Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Nitrogen and Bradyrhizobium on Growth and Yield of Mungbean

The objective of the present study was to investigate the comparative roles of nitrogen (50 kg ha -1 ) and inoculums Bradyrhizobium (1.5 kg ha -1 ) in improving the yield of two mungbean varieties (BARI mung-5 and BARI mung-6). The experiment was carried out during the period from April 2011 to July 2011 at the Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU) Farm, Dhaka. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications and plot size was 8 m 2 with 30 cm line spacing. The Bradyrhizobium strain BARI RVr-403 was used for the experiment. The recommended dose of TSP, MOP and Gypsum were applied in each plot. BARI Mung-6 performed higher stover and seed yield than BARI Mung-5. Bradyrhizobium inoculation significantly increased 1000-seed weight, pods plant -1 , seeds pod -1 , stover and seed yield. BARI Mung-6 with Bradyrhizobium inoculation recorded the highest seed and stover yield compared to other treatment combinations. Non-inoculated BARI Mung-5 gave the lowest yield.
Credibility of scientific information on social media: Variation by platform, genre and presence of formal credibility cues

Abstract Responding to calls to take a more active role in communicating their research findings, scientists are increasingly using open online platforms, such as Twitter, to engage in science communication or to publicize their work. Given the ease with which misinformation spreads on these platforms, it is important for scientists to present their findings in a manner that appears credible. To examine the extent to which the online presentation of science information relates to its perceived credibility, we designed and conducted two surveys on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. In the first survey, participants rated the credibility of science information on Twitter compared with the same information in other media, and in the second, participants rated the credibility of tweets with modified characteristics: presence of an image, text sentiment, and the number of likes/retweets. We find that similar information about scientific findings is perceived as less credible when presented on Twitter compared to other platforms, and that perceived credibility increases when presented with recognizable features of a scientific article. On a platform as widely distrusted as Twitter, use of these features may allow researchers who regularly use Twitter for research-related networking and communication to present their findings in the most credible formats.
PCA analysis of wind direction climate in the baltic states

Abstract Wind direction is one of the fundamental parameters of weather. In this study we investigate the wind direction climate 10 m above surface level in the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). The analysis of wind direction over larger regions is usually hindered by the fact that wind direction is a circular variable, which means that averaged values are meaningless. Here we show how Principal Component Analysis (PCA) can be applied to give a large scale overview of typical wind direction patterns in the region. Here we apply PCA to both observational and reanalysis data. The most significant wind direction patterns are detected in both synoptic scale and mesoscale, and we attempt to link the identified patterns with meteorological phenomena. In addition, the differences in the PCA results between observation and model data are analysed. The results show that PCA method is successful in identifying and ranking the wind direction climate features, leading to a complete and thorough investigation for the whole region that would be not possible by human researchers analysing individual distributions of wind direction.
Study of the effect of sodium alginate coating containing pomegranate peel extract on chemical, sensory and microbial quality of walnut kernel

Background: Due to the adverse effects of artificial preservatives on food and its harmful effects on human health, researchers have been considering replacing these materials with natural substances. In this study, the effect of pomegranate peel extract (PPE) on the stability and antifungal activity of the walnut kernel was studied. Methods: The pomegranate peel was extracted by the solvent and water-solvent method. The extracted sap was evaluated using the antioxidant assay by 2,2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The results showed that the extracted sap had 40.11 mg/g dry phenol and 47.27% free radicals scavenging. Four concentrations (0%, 2%, 6%, and 10%) of pomegranate liquid extract were prepared and studied for 90 days for the walnut kernel coating. Walnut kernels were coated on days 1, 15, 30, 60, and 90, and examined for moisture, acidity, peroxide, conjugated diene, and anisidine tests. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Results: By increasing the extract concentration from 2 to 10%, the stability of the walnut kernel during storage was increased. Acidity in the samples with 10% PPE coating, decreased from 0.18 to 0.11 on the first day until the 15th day, and increased to 0.48 from day 15 to 90. The results showed that the moisture content and acidity increased with increasing the extract concentration. By increasing the extract concentration up to 10%, the sustainability indices, including peroxide, anisidine, and conjugated diene were significantly decreased. At 90 days, by increasing the concentration of pomegranate extract from 2% to 10%, the count of molds and yeasts was reduced from 3.59 to 2.29 CFU/g. The count of molds and yeasts in the uncoated samples was 5.81 CFU/g. Conclusion: According to the results, PPE can increase the stability and antifungal activity of walnut, therefore, the health quality of the product increases.
Development of Polyvinyl Alcohol/Chitosan Hydrogel Loaded with Fertilizer Compound: Preparation, Properties and Effect on Seed Germination

This work reports the reinforcement of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel with chitosan as potential superabsorbent (SAP) fertilizer. The PVA/Chitosan hydrogel was prepared using superficial freeze thawing method. Mechanical properties and swelling ratio of the SAP hydrogels were optimum at 6 wt% of chitosan loading. Morphological analysis of the PVA/Chitosan hydrogel revealed excellent crystal like structure distribution and smooth of the surface due to good compatibility between the materials. The water retention of soil containing PVA/Chitosan hydrogel was also examined. It was found that the SAP hydrogel increased the water retention soil and sand at capacity 48.21 and 48.24 % respectively after 15 days. The influence of the SAP hydrogel on seed germination was observed using Okra seeds. The seeding has higher germination energy when the PVA/Chitosan hydrogel incorporated with the soil compared with soil without aid of SAP hydrogel. This is a good indication of the prepared SAP hydrogel for controlled release fertilizer.
Participatory farm budgeting – A case of pineapple farmers in ghana

ABSTRACT This article articulates the usefulness of a participatory farm budget in addressing challenges associated with the recall of agricultural prices, inputs, outputs, and estimate biases in the global south. The study is foregrounded in a qualitative paradigm. Participatory farm budgeting is a method that permits stakeholders to analyze, quantify input, output resources, and farm profit. The method highlighted higher economic returns associated with sucker production, an aspect neglected and trivialized by the conventional farm methods. We recommend dedicated attention to harness the economic benefits derived from sucker production through the radical use of the participatory farm budget.
African American political thought reimagined: A review of African American Political Thought: A Collected History

This review essay surveys the contributions of the new edited volume African American Political Thought: A Collected History. The thinker-based approach to the study of African American political thought advanced in the volume highlights the ways in which thinkers reformulate the central political questions of the intellectual tradition and constitute the canon through the citation and invocation of earlier figures. It also draws attention to the rhetorical, strategic, and tactical dimensions of their political thought. The volume sets a new standard for study of African American political thought and makes a persuasive case for the tradition’s important contributions to political theory broadly. However, by tying its significance too closely to its interventions within American political thought, the volume inadvertently minimizes the global resonances of African American political thought.
Trade-Offs and Synergies of Ecosystem Services in the Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration

Since ecosystem services (ESs) have become effective tools for urban planning, spatiotemporal analysis of regional ESs and a deep understanding of the trade-offs among ESs are of great significance to regional governance. In this study, the spatial and temporal changes of four basic ESs were analyzed by combining statistical data with the InVEST model across the Pearl River Delta (PRD) urban agglomeration, China. The trade-offs among the related ESs were analyzed at the urban agglomeration scale and the city scale by correlation analysis. The results showed that: (1) Construction land increased by 6.78% from 2000 to 2018, while cultivated land and forest decreased. (2) Water yield showed an increasing trend, while carbon storage, food production, and habitat quality showed a downward trend from 2000 to 2018. (3) The four ecosystem services were significantly correlated, with synergies existing between water yield and food production, and between habitat quality and carbon storage, while other relationships are trade-offs. What is more, the scale has little influence on the direction of ES trade-off or synergy but influences the degree of the relationship. This empirical evidence on ES relationships in urban agglomerations can provide a reference for the sustainable development of ESs and efficient management of urban agglomerations.
Genetic variation and structure change when producing and using mixed‐source seed lots for restoration

Large‐scale ecological restoration efforts increasingly require large quantities of genetically diverse seeds adapted to a range of potential sites. To meet this demand, there is a growing emphasis on mixing multiple, regionally sourced source populations in production settings to produce large quantities of genetically diverse seeds. However, because few empirical studies are available, it is unclear how source population representation and genetic diversity shift through production and restoration use of mixed‐source seed lots. We used neutral genetic markers and assays of variation in seed germination requirements to investigate how genetic diversity and source population representation shift following the use of a mixed‐source seed lot to establish a seed production field and 10 restoration sites. Our mixed‐source seed lot contained 19 source populations of the perennial forb, Penstemon pachyphyllus, from six mountain ranges in the Great Basin, U.S.A. We found that, while populations from all six mountain ranges used in the mixed‐source seed lot were present in production and restoration sites, representation of each source mountain range shifted unpredictably. Populations from one mountain range were particularly overrepresented at the production site relative to its composition in the original seed mix. We also found that, despite using the same mixed‐source seed lot for production and restoration sites, resulting source population composition varied greatly, suggesting that local conditions favored some populations over others. Significant among‐population variation in seed germination requirements may, in part, explain shifts in source population representation in the production and restoration sites.
The effect of a modular art education programme on the personal-social development of preschool children

Background: It is important for children to be engaged in art activities to acquire desirable emotions and behaviours. Art education is thought to contribute to children’s development of personal and social skills, such as self-confidence and sharing.Aim: This study aims to investigate the effect of art activities on 36–48-month-old children’s personal and social development and offers suggestions for teachers and parents about art activities.Setting and Methods: The sample included 56 children from the Duzce University Pre-School (28 children in the experimental group and 28 children in the control group). Quantitative data collection techniques were used, and randomised pre-test post-test experimental design with control groups was adopted. The experimental group received 7 weeks of art education developed by the researcher as six 45 – 50 min sessions. The Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment, which was adapted to Turkish was used as the data collection instrument. Variances were defined based on the data obtained. Content differences and frequency tables were formed and interpreted.Results: Analysis of the data reveals a significant difference between the experimental and control groups’ pre-test and post-test scores.
Forest Structure Drives Fuel Moisture Response across Alternative Forest States

Climate warming is expected to increase fire frequency in many productive obligate seeder forests, where repeated high-intensity fire can initiate stand conversion to alternative states with contrasting structure. These vegetation–fire interactions may modify the direct effects of climate warming on the microclimatic conditions that control dead fuel moisture content (FMC), which regulates fire activity in these high-productivity systems. However, despite the well-established role of forest canopies in buffering microclimate, the interaction of FMC, alternative forest states and their role in vegetation–fire feedbacks remain poorly understood. We tested the hypothesis that FMC dynamics across alternative states would vary to an extent meaningful for fire and that FMC differences would be attributable to forest structural variability, with important implications for fire-vegetation feedbacks. FMC was monitored at seven alternative state forested sites that were similar in all aspects except forest type and structure, and two proximate open-weather stations across the Central Highlands in Victoria, Australia. We developed two generalised additive mixed models (GAMMs) using daily independent and autoregressive (i.e., lagged) input data to test the importance of site properties, including lidar-derived forest structure, in predicting FMC from open weather. There were distinct differences in fuel availability (days when FMC < 16%, dry enough to sustain fire) leading to positive and negative fire–vegetation feedbacks across alternative forest states. Both the independent (r2 = 0.551) and autoregressive (r2 = 0.936) models ably predicted FMC from open weather. However, substantial improvement between models when lagged inputs were included demonstrates nonindependence of the automated fuel sticks at the daily level and that understanding the effects of temporal buffering in wet forests is critical to estimating FMC. We observed significant random effects (an analogue for forest structure effects) in both models (p < 0.001), which correlated with forest density metrics such as light penetration index (LPI). This study demonstrates the importance of forest structure in estimating FMC and that across alternative forest states, differences in fuel availability drive vegetation–fire feedbacks with important implications for forest flammability.
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman microscopy of a ferroan platinum crystal from the Kondyor Massif, Russian Far East

Abstract X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy was used to study a ferroan platinum crystal from the Kondyor Massif, Russian Far East. Prior to the X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopic analyses, the nature of the crystal was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The survey scan showed mainly the presence of Pt and Fe, with smaller amounts of O and Si. The high resolutions spectra of the Pt 4f and Fe 2p showed 18.3 atom% Fe in the crystal, which puts the composition on the lower boundary for ferroan platinum and confirms earlier analyses using other methods such as Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis/microprobe. The binding energy of the Pt 4f5/2 was 74.0 eV and Pt 4f7/2 70.5 eV, while the Fe 2p3/2 for metallic Fe was observed at 707.2 eV. The Fe 2p3/2 for metallic Fe was significantly sharper than that of Fe 2p3/2 at 710.7 eV associated with surface material. The Raman spectrum was dominated by the Pt–Pt stretching mode at 253 cm−1. Changed orientation resulted in the observation of two bands at 127 and 139 cm−1, interpreted as being due to stretching modes of two Pt–Pt bonds with the third bond to Fe and Pt fixed. The presence of Ca-Fe-Al-Mg-Si-O on the surface was probably associated with the presence of a clinopyroxene. These minerals can be expected since the crystal came originally from a clinopyroxenite-dunite matrix. The spectra showed a variety of interferences, e.g. Al 2p with Pt 4f, Mg 2p with Fe 3p, and Ca 2p1/2 with Mg Auger, making exact determinations of the ratios of these elements difficult.
Humidity‐Driven Mechanical and Electrical Response of Graphene/Cloisite Hybrid Films

Humidity‐driven and electrically responsive graphene/cloisite hybrid films are obtained by casting water dispersions of graphene oxide and cloisite Na+. Coupling hydrophilicity and a high water vapor barrier in a homogenous film enables to realize humidity‐driven actuators which exploit the water gradient generated across the film section under asymmetric exposure to humidity. The hybrid films are self‐standing, flexible, and exhibit fast humidity‐triggered bidirectional bending up to 75°, which is tuned by varying the relative amount of the two components. Up to 60% of the bending angle can be preserved at the steady state, providing a large and reliable response to humidity. Moreover, thermal treatment results in the reduction of graphene oxide, endowing the films with humidity‐dependent electrical conductivity, which increases from 1.5 × 10−6 S at 20% relative humidity (RH) up to 2.7 × 10−5 S at 90% RH. The films are used to realize a humidity‐sensitive electrical switching system in which the reversible actuation is due to water desorption induced by the Joule effect. Due to their ease of preparation and tunable properties, this new class of graphene‐based materials is suitable for the realization of humidity‐driven and electrically responsive actuators and sensors.
An Interpretable Pipeline for Identifying At-Risk Students

This paper introduces a novel approach to identify at-risk students with a focus on output interpretability through analyzing learning activities at a finer granularity on a weekly basis. Specifically, this approach converts the predicted output from the former weeks into meaningful probabilities to infer the predictions in the current week for maintaining the consecutiveness among learning activities. To demonstrate the efficacy of our model in identifying at-risk students, we compare the weekly AUCs and averaged performance (i.e., accuracy, precision, recall, and f1-score) over each course with the baseline models (i.e., Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, and Decision Tree), respectively. Furthermore, we adopt a Top-K metric to examine the number of at-risk students that the model is able to identify with high precision during each week. Finally, the model output is interpreted through a model-agnostic interpretation approach to support instructors to make informed recommendations for students’ learning. The experimental results demonstrate the capability and interpretability of our model in identifying at-risk students in online learning settings. In addition to that our work also provides significant implications in building accountable machine learning pipelines that can be used to automatically generated individualized learning interventions while considering fairness between different learning groups.
SLC6A14 Impacts Cystic Fibrosis Lung Disease Severity via mTOR and Epithelial Repair Modulation

Cystic fibrosis (CF), due to pathogenic variants in CFTR gene, is associated with chronic infection/inflammation responsible for airway epithelium alteration and lung function decline. Modifier genes induce phenotype variability between people with CF (pwCF) carrying the same CFTR variants. Among these, the gene encoding for the amino acid transporter SLC6A14 has been associated with lung disease severity and age of primary airway infection by the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In this study, we investigated whether the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs3788766, located within SLC6A14 promoter, is associated with lung disease severity in a large French cohort of pwCF. We also studied the consequences of this SNP on SLC6A14 promoter activity using a luciferase reporter and the role of SLC6A14 in the mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase (mTOR) signaling pathway and airway epithelial repair. We confirm that SLC6A14 rs3788766 SNP is associated with lung disease severity in pwCF (p = 0.020; n = 3,257, pancreatic insufficient, aged 6–40 years old), with the minor allele G being deleterious. In bronchial epithelial cell lines deficient for CFTR, SLC6A14 promoter activity is reduced in the presence of the rs3788766 G allele. SLC6A14 inhibition with a specific pharmacological blocker reduced 3H-arginine transport, mTOR phosphorylation, and bronchial epithelial repair rates in wound healing assays. To conclude, our study highlights that SLC6A14 genotype might affect lung disease severity of people with cystic fibrosis via mTOR and epithelial repair mechanism modulation in the lung.
Assessment of static and dynamic balance in patients after total hip arthroplasty based on the Tinetti Test

Introduction: A degenerative disease of a hip joint (osteoarthritis) is a chronic affliction which causes progressive degeneration of a hip joint and tissue located around it. It inflicts limitation of locomotor skills, deteriorates life quality to a significant extent, and prevents a patient from normal activities in daily life. In Poland, more than 3 million people suffer from osteoarthritis. The disease symptoms are pain, limitation of mobility scope in a joint, postural and gait disorders, and positioning of a lower limb in non-functional position. The aim of the study was to analyze the gait pattern and to assess the static and dynamic balance of people qualified for hip joint arthroplasty, as well as possibility of falling.Material and methods: The Tinetti Test has been used for the research in question. This test has been completed in patients awaiting for hip joint arthroplasty, and once more on a third day upon completion of arthroplasty, in the Department and Clinic of Orthopaedics, Traumatology and Oncology of Locomotor System of the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin. This test has included a group of 31 – 11 women and 20 men.Results: The mean age of the research group was 65.1 years. The intensity of pain in the hip joint, based on the VAS scale before and after the procedure, was 6.53 and 5.22 points, respectively. The average number of points obtained by the patient in the Tinetti Test before the surgery was 22.71 points. On the third day of hip surgery, the mean number of points decreased to 18.81 points.Conclusions: Patients treated with alloplastic surgery of a hip joint show lower static and dynamic balance. Upon completion of the surgery, the patients are more prone to fall. The patients with completed hip joint arthroplasty show symptoms of locomotor system disorders.