Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determination of critical period for weed control in the second crop corn under Mediterranean conditions

Weeds are a major constraint in corn production. Understanding the critical period for weed control (CPWC) can be a tool for effective weed control and reducing the impacts of weeds. Three experiments were conducted to determine CPWC in the second corn crop from 1996 to 1998. The critical period for weed control in the second crop corn in the mediterranean region was determined to be from 131 to 927 growing degree days (GDD) after sowing in 1996, from 337 to 731 GDD in 1997 and from 266 to 551 GDD in 1998 for 10% yield loss; for 2.5 - 5% yield loss, the critical period starts with germination and lasts longer. Preemergence (PRE) or presowing (PPI) herbicides would be preferred to avoid higher yield losses. If a farmer can tolerate 10% yield loss, a postemergence (POST) herbicide can be applied in the second week after crop sowing, and the field should be kept weed free for 4 or 5 weeks. The duration of weed competition and time of weed removal also affect tasseling, silking, plant height, stem diameter, first ear’s height and number of kernels in an ear, all of which correlate with corn yield.
Accelerating Amyloid-β Fibrillization Reduces Oligomer Levels and Functional Deficits in Alzheimer Disease Mouse Models*

Many proteins suspected of causing neurodegenerative diseases exist in diverse assembly states. For most, it is unclear whether shifts from one state to another would be helpful or harmful. We used mutagenesis to change the assembly state of Alzheimer disease (AD)-associated amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides. In vitro, the “Arctic” mutation (AβE22G) accelerated Aβ fibrillization but decreased the abundance of nonfibrillar Aβ assemblies, compared with wild-type Aβ. In human amyloid precursor protein (hAPP) transgenic mice carrying mutations adjacent to Aβ that increase Aβ production, addition of the Arctic mutation markedly enhanced the formation of neuritic amyloid plaques but reduced the relative abundance of a specific nonfibrillar Aβ assembly (Aβ*56). Mice overexpressing Arctic mutant or wild-type Aβ had similar behavioral and neuronal deficits when they were matched for Aβ*56 levels but had vastly different plaque loads. Thus, Aβ*56 is a likelier determinant of functional deficits in hAPP mice than fibrillar Aβ deposits. Therapeutic interventions that reduce Aβ fibrils at the cost of augmenting nonfibrillar Aβ assemblies could be harmful.
Effect of temperature on survival, growth and reproductive characteristics of Artemia (Crustacea: Anostraca ) from Vietnam and Iran

urvival, growth and reproductive performances of threeArtemiafranciscana and two Iranian Artemia populationswere assessed at two temperatures (26 and 30 o C). The former, cysts from San Francisco Bay (SFB), USA were used as a reference, were cultured after 1 year (Y1) and several years in Vinh Chau salt fields (VC), Vietnam. The latter originated f
Disappearing Discourses: Avoiding Anachronisms and Teleology with Data-Driven Methods in Studying Digital Newspaper Collections

Newspapers have been a rich source of information for historians for the past hundred years or so. In the past twenty years, digitization of newspapers has made it possible to do simple tasks such as keyword searches or more elaborate text mining analyses. Advancements like this create unprecedented possibilities to the analysis of historical sources. While there is some truth to the promises of the future, the reality is such that the research on digitized newspapers remains underdeveloped with regard to reference corpora and reproducibility of the research. Digitized newspapers are particularly discussed with respect to the development of public discourse, but the idea of entering the realm of past discourse ​in toto​ through the digitized newspapers may in the end be harmful. In reality, historians are interested in the different layers of newspaper publicity, thus location and temporality always play a crucial role of any historical analysis of public discourse in newspapers.
Uneven- vs even-aged management in Finnish boreal forests

Summary The article summarizes results obtained from several field experiments, measured in uneven-aged forests during a long period; from the 1930s until the present. Experiments have been established in both Norway spruce- and Scots pine-dominated stands. The purpose is to evaluate the feasibility of uneven-aged forest management under Finnish conditions and compare uneven-aged management to the current even-aged forestry. The analysed datasets demonstrate relatively rich regeneration under many types of tree canopies. The number of stabilized (height 0.1–1.3 m) spruce seedlings does not always correlate with the stand density. The amount of small labile (height < 0.1 m) spruce seedlings may even increase with increasing stand volume. Contrary to spruce, the regeneration of birch and pine decreases with increasing stand volume. The yield comparisons show that uneven-aged stands have often grown faster than even-aged stands with the same post-cutting stand density. High thinnings have resulted in better volume increments than low thinnings. Recent studies show that uneven-aged management is more profitable than even-aged rotation forestry (RF), especially with high discount rates. Uneven-aged management seems to be superior to current even-aged RF also with respect to environmental and multifunctional aspects, such as carbon sequestration, bilberry yield, structural diversity and scenic values.
THE ROLE OF VEGETATION CHARACTERISTICS AND FORAGING SUBSTRATE IN ORGANIZING A CENTRIFUGAL GERBIL COMMUNITY

Abstract The centrifugal community organization model describes the habitat-use pattern of competing species that share a primary habitat preference but differ in their secondary habitat preferences. Our goal was to study the gradients underlying centrifugal organization in a community of 2 gerbil species, Gerbillus pyramidum (the greater Egyptian sand gerbil) and G. andersoni allenbyi (Allenby's gerbil), in the southern coastal plain of Israel. Theory suggests that the ideal combination of food and safety should occur in the semistabilized-sand habitat. However, our measurements showed that this combination actually occurs at the stabilized-sand habitat. Yet, both species prefer the semistabilized-sand habitat. By using artificial seed patches, we show that foraging at the stabilized-sand substrate is at least twice as costly as foraging at the nonstabilized substrate. This, together with potential differences in resource renewal rates and predation risk may underlie the shared-preference for the semistabilized-sand habitat and thus affect the community organization.
A Predictive Model for Genomic Methylation Targets in Humans

DNA methylation is a tissue-specific, sequence-dependent and dynamic process, regulated by complex developmental mechanisms. Recent genome-wide studies provide compelling evidence for long-range sequence-dependence of this process, thus necessitating the computational identification of cytosine methylation and its deviations at individual CpG sites, processes which might reveal the activation of various epigenetic regulatory mechanisms. The present study deals with the prediction of methylation at single CpG sites located both in CpG islands and non-CpG islands, relying solely on the intrinsic information of the 401nt sequences centred at the candidate methylated CpG cytosines. The proposed method was evaluated on human methylation data available by the Human Epigenome Project. The proposed Sequential Minimization Optimization classifier, when trained with the most informative features, gives highly accurate identification of the hypermethylated and hypomethylated sequences (Sn=85.35%, Sp=90.72%). Post-classification analysis of the correctly and mistakenly classified methylation targets revealed that the classification accuracy varies depending on the co-localization of the CpG sites with genomic features involved in gene expression, such as CpG islands and exonic/intronic sequences. This observation reinforces the importance of incorporating site-specific features in the predictive model and the development of site-specific classifiers. Datasets and source code are available upon request.
Size-dependent growth rates in eukaryotic and prokaryotic algae exemplified by green algae and cyanobacteria: comparisons between unicells and colonial growth forms

The size dependency of maximum growth rates was investigated in cyanobacteria and in green algae (Chlorophyta). Both unicellular and colony-forming species were included in the study. Significant allometric relationships were found between size and maximum growth rate for both cyanobacteria and green algae. The size-dependent growth could be described by the same scaling exponent in both cyanobacteria and green algae, but in both cyanobacteria and green algae only unicells evinced size-dependent growth rates-there was no relationship between colony size and growth rate in colonial forms of cyanobacteria and green algae. It is concluded that the colonial growth form represents an evolutionary adaptation to escape the negative effects of size-dependent growth, while retaining the positive effects of increased size, e.g. a decreased grazing pressure.
The flora of Istria: Juncaceae

A checklist, key and distribution were prepared for the Juncaceae family after research into the Istrian flora was completed. According to the checklist, the Juncaceae family in Istria includes two genera (Juncus and Luzula) and 27 taxa (species, subspecies and varieties). During research in 2003 and 2004, two new taxa were discovered in the Istrian flora: Juncus hybridus Brot. in ephemeral and wet locations along the Premantura Peninsula and Juncus littoralis C.A. Mey ssp. tommasinii (Parl.) Arcang. at the mouth of the Ra{a River.
Attempted Semen Collection Using the Massage Technique and Semen Analysis in Various Psittacine Species

Abstract An established massage technique for semen collection in budgerigars, cockatiels, and monk parakeets was applied to 40 different birds of 26 different psittacine species in a period of 4 weeks. Semen collection was successful in 8 individual birds (Aratinga species, Tanygnathus species, Guarouba guarouba, and Pionus chalcopterus). Large parrot species (Ara ambigua, Cacatua leadbeateri, Amazona species, and Eclectus species) were difficult to handle and did not relax during the application of the massage technique. Semen was evaluated for volume, color, pH, spermatozoa concentration, total spermatozoa number, spermatozoa motility, and fraction of living spermatozoa. Additionally, spermatozoa were examined for pathomorphologic abnormalities.
Identification and differentiation of cattle and buffalo processed meat by duplex-PCR.

The duplex-PCR technique, proposed to identify and differentiate cattle and water buffalo DNA using primers described by Rea et al. (2001) for identifi cation of cattle and buffalo DNA in Italian cheese, was tested on mitochondrial DNA extracted from meat muscle samples. The optimized PCR amplifi ed 113 bp and 152 bp products for cattle and buffalo respectively. Meat processing technology (salting, drying, smoking, and cooking) affects the integrity of the extractable DNA. Also many times meat samples are brought to the laboratory for speciation one or two days after slaughter under unpreserved conditions So different levels of autolysis were experimentally produced, and PCR successfully amplifi ed cyt b gene from meat samples that were putrefi ed even after 48 h and cooked at various conditions. The technique was successful in detecting up to 1 pg adulteration in a cattle-buffalo meat mixture. The test is a valuable tool for meat authentication and screening of cooked, putrefi ed and mixed samples of cattle and buffalo fl esh.
Comparing Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) and Combining ACT & EFT in the Spiritual Well-being of Couples Referring to Counseling Centers in Sari: An Experimental Study

For downloading the full-text of this article please click here.Background and Objective: Finding effective therapeutic approaches to improving the spirituality of individuals, especially couples, is very helpful in reconciling their differences, enhancing their intimacy and preventing family problems. The present study attempts to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), emotion-focused therapy (EFT) and combined therapy in the spiritual beliefs of couples referring to counseling centers.Methods: The study was quasi-experimental and used a pre-test, post-test control group design. The participants were selected from the families referring to counseling centers in Sari using available sampling method. People with an IQ of higher than 85 and no addiction were included in the study. They responded to Inclusive Spirituality Index (ISI), and 56 couples with scores lower than the average were randomly selected and assigned to experimental and control groups. Group 1 participated in ten 90-minute sessions of ACT, Group 2 in six 90-minute sessions of EFT and Group 3 in Sixteen 90-minute sessions of combined therapy and the control group received no treatment. The participations were finally retested using ISI A delayed posttest was also administered after one month. Considering normal distribution of the data, the significance of the results was tested by covariance analysis and Mauchly's Sphericity Test. In this study, all the ethical considerations have been observed and no conflict of interest was reported by the authors. Results: The three forms of treatment significantly increased spiritual well-being of the spouses asking for divorce, but no significant difference was observed among the three groups. The effects were found to persist after one month.Conclusion: Based on the findings, all three methods of intervention can promote the spiritual well-being of the couples, spirituality can be changed, and spiritual well-being increases through education and therapy. Accordingly, the originality of ACT and EFT lies in increasing the spiritual well-being of couples demanding divorce and reducing divorce rates.For downloading the full-text of this article please click here.Please cite this article as: Nemati M, Dokaneheeifard F, Behboodi M. Comparing Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) and Combining ACT & EFT in the Spiritual Well-being of Couples Referring to Counseling Centers in Sari: An Experimental Study. Journal of Pizhūhish dar dīn va salāmat. 2020;6(1):87-99. https://doi.org/10.22037/jrrh.v6i1. 21369
Improving Passage Efficiency of Adult American Shad at Low-Elevation Dams with Navigation Locks

Abstract Use of navigation locks represents a low-cost alternative to the construction of fishways or lifts at low-elevation (<5 m) dams. We used sonic tracking to assess the passage efficiency of adult American shad Alosa sapidissima in 1996–1998 through the navigation locks at Lock and Dam 1 on the Cape Fear River, North Carolina. We also tested the passage efficiency at a steeppass fishway installed in 1997. Eighty-six tagged American shad were released below the dam over the 3-year study; passage efficiency ranged from 18% in 1997 (a year of high discharge during the tracking period) to 61% in 1998. During low flows, we were able to improve passage efficiency by (1) operating the lock to pass fish through until mid-June, (2) increasing attraction flows emanating from the lock entrance, (3) conducting as many lockages (i.e., use of locks to pass fish upstream) as possible in a day, and (4) closing one of the lower lock gates to better retain fish in the lock chamber after they had entered. The steeppas.
In Vitro Propagation of Aloe Barbadensis - A Medicinal Plant

An efficient protocol has been developed for plant regeneration for shoot tip explants of in vitro grown Aloe barbadensis. Proliferation of shoots was achieved on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with various concentrations of Benzyladenine (BA), Kinetin (Kn), lndole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and Napthaleneacetic acid (NAA) either singly or in various combinations. The highest shoot regeneration frequency (80%) and 24.4 number of shoots were obtained from shoot tip segments on MS medium fortified with 4 mg/l BA and 1 mg/l NAA. The regenerated shoots rooted best on MS medium containing 1 mg/l IBA with 0.5% AC. Regenerated plantlets with well-developed shoot and roots were hardened, successfully transferred to soil and maintained in green house. The present in vitro procedure can be used in mass propagation of this medicinal plant.
Influence of Different Factors on Graft Acceptance in Apis mellifera Linnaeus colonies during Autumn in Punjab

Three factors viz. bee strength/ crowdiness, queenliness of the colony and priming status of queen cell cups were evaluated on graft acceptance. The combined effect of the different levels of bee strength, queenliness and priming status of cell cups was non-significant on the mean number of accepted grafts (out of 90) (5.33-43.67 i.e. 5.92-48.52%).
The Effect of KLa on the Ethanol Yield for Xylose Fermentation

D-xylose was bioconverted into ethanol using yeast of Pichia stipitis CBS 5773. A similar effect of the oxygen transfer coefficient, KLa, on the ethanol yield was observed among various configurations of bioreactors, namely, shake flask (250 ml, 500 ml), spinner flask (500 ml), and stirred tank (5 L). That is the ethanol yield could reach about 0.37 g ethanol/g xylose if KLa was lower than 0.004 sec-1. It was noted that the yield fell rapidly as KLa increased, however, high aeration rate promotes cell growth rate. Also, the technique of stain adaptation and selection was used successfully to enable the yeast to ferment the newspaper hydrolzyates. Again, the effect on the yield due to KLa in both synthetic and hydrolzyate media was quite consistent.
Meiofauna versus macrofauna: Secondary production of invertebrates in a lowland chalk stream

The whole metazoan community inhabiting macrophyte stands and gravel beds of the English chalk stream River Lambourn were sampled for 1 yr. Secondary production estimates for specific taxa of macrofauna and meiofauna, usually at species or genus level, were made using the size‐frequency method. Annual standing biomass and production to biomass ratios were also estimated. Total annual secondary production was as high as 64.99 g m−2 yr−1 in the macrophyte stands while within the gravel beds total annual secondary production was 22.55 g m−2 yr−1. Macrofauna contributed >91% to secondary production in both habitats. A corresponding standing biomass of 11.87 g m−2 in the macrophyte stands was also higher than within gravel beds of 5.13 g m−2. Macrofauna contributed >97% to standing biomass in both habitats. A large number of meiofauna and some macrofauna species displayed annual production‐to‐biomass (P : B) values in both habitats significantly higher than 9 or 10. Despite higher densities and turnover rates within the benthos of the River Lambourn, there was a minimal contribution of the meiofauna to total secondary production dominated by the macrofauna.
Investigations into the transcriptome of the toxigenic marine dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum

Dinoflagellates of the A. minutum species complex are widely distributed bloom-forming, photosynthetic protists typically producing potent neurotoxins which cause paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). Human intoxications usually occur via the ingestion of filter-feeding bivalves, but intoxications after consumption of predatory crabs have also been reported. The same group of toxins is produced by certain freshwater cyanobacteria, in which the gene cluster coding for the PSP toxin-producing enzymes has recently been identified. However, the identification of corresponding genes in dinoflagellates is pending, which might be due to their unusual and little understood genomes.The aim of this thesis is to contribute to understanding gene expression and regulation in dinoflagellates by investigating the transcriptome-level gene expression in A. minutum. The gene expression experiments were based on an expressed sequence tag (EST) library, which was generated from pooled samples originating from different treatments to include the highest possible diversity of cDNA sequences. A set of microarray probes based on this library was used for different gene expression experiments, such as the comparison of toxic and non-toxic strains. Three stains were compared at two different times of the light phase, yielding a group of 192 genes differentially expressed between toxic and non-toxic strains at both timepoints. Another experiment was based on the induction of a fivefold increase in toxin levels by the presence of a copepod grazer. In combination with the data obtained from the strain comparison experiment, this resulted in the identification of two sequences potentially correlated to the ability to produce the toxins.Other treatments were designed to represent extreme values of ecologically significant parameters, such as different salinities or nutrient limitation. While the transcriptomic differences between cultures acclimatised to different salinities remained moderate and indicated a high prevalence of differences in post-transcriptional processes, the differences among growth phases and between nutrient-replete and nutrient-limited batch cultures were considerable. By using combinations of comparisons, several genes consistently up-regulated at the transition between exponential growth and stationary phase were identified, as well as 87 genes consistently associated with N- or P-limitation.In the course of this thesis, I identified several A. minutum genes apparently associated with intracellular toxins, as well as patterns of gene expression indicative of culture growth status and of nutrient limitation. These data substantially add to the emerging field of dinoflagellate transcriptomics. Additionally, they provide a starting point for the potential development of new monitoring tools testing the physiological status or toxin-producing potential of A. minutum populations.
Variation in stomatal characteristics over the lower surface of Commelina communis leaves

Abstract. The silicone rubber impression technique was used to measure stomatal apertures in 9 mm2 sampling areas covering the entire lower surface of leaves of Commelina communis L. The data were analysed using a computer program which produced ‘iso-aperture' contours illustrating local differences in mean stomatal aperture. Little consistency was seen in the iso-aperture patterns among sampling times, although the stomata were always relatively closed at the leaf tip and base. When stomata in the middle of the lamina were open, those near to the leaf margin tended to be relatively closed. In places, gradients of mean stomatal aperture were as high as 1 μm mm−1. Measurements along a transect across the lower epidermis revealed no correlation of stomatal aperture with the presence of major veins in the mesophyll tissue. Variation in guard-cell size and stomatal frequency on the lower leaf surface was also analysed. The guard cells were smallest and the stomata more frequent near to the leaf margins. The significance of the results is discussed in relation to measurements of leaf conductance and models of stomatal function.
The Importance of Tracking Introduced Species: New Records of Athetine Rove Beetles from South Atlantic Inaccessible Island (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae)

Abstract Two species of athetine rove beetles are recorded from Inaccessible Island, in the Tristan da Cunha group of islands in the South Atlantic for the first time. One species, Halobrecta flavipes Thomson, represents a new introduction possibly from the Palearctic region, and the other species, Atheta (Xenota) pseudoinsulana Klimaszewski, new species, is of an undetermined origin. The latter belongs to the Laticollis group of species that are broadly distributed and are known to occur in the Palearctic, Nearctic, Afrotropical, and Oriental regions as well as some Atlantic Islands. The lectotype is designated for Homalota dilutipennis Motschulsky [= Atheta dilutipennis (Motschulsky)].