Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of different sowing dates and cultivars on growth, yield and disease incidence in garden pea (Pisum sativum) under mid hill situation

A field experiment was conducted during the winter season of 2010-11 and 2011-12 at the Regional Research Station(Hill Zone) of Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalimpong, to elucidate the effect of different sowing date and cultivars on yield of garden pea (Pisum sativum L.). The experiment was laid out in split plot design with treatment comprising three dates of sowing, viz. 26 October, 18 November and 04 December in main plots and 8 different pea cultivar, viz. Phanthom, PSM (3), Early 6, GS 10, Azad P 1, Arkel, Pusa Pragati and Darjeeling local in subplots and replicated three times. Sowing at 26 October, significantly influenced the number of pods/plant and was statistically similar with 18 November sowing, and significantly better to other set of sowing. Analysis revealed that 39.2 and 30.6 % more pods/plant with 26 October and 18 November, sowing respectively compared to the late sowing, i e 04 December. The number of pods/plant was highest with cultivar, viz. GS 10 (26.66) and was closely followed by Darjeeling local (25.31) and Early 6 (25.02). These were at par to each other and significantly superior to rest of the tested cultivars. Maximum pod production was obtained with 26 October, sowing which was significantly superior to all other date of sowing. This was followed by November 18, however, least pod yield was registered with extreme late sown condition, i e 04 December. Amongst the cultivar, GS 10 was found to be best because of maximum value of yield attributing characters and gave significantly more pod yield (78.64 q/ha), and was at par with Early 6 (76.25 q/ha) and Darjeeling local (75.98 q/ha), whereas Arkel gave significantly lower yield than all other cultivars under trial. GS 10 recorded 31.71 % pod yield over the genotype Arkel, which produced lowest grain yield amongst all tested cultivars. Amongst the cultivars, Arkel experience the maximum disease incidence and this was statistically at par with disease reaction with Azad P1 followed by Phanthom. The cultivar GS 10 has experienced less disease incidence compared to all other tested cultivars during all the sowing dates. The relationship between powdery mildew incidence and weather factors indicated a negative correlation between maximum and minimum temperature with a correlation coefficient of –0.37 and –0.53, respectively. Net return of Rupees 29 553 was higher reported with 18 November, sowing and was followed by late 26 October (Rupees 34 621). However, higher benefit: cost ratio of 2.47 was recorded with 26 October, sowing. Amongst all varietal treatments, maximum net return (Rupees 32 925/ha)and benefit: cost ratio (2.40) was recorded with cultivar GS 10 and was followed by Early 6 and Darjeeling local.
Early Homo from southern Africa : a cladistic perspective : research letter

Fossils recovered from caves in South Africa and attributed to early ligHomol/ig are crucial to addressing contemporary research problems in human evolution. Their anatomy combines derived features of both ligAustralopithecusl/ig and Homo . Cladistic analyses of three of them (SK 847, SK 15 and Stw 53) provide new insights into possible taxonomic schemes and evolutionary scenarios for the Hominini. Analyses consistently place SK 847/15 as the sister taxon of Homo habilisl/ig and H. erectus . Stw 53 lies outside this clade, outside a 'robust' ligAustralopithecusl/ig clade, but within a clade containing the '1470 group' and A. africanus .
Accurate ARMA signal identification-empirical results

A recent ARMA (autoregressive moving average) algorithm for the identification of stochastic systems and signal models is discussed, and empirical results are given. The ARMA identifier discussed includes inherent order estimation. In comparison with other ARMA stochastic system identifiers, the new procedure has been empirically shown to yield highly accurate, unbiased results. <<ETX>>
Exercise Training Improves Left Ventricular Diastolic Filling in Patients With Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Background Patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) often have left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction that can precede the development of systolic dysfunction. Recent reports showed that exercise training (ET) improves the exercise capacity of these patients. Although this improvement is primarily due to peripheral adaptations, the contribution of LV diastolic filling has not been well defined. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ET can induce changes in LV diastolic filling that can account for an increase in exercise capacity and whether these changes can influence prognosis. Methods and Results We prospectively studied 55 consecutive patients (mean age, 55±7 years) with DCM. Patients were randomized into a training group (36 patients) or a control untrained group (19 patients) and matched for clinical and functional characteristics. All patients underwent a pulsed Doppler echocardiographic study, a radionuclide angiographic study, and a cardiopulmonary exercise test before and aft.
How Students Perceived Social Media as a Learning Tool in Enhancing Their Language Learning Performance.

Social media like Facebook has been used for teaching and learning for quite some time. Since it allows for better participation in the learning activities, a fundamental English course at a private university integrated Facebook as a learning platform making it possible for students to do self-study, exchange ideas, give comments, and submit the assignments in order to improve their grammar knowledge and writing ability. This study investigated to see how students perceived Facebook in terms of ease of use, usefulness, and attitude toward the use of Facebook for doing the activities and examined whether these factors were correlated. The participants were 86 first-year students who took an English course in the first semester of 2015 academic year. This study employed the proficiency test and the questionnaire to collect data. The results reveal that overall mean scores of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness were at a high level, and students had a positive attitude toward the use of Facebook for doing the activities. It was also found student learning performance was positively correlated with perceived usefulness of Facebook and attitude toward doing the activities in Facebook. The perceived ease of use had positive relationships with perceived usefulness of Facebook and attitude toward doing the activities in Facebook. Moreover, attitude was related to perceived usefulness while no relationship was found between perceived ease of use and learning performance. The concluding remarks suggested the possibility to integrate social media in future courses with an awareness of some factors that may facilitate or obstruct learning via online learning environments.
Analytical and Tectogrammatical Analysis of a Natural Language

The thesis presents tools for analysis at analytical and tectogrammatical layers that the Prague Dependency Treebank is based on. The tools for analytical annotation consist of two parsers and a tool for assigning syntactic tags. Although the performance of the parsers is far below that of the state-of-the-art parsers, they both can be considered a certain contribution to parsing, since the methods they are based on are novel. The tool for assigning syntactic tags makes 15% less errors than a tool used for this purpose previously. The tool developed for tectogrammatical annotation is the only one that can currently perform this task in such a breadth. Although other, specialized tools may have a better performance of some of its particular subtasks, my tool makes 29% and 47% less errors for the Czech language than the combination of existing tools for annotating the tectogrammatical structure and deep functors, respectively, which are the core of the tectogrammatical layer. The proposed tools are designed the way they can be used for other languages as well.
Spray schedule for the management of Alternaria blight and white rust of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) under different dates of sowing

A field experiment was conducted during 2002-03 and 2003-04 to develop spray schedule(s) for the management of blight, caused by Alternaria brassicae (Berk.) Sacc. , A. brassicicoIa (Schwein) Wiltshire, and white rust caused by AIbugo candina (Pers. ex. Lev.) Kunze, in Indian mustard [Brssica juncea (L.) Czem & Coss. ] sown on 15 October, 30 October and 15 November. Fifteen October sowing resulted in least leapblight, pod blight and white rust intensity with highest 1000-seed weight and yield. Three consecutive sprays of mancozeb 75 WP (0.2%) d fortnightly intervals, beginning disease initiation resulted in least leaf blight and pod blight intensity. This spray schedule with benefit:cost ratio of 4.35, 3.98 and 3.33, respectively under first second and third dates of sowing and highest net returns of Rs 6 3 16 and Rs 5 6 12 for the first and second dates provedmost economical. Highest 1 000-seed weight and yield, under all the dates of sowing however were given by the spray schedule having 2 consecutive sprays of mancozeb followed by third of ridomil MZ 72 (0.25%). It gave highest return of Rs 6 492 under third date of sowing. All the spray schedules proved more economical when applied to seed crops.
Assessing a Business Software Application using Strategic IT Alignment Factors: A New Way for IS Evaluation?

The alignment between the business strategy of an organization and its related information technology (IT) strategy, infrastructure and processes remains important for both research and practice. Prior studies have shown that effective strategic IT alignment (SITA) leads to effective business value. When measuring the SITA, these studies focused on the overall information system (IS) of an organization. However, it would be useful for practitioners to evaluate, not only a global alignment, but also the alignment of a specific business software application, which could lead to business value as well. Previous investigations in the IS evaluation field, such as studies related to the Information Systems Success Model (ISSM), do not include strategic alignment factors. In this contribution, we address the issue of how to evaluate a business software application using SITA factors. To identify SITA factors, we selected a set of scientific papers and documents from practitioners related to strategic alignment and we used them as input for a coding process. We followed the thematic analysis method for coding and we obtained a hierarchical structure of SITA factors. From this structure, and based on the Strategic Alignment Model (SAM), we built an emergent alignment model that clarifies relations between a business software application and first the organization’s strategies (business and IT), second the organizational structure, and third the processes and operations of the IT department. The model reveals that all relations, except those between business strategy, organizational structure and business operations, are appropriate for evaluating the strategic alignment of a business software application.
Systolic heart failure: A review of clinical status and meta-analysis of diagnosis and clinical management methods

Heart failure (HF) is a clinical syndrome with significant rates of mortality, morbidity and hospital admissions. The rates are higher among older adults, and with an ageing population, the prevalence will continue to rise. Systolic heart failure (SHF) is a subset of HF with the most unfavorable prognosis despite significant improvements in medical therapies. There is a clinical need to develop standardized and accurate diagnostic procedures and therapeutic strategies to achieve better clinical outcomes for SHF patients. Thus, the present review seeks to aggregate research evidence on prognostication, pathophysiology, diagnosis and clinical management of HF. The review also includes meta-analyses of diagnosis of AHF in acute settings and medical management of SHF. *Correspondence to: Aref Albakri, St-Marien hospital Bonn Venusberg, Department of internal medicine, Bonn, Germany, E-mail: arefalbakri@yahoo.com
Machine learning methods for uncertainty quantiﬁcation in subsurface reservoirs

School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society Doctor of Philosophy by Shing Cheng Chan Chang We investigate current challenges in the reservoir engineering pipeline that can be addressed using recent machine learning techniques. Our emphasis is on improving the performance of uncertainty quantification tasks which are ubiquitous in subsurface reservoir simulations. In one work, we accelerate multiscale methods by embedding a neural network surrogate for the fast computation of the custom basis functions, replacing the need to solve the local elliptic problems normally required to obtain them. In a different work, we address current challenges in obtaining geological parametrizations that can capture complex geological structures. We adopt a neural network parametrization using a recent unsupervised learning technique, obtaining an effective parametrization that can reproduce high-order statistics of flow responses. In a follow-up work, we introduce a method for post-hoc conditioning of the neural network parametrization to generate conditional realizations by training a second neural network to sample from a Bayesian posterior and coupling it with the original network. In our final work, we introduce a framework for exemplar-based parametric synthesis of geological images based on a recent kernel method, obtaining a neural network parametrization of the geology using a single exemplar image. Dedicated to my family “I have always believed that scientific research is another domain where a form of opti mism is essential to success: I have yet to meet a successful scientist who lacks the ability to exaggerate the importance of what he or she is doing, and I believe that someone who lacks a delusional sense of significance will wilt in the face of repeated experiences of multiple small failures and rare successes, the fate of most researchers. ” Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow.
The Effects of Facilitatory Drugs at the Skeletal Neuromuscular Junction Using Intracellular End-Plate Recordings

The effects of facilitatory drugs (neostigmine, edrophonium, amben~: , ' onium and methoxyambenonium) at the skeletal neuromuscular junction have been studied using intracellular microelectrodes in the isolated tenuissimus muscle of the cat. These drugs produced small changes in miniature end-plate potential (m. e. p. p.) frequency. The m. e. p. p. s were prolonged by neostigmine, ambenonium and methoxyambenonium, but not by edrophonium. High concentrations of neostigmine and edrophonium depressed the m. e. p. p. amplitude concurrent with a decrease in the resting mc.i. n.b! 'ane potential. High c-0nccntr:::1.tions cf ::>cmb•=""'0l"li 11 rn ~ni4 methoxyambenonium depressed the m. e. p. p. amplitude with no change in the resting membrane potential. The amplitude of (+)-tubocurarine end-plate potentials (e. p. p. s) was increased without change in time-course by all four drugs at a conc~ntra: tion which had no effect on m. e. p. p. s. The half-decay of (+)-tubocurar.i. ne e. p. p. s was prolonged at the same concentration which prolonged the m. e. p. p. s. On the other hand the facilitatory drugs produced nearly equivalent changes in (+)-tubocurarine e. p. p. s and iontophoretic acetylcholine-potentials. The drugs did not increase the quanta! release in
Exploring lecturer and student perceptions and use of a learning management system in a postgraduate public health environment

Learning management systems have become a key component of teaching and learning in higher education. However, the evidence on the importance of learning management systems to learning is still in its infancy. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the role that the Canvas learning management system played in the Sydney School of Public Health at the University of Sydney, Australia. To do this, we conducted interviews with lecturers (n = 9) and postgraduate coursework students (n = 7) from the School during Semester 2, 2018. We analysed the interviews thematically, identifying one overarching theme: that Canvas is predominantly used and perceived as an information repository by teaching academics and students. This means that lecturers place course materials on the learning management system for students to use and are making limited use of other, more interactive features of the learning management system, despite interaction being seen as essential to effective teaching and learning. This use of Canvas was explained by two factors: (1) face-to-face learning is perceived as superior to online learning and (2) the existence of skill and capacity barriers that hinder improved online teaching and learning practice, even where professional development opportunities exist for lecturers. We argue that this represents suboptimal use of a learning management system, especially when online learning is likely to become more significant in the coming years. To address this issue, we recommend employing and appropriately resourcing educational designers within higher education settings. These specialists can aid lecturers in the creation of genuinely interactive online environments so that the benefits of online teaching and learning can be fully realised.
Characterization and antibiogram of local isolates of Campylobacter species from chicken in Nsukka Area, Southeast Nigeria.

Characterization and antibacterial susceptibility of Campylobacter species in 275 layer chickens in 7 randomly selected farms in Nsukka was studied. Cloacal swabs from the birds were cultured and isolates characterized using standard culture method and biochemical tests respectively. This was followed by antibacterial susceptibility test for the species identified using agar disc diffusion method. Three Campylobacter species were isolated from 102 (37%) of the 275 birds sampled. Campylobacter jejuni was the most frequently occurring species (64%), followed by Campylobacter coli (23%) and Campylobacter lari (13%). Campylobacter jejuni identified were of two subspecies, Campylobacter jejuni subsp. jejuni (48%) and Campylobacter jejuni subsp. doylei (16%). Multidrug resistance to two or more antibacterial agents was observed for 75% of the Campylobacter species tested. Specifically high resistance rates to cephalothin (84%), cephalexin (61%), ampicillin (58%), streptomycin (43%) and cotrimoxazole (43%) were observed. Low resistance to perfloxacin (9%), ofloxacin (5%) and ciprofloxacin (5%) were detected. All the tested species were sensitive to gentamicin. Drug preparations containing gentamicin and the fluoroquinolones are recommended for treatment of enteric Campylobacter infection.
Current research trends in multitasking: a bibliometric mapping approach

ABSTRACT Multitasking is a very popular topic in the literature on applied connotations. This article attempts to characterise the status of the term and identify current research trends in that regard. A bibliometric mapping method was employed to analyse publications from 2000–2018 featuring the term multitasking among their keywords, found in the Scopus database (N = 324). The results indicate the existence of a few relatively independent research areas, with the following biggest clusters: (1) executive functions and dual task performance, (2) divided attention, higher education and social media, (3) task switching and individual differences, and finally, (4) multitasking and school learning. It shows clearly that in their explanations of multitasking, researchers refer to such terms as divided attention, attentional set-shifting or other executive mechanisms. Multitasking itself is used basically in the applied context. Taken together, these observations suggest that the term is of a descriptive character.
Testicular Awareness: The What, the Why, and the How

Health outcomes among men are poorer than women and little efforts have been made by health organizations to promote men’s health. Testicular disorders can have a negative effect on men’s health and are rarely addressed in pre-existing men’s health policies. Findings from the empirical literature on men’s awareness of testicular disorders suggest that men’s knowledge of testicular disorders is lacking and their intentions to seek timely medical attention for testicular symptoms are low. This paper aims to introduce the concept of ‘testicular awareness’ and explore its implications for health research, practice, and education. The key attributes of ‘testicular awareness’ include: (i) familiarity with own testes; (ii) knowing what is normal versus abnormal; (iii) ability to detect an abnormality; and (iv) knowing own risk factors. Testicular awareness is an all-encompassing concept since it helps men become familiar with a body part that is seldom discussed and enables them to detect testicular abnormalities and to seek timely medical attentions for testicular symptoms, regardless of the ultimate diagnosis. Testicular awareness can be promoted using a number of strategies; these include but are not limited to: (i) involving men in drafting men’s health policies that address testicular awareness; (ii) partnering with men to develop and test interventions promoting testicular awareness; (iii) being cognizant of the learning needs of men who are at risk of health disparities including those with low literacy and health literacy; (iv) promoting testicular awareness in clinical practice and health education; and (v) using men’s daily spheres of information (e.g. workplaces, universities, gyms, and community organizations) to promote testicular awareness.
The impact of lean and green practices on logistics performance: a structural equation modelling

Paper aims: This research has two main objectives, firstly to analyze the level of implementation of lean and green practices of a set of companies and secondly to analyze the relationship between lean and green initiatives in an industrial context. Originality: The use of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) allows a better analysis of the interlinkage of lean and green towards sustainable gains. The developed model offers conceptual contribution to the arena of the logistics, sustainability, lean and green. Research methods: The methodology used in this study was carried out resorting an inquiry. Firstly, aiming to understand the level of these practices (lean and green) practices in the North of Portugal, a case study was considered. The sample taken is a convenient one, due to time and budget constraints. Secondly, in order to assess the possibility to combine lean ad and green initiatives, a statistical approach was used to develop a SEM for lean and green practices. Main findings: The results demonstrated that the level of implementation of lean and green practices on Portuguese companies are not properly addressed and formalized. The statistical analysis also showed that lean environmental practices and green practices are positively associated. The research showed that lean and green has also a positive impact on the logistics processes of companies. Implications for theory and practice: This research brings some contributions to both academy and companies. Firstly, a further discussion about the benefits of combining lean and green towards sustainability. Secondly, the development of a structural model for lean and green practices was presented, this model contributes to a better understanding of these practices, which can lead companies to develop strategic initiatives towards sustainability.