Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Selection for salt and drought tolerance in protoplast- and explant-derived tissue cultures of Colt cherry (Prunus avium x pseudocerasus).

Colt cherry (Prunus avium x pseudocerasus) callus cultures were derived from leaf protoplasts, protoplasts of root cell suspension cultures, or by direct culture of leaf and root tissues. Survival of calli cultured on basal proliferation medium containing 25, 50, 100 or 200 mN (millinormal) NaCl, Na(2)SO(4) or KCl, or iso-osmotic (with NaCl) concentrations of mannitol ranged from 1 to 15%. After six transfers on the same medium, surviving cell lines were subjected to three cycles of direct recurrent selection; i.e., in each cycle, they were cultured alternately on basal proliferation medium, and on basal proliferation medium supplemented with NaCl, KCl, Na(2)SO(4) or mannitol. Salt- or mannitol-tolerant cell lines selected in this way had smaller cells than unselected cell lines, and they grew more rapidly and had higher callus and cell survival rates than unselected cell lines when cultured in the presence of salt or mannitol. Cells lines selected for tolerance to one agent (sodium salt, potassium salt or mannitol) showed minimal tolerance to another agent. However, when plants were regenerated from salt- or mannitol-tolerant callus and new cultures derived from them, the new cultures showed tolerance to all of the salts and mannitol. Plant regeneration from the new cultures was not achieved under the conditions that led to the regeneration of the parent plants from callus.
Member Checking

The trustworthiness of results is the bedrock of high quality qualitative research. Member checking, also known as participant or respondent validation, is a technique for exploring the credibility of results. Data or results are returned to participants to check for accuracy and resonance with their experiences. Member checking is often mentioned as one in a list of validation techniques. This simplistic reporting might not acknowledge the value of using the method, nor its juxtaposition with the interpretative stance of qualitative research. In this commentary, we critique how member checking has been used in published research, before describing and evaluating an innovative in-depth member checking technique, Synthesized Member Checking. The method was used in a study with patients diagnosed with melanoma. Synthesized Member Checking addresses the co-constructed nature of knowledge by providing participants with the opportunity to engage with, and add to, interview and interpreted data, several months after their semi-structured interview.
Epidemiology of Vasomotor Rhinitis

Vasomotor rhinitis is the most common form of nonallergic rhinitis, comprising approximately 71% of all nonallergic rhinitis conditions. Although the epidemiology of this subtype of nonallergic rhinitis has not been definitively studied, it is estimated that 14 million Americans suffer from vasomotor rhinitis, with a worldwide prevalence approaching 320 million.
A New Keynesian analysis of industrial employment fluctuations

This paper describes a model with sticky prices, search frictions and hours-clearing wages that provides firm differentiation across several dimensions: price, output, wage, employment and hours per worker. The connection between pricing and hiring decisions results in firm-level employment fluctuations that depend upon sticky prices, search costs, demand elasticity and labor supply elasticity. The calibrated model is able to match average US industrial employment volatility when assuming a small industrial size, providing one possible answer to Shimer (2005a)´s puzzle.
Is There an 'Interest Rate - Speculation' Relationship? Evidence from G7 in the Pre- and Post-2008 Crisis

The article revisits the IS-LM macroeconomic model by incorporating speculation into the investment function. The discussion is supported empirically by using data from the G7 countries to examine the different interest rate regimes in the pre- and post-2008 financial crisis. The estimation of an ‘anchor’ interest rate provides a reference rate for the G7 countries. The empirical study is extended to examine if the three quantitative easing (QE) episodes in the U.S. are growth promoting. The article concludes that the maintenance of a high and stable interest rate policy is needed for sustainable growth in the G7 countries.
Anticipating agoraphobic situations: the neural correlates of panic disorder with agoraphobia

Background Panic disorder with agoraphobia is characterized by panic attacks and anxiety in situations where escape might be difficult. However, neuroimaging studies specifically focusing on agoraphobia are rare. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with disorder-specific stimuli to investigate the neural substrates of agoraphobia. Method We compared the neural activations of 72 patients suffering from panic disorder with agoraphobia with 72 matched healthy control subjects in a 3-T fMRI study. To isolate agoraphobia-specific alterations we tested the effects of the anticipation and perception of an agoraphobia-specific stimulus set. During fMRI, 48 agoraphobia-specific and 48 neutral pictures were randomly presented with and without anticipatory stimulus indicating the content of the subsequent pictures (Westphal paradigm). Results During the anticipation of agoraphobia-specific pictures, stronger activations were found in the bilateral ventral striatum and left insula in patients compared with controls. There were no group differences during the perception phase of agoraphobia-specific pictures. Conclusions This study revealed stronger region-specific activations in patients suffering from panic disorder with agoraphobia in anticipation of agoraphobia-specific stimuli. Patients seem to process these stimuli more intensively based on individual salience. Hyperactivation of the ventral striatum and insula when anticipating agoraphobia-specific situations might be a central neurofunctional correlate of agoraphobia. Knowledge about the neural correlates of anticipatory and perceptual processes regarding agoraphobic situations will help to optimize and evaluate treatments, such as exposure therapy, in patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia.
Severe lupus nephritis: the predictive value of a ≥ 50% reduction in proteinuria at 6 months.

BACKGROUND A complete remission (CR) in severe lupus nephritis (SLN) is associated with a favorable long-term outcome. Initial therapy may be up to 6 months, but many patients do not achieve a CR until after 12 months. We assess the value of a ≥50% reduction in proteinuria (UPro) at 6 months in predicting the outcome in SLN patients. METHODS We evaluated the 86 adult patients in the prospective, controlled trial of plasmapheresis (PP) in SLN (NEJM 1992). Patients with a CR (n = 12), end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or death (n = 13) at ≤6 months were excluded. The remaining 61 patients were categorized into two groups based on having attained a ≥50% reduction in UPro at 6 months: (yes) 34 patients and (no) 27 patients. The long-term outcomes were compared. A CR was defined by a serum creatinine (SCr) of ≤1.4 mg/dL and UPro of ≤0.33 g/day. RESULTS Baseline features were similar, but the UPro was higher (7.1 ± 3.6 versus 4.6 ± 3.2, P 0.002) in the group with a ≥50% reduction in UPro at 6 months. At follow-up, a CR was attained in 56% of patients with a ≥50% reduction in UPro at 6 months compared with 22% (P = 0.009) in the group without. The 15-year renal survival (71 versus 25%, P = 0.005) and patient survival without ESRD (66 versus 18%, P = 0.004) was greatest in the patients with a ≥50% reduction in UPro at 6 months. CONCLUSION A ≥50% reduction in UPro at 6 months predicts a favorable outcome in SLN.
Sustainability of Service Sector Growth in Goa

The present study, attempts to analyse the growth and sustainability of the service sector of Goa’s economy, a sector that generates nearly 50 per cent of the state income in real terms and has over 50 per cent of its workforce employed. The basic research question is whether the service sector led growth pattern in Goa is sustainable in the long run, given the fact that services growth in Goa was driven by government services during its pre-statehood period i.e., from 1970-71 to 1986-87 and by tourism-related consumer services like trade, hotel and restaurant services, during the post-statehood i.e., from 1987-88 to 2003-04. The Granger Causality (GC) test findings indicate that the service sector can sustain its growth momentum, through its sub-sectoral and intra-sectoral linkages.
Helical CT with only colonic contrast material for diagnosing diverticulitis: prospective evaluation of 150 patients.

OBJECTIVE We prospectively evaluated a helical CT technique in which contrast material is administered only through the colon for the imaging of suspected diverticulitis. SUBJECTS AND METHODS One hundred fifty consecutive patients who presented to our emergency department with clinically suspected diverticulitis underwent helical abdominal CT after contrast material was administered only through the colon. CT findings of diverticulitis included diverticula, muscular wall hypertrophy, focal colonic wall thickening, and pericolonic fat stranding. CT results were correlated with clinical follow-up (all patients) and with pathologic findings (41 patients). RESULTS A final clinical diagnosis of diverticulitis was made in 64 patients (43%), of whom 62 (97%) had CT results positive for diverticulitis. Of the 86 patients for whom diverticulitis was clinically excluded, all (100%) had CT results that were negative for diverticulitis. CT interpretations had a sensitivity of 97%, a specificity of 100%, a positive predictive value of 100%, a negative predictive value of 98%, and an overall accuracy of 99%. Alternative diagnoses were noted on CT in 50 (58%) of 86 patients who did not have diverticulitis and included 50 (78%) of the 64 patients in whom an alternative condition other than nonspecific abdominal pain was established. CONCLUSION Helical CT obtained after contrast material administered only through the colon is accurate (99%) for confirming or excluding clinically suspected diverticulitis and for suggesting alternative conditions (78%) when they are present. This CT technique avoids the risks, discomforts, and costs of oral and i.v. contrast material administration and allows immediate scanning.
In between the lines of the Primary language curriculum: teacher involvement in the process of curriculum change

In Between the Lines of the Primary Language Curriculum: Teacher Involvement in the Process of Curriculum Change The process of curriculum change and reform can be challenging and complex. It is an area which is often neglected both in educational scholarship and contemporary debate, particularly within the Irish context. This is despite the fact that curriculum change is a fundamental aspect of curriculum development, which can have significant repercussions for the education sector. This study investigates the dissemination of the Primary Language Curriculum to gain an insight into a critical and contemporary period of curriculum change in Ireland. This social constructivist study adopts a case study approach to examine the perceptions and experiences of teachers during this process of dissemination. Through conducting surveys, focus groups and interviews, this study highlights teacher involvement in the process of curriculum change. This study found that although teachers were represented during the design and development of this curriculum, there was a lack of awareness surrounding the consultation which took place and the majority of teachers did not participate in this process. This study found that there was also a lack of awareness amongst teachers about the nature of this curriculum change both prior to and during the dissemination of the Primary Language Curriculum. Although the majority of participants felt that it was necessary to change the existing curriculum, there was evidence of resistance to change and uncertainty about the forthcoming changes amongst a cohort of teachers. This study also found that many principals were dissatisfied with aspects of the initial continuous professional development which they received and this study attributed a number of factors to this. Lastly, this study found that the amendment which was made to Circular 61/2015, which allowed greater time for the planned implementation process, had a positive influence on the dissemination of the Primary Language Curriculum and was indicative of effective communication between the external and internal stakeholders of the curriculum. This study includes a range of recommendations relating to curriculum consultations, awareness-raising, professional development, the role of principals in curriculum reforms and teacher engagement in curriculum change, which, if followed, could have a positive impact on future efforts to implement new curricula in primary schools in Ireland.
Pulsed Field Magnetization Properties of Bulk RE-Ba-Cu-O as Pole-Field Magnets for HTS Rotating Machines

Aiming at exploiting the high trapped field ability of bulk high-temperature RE-Ba-Cu-O (RE: rare-earth elements) superconductors, a brushless axial-gap type superconducting synchronous motor has been successfully developed as a technology demonstrator using eight melt-textured GdBa2Cu3Oy (Gd-123) bulks as pole-field magnets. An output power of 10 kW at 720 rpm was realized by an average trapped field peak of 0.56 T reaching the armature coils, under a pulsed field excitation at the liquid nitrogen temperature. For such motors, to improve the trapped flux of bulks is a direct way to enhance the motor performance. In order to obtain a high trapped flux density with a regular shape for a high performance motor utilization, the pulsed field magnetization (PFM) properties of two kinds of bulk superconductors have been investigated. By a reasonable multi-PFM process with a pair of vortex-type pulsed coils, it was found that the multi-seed Y-Ba-Cu-O bulk can bring a high average trapped field, while the single-grain Gd-Ba-Cu-O bulk under a size-adjustable pulsed coil can obtain a very regular trapped field distribution. These results will be useful to the following optimization of the rotating machine system.
Comparative susceptibility of newborn and young rats to six industrial chemicals

ABSTRACT To elucidate the comparative susceptibility of newborn rats to chemicals, newborn and young animals were administered six industrial chemicals by gavage from postnatal days (PND) 4 to 21, and for 28 days starting at 5–6 weeks of age respectively, under the same experimental conditions as far as possible. As two new toxicity endpoints specific to this comparative analysis, presumed no‐observed‐adverse‐effect‐levels (pNOAELs) were estimated based on results of both main and dose‐finding studies, and presumed unequivocally toxic levels (pUETLs) were also decided. pNOAELs for newborn and young rats were 40 and 200 for 2‐chlorophenol, 100 and 100 for 4‐chlorophenol, 30 and 100 for p‐(α,α‐dimethylbenzyl) phenol, 100 and 40 for (hydroxyphenyl)methyl phenol, 60 and 12 for trityl chloride, and 100 and 300 mg/kg/day for 1,3,5‐trihydroxybenezene, respectively. To determine pUETLs, dose ranges were adopted in several cases because of the limited results of experimental doses. Values for newborn and young rats were thus estimated as 200–250 and 1000 for 2‐chlorophenol, 300 and 500 for 4‐chlorophenol, 300 and 700–800 for p‐(α,α‐dimethylbenzyl) phenol, 140–160 and 1000 for (hydroxyphenyl)methyl phenol, 400–500 and 300 for trityl chloride, and 500 and 1000 mg/kg/day for 1,3,5‐trihydroxybenzene, respectively. In most cases, newborn rats were 2–5 times more susceptible than young rats in terms of both the pNOAEL and the pUETL. An exception was that young rats were clearly more susceptible than their newborn counterparts for trityl chloride.
Employment experiences of older nurses and midwives in the NHS.

AIM To examine the employment experiences of older nurses and midwives working in the NHS. METHOD A total of 27 semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with nurses and midwives to identify positive and negative aspects of their working lives in the NHS. The interviewees were selected from a potential pool of 87 nurses and midwives who had consented to be involved in an earlier part of the study. Data were analysed using QSR NVivo 7.0. FINDINGS Positive and negative issues were identified as having an impact on the quality of working life. These included: access to training, change and Agenda for Change (AfC), quality of management, work demands, patient/colleague contact and nursing and midwifery as a career. CONCLUSION This study highlighted a number of issues relevant to older nurses and midwives that warrant further study and attention. These include access to training and continuing professional development, issues relating to change and AfC, and general work demands including workload, resources and morale. The ability of staff to remain healthy, committed and able to deliver quality care can be compromised in cases where the staff experience is negative.
Control strategy of optimal distribution of feet forces for quadruped robots based on virtual model

In order to improve the dynamic walking performance of quadruped robot, a control method of optimizing feet forces distribution based on virtual model is proposed. In the supporting phase, the virtual model control method is applied to solve the virtual force of the torso. Combined with the gravity of the center of mass (CoM), the distribution problem between the virtual force of the CoM and the feet forces of the supporting legs is transformed into a quadratic programming (QP) problem, which is solved by Gurobi to realize the optimal distribution of the feet forces. Similarly, the virtual force of the swinging leg is solved by using the virtual model, and the joints torques of the robot’s swinging legs are obtained by combining the inverse dynamics feedforward of the swinging legs. Through the simulation of quadruped robot’s trot gait walking by webots and vs2019, it is verified that this method can stabilize the robot’s attitude angles and body speeds near the target values. Compared with the feet forces distribution method that abandons the lateral force control, the application of this method makes the fluctuation range of the attitude angles of the robot and the ground reaction forces (GRFs) of the supporting legs smaller. It is proved that this control method can effectively improve the walking stability and robustness of the quadruped robot.
Financing Channels and Monetary Policy in a Dual Banking System: Evidence from Islamic Banks in Indonesia

Using Indonesian Islamic banking data from 2003 to 2014, this article employs a panel regression methodology to investigate the responses of Islamic banks to changes in financing rates and monetary policy, which may differ depending on their characteristics. The results suggest that the financing rate has a negative impact on financing at Islamic banks, while bank‐specific characteristics have a positive influence on it. The size and amount of capital have a greater impact than liquidity on financing at Islamic banks. However, changes in monetary policy are insignificant on bank financing, which implies that the transmission of monetary policy through the Islamic segment of the banking sector is weak. Furthermore, the weak impact of monetary policy on bank financing can be explained by the dramatic expansion of Islamic banks during the sample period, which contributed to a substantial increase in deposit growth and a high liquidity position.
The structure and diversity of vegetation treelets of tropical mountain forest on mount Bawakaraeng

The study about the diversity and structure of treelet vegetation in three slope areas on the mountainous forest of mount Bawakaraeng, Regency of Gowa, Province of South Sulawesi had been done. There were 17 species of treelets throughout the study area, from 13 families and 16 genera. The Asteraceae family has the highest number of species with 3 species, followed by Fabaceae and Solanaceae which each has 2 species. Pteridium aquilinum, Chromolaena odorata, Breynia oblongifolia, and Pogostemon cablin are the species with the highest important value index. The number of treelet species ranges from 15-16. Treelet species were mostly found in the flat slope area. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H’) ranges from 2,033-2,161 and was found to be highest on steep slopes and lowest on flat slopes. The H’ has the same tendency as Simpson’s Diversity Index and Evenness Index of Pielou (E) and reverse relationship with Simpson’s Dominance Index.
Strategic Innovation and Consumer Preferences: An Analysis of Malaysian Hybrid Car Policy

This study analyzes the role of consumer choice in determining a strategic innovation policy. We establish an international Bertrand duopoly and conduct a choice modelling technique. The theoretical finding shows that an increase in investment in hybrid technology innovation increases the demand for hybrid cars. However, the empirical results show that consumers do not appreciate all attributes, only the hybrid battery, CO2 emission level and the sound of hybrid engines. We suggest that the government focus on the significant attributes in order to force not only the domestic automobile firm to innovate but the vendors as well.
Passive Multirate Wave Communications for Haptic Interaction in Slow Virtual Environments

Haptic interaction in slow virtual environments (VEs) can become unstable due to the phase lag introduced in the control loop by the slow update rate of the VE. Increasing the physical damping and/or limiting the contact stiffness rendered to users can mitigate the destabilizing effect of the low VE update rate. However, large physical damping and compliant virtual contacts decrease the sense of presence in VEs, especially during interaction with rigid virtual objects. To increase the maximum virtual contact stiffness that can be rendered to users without increasing the interface damping, this paper proposes a control strategy based on multirate wave communications between a haptic interface and a VE updated at a slow and fixed rate. The multirate wave communications are shown to be guaranteed passive only if the decrease of the wave sampling rate at the connection between the haptic interface and the VE does not cause aliasing. Therefore, an antialiasing low-pass filter is placed before the wave rate drop in the communications. The passivity condition is verified analytically and numerically for multirate haptic interaction in VEs with various contact stiffnesses and update rates. The transparency of haptic interaction in slow VEs to which users connect via passive multirate wave communications is investigated analytically in the frequency domain. Experiments validate that passive multirate wave communications can render stiffer contact in slow VEs than conventional direct coupling, and illustrate the destabilizing effect of the aliasing caused by the sampling rate drop in the communications.
Investigations on transparent scatterers for the control of near-field levels

A numerical approach based on the Volume Electric Field Integral Equation is presented for investigating the permittivity profile of dielectric scatterers able to synthesize a determined near-field distribution. Starting from the cloaking design approaches available in the literature, in this paper, the main concept is to mathematically postulate the field in certain regions (i.e., cloaked and coating areas) and imposing unperturbed field lines for all the external observers positioned in the near-field zone. The general mathematical framework is presented with a Contrast-Field (CF) formulation and some numerical examples are given.