Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The application of fecundity estimates to determine the spawning stock biomass of Irish Sea Nephrops norvegicus (L.) using the annual larval production method

Ovigerous female Nephrops were collected by trawl and creel and maintained in individual containers over the nine-month incubation period to investigate aspects of fecundity. Females which extruded eggs in captivity shortly after capture provided an estimate of mean realised fecundity of 104.3 eggs g −1 live weight (s.e.=2.7). Egg loss during incubation, estimated by sampling ovigerous females from research trawl hauls at different times of year, was 36.7 eggs g −1 (s.e.=3.3). A similar value was obtained by monitoring individuals kept in the hatchery. Mean effective fecundity at the time of hatching was estimated as 67.6 eggs g −1 (s.e.=4.3) and is the difference between the number of eggs extruded (realised fecundity) and egg losses during incubation. The abundance of larvae at development stages I, II, and III was estimated over a series of surveys using high-speed plankton samplers. Abundance values were converted to daily production values using relationships between temperature and stage-duration. Annual larval production by stage was estimated by fitting Gaussian curves to the survey estimates. The mortality rate of larvae (Z=0.033 d −1 ; s.e.=0.006) was estimated from the values of annual production by stage, using a maximum likelihood method. Annual production at hatching, estimated as the intercept of the mortality curve, was 440×10 9 larvae (s.e.=62×10 9 ). The biomass of mature female Nephrops in the western Irish Sea in 1995 was estimated from annual larval production and mean fecundity to be 6290 t (CV=0.17). The current ICES estimate of female SSB in 1995 of 7750 t, obtained from analysis of commercial catch data, lies within the 95% confidence limits for the ALP estimate. This indicates that current estimates of fishing mortality for female Nephrops in the Irish Sea may be robust.
An early winged crown group stick insect from the Early Eocene amber of France (Insecta, Phasmatodea)

The new stick insect family Gallophasmatidae, based on Gallophasma longipalpisgen. et sp.n. , from the Earliest Eocene French amber has a pattern of tegmina venation typical of Archaeorthoptera, also present in at least some Mesozoic ‘Phasmatodea’. On the other hand, Gallophasma displays in its body anatomy some apomorphies of the extant Euphasmatodea, e.g. fusion of metatergum and abdominal tergum 1, correlated with the reduction of abdominal sternum 1 to lateral triangular sclerites. A unique autapomorphy of Gallophasma is the presence of annulated and apparently multi‐segmented or pseudo‐segmented cerci; all other Phasmatodea have one‐segmented cerci. The venation of the tegmina of Gallophasma differs from that of extant winged Phasmatodea in the plesiomorphic absence of a knob‐like dorsal eversion. This and other differences in the wing venation between extant and extinct Phasmatodea might have been caused by the loss of wings at some point in the evolutionary history of the order and their secondary gain in a subclade of the extant phasmids.
Causal Agents of Blossom Blight of Kiwifruit in Korea

The causal agents of bacterial blossom blight in kiwifruit were isolated from flowers displaying symptoms in Korea. The pathogens were characterized by biochemical and physiological tests, and identified on the basis of 16S rDNA and 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences. Pathogenicity tests demonstrated that the blossom blight of kiwifruit in Korea is caused by two pathogens, Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae and P. fluorescens. Carbon source utilization and DNA-DNA hybridization experiments confirmed P. fluorescens as one of the causal agents of blossom blight of kiwifruit. P. syringae pv. syringae and P. fluorescens can be distinguished from each other by the symptoms they produce in flowers. P. syringae pv. syringae primarily affected the stamen, while P. fluorescens caused rotting of all internal tissues of buds or flowers.
“The person with maximum knowledge will win the race”: Conceptualizing knowledge in microbusinesses

ABSTRACT The concept of knowledge and the process of knowledge sharing in ethnic minority microbusinesses remain neglected in contemporary debates even if their role for economic development is recognized. Drawing on a culturalist view, we explore how knowledge is defined and shared in a local niche market. Thematic analysis of semistructured qualitative interviews with 32 owner-managers and 11 employee-managers reveals that, contrary to studies on larger firms, local knowledge creation and sharing narrowly based on ethnic strengths are valuable sources of competitive advantage. Our study has implications for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in exploring, supporting, and integrating ethnic minority microbusinesses.
Distribution and Densities of Wolves within Barren-Ground Caribou Range in Northern Mainland Canada

Observations of wolves ( Canis lupus ) were recorded during aerial surveys of barren-ground caribou ( Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus ) from May 1966 to October 1968 over portions of northern Manitoba, northeastern Saskatchewan, and southeastern District of Keewatin, Northwest Territories. These observations were made over the entire range of the Kaminuriak population of caribou. There was a close association between the distribution of wolves and caribou. The average size of wolf packs was larger in autumn and winter (3.0) than in summer (1.7), and there was little change in the monthly mean sizes of packs from October to April. The area used by caribou wintering in northwestern Manitoba and northeastern Saskatchewan, decreased from 3594 square miles in January to 682 square miles in April 1968, with a consequent increase in caribou density from 14 to 68.5 per square mile. A corresponding increase in wolf density during that period within the same area was not detected. Wolf densities appeared to maximize at approximately one wolf per 7 to 8 square miles and remain stable. Estimated wolf numbers in the area of high caribou density decreased from 258 in January to 60 in April.
Preparation of antibacterial electrospun poly(D, L-lactide-co-glycolide)/gelatin blend membranes containing Hypericum capitatum var. capitatum

Abstract In this study, we fabricated poly(D, L-lactide-co-glycolide)/gelatin (PLGA/gelatin) membranes containing different amounts of Hypericum capitatum var. capitatum (HCC) extract (1, 5, 7.5, 10 wt%) by electrospinning technique. We investigated chemical, morphological, physical, and mechanical properties as well as in vitro degradation behavior of the electrospun membranes. We also evaluated the antibacterial activity of the electrospun membranes against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Viability, adhesion, and attachment of human fibroblast cells on the electrospun membranes on pre-set days were evaluated by the colorimetric CellTiter 96® AQueous One Solution Cell Proliferation Assay (MTS assay), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and 4’,6-Diamidino-2-Phenylindole (DAPI) staining. Graphical Abstract
Triadimefon reduces transpiration and increases yield in water stressed plants

Two-week-old wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Fredrick), peas (Pisum sativum L. cv. Little Sweetie) and soybean (Glycine max L. cv. Hodgson) seedlings were transferred to paper cups containing various concentrations of triadimefon [1-(4-chlorophenoxy)-3,3 dimethyl-1-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)-2-butanone] a fungicide. Twelve days after treatment, triadimefon (20 μg ml−1) significantly reduced transpiration in wheat, peas and soybeans by 40, 29 and 19%, respectively. The reduction of transpiration prevented the leaves from wilting and becoming senescent. In another experiment, triadimefon was applied as a soil drench after the initiation of flowers in soybeans and peas and after swelling in radish (Raphanus sativus L. cv. Cherry Belle) roots. After treatment the water level was maintained at half field capacity. In all three species, the treated plants were shorter, more compact and had thicker and greener leaves than the control plants. In the case of radish, the treatment also prevented flowering. Triadimefon significantly increased the seed yield of soybeans and peas and the root to shoot ratio in radish. Hence root application of triadimefon reduces transpiration, protects plants, and increases yield under water stress conditions.
Cannabis Effect on Female Reproductive Health

Cannabis sativa is a cheap hallucinating agent used in different parts of the world from time unknown as a part of various religious as well as social practices. Cannabis which is a special type of Marijuana can provide temporary relief from analgesia, body pain, and in some other clinical conditions. But impacts of Cannabis on reproductive health of males and females are multi-faceted and differentially fatal. In males, Cannabis can cause changes in testicular morphology, sperm parameters (in terms of semen quality, sperm morphology, sperm mortality, and sperm motility), male reproductive hormones and finally causing reduced libido. In females, Cannabis can reduce female fertility by disrupting hypothalamic release of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), leading to reduced estrogen and progesterone production and anovulatory menstrual cycles. Current research suggest that Cannabis may negatively impact on male and female fertility conditions. However, male sterility considering the Cannabis impact is totally lacking in human as well as in sub-human primates. However, very limited studies are available on Cannabis effect on primate female reproduction considering Rhesus monkeys. Hence, further studies are needed to validate that robust findings in animal models will carry over into human experience.
Conidial morphology and ecological characteristics as diagnostic tools for identifying Claviceps purpurea from salt-marsh habitats

Claviceps purpurea associated with grass hosts in salt-marsh habitats, also known as G3 ergot, can be differentiated from C. purpurea infecting grasses in other habitats, using genetic, chemical, and morphological criteria. However, only morphological analysis can be preformed on herbarium specimens, which should not be destroyed, or older samples that cannot be grown in culture. To determine if conidial characteristics could be employed to identify the three infraspecific groups of C. purpurea (G1–G3), sclerotia from terrestrial grasses (G1), moist habitats (G2), and salt-marsh habitats (G3) were examined. All G1 sclerotia sank in water. All G3 sclerotia floated in water, except those from Washington State, which had variable buoyancy characteristics. Group 2 sclerotia did not float in water, except those collected from Calamagrostis nutkaensis and Ammophila breviligulata. Based on the length of conidia derived from a plant host, G1 samples are indistinguishable from G2 samples but are significantly different from G3. Conidia produced in culture were on average smaller than conidia produced on plant hosts. These results indicate that ecological and conidial characteristics can be used to distinguish G3 from G1, but cannot consistently separate either from G2.
Preparation of Metal Oxides Containing ppm Levels of Pd as Catalysts for the Reduction of Nitroarene and Evaluation of Their Catalytic Activity by the Fluorescence-Based High-Throughput Screening Method

Herein, an easily accessible and efficient green method for the reduction of nitroarene compounds was developed using metal oxide catalysts. Heterogeneous metal oxides with or without Pd were prepared by a simple and scalable co-precipitation method and used for the reduction of nitroarenes. A fluorescence-based high-throughput screening (HTS) method was also developed for the rapid analysis of the reaction conditions. The catalytic activity of the metal oxides and reaction conditions were rapidly screened by the fluorescence-based HTS method, and Pd/CuO showed the highest catalytic activity under mild reaction conditions. After identifying the optimal reaction conditions, various nitroarenes were reduced to the corresponding aniline derivatives by Pd/CuO (0.005 mol% of Pd) under these conditions. Furthermore, the Pd/CuO catalyst was used for the one-pot Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling/reduction reaction. A gram-scale reaction (20 mmol) was successfully performed using the present method, and Pd/CuO showed high reusability without a loss of catalytic activity for five cycles.
Ecosystem services provided by playas in the High Plains: potential influences of USDA conservation programs

Playas are shallow depressional wetlands and the dominant wetland type in the non-glaciated High Plains of the United States. This region is one of the most intensively cultivated regions in the Western Hemisphere, and playas are profoundly impacted by a variety of agricultural activities. Conservation practices promoted through Farm Bills by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that influence playas and surrounding catchments impact ecosystem functions and related services provided by wetlands in this region. As part of a national assessment, we review effects of agricultural cultivation and effectiveness of USDA conservation programs and practices on ecosystem functions and associated services of playas. Services provided by playas are influenced by hydrological function, and unlike other wetland types in the United States, hydrological function of playas is impacted more by accumulated sediments than drainage. Most playas with cultivated catchments have lost greater than 100% of their volume from sedimentation causing reduced hydroperiods. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has the largest influence on playa catchments (the High Plains has >2.8 million ha), and associated sedimentation, of any USDA program. Unfortunately, most practices applied under CRP did not consider restoration of playa ecosystem function as a primary benefit, but rather established dense exotic grass in the watersheds to reduce soil erosion. Although this has reduced soil erosion, few studies have investigated its effects on playa hydrological function and services. Our review demonstrates that the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) has seldom been applied in the High Plains outside of south-central Nebraska. However, this is the primary program that exists within the USDA allowing conservation practices that restore wetland hydrology such as sediment removal. In addition to sediment removal, this practice has the greatest potential effect on improving hydrologic function by reducing sedimentation in vegetative buffer strips. We estimate that a 50-m native-grass buffer strip could improve individual playa hydroperiods by up to 90 days annually, enhancing delivery of most natural playa services. The potential for restoration of playa services using USDA programs is extensive, but only if WRP and associated practices are promoted and playas are considered an integral part of CRP contracts.
Academic Challenges for Chinese Transfer Students in Engineering

This article describes a research study determining the most significant academic challenges experienced by Chinese transfer students in engineering at an American university. The survey-based study examined eight areas where transfer students may have academic difficulty and determined that the most significant of those concern transfer credit issues, student–instructor and student–student language difficulties, and classroom culture differences. The cultural differences, related to course syllabi, classroom discussion and group work, and frequency of assignments and exams, are partially explained in terms of a theoretical framework based on Hofstede’s power distance and risk avoidance elements. Recommendations are made of ways to ease these challenges and make the intercultural experience richer for both the transfer students and their American hosts.
Additional Resistance Gene(s) Against Cladosporium fulvum Present on the Cf-9 Introgression Segment Are Associated with Strong PR Protein Accumulation

The existence of a gene or genes conferring weak resistance against the fungal tomato pathogen Cladosporium fulvum, in addition to the Cf-9 resistance gene, present on the Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium Cf-9 segment introgressed into L. esculentum, was demonstrated with strains of C. fulvum lacking a functional Avr9 avirulence gene and tomato genotypes lacking a functional Cf-9 gene, respectively. Two mutant strains, obtained by disruption of Avr9 in race 4 and race 5 of C. fulvum, do not trigger the hypersensitive response-mediated resistance on MM-Cf9 genotypes that is normally induced after recognition of the AVR9 elicitor. However, when these strains are inoculated onto MM-Cf0 and MM-Cf9 genotypes, adult MM-Cf9 plants still show weak resistance. This resistance is not related to the Cf-9 gene, as ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS)-generated Cf-9 mutants retained weak resistance. Growth of the fungus in the leaf mesophyll is strongly inhibited, whereas re-emergence of fungal mycelium and conidiation are poor.
New species and combinations in monoraphid diatoms (family Achnanthidiaceae) from North America

This article clarifies the taxonomy and nomenclature of several monoraphid diatom species found in rivers and lakes of North America. The morphology of these diatoms is studied with light and electron microscopy. A new combination Rossithidium anastasiae (Kaczmarska) Potapova is introduced for a species common in both Europe and North America and often misidentified as Achnanthes linearis (W. Smith) Grunow or R. linearis (W. Smith) Round et Bukhtiyarova. Achnanthes harveyi Reimer, often found in eastern North America, is transferred to Psammothidium Bukhtiyarova & Round on the basis of the convex raphe valve, uniseriate striae, and raphe structure. A new Psammothidium species, P. pennsylvanicum Potapova is described and compared with the most similar taxon, P. semiapertum (Hustedt) Aboal. Diatoms originally described as Achnanthes lutheri Hustedt and A. stewartii Patrick are transferred to the genus Platessa Lange-Bertalot on the basis of biseriate striae, flat valves, and the absence of terminal raphe fissures. Two new Platessa species, P. kingstonii Potapova and P. bahlsii Potapova are described from the eastern USA and compared with most similar species, P. lutheri (Hustedt) Potapova and P. conspicua (A. Mayer) Lange-Bertalot, respectively. Achnanthes lanceolata var. abbreviata Reimer, found in the southeastern USA, is shown to possess multiseriate striae and relatively long terminal raphe fissures characteristic for the genus Planothidium Round & Bukhtiyarova, to which it is transferred.
Measuring the components of competition along productivity gradients

1 Controversy surrounds the measurement of competition intensity. Moreover, when biomass varies systematically along productivity and other environmental gradients, common indices of competitive outcome mask important ecological interactions. 2 This study presents two indices derived from how neighbours interact with target plants. The first, relative crowding, increases directly with the abundance of neighbours present and decreases inversely with the potential size and vigour of the target plant itself. The second, interaction strength, is the integral of suppression of the target by neighbours over the range of neighbour abundance. Relative crowding and interaction strength are derived independently, but when multiplied produce the commonly used relative competitive index, showing the biological underpinnings of the relative competition index in terms of crowding and strength of interaction. Since the new indices of relative crowding and interaction strength explicitly account for the amount of neighbour biomass, they serve as a valid method to track the effects of changing habitat conditions on the components of competition. 3 The new indices are applied to three published data sets. In each case, relative crowding increased with standing crop. In one case competition was reported as unchanged along a productivity gradient, whereas the new indices show that relative crowding and interaction strength both had significant patterns, but their effects were counteracting. These results do not fit current theories of competition. Further empirical studies are needed to see if competition theory needs revision. 4 Separating the mechanisms of competition into relative crowding and strength of interaction reveals previously hidden patterns that help bring to light underlying processes of competition along productivity gradients.
The Correlation of Non-English Majors’ Use of Resource Management Strategies with Their Academic Achievement

It is undeniable that self-regulated learning strategies are a pivotal key to 21 century language education in which learners are provided with freedom to take control over their own learning. Of the types of self-regulated learning strategies, resource management strategies are likely to be underestimated in practice despite the fact that these strategies are believed to assist EFL learners to modify the environment for achieving their learning goals. The study aimed to investigate resource management strategies employed by tertiary non-English majors and to explore the relationship between the students’ use of resource management strategies and their academic achievement. The quantitative research was conducted with the employment of a closed-ended questionnaire which was administered to 117 students taking the TOEIC course. The results indicated that the research participants frequently employed resource management strategies in their English language learning. More importantly, it was found that the more frequently the students used resource management strategies, the higher academic achievement they gained. Such employment of resource management strategies in a Vietnamese EFL context serves as a reference in other similar EFL contexts.
Biosynthesis profile and endogenous titers of polyamines differ in totipotent and recalcitrant plant protoplasts

The expression of totipotency in plant protoplasts is a complex developmental phenomenon and is affected by genetic and physiological factors. Polyamines (PAs) are known to be involved in a variety of growth and developmental processes in higher plants, as well as in adaptation to stresses. In this study, we present the homeostatic characteristics of the endogenous PA putrescine (Put), spermidine (Spd), and spermine (Spm) in totipotent (T) and non-totipotent (NT) tobacco protoplasts and in recalcitrant (R) grapevine protoplasts. T-tobacco protoplasts, with high division rates, have the highest level of endogenous PAs. In these protoplasts, the soluble-hydrolyzed fraction predominates and increases, and the insoluble-hydrolyzed fraction also increases, whereas soluble (S) PAs decrease rapidly during culture. The isolation process contributes to the increased Put levels, which are higher in freshly isolated NT-tobacco protoplasts than in T-protoplasts. During culture, total Put predominates over Spd and Spm, and the highest accumulation is found in T-protoplasts. Ornithine decarboxylase and arginase activities both increase in T-protoplasts, whereas arginine decarboxylase activity causes Put accumulation in NT-tobacco protoplasts. R-grapevine protoplasts show a different PA profile, mostly due to the lower PA content, the higher S-fraction, and the higher ratio of Spm to total PAs. The data suggest that the levels and metabolism of the intracellular PAs could be related to the expression of totipotency of plant protoplasts.