Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Benefits and risks of using clones in forestry – a review

ABSTRACT The use of vegetative propagation in forestry has a long history. In this chapter of special issue, the genetic gain from clonal forestry relative to family forestry is reviewed. Both theoretical studies and experimental data from progeny and clonal trials indicate that extra genetic gain (5–25%) is possible in conifer from clone testing and deployment relative to deployment of family forestry, effectively doubling that achievable from family forestry within the same generation. There are three perceived risks from using clones in forestry: (1) risk of plantation failure, (2) risk of diversity loss at the forest and landscape levels, and (3) risk associated with success rate of vegetative (or SE) propagation. Three theoretical models are reviewed and described to assess risk and to determine the number of clones required to mitigate these risks. All studies support that a “safe” number of clones is between 5 and 30. Genetic gains and experiences are reported for individual species, particularly in conifers, as well as in Eucalypts. The combination of genomic selection with somatic embryogenesis has the potential to accelerate the development of clonal forestry by shortening clonal testing or omitting long-term clonal testing completely.
Impacts of Layoffs and Government Assistance on Mental Health during COVID-19: An Evidence-Based Study of the United States

This study evaluates the impact of unemployment and government financial assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic on the working-age population’s mental health and further examines the differential impacts between urban and non-urban groups, as well as African American (AA) and non-African American groups. Based on the COVID-19 Household Impact Survey, four measures of mental health conditions (nervous, depressed, lonely, and hopeless) are constructed. Our empirical analysis applies the ordinal regression model (ordered logit model) that takes both the week and regional factors into consideration to control for potential time effects and time-invariant confounders varying across regions. The results show that government aid only mitigates the psychological symptoms for the group in non-urban areas, with no significant impacts on the urban group. On the other hand, the AA working-age group experiences similar or more favorable mental health than other ethnic groups, while government aid does not alleviate the mental pressure for the AA group. Therefore, government interventions should recognize the heterogeneity of impacts on socioeconomic groups within the target population.
Environmental Effects on Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer

Author(s): Umeda, Colin Yoneji | Advisor(s): Paine, Timothy | Abstract: ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATIONEffects of Pharmaceuticals on Insects with Different Feeding GuildsByColin Yoneji UmedaDoctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in EntomologyUniversity of California, Riverside, September 2017Professor Timothy Paine, ChairpersonPolyphagous Shot Hole Borer (Euwallacea fornicatus) (PSHB) is an ambrosia beetle that has invaded southern California and poses a significant threat to many species of trees, both introduced and native. It is associated with three different fungal symbionts which it grows on the walls of the galleries it forms on the inside of its tree hosts. Through a combination of mechanical damage and fungal invasion, PSHB causes dieback and eventual death of its host tree. Very little is known about PSHB as it was originally thought to be a different, congeneric beetle species. The overall goal of this dissertation is to expand the body of knowledge on the life history characteristics of PSHB, especially with regards to development. This research helps define the environmental conditions that are vital to PSHB development and estimates potential areas of risk.PSHB reared under different temperature conditions exhibited similar developmental responses to its congener the Tea Shot Hole Borer. Its minimum and maximum temperature thresholds were around 13°C and 33°C, respectively. PSHB development rate was calculated to be optimal near 28 °C.Using the temperature requirements of PSHB it was possible to construct a climate model with MaxEnt and CLIMEX. Using these programs, it is shown that PSHB can spread throughout the southern portion of North America into South America. With respect to California, the climate is suitable enough to allow PSHB to spread all the way through the central valley to northern California.When comparing attack rates on host trees with different watering regimes, in three different studies, it was found that irrigation did not impact the rate of attack. In these studies, irrigation only affected the level of crown senescence.When examining the individual effects of PSHB fungal symbionts it was found that only two of the three, Fusarium euwallaceae and Graphium euwallaceae, were able to provide enough nutrition on their own to allow for larval development to adulthood. Larvae raised on F. euwallaceae were larger than those raised on G. euwallaceae, but developed slower near optimal temperatures which could indicate a trade-off.
Gene cloning and expression of heat shock protein gene from Aleuroglyphus ovatus and its response to temperature stress

ABSTRACT Aleuroglyphus ovatus is a major mite pest of stored products worldwide, which can seriously impact human health and economic outcomes. Temperature has a great influence on the population dynamics of A. ovatus. Synthesis of heat shock protein (Hsp) is one of the protective mechanisms that enable mites to cope with heat stress. In this study, two full-length cDNA sequences of AoHsp70-1 and AoHsp70-2 from A. ovatus were cloned and expressed. AoHsp70-1 and AoHsp70-2 gene sequences were 2307 and 2623 base pairs (bp) in length, respectively. The open reading frames of AoHsp70-1 and AoHsp70-2 were 1974 and 1923 bp, which encoded 657 and 640 amino acid residues, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequences of AoHsp70-1 and AoHsp70-2 demonstrated their high homology with other mites and insects. The mRNA expression levels of AoHsp70 at different developmental stages and under temperature stress were evaluated. The obtained results showed that the expression levels of Hsp70 differ between each developmental stage (i.e. eggs, larvae, nymphs, and female adults) of A. ovatus. Different responses of AoHsp70-1 and AoHsp70-2 to temperature stress suggested that the deduced amino acids of AoHsp70-1 and AoHsp70-2 were constitutive and inducible proteins, respectively. The inducible AoHsp70-2 may play a role in promoting temperature resistance in A. ovatus. The increased expression levels of AoHsp70-2 under heat stress indicated that A. ovatus was more sensitive to high temperature. The findings from this study may provide insight into the mechanisms underlying heat stress resistance in A. ovatus.
Improving Higher Order Thinking Skills through Project-based Learning in Primary Schools

AbstractThis study aims to determine the effects of Project-Based Learning development in social studies to improve students’ higher-order thinking skills in the fifth grade, from Al Mursyidiyyah Islamic primary school in Kota Tangerang Selatan. The method used in this research is the research and development (R&D) and quasi-experimental method. Research and development (R&D) is used to develop Project Based Learning to improve students’ higher-order thinking skills in the fifth grade of Islamic primary school. The quasi-experimental method is used to find the difference of students' higher-order thinking skills improvement using project-based learning models in social studies against students who get learning with conventional learning models. Data collection techniques in this study used to test and observation instruments. Thus, this study finds that project-based learning in social studies improves students’ higher-order thinking skills. The novelty of this research is the development of project-based learning in social studies can improve the higher-order thinking skills of Islamic Primary School students. AbstrakTujuan penelitian adalah untuk mengetahui pengaruh model Project Based Learning terhadap peningkatan keterampilan berpikir tingkat tinggi dalam pembelajaran IPS pada siswa kelas V Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Al Mursyidiyyah Kota Tangerang Selatan. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode penelitian dan pengembangan (R&D) dan metode kuasi eksperimen. Metode R&D digunakan untuk mengembangkan project based learning dalam IPS untuk meningkatkan keterampilan berpikir tingkat tinggi siswa dan metode kuasi eksperimen digunakan untuk mengetahui perbandingan peningkatan keterampilan berpikir tingkat tinggi siswa dalam pembelajaran IPS yang menggunakan model pembelajaran berbasis proyek dengan siswa yang mendapatkan pembelajaran dengan model pembelajaran konvensional. Penelitian ini menggunakan desain kuasi eksperimen Nonequivalent Control Group Pretest-posttest Design dimana kelompok eksperimen maupun kelompok kontrol tidak dipilih secara random. Teknik pengumpulan data dalam penelitian ini menggunakan instrumen tes dan pengamatan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pembelajaran berbasisis proyek dalam pembelajaran IPS dapat meningkatkan keterampilan berpikir tingkat tinggi siswa. Novelti penelitian ini adalah pengembangan pembelajaran berbasisis proyek dalam pembelajaran IPS dapat meningkatkan keterampilan berpikir tingkat tinggi siswa. How to Cite: Takiddin, Jalal, F. , Neolaka, A. (2020). Improving Higher Order Thinking Skills through Project-based Learning in Primary Schools. TARBIYA: Journal of Education in Muslim Society, 7 (1), 16-28. doi:10.15408/tjems.v7i1. 14052.
Bioconversion of Daidzin to Daidzein by Lactic Acid Bacteria in Fermented Soymilk

The purpose of this study is to select LAB that produce daidzein during soymilk fermentation from among 32 strains isolated from Japanese traditional fermented sushi and pickles. Fourteen strains showed more than 0.5% titratable acidity at 48 h fermentation in soymilk. These strains were applied to a daidzein production test. Seven strains including 5 Lactobacillus plantarum strains, 1 Lb. sakei subsp. sakei strain, and 1 Lb. coryniformis strain yielded more than 4.0 μg/g daidzein in soymilk after 48 h fermentation. Lb. plantarum JAB2001 showed the highest titratable acidity (0.5%) and the highest daidzein yield (10.10 μg/g) during soymilk fermentation at 40°C for 12 h. Strain JAB2001 could be used as a starter culture of fermented soymilk products.
Distributed adaptive control for a class of leader–following heterogeneous networks under intermittent communication environment

This paper addresses the distributed adaptive tracking control problem for a class of multi-agent systems under intermittent communication constraints, where the dynamics of each follower subsystem contain heterogeneous mismatched affine uncertainties. Although some distributed adaptive consensus protocols were developed in previous work, several potential limitations of adaptive consensus controller design are difficult to overcome when the switching communication topology contains asymmetrical architecture and discontinuous failures. To overcome the main obstacles, the authors propose a novel adaptive coordination control algorithm such that the follower subsystems are enabled to track the states of a leader. By using the neighbourhood information, a distributed estimator like-protocol is constructed, under which, each subsystem can estimate the desire state information even under the intermittent connection constraint in directed switching topology. Then, in view of heterogeneous mismatched affine uncertainties, a decentralised adaptive controller with updating local parameters is presented to guarantee that each agent states track desire trajectories. Technically, by exploiting topology-dependent multiple Lyapunov functions approach, S-procedure technique and adaptive mechanism, the synchronisation conditions of the adaptive consensus algorithm are established to prove the synchronisation of heterogeneous agents even in the presence of intermittent communication failures. Finally, an example demonstrates the effectiveness for the proposed method.
Prdx6 Prevents Diabetic Myopathy by Improving Skeletal Muscle Cell Differentiation

Diabetes mellitus is characterized by a state of hyperglycemia resulting from altered insulin secretion by pancreatic beta cell, insulin action or both. This pathological condition is frequently associated with muscle mass loss, a condition defined as sarcopenia, and diabetic myopathy, represented by an impairment of the regenerative power of muscle fiber and by an altered differentiation of progenitor cells. Oxidative stress has been identified as the main cause of muscular alterations typical of diabetic patients. We showed that Peroxiredoxin 6 (Prdx6), a relatively new antioxidant enzyme belonging from the Peroxiredoxin family, has a central role in glucose homeostasis by exerting a potent antioxidant role. Based on these results, in the present study we aimed to verify whether Prdx6 modulates the association between diabetes and the progression of myopathy and sarcopenia. Firstly, we evaluated the gene expression of the main factors involved in the differentiation of myogenic muscle cells such as MyoD and Myogenin in murine knockout models for Prdx6 (Prdx6-/-). We observed significant decreased levels of both genes in Prdx6-/- mice compared to controls, suggesting an impairment of the regenerative potential of muscle fibers. These data were, also, confirmed by using in vitro cell model of murine myoblasts (C2C7) knockdown for Prdx6. Moreover, in the murine models, the process of muscle atrophy was studied by evaluating the gene expression of MuRF1 and Atrogin-1 that finely regulate protein degradation at skeletal muscle level. According to our hypothesis, the expression levels of both enzymes were significantly increased confirming the presence of muscle atrophy. Our study, for the first time, highlights a fundamental role of Prdx6 in the preservation of muscle mass, suggesting how Prdx6 can be considered a potential therapeutic target for diabetic myopathy and sarcopenia. However, further studies are needed in order to understand the molecular mechanism underlying this phenomenon. Disclosure F. Pacifici: None. B. Capuani: None. F. Piermarini: None. D. Pastore: None. R. Arriga: None. A. Coppola: None. S. Rea: None. G. Donadel: None. A. Bellia: None. D. Della-Morte: None. D. Lauro: None.
City life on fast lanes: Urbanization induces an evolutionary shift towards a faster lifestyle in the water flea
 Daphnia

1. Multiple species show significant trait shifts in response to urbanization. Yet, the impact of anthropogenic warming linked to the urban heat island effect is remark ably understudied. In addition, the relative contributions of phenotypic plasticity and genetic change underlying trait shifts in response to urbanization are poorly known. 2. A common garden study with the water flea Daphnia magna revealed that both genetic differentiation in response to urbanization and phenotypic plasticity in response to higher rearing temperature (24°C) induced significant parallel multivariate shifts in life-history strategy along the slow–fast pace-of-life axis.
Complexity Estimation of Cubical Tensor Represented through 3D Frequency-Ordered Hierarchical KLT

In this work is introduced one new hierarchical decomposition for cubical tensor of size 2n, based on the well-known orthogonal transforms Principal Component Analysis and Karhunen–Loeve Transform. The decomposition is called 3D Frequency-Ordered Hierarchical KLT (3D-FOHKLT). It is separable, and its calculation is based on the one-dimensional Frequency-Ordered Hierarchical KLT (1D-FOHKLT) applied on a sequence of matrices. The transform matrix is the product of n sparse matrices, symmetrical at the point of their main diagonal. In particular, for the case in which the angles which define the transform coefficients for the couples of matrices in each hierarchical level of 1D-FOHKLT are equal to π/4, the transform coincides with this of the frequency-ordered 1D Walsh–Hadamard. Compared to the hierarchical decompositions of Tucker (H-Tucker) and the Tensor-Train (TT), the offered approach does not ensure full decorrelation between its components, but is close to the maximum. On the other hand, the evaluation of the computational complexity (CC) of the new decomposition proves that it is lower than that of the above-mentioned similar approaches. In correspondence with the comparison results for H-Tucker and TT, the CC decreases fast together with the increase of the hierarchical levels’ number, n. An additional advantage of 3D-FOHKLT is that it is based on the use of operations of low complexity, while the similar famous decompositions need large numbers of iterations to achieve the coveted accuracy.
Effects of Urban Producer Service Industry Agglomeration on Export Technological Complexity of Manufacturing in China

Based on the measurement of producer service industry agglomeration and export technological complexity of manufactured products in 288 Chinese cities from 2000 to 2015, this paper illustrates the evolvement and spatial characteristics of the two factors through visualization figures, and discusses the effects of producer services agglomeration on export technological complexity of manufacturing through robust panel data models. The findings are as follows: as with the influence of industrial connection, empirical outcomes indicate that urban producer service agglomeration can promote technological complexity of export manufacturing on the full-sample level. Visualization analysis shows that the scale of producer service industry agglomeration and the export technological complexity of manufactured products around Chinese cities kept rising constantly during the study period. However, although the export technological complexity displayed a trickle-down effect, the producer service industry agglomeration experienced continuous polarization both on the national and the regional levels. Accordingly, as is shown in the empirical analysis by areas, regions with strong support from producer service industry saw a remarkable promotion in the export manufacturing technology, while the northwest and the northeast gradually lagged behind. Such results sufficiently prove that heterogeneity does exist in the performances of industrial connection between producer service industry and export manufacturing in cities of different regions in China.
Prevalence and Associated Factors of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Stigma among Health Care Workers in Contact with COVID-19 Patients

Objective: The global spread of COVID-19 has caused great psychological stress in health care workers (HCWs). This study aims to assess the prevalence and associated factors of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and stigma among health care workers (HCWs) who are involved in treating COVID-19 patients. This study was conducted as part of studies related to assessing the mental health status of HCWs in Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Overall, in this cross sectional study, 894 HCWs working in 9 general hospitals in Alborz province, Iran, in the field of diagnostic and treatment care of patients with COVID-19 were selected using multistage sampling method. PTSS and its subscales, including intrusion, avoidance, and hyper vigilance were obtained based on the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder-8 Item validated questionnaire. Information on Stigma's perception among HCWs was also obtained based on a questionnaire adopted from the HIV Stigma Scale. Predictors of PTSS and Stigma's perception among HCWs were assessed using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: Overall, 71.4% of the participants were women and 46.9% were front line staff. The prevalence of intrusion, avoidance, and hyper vigilance symptoms was 44.2% (95% CI: 40.8-47.6), 31. 8% (95% CI: 28.8-35.0), and 37.7% (95% CI: 34.5-41.0), respectively. A strong and positive significant correlation was found between stigma score with PTSD total score (coefficient: 0.83) and its components. In multivariate logistic regression model, female gender was associated with intrusion (OR: 1.46, 95% CI: 1.03-2.06) and avoidance (OR: 1.66, 95% CI: 1.147-2.417) and working in frontline increased the odds of intrusion (OR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.06-1.97) and hyper vigilance (OR: 1.41, 95% CI: 1.03-1.91). Conclusion: The prevalence of PTSS is high among HCWs during COVID-19 pandemic and it is associated with some demographic characteristics of HCWs. This situation should be considered by health policymakers so that while trying to control the disease, the mental health status of this group of personnel should be given much attention.
Black Carbon Emission and Wet Scavenging From Surface to the Top of Boundary Layer Over Beijing Region

The heating impacts caused by black carbon (BC) may modify the atmospheric dynamics of planetary boundary layer (PBL), essentially determined by its vertical distribution. In this study we performed simultaneous measurements of detailed BC properties at both surface (50 m) and mountain sites (1,344 m) over Beijing region. The latter represents the top of PBL and was influenced by surface anthropogenic emissions, particularly around midday when PBL was developed, allowing continuous investigations on the evolution of BC during vertical transport in the PBL. Experiments in cold and warm seasons were performed to reflect seasonal difference in emission and meteorology: Winter had additional emission of residential heating and dry air; summer had moist air with more precipitation. The net ratio of BC/CO relative to background (ΔBC/ΔCO) is used to indicate the emission signature and scavenging of BC. At surface, both seasons peaked at similar ΔBC/ΔCO, however showed contrast shifts between both sites. In winter, mountain showed slightly higher ΔBC/ΔCO than surface due to receiving sources from wider area, whereas in summer, a refractory black carbon (rBC) mass scavenging efficiency of 35–62% was derived from the significantly lowered ΔBC/ΔCO on mountain. This scavenging process could incorporate BC into the summer moist air or low‐level clouds on a daily basis, exerting potential indirect effects. The resultant BC after scavenging exhibited smaller core size and increased coatings, leading to higher absorption efficiency by 45%. These factors should improve the representation of boundary layer processing of BC in evaluating its direct and indirect radiative impacts over the anthropogenically influenced region.