Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Integrated Polyethylene and Cover Crop Mulch, Conservation Tillage, and Herbicide Application on Weed Control, Yield, and Economic Returns in Watermelon

Abstract A 3-yr watermelon experiment was established in fall 2013 to evaluate cover crop, polyethylene mulch, tillage, and herbicide application components for weed control, yield, and profitability. Conservation tillage, either with a cereal rye cover crop alone or integrated with polyethylene mulch, was compared to the standard industry practice of conventional tillage with bedded polyethylene mulch. The study also used a non-bedded conventional tillage system without polyethylene to determine polyethylene and cover crop residue effects. Within each of the four systems, herbicide treatments comprised halosulfuron applied (1) at 26.3 g ai ha-1 PRE, (2) at 26.3 g ai ha-1 POST, or (3) sequentially at 26.3 g ai ha-1 PRE and POST. Each system also had a nontreated control. In addition, clethodim was applied in all plots twice POST at 140 g ai ha-1, except for nontreated in each system. In 2014, polyethylene or cereal rye cover crop effectively controlled tall morningglory, coffee senna, and carpetweed early season in nontreated plots, whereas the integration of the two was effective at controlling common purslane. Tall morningglory and purslane control was insufficient late season regardless of production system and herbicide application. In 2015, polyethylene effectively controlled cutleaf eveningprimrose, sicklepod, and arrowleaf sida early season in nontreated plots. Yellow nutsedge control was insufficient late season regardless of production system and herbicide application. Utilizing sequential halosulfuron applications did not increase weed control over PRE or POST alone in all years. Polyethylene use resulted in yields higher than systems without in all years. Across all 3 yr, net returns were highest for polyethylene mulch systems. The results of this experiment underscore the need for more progress in developing integrated conservation systems for watermelon production. Effective herbicides, low-disturbance cultivation, and/or hand weeding are most likely the key to success in conservation specialty crop systems. Nomenclature: Clethodim; halosulfuron; arrowleaf sida, Sida rhombifolia L. ; cereal rye, Secale cerale L. ; carpetweed, Mollugo verticillata L. ; coffee senna, Senna occidentalis (L.) Link; common purslane, Portulaca oleracea L. ; cutleaf eveningprimrose, Oenothera laciniata Hill; large crabgrass, Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop. ; sicklepod, Senna obtusifolia (L.) H.S. Irwin & Barneby; yellow nutsedge, Cyperus rotundus L. ; tall morningglory, Ipomoea purpurea (L.) Roth; watermelon, Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai
A Structural Model of Teacher Self-Efficacy, Resilience, and Burnout among Iranian EFL Teachers

As the individual and psychological constructs of teachers have gained momentum recently, a growing number of empirical studies have been carried out to investigate the relationships among teacher-related variables. In order to further explore the associations between teacher variables in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, this research explored the significance of teachers’ sense of efficacy and their resilience in predicting teacher burnout among Iranian EFL teachers. To this end, a total number of 213 male and female practicing teachers filled out a battery of three measuring instruments for these constructs. Structural Equation Modeling was used to test the structural model of the constructs. The results demonstrated that teacher self-efficacy represented 20.1% of the burnout variance while teacher resilience explained 11.7% of the variance in teacher burnout. It was found that although either of the two variables had a unique contribution to burnout, teacher self-efficacy appeared to be a more powerful predictor of burnout than teacher resilience. The findings have significant implications for teacher education programs.
A computational approach for characterizing the structural basis of intrinsic coupling modes of the cerebral cortex

Intrinsic coupling modes (ICMs) reflect the patterns of functional connectivity or synchronization between neuronal ensembles during spontaneous brain activity. These coupling modes represent a widely used concept in modern cognitive neuroscience for probing the connectional organization of intact or damaged brains. However, the principles that shape ICMs remain elusive, in particular their relation to the underlying brain structure. Here we explored ICMs from spontaneous resting awake activity of multiple cortical areas recorded using custom micro-electrocorticographic (μECoG) arrays chronically implanted in ferrets. Additionally, we obtained different kinds of structural connectivity estimates for the regions underlying the ECoG arrays. Then we use large-scale computational models to explore the ability to predict both types of ICMs. Overall, our results reveal that patterns of cortical functional coupling as reflected in phase and envelope ICMs are strongly related to the underlying structural connectivity, to the extent that simple computational models based on the SC topology already reproduce the functional coupling patterns reasonably well.
Health risk assessment of oral bioaccessibility of heavy metal in soil from coalfield in Huaibei City, China

Abstract To investigate heavy metal accumulation in mine soils and evaluate health risk through soil digestion, a total of 30 soils were collected from coal mine of Huaibei City, Anhui Province, China, one of the most important coalfields. The mean concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn were 0.162 ± 0.054, 11.82 ± 3.27, 12.03 ± 5.42, 21.86 ± 7.78, 55.09 ± 12.41, and 41.46 ± 32.07 mg kg–1, respectively. The percentages of heavy metals exceeding background value of soil were 86.7% for Cd, 13.3% for Cu, 16.7% for Ni, 100.0% for Pb, and 20% for Zn. The percentages of heavy metal contents exceeding Grade I of Environmental Quality Standard for soil were 23.3% for Cd, 96.7% for Pb, and 10.0% for Zn. The heavy metal contents did not exceed guideline values according to Grade II of Environmental Quality Standard for soil. Average accessibility of Cd and Pb in the intestinal phase were lower than the gastric phase while a contrary result for Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn. Both adults and children may not experience non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health risk through soil digestion.
Rapid shifts in the thermal sensitivity of growth but not development rate causes temperature–size response variability during ontogeny in arthropods

Size at maturity in ectotherms commonly declines with warming. This near‐universal phenomenon, formalised as the temperature–size rule, has been observed in over 80% of tested species, from bacteria to fish. The proximate cause has been attributed to the greater temperature dependence of development rate than growth rate, causing individuals to develop earlier but mature smaller in the warm. However, few studies have examined the ontogenetic progression of the temperature–size response at high resolution. Using marine planktonic copepods, we experimentally determined the progression of the temperature–size response over ontogeny. Temperature–size responses were not generated gradually from egg to adult, contrary to the predictions of a naive model in which development rate was assumed to be more temperature‐dependent than growth rate, and the difference in the temperature dependence of these two rates remained constant over ontogeny. Instead, the ontogenetic progression of the temperature–size response in experimental animals was highly episodic, indicating rapid changes in the extent to which growth and development rates are thermally decoupled. The strongest temperature–size responses occurred temporally mid‐way through ontogeny, corresponding with the point at which individuals reached between ~5 and 25% of their adult mass. Using the copepod Oithona nana, we show that the temperature‐dependence of growth rate varied substantially throughout ontogeny, whereas the temperature dependence of development rate remained constant. The temperature‐dependence of growth rate even exceeded that of development rate in some life stages, leading to a weakening of the temperature–size response. Our analyses of arthropod temperature–size responses from the literature, including crustaceans and insects, support these conclusions more broadly. Overall, our findings provide a better understanding of how the temperature–size rule is produced over ontogeny. Whereas we find support for the generality of developmental rate isomorphy in arthropods (shared temperature dependence of development rate across life stages), this concept appears not to apply to growth rates.
Substituting chemical fertilizer nitrogen with organic manure and comparing their nitrogen use efficiency and winter wheat yield

Abstract A 2-year fertilization experiment was conducted to study the effect of different ratios of organic (pig) manure on wheat yield and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). The four treatments were no nitrogen (N) (CK); 100% chemical fertilizer N (urea; T1); 70% chemical fertilizer N + 30% organic manure N (T2) and 50% chemical fertilizer N + 50% organic manure N (T3), with the same amount of applied nitrogen (120 kg/ha). The results showed the maximum grain yield (3049 kg/ha), crop nitrogen uptake (216 kg/ha), NUE (65.4%) and accumulated nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N in 0–200 cm, 142 kg/ha) were observed in the T1 among all treatments in the first year. However, the largest grain yield (5074 kg/ha), crop nitrogen uptake (244 kg/ha) and NUE (82.5%) were under T2 treatment in the second year. Furthermore, T2 had the maximum NO3−-N content in 0–100 cm layer (116 kg/ha), especially 0–40 cm layer, and the lowest NO3−-N content in 100–200 cm (58.8 kg/ha). However, 50% organic manure N in T3 increased apparent nitrogen loss by 39.0% compared to that in T2. Therefore, 30% organic manure N application was more conducive for enhancing wheat yield and NUE and promoting environmental safety after 1-year fertilization time.
Physiological and transcriptome analysis of indica rice ‘MH86’ overexpressing OsSPL14

OsSPL14, identified as IDEAL PLANT ARCHITECTURE1 (IPA1) or WEALTHY FARMER’S PANICLE (WFP) gene, plays a critical role in regulating rice plant architecture. Here, the study showed that OsSPL14-overexpression transgenic rice plants had shorter growth period, short-narrow flag leaves, and thick-green leaves. Compared with wild type plant ‘MH86’, transgenic plants had higher chlorophyll a (Ca), chlorophyll b (Cb) and carotenoid (Cx) content at both seedling and maturity stage. Meanwhile, transcriptome analysis identified 473 up-regulated and 103 down-regulated genes in transgenic plant. The expression of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in carotenoid biosynthesis, abscisic acid (ABA) metabolism and lignin biosynthesis increased significantly. Most of DEGs participated in “plant hormone signal transduction” and “starch and sucrose metabolism” are also up-regulated in transgenic plant. In addition, there were higher levels of ABA and gibberellin acid (GA3) in OsSPL14-overexpression transgenic plants. Moreover, the content of culm lignin, cellulose, silicon and potassium all increased dramatically. Thus, these results demonstrate that overexpression of OsSPL14 has influence on leaf development, hormone level and culm composition in rice, which provide more insight into understanding the function of OsSPL14. Highlight OsSPL14-overexpression transgenic plants showed shorter growth period, short-narrow flag leaves, and thick-green leaves. Transcript profile, abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellin acid (GA3) level, and culm composition also changed obviously.
MEASUREMENT OF DNA DAMAGE, OXIDATIVE STRESS, AND GENE EXPRESSION OF β-CATENIN AND P53 GENES IN LIVER AND BRAIN OF MALE MICE RECEIVING MONOSODIUM L-GLUTAMATE MONOHYDRATE

Introduction: Monosodium L-glutamate (MSG) monohydrate is a widespread nutritional additive and flavoring agent frequently consumed all over the world. In this study, we investigate the action of daily oral intake of MSG monohydrate in vivo using mammalian systems. Methods: Mice divided as follows: Group I (normal control), Group II, and Group III treated with MSG for 2 and 4 weeks, respectively. Brain and liver dissected out for the detection of fragmented DNA, DNA damage, and assay of oxidative stress markers. Moreover, expression levels of ß-Cat and p53 genes were measured by a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results: The results showed a significant difference in MSG-treated group at the 2-time intervals than the control one regarding parameters of oxidative stress, and these were accompanied by a significant decline in glutathione (GSH) and a ratio of oxidized and reduced GSH in both tissues. Significant elevation of laddered DNA and oxidative DNA damage was observed in groups treated with MSG. In addition, a significant decline in gene expression of ß-Catenin in liver and brain tissues with elevations in the gene expression of p53 in the brain. Furthermore, the p53 gene in liver tissue was significantly upregulated in mice administered MSG for 15 days and was downregulated after 30 days of MSG intake compared with the control. Conclusion: According to our results, oral consumption of MSG leads to oxidative stress-mediated DNA damage and apoptosis.
Premium misrating in federal crop insurance programs: scale, geography, and fiscal impacts

PurposeFederal crop insurance programs are the primary risk management programs of the US farm programs. Currently, these programs have been criticized for being disproportionally in favor of the riskier areas. Despite previous researchers having widely speculated its existence, a formal study of the scale, spatial pattern and fiscal impacts of such misrating phenomenon is still missing in the literature.Design/methodology/approachThis paper first purposes an empirically testable definition of misrating, and then detects the scale of the misrating phenomenon by using over two million actuarial records collected by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA's) risk management agency since 1989. Furthermore, multiple spatial statistics methods have been adopted to study the spatial patterns of the misrating statuses. Finally, the paper builds a simple theoretical model to study the potential fiscal impacts of any policy attempts to mitigate the misrating issue.FindingsThe result reveals that roughly 40% of the counties display some degree of misrating. Furthermore, the distribution of misrating displays a significant pattern of positive global spatial autocorrelation, which reflects the existence of regional clusters of premium rate mispricing. Last but not least, the paper concludes that whether an attempt toward fair rating decreases the total program outlay or not relies on the demand elasticity of crop insurance in both overrated and underrated regions.Originality/valueThis paper offers the first attempt to quantify the scale, identify the spatial pattern and evaluate the fiscal impact of the premium misrating in federal crop insurance programs.
A Broadscale Assessment of Mercury Contamination in Peregrine Falcons Across the Northern Latitudes of North America

Abstract. We document concentrations of total mercury (THg) in feathers of Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus; hereafter peregrines) collected during autumn migration at South Padre Island, Texas, and Assateague Island, Maryland, from 2009–2015. We detected THg in all sampled fourth primary (p4; range=0.44–37.46 µg/g) and axillary feathers (range=0.09–62.68 µg/g). We found no significant difference in THg concentrations between hatch-year (HY) peregrines by study site. Mean THg concentrations were greater in both feather types of after-hatch-year peregrines than of HY peregrines, but concentrations in p4 feathers of second-year peregrines (mean = 14.9 µg/g) were significantly greater than those of after-second-year individuals (mean = 8.5 µg/g). Pooling samples from HY birds across both sites and all years, we found no significant differences between the concentrations in the axillaries of females (mean = 2.4 µg/g) vs. males (mean = 2.2 µg/g), nor between the two feather types. The concentration associated with toxic effects in peregrines is unknown; however, peregrines have recently experienced broad population expansion across the presumed breeding area of the birds we sampled, and the THg concentrations we measured were lower than those in an apparently healthy breeding population in the southwestern USA. We documented widespread THg exposure in peregrines migrating from the northern latitudes of North America, but additional research is needed to assess trends of mercury exposure in the face of increasing global anthropogenic release of mercury into the environment and the release of long-term sequestered mercury in melting permafrost because of climate change.
Introducing water vapor into a high vacuum chamber at AEDC.

A powdered form of calcium sulfate dihydrate (CaSO4·2H2O) was heated to provide water vapor in a vacuum chamber for an experiment seeking to study cryodeposit thin films of ice at the Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) in Tullahoma, TN. However, after the test was conducted, calcium sulfate deposits were found on all surfaces inside the vacuum chamber. It became clear that a new procedure for introducing the water vapor into the vacuum chamber needed to be developed. Calcium sulfate dihydrate, cobalt(II) chloride hexahydrate and 3 angstrom zeolite molecular sieves were investigated to determine how they could be used to deliver water vapor into a vacuum system. An inductive heater was used to heat the samples, a residual gas analyzer to see what gases they released, and a microbalance to measure the mass of the samples as they were being tested inside the vacuum chamber. The 3 angstrom molecular sieves proved to be the most suitable material for these purposes, and a new method that uses them to deliver water vapor to a vacuum system was developed and has been tested in a vacuum chamber at the University of Tennessee Space Institute’s (UTSI) Center for Laser Applications (CLA). This method, with the water source located in an external canister that allows the source to be replaced without breaking the vacuum of the vacuum chamber, has been successfully implemented at AEDC. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. iv
ANALYSIS OF AIRBORNE HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGE USING VEGETATION INDICES, RED EDGE POSITION AND CONTINUUM REMOVAL FOR DETECTION OF Ganoderma DISEASE IN OIL PALM

The basal stem rot (BSR) of oil palm caused by Ganoderma has brought huge losses to the oil palm industry in Malaysia. Airborne hyperspectral remote sensing technology may provide assistance to detect and classify different categories of Ganoderma disease severity index (DSI) in oil palm. In this study, five common vegetation indices (VI), four red edge position (REP) and four continuum removal (CR) were applied to categorise oil palm into T1 (healthy), T2 (mild) and T3 (severe) infection of Ganoderma disease in oil palm. The accuracy of the VI, REP and CR were assessed using confusion matrix and t-test. The results revealed that two VI, i.e. Simple Ratio Index (SRI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) have moderate capability for the detection of Ganoderma disease in oil palm. SRI showed moderate classification accuracy (44.4%) compared to EVI with 40.7% accuracy; while the other three VI had poor accuracy (<40%). The analysis of REP using t-test showed that none of the REP could differentiate between T1 vs. T2 significantly, but differences between T1 vs. T3 and T2 vs. T3 are statistically obvious. Meanwhile analysis using CR gave promising results when there are statistical significant differences between T1 vs. T2 in the 500 nanometer (nm) absorption region of Band Depth Normalised to Area (BDNA). In conclusion, the common VI and REP generated from airborne hyperspectral image had low to moderate accuracy for detection of Ganoderma disease. Meanwhile, CR gave promising results for early detection of the disease. Further analysis must be conducted to validate and ensure the robustness of the results and also should look towards generating specific spectral indices and bi-directional reflectance (BRDF) model for detection of Ganoderma disease in oil palm.
Effect of organic acid coated phosphatic fertilizer on soil P status, yield and quality of Brinjal

A field experiment was conducted during Rabi, 2019 which is laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with ten treatments and three replications. The treatments comprised of T 1: NK+ P as uncoated DAP, T 2: NK + P as FA coated DAP (5%), T 3 : NK + P as FA coated DAP (10%), T 4 : NK + P as FA coated DAP (15%), T 5 : NK + P as FA coated DAP (20%), T 6 NK + P as HA coated DAP (5%), T 7 : NK + P as HA coated DAP (10%), T 8 : NK + P as HA coated DAP (15%), T 9 : NK + P as HA coated DAP (20%), T 10 : Control. Urea and MOP were used as the source of Nitrogen and potassium respectively. The results from the field experiment revealed that the available P in the soil, the yield of Brinjal(CO2) and the economic returns are varying according to the change in coating concentration and type of organic acids,. There is no significant difference in anthocyanin content and Titrable acidity of Brinjal fruits but slight improvement is found in ascorbic acid content. Significantly higher yield was obtained in T 9 [NK + P as HA coated DAP (20%)] and lowest yield was recorded for T 10 , T 6 and T 1 . Humic acid coated treatments found better in yield and available soil P status compared to Fulvic acid coated treatments.
A Clinical Evaluation of Adaptive Hearing Aid Compression: Exploring its Impact on the Word Recognition Abilities of Spanish Pediatric Hearing Aid Users

As hearing care professionals, we want children with hearing loss to have the best access to sound in their daily environments. This means their amplification must provide good audibility for speech in quiet, and in complex, noisy environments. Traditional pediatric hearing instruments have utilized Wide Dynamic Range Compression (WDRC) hearing aid processing for the management of soft, average, and loud sounds. This was considered important as young children with hearing loss may not have the ability to adjust their hearing aids and control for sounds that may become uncomfortably loud [1]. Using fixed attack and release times, WDRC can manage a broad range of input levels to the hearing aids. Unfortunately, there are limitations with WDRC. Slow acting WDRC may not provide access to quiet sounds, when followed by those that are loud; while fast acting WDRC may cause distortion, giving speech an unnatural quality and the listener perceives the sounds as “noisy” [2].
Recent advances in computational methods for biosensor design

Biosensors are analytical tools with a great application in healthcare, food quality control, and environmental monitoring. They are of considerable interest to be designed by using cost‐effective and efficient approaches. Designing biosensors with improved functionality or application in new target detection has been converted to a fast‐growing field of biomedicine and biotechnology branches. Experimental efforts have led to valuable successes in the field of biosensor design; however, some deficiencies restrict their utilization for this purpose. Computational design of biosensors is introduced as a promising key to eliminate the gap. A set of reliable structure prediction of the biosensor segments, their stability, and accurate descriptors of molecular interactions are required to computationally design biosensors. In this review, we provide a comprehensive insight into the progress of computational methods to guide the design and development of biosensors, including molecular dynamics simulation, quantum mechanics calculations, molecular docking, virtual screening, and a combination of them as the hybrid methodologies. By relying on the recent advances in the computational methods, an opportunity emerged for them to be complementary or an alternative to the experimental methods in the field of biosensor design.