Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biochar enhances seedling growth and alters root symbioses and properties of sub-boreal forest soils

Robertson, S. J., Rutherford, P. M. , López-Gutiérrez, J. C. and Massicotte, H. B. 2012. Biochar enhances seedling growth and alters root symbioses and properties of sub-boreal forest soils. Can. J. Soil Sci. 92: 329-340. Biochar application may enhance soil properties, improve plant productivity, and increase long-term carbon storage, but impacts of biochar on plant-microbe symbioses mediating plant nutrient uptake in temperate or boreal soils are not well known. We planted lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) or sitka alder (Alnus viridis ssp. sinuata) seeds in pots containing field-collected forest soils (from central British Columbia) amended with 0, 5, or 10% (dry mass basis) biochar with and without urea fertilizer (150 mg N kg-1). Pine seedlings were harvested at 4 mo and roots were assessed for abundance and diversity of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) morphotypes using light microscopy and DNA sequencing. Biochar raised soil pH, exchangeable cations and cation exchange capacity in some treatments in both soils. Pine had greater biomass in biochar+fertilizer treatments compared to control and fertilizer-only treatments; this corresponded in part to an increase in abundance of some ECMs. Alder seedlings were harvested at 2, 3 and 4 mo to measure N fixation in root nodules using acetylene reductase assay (ARA). Alder seedlings had greater shoot biomass when grown in biochar-amended soils compared with unamended control. Although mean ARA rates (at 4 mo) were greater in biochar-amended soils compared with controls, the data showed great variation and differences were not statistically significant (P>0.05). This study showed that biochar addition can enhance soil properties and the early growth of pine and alder in some sub-boreal forest soils; small changes in ECM abundances may be expected.
Prediction of Soluble Solids Content During Storage of Apples with Different Maturity Based on VIS / NIR Spectroscopy

Abstract. The soluble solids content (SSC) is an important quality attribute to measure the eating quality of apples, and the apple SSC during storage period will change with the storage time. In order to increase the value of apple commodities, it is necessary to carry out SSC nondestructive testing on apples during storage. In this paper, we studied the predictability of Vis-Nir (Vis-Nir, 400-1100nm) and Long-Wave Near-Infrared (LWIR, 1100-2200nm) spectra for apple SSC during storage. Apples of different maturity harvested on three dates were stored in a cold store at 0°C (± 1). The SSC and diffuse reflectance data were measured after 0, 30, 80, 150, and 180 days of storage. Partial least squares (PLS) was used to establish the prediction model. The results show that the harvest period model cannot achieve the prediction of apple SSC during storage period, and the accuracy of the fusion model at different maturity storage periods is also poor. The reason is that starch is continuously hydrolyzed to soluble sugar during storage. Therefore, three SSC prediction models for individual maturity storage periods were established. The overall effect of the model is better, and the best one is the high-maturity-LWIR model (Rc = 0.8573, RMSEC = 0.5297, Rp = 0.8417, RMSEP = 0.5669). The overall high maturity of the model is better than medium and low maturity, and LWIR is better than Vis-Nir. This study provides an important theoretical basis for improving the quality of apple industrialization during storage.
Study the Efficacy of Chemicals on the Quality Parameters of Guava (Psidium guajava L) cv. Lucknow – 49

Guava, the „apple of tropics‟ is the most important commercial fruit crop grown in subtropical region of the Indian subcontinent. It gives an assured crop with low cost of production as compared to most of other commercial fruit crops. It has gained considerable prominence on account of its high nutritive value, cheap and easily availability at moderate prices. India is the leading producer of guava in the world and the fruit occupies a place of considerable importance in the fruit economy of the country. In the north-eastern region of India, Assam claims to be in the 11 th position in growing Guava (Anon, 2015) but its productivity is far below the national average due to poor fruit set and high fruit drop (Ojah, 2013).
Undergraduates’ awareness, use and satisfaction with online public access catalogue (OPAC) of Benue State University Library, Makurdi, Nigeria

The purpose of this paper was to determine the extent to which undergraduates at Benue State University are aware of the OPAC, the extent of usage, the level of satisfaction derived from the usage and challenges encountered in the use of OPAC in the university library. The study was guided by four specific objectives and four research questions. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population consisted of 9,864 undergraduate who registered with the library during 2017/2018 academic session. The sample size was 384 undergraduate students. Data was collected through a self-structured questionnaire. The data collected were analysed using frequency, percentages, mean and standard deviation. The findings revealed that most of the respondents -232 (60.4%) -were not aware of OPAC services, only 152 (39.6%) respondents indicated their awareness of OPAC in retrieving needed library materials. The study also showed that the extent of OPAC use by undergraduates was to a low extent and the students were dissatisfied with OPAC services; that the undergraduates encountered several challenges which led to the low usage and dissatisfaction with the OPAC of the Benue State University Library. The study concluded that the creation of the OPAC was to facilitate retrieving information resources that had been acquired and organised by the university library. However, poor awareness, improper orientation/training of students among others have posed great challenge for its effective usage. The study therefore recommended that all the identified challenges be tackled by the university library management in order to enhance OPAC usage by the students.
Efficacy of different bio-pesticides against sucking pests of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench)

The field experiment was carried out in the pre-kharif season of 2013 at Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal, India to evaluate the efficacy of different bio-pesticides against sucking pests of okra. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications for each treatment. The treatments viz. annonin 1% EC, karanjin 2% EC, Azadirachtin 1% EC, Metarrhizium anisopliae, Verticillium lecanii , Beauveria bassiana , Bacillus thuringiensis var Kurstaki, spinosad 45 % SC and imidacloprid 17.8% SL were applied at 15 days interval starting from seedling stage when whitefly and jassid infestation started. Results revealed that the overall best performance of insecticides against whitefly was recorded in imidacloprid treated plots with lowest mean population of whitefly (3.91 whitefly/15 leaves) followed by karanjin (4.16 whitefly/15 leaves) and azadirachtin (5.16 whitefly/15 leaves while the order of efficacy aginst jassid were imidacloprid (15.27 jassids/15 leaves) > karanjin (33.91jassids/15leaves)>azadirachtin(40.38jassids/15leaves). Effectiveness of test insecticides on the yield of okra wasspinosad>Bt>B. bassiana>azadirachtin>imidacloprid>annonin>karanjin>M. anisopliae.
PHYTOCHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF IXORA FINLAYSONIANA WALL. EX. G. DON. GROWING IN EGYPT.

Five flavonoid compounds; 5, 5`-dihydroxy-3, 6, 7, 3`, 4`-penta-methoxyflavone( Azazieh H et al., 2010 ); 5-hydroxy-3, 6, 7, 3`, 4`, 5`-hexa-methoxy-flavone (Balandrin et al., 1993); 5, 7,4` tri-hydroxy-flavone[Apigenin]( Mukherjee et al., 2003 ); 5, 7, 4`-tri-hydroxy-6-methoxy-flavone[6-methoxy-apigenin] (Verma & Singh, 2008 );Apigenin-4`-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (Metcalfe & Chalk, 1970 ). In addition to threepentacyclic triterpinoids; -Lup-20(29)-en-3-ol[Lupeol] (Baily, 1960 ) -Lup20(29)-en-3,28-diol [Betulin] (Kirtikar & Basu, 1975 ), and ursolic acid-3-O-Dglucopyranoside (Hortus, 1976) were isolated from the ethyl acetatesoluble fraction of the 70 % ethanolic extract of Ixora finlaysoniana. The structures of these compounds were determined by extensive use of UV, ESI-MS, and NMR spectroscopy. The Ethyl acetate fraction and its individual components showed significant antiradical activity by bleaching 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical SC% ranging from (81.63 to 52.68 %) which was comparable to ascorbic acid (SC%72.55) and BHT (SC% 58.82).
From rice starch to amylose crystals : alkaline extraction of rice starch, solution properties of amylose and crystal structure of v-amylose inclusion complexes

Durant ce travail, nous avons etudie l'extraction alcaline de l'amidon de riz bresilien, le comportement hydrodynamique de l'amylose en solution ainsi que la formation et la structure cristalline de complexes d'inclusion d'amylose V. L'efficacite de la deproteinisation pendant l'extraction alcaline a ete evaluee en utilisant le test de Biuret ainsi que les spectroscopies UV Vis et de fluorescence. En parallele, les modifications morphologiques des granules d'amidon et leur gelatinisation alcaline ont ete etudiees. L'evolution de la cristallinite a ete suivie afin de comprendre l'effet de la soude sur l’ultrastructure des grains d'amidon. L'amylose a ete extraite de l'amidon de riz bresilien et purifiee par dissolution et reprecipitation avec le thymol. L'echantillon obtenu a ete fractionne par chromatographie de filtration sur gel et analyse par diffusion de la lumiere. En outre, de l'amylose commerciale a ete etudiee en solution aqueuse en fonction du temps de stockage et de la force ionique. Des cristaux lamellaires d'amylose V ont ete prepares par addition de complexants a des solutions metastables diluees d'amylose synthetique. La morphologie et la structure des cristaux ont ete etudiees par microscopie electronique en transmission et diffraction des electrons et des rayons X. La structure cristalline du complexe de l'amylose V avec l'α-naphthol a ete etudiee en detail par modelisation moleculaire. Le modele conduisant au meilleur facteur d'accord est constitue d'un reseau tetragonal de simples helices gauches d'ordre 8, empilees de maniere anti-parallele. Des molecules d'α-naphthol sont incluses dans la maille cristalline, a la fois dans et entre les helices
Water as a resource, stress and disturbance shaping tundra vegetation

Water is crucial for plant productivity and survival as a fundamental resource, but water conditions can also cause physiological stress and mechanical disturbance to vegetation. However, these different influences of water on vegetation patterns have not been evaluated simultaneously. Here, we demonstrate the importance of three water aspects (spatial and temporal variation of soil moisture and fluvial disturbance) for three ecologically and evolutionary distinct taxonomical groups (vascular plants, mosses and lichens) in Fennoscandian mountain tundra. Fine‐scale plant occurrence data for 271 species were collected from 378 × 1 m² plots sampled over broad environmental gradients (water, temperature, radiation, soil pH, cryogenic processes and the dominant allelopathic plant species). While controlling all other key environmental variables, water in its different aspects proved to be a crucial environmental driver, acting on individual species and on community characteristics. The inclusion of the water variables significantly improved our models. In this high‐latitude system, the importance of spatial variability of water exceeds the importance of temperature for the fine‐scale distribution of species from the three taxonomical groups. We found differing responses to the three water variables between and within the taxonomical groups. Water as a resource was the most important water‐related variable in species distribution models across all taxonomical groups. Both water resource and disturbance were strongly related to vascular plant species richness, whereas for moss species richness, water resources had the highest influence. For lichen species richness, water disturbance was the most influential water‐related variable. These findings demonstrate that water variables are not only independent properties of tundra hydrology, but also that water is truly a multifaceted driver of vegetation patterns at high‐latitudes.
Study of genetic divergence in rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes with high grain zinc using Mahalanobis’ D2 analysis

The present investigation was conducted with twenty-two genotypes of rice during Kharif, 2018 in RBD with three replications in five different locations. The 22 rice genotypes were characterized based on 16 quantitative traits viz., days to first flowering, days to 50 per cent flowering, days to maturity, the total number of effective tillers per plant, plant height (cm), panicle length (cm), the number of spikelets per panicle, the number of grains per panicle, spikelet fertility percentage, grain weight per panicle (g), grain yield per plant (g) , 1000-grain weight (g), grain yield per plot (kg), grain yield per hectare (kg), grain L/B Ratio, grain zinc content (ppm or mg /kg) using Mahalanobis D2 statistic. D2 analysis distributed the 22 genotypes into six clusters, of which cluster I was the largest with 15 genotypes. Cluster II had maximum intra-cluster values of 5.16 and the maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between the clusters III and V (40.51) followed by cluster IV and V (28.39) indicating the importance of the genotypes present in these clusters for exploiting heterosis for the desirable traits of these clusters.
Evaluation of potential confounding factors in sediment toxicity tests with Hyalella azteca (Saussure, 1858)

Ecotoxicological tests performed in waters with low salinities, typical of estuarine environments, are limited regarding the availability of test organisms. The amphipod Hyalella azteca , an organism protocoled for trials with freshwater sediments, presents a potential for use in saltwater tests in which the confounding factors, such as salinity and sediment grain size, should be evaluated to avoid errors in the results in relation to the sensitivity of the organism. Thus, amphipod cultivations in salinities of 0, 5, 10 and 20 were conducted, to perform tests of tolerance to salinity, and sensitivity to a reference toxicant. The tolerance of the species to different sediment grain sizes and organic matter contents was evaluated in tests with reconstituted sediments in five different compositions, varying the content of organic matter (5 to 20%), clay and sand (0 to 95%). The results of the cultivations showed that animals maintained present the best reproduction and survival rates at salinity 5, and a tolerance limit under chronic conditions, at salinity above 10. The salinity can be considered a confounding factor since the tests carried out with the reference toxicant showed the higher resistance of the species under conditions of higher salinities. The species present tolerance to different sediment grain sizes and organic matter contents; therefore, this factor does not interfere in the survival of H. azteca during the ecotoxicological tests.
Effect of riverscape and exotic introgression on the genetic structure and local adaptation of the endangered Mexican golden trout (Oncorhynchus chrysogaster)

How environmental and anthropogenic factors influence genetic variation and local adaptation is a central issue in evolutionary biology. The Mexican golden trout (Oncorhynchus chrysogaster), one of the southernmost native salmonid species in the world, is susceptible to climate change, habitat perturbations and the introduction of exotic rainbow trout (O. mykiss) for aquaculture. The present study aimed to explore the effect of both genetic introgression from O. mykiss and riverscape variables on the genetic variation of O. chrysogaster. Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) was applied to generate 9 767 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), genotyping 270 O. chrysogaster and aquaculture trout. Population genomics analyses were combined with riverscape genetics approaches. A small degree of admixture was identified between aquaculture and native trout, and significant effects of riverscape variables on genetic diversity were detected, as well as evidence of isolation by riverscape resistance within a basin. Gene-environment associations identified genes potentially implicated in adaptation to local hydroclimatic variables. This is an integrative study using a non-common multi-scale approach in landscape genetics for the conservation of an endangered riverine species.
Antioxidant Defense, Oxidative Modification, and Salivary Gland Function in an Early Phase of Cerulein Pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a multifactorial disease characterized by necroinflammatory changes of the pancreas. Our study is the first study which evaluated the relationship between the free radical production, enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants, oxidative damage, and secretory function of the salivary glands of AP rats. Male Wistar rats were divided equally into 2 groups: control (n = 9) and AP (n = 9). AP was induced by intraperitoneal injection with cerulein and confirmed by higher serum amylase and lipase. We have demonstrated that the superoxide dismutase and glutathione reductase activities, as well as reduced glutathione concentration, were significantly decreased in both the parotid and submandibular glands of AP rats as compared to the control rats. The production of free radicals evidenced as dichlorodihydrofluorescein assay and the activity of NADPH oxidase and xanthine oxidase and IL-1β concentration were significantly higher in the parotid and submandibular glands of AP rats compared to the controls. In AP rats, we also showed a statistical increase in oxidation modification products (advanced glycation end products and advanced oxidation protein products), salivary amylase activity, and significant decrease in the total protein content. However, we did not show apoptosis and any morphological changes in the histological examination of the salivary glands of AP rats. To sum up, cerulein-induced AP intensifies production of oxygen free radicals, impairs the redox balance of the salivary glands, and is responsible for higher oxidative damage to these glands. Interestingly, oxidative modification of proteins and dysfunction of the antioxidant barrier are more pronounced in the submandibular glands of AP rats.
Error processing in the adolescent brain: Age-related differences in electrophysiology and links with post-error adjustments but no relationship to cingulate cortex structure

Detecting errors and adjusting behaviour appropriately are fundamental cognitive abilities that are known to improve through adolescence. The underlying mechanisms of this development, however, are still poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we performed a thorough investigation of error processing in a Flanker task in a cross-sectional sample of participants 8 to 19 years of age (n = 98). We examined age-differences in event related potentials known to be associated with error processing, namely the error-related negativity (ERN) and the error positivity (Pe), as well as their relationships with task performance, post-error adjustments and regional cingulate cortex thickness and surface area. We found that ERN amplitude increased with age, while Pe amplitude remained constant. A more negative ERN was associated with higher task accuracy and faster reaction times, while a more positive Pe was associated with higher accuracy, independently of age. When estimating post-error adjustments from trials following both incongruent and congruent trials, post-error slowing and post-error improvement in accuracy both increased with age, but this was only found for post-error slowing when only analysing trials following incongruent trials. There were no age-independent associations between either ERN or Pe amplitude and cingulate cortex thickness or area measures.
Creating spaces of dialogical action towards epistemic justice in higher education

Universities tend to take an exclusive view of knowledge and who can generate such knowledge. This knowledge tends to be based upon concepts within Western frameworks which assume the desirability of objectivity between the individual knower and what is known, the fragmentation of knowledge into disciplines and a marked distinction between theory and practice. As such, legitimate knowledge creation is seen to be the prerogative of academics based in Western contexts. Other forms of knowledge and other knowers are viewed as less legitimate. I challenge this view in practical and theoretical ways, arguing that it is exclusional, unjust and counterproductive. The practices described in the thesis are premised on the belief that all people should be seen as having knowledge creating capacity and the ability to use such capacity. It explores how relational, participative practices of knowledge creation between people of difference were enacted. Using a self-study action research approach, I investigate my practices as an academic in co-ordinating an international collaborative project between those inside and outside of academia in global North and South. I describe and theorise how participative, relational and dialogic spaces were created for knowledge creation. The thesis explores how all participants were recognised as having a unique role which contributed to addressing a common concern, how such a role may be developed in collaboration with others and how this inclusive approach can motivate participation. I explain how such practices can embody epistemic justice. I draw conclusions which contribute to a conceptualisation of the role and responsibility of the academic towards creating spaces for participation in collaborative and dialogical political action. I also draw out the practices embedded within my research and view them as a microcosm of what universities could be: spaces of participation in dialogical learning and in political action, towards social hope.
SOFT SKILLS AND EARNINGS: EVIDENCE FROM A NATIONWIDE SURVEY IN POLAND

The purpose of this paper is to examine differences in earnings in Poland with respect to the level of soft skills. The study is based on data from a nationwide survey on human capital carried out in 2014. Eight types of soft skills are taken into consideration: entrepreneurship and showing initiative, resistance to stress, cooperation in a group, communicativeness, ability to resolve conflicts, coordination of the work of other employees, creativity and continuous learning of new things. Distributions of earnings corresponding to groups of individuals declaring low, medium and high soft skills are compared by statistical methods, namely by kernel estimation, one-way ANOVA on ranks and relative distributions. The analysis leads to the conclusion that earnings distributions vary substantially with regard to the level of soft skills. The biggest differences concern such skills as entrepreneurship and showing initiative, coordination of the work of other employees and creativity. This paper contributes to the knowledge about the associations between soft skills level and earnings.