through seed treatment to increase the growth and yield in barley.
Recruitment of oyster in artificial collectors on the Amazon macrotidal mangrove coast

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to determine the moment of the year for the oyster recruitment and define the type of collector and environmental conditions that maximize recruitment. Collections were conducted, during 12 months, on Amazon Macrotidal Mangrove at two different sites: raft (point I) and mangrove (point II). In each location three types of collectors were used (1) transparent PET bottles, (2) green PET bottles, and (3) PVC sheets, each with three replicates. Spats were counted and measured at 45-day intervals, while the environmental data were measured every two weeks. Identification of oyster species occurred by genetic testing (multiplex PCR) by randomly selecting individuals by sampling. Results indicated spat capturing was significantly influenced by the collector type, location and period of collection (P<0.05, MANOVA) with significantly higher recruitment in the PVC collector (P<0.05, Tukey test). Oyster recruitment occurred throughout the year, suggesting that these individuals reproduce during all months; however, months with less rain and greater salinity were the best for spat collection, while the rainy period with lower salinity proved to be the best for individuals growth. The location in interaction with the environmental variables, mainly salinity, has a significant effect on the recruitment rate of spat and on their size, so that point II (mangrove) had the best results for recruitment and point I (raft) provided the spats of the largest size. Genetic identification verified two native oysters species (Crassostrea gasar and Crassostrea rhizophorae) in both points (I and II).