Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mycorrhizal fungi status in organic farms of south Florida

In the recent years, low input agriculture has gained high popularity and there is an emerging body of literature on the role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in organic farming and its potential use in low input agriculture systems. This study was conducted to analyse mycorrhizal status of several 31 different plants in organically managed farms in south Florida: organic farm at the Florida International University and the organic fruit, farm Possum Trot. Rhizosphere soil was analysed for mycorrhizal spores and soil nutrients, and plant roots were analysed for mycorrhizal colonization status. Possum Trot, which is a less disturbed site, had higher mycorrhizal spore density in the soil as compared to the organic farm at the Florida International University, which gets highly disturbed with student activities. However, plants at the Florida International University organic farm had higher degree of mycorrhizal colonization in the roots. Of the 31-plant species analysed, Cymbopogen nardus had highest root colonization (75%), while Spinacia oleracea had no signs of mycorhrizal colonization in the roots. Surprisingly, although very low, arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization was observed in roots of Eruca sativa and Chrysophyllum cainito which are normally reported as non-host plants of mycorrhizal fungi. Arbuscular mycorrhizal spore density showed a negative correlation with soil N, while it had a positive correlation with soil P. Though spores of Glomus, Gigaspora, Acaulospora and Scutellospora were found in our study. Glomus were the dominant genera in the rhizosphere of plants grown in the organic farms. Our results indicate that disturbance did not have much impact on the mycorrhizal colonization in the roots, but did have an impact on the rhizosphere spore density. The high occurrence of mycorrhizal fungi in the organic farms of south Florida and potential for the use in organic farm management is discussed.
A framework for the investigation of shared memory systems

The behavior of programs running on a shared memory computer system is defined by the memory consistency model of its architecture. Since the consistency model does not only define behavior but inherently limits the efficiency of the memory system, research on memory models is still ongoing. There are several difficulties with the formulation of existing memory models. Different models use a different notation for operations with the same semantics, and similar synchronization primitives have different semantics. Also, there is no distinction between properties that hold for all memory models and properties that are model-specific. We propose a formalism that uses the same notation for all memory models, that has a unified set of synchronization primitives and that clearly separates general and model-specific properties. This facilitates the classification and comparison of different consistency models.
Effect of different levels of Salinity on growth and photosynthetic pigments of Wheat Plants (Triticum aestivum L. Var. Raj- 3765).

Plant growth is the result of many integrated and regulated physiological processes. Salinity, which is one of the major abiotic stresses, causes alterations in a wide range of physiological, biochemical and molecular processes in plants. It decreases plant growth and yield, depending on the plant species, salinity levels and ionic composition of the salts. In this study, Triticum aestivum L. var. Raj-3765 was selected as the test species. Six different levels of salinity were maintained to conduct the experiment for finding out level of tolerance of salinity by this crop plant. Salinity levels were prepared by adding different concentrations of Saline water (SW) and double distilled water (DW). The best growth of this crop plant was observed at level 2 i.e. SW: DW: 10:90.
Transport Phenomena of CVD Few-Layer MoS2 As-grown on an Al2O3 Substrate

ii Dedication . iv Acknowledgments. v Vita . vi List of Figures . viii Chapter 1: Introduction . 1 Chapter 2: Device Synthesis . 4 Chapter 3: Test Environment . 11 Chapter 4: Analytical Method . 13 Chapter 5: Results and Discussion . 16 AC Conductance Analysis . 16 DC Conductance Analysis . 21 Chapter 6: Conclusion. 48 References . 50
Hardness-Based Non-destructive Method for Developing Location Specific S-N Curves for Fatigue Life Evaluation

This paper first describes the importance of using location specific S-N curves for fatigue damage assessment of existing steel structures. It discusses the existing concepts and methods for developing S-N curves using empirical formulae and monotonic strength parameters, such as the ultimate tensile strength and hardness. It also discusses relationships among these monotonic parameters. Then it presents formulae for developing hardness-based full range S-N curves for medium strength steels. The formulae are verified using experimental data obtained from both monotonic and cyclic testing. Finally, it describes the advantages of these hardness-based formulae for developing location specific S-N curves as hardness testing is a non-destructive test which can be carried out on specific locations in structures.
An Analysis of Science Textbooks for Grade 6: The Electric Circuit Lesson.

Textbooks are a major tool in the teaching and learning process. This paper presents the results of an analysis of the Finnish and Thai 6th grade science textbooks: electric circuit lesson. Textual and pictorial information from the textbooks were analyzed under four main categories: 1) introduction of the concepts, 2) type of knowledge, 3) representations, and 4) contexts. The analysis revealed that the Thai textbook emphasized procedural knowledge, while conceptual knowledge was emphasized mostly in Finnish textbook. Physics concepts are introduced typically through describing the relation between the new and earlier introduced concepts. Both textbooks employed rather traditional contexts, such as technical applications, technology in society, and the ideal context.
The Effect of Back Pain on Quality of Life, Sleep Quality and Depression in Patients with Postmenopausal Osteoporosis

Amaç: Bu çalışma, postmenopozal osteoporozlu hastalarda sırt ağrısının uyku kalitesi, yaşam kalitesi ve depresyon üzerine etkilerini değerlendirmeyi amaçladı. Ayrıca biz kemik mineral yoğunluğunu (KMY) ile bu değişkenlerin ilişkilerini de değerlendirdik. Gereç ve Yöntem: Araştırmaya postmenopozal osteoporoz tanısı alan 105 hasta dahil edildi. Hastalar Avrupa Osteoporoz Derneği Yaşam Kalitesi Anketi (QUALEFO-41), Beck Depresyon Ölçeği (BDÖ) ve Pittsburgh Uyku Kalite İndeksi (PUKİ) ile değerlendirildi. Sırt ağrısının şiddeti Görsel Anolog Ölçek (VAS) kullanılarak değerlendirildi. Bulgular: Hastaların yaş aralığı 46 ile 75 arasında olup ortalama 61,16±7,59 idi. Ağrı skorları arttıkça depresyon skorları da artmakta ve uyku kalitesi ve yaşam kalitesi kötüleşmekteydi (p<0,01). Depresyon, uyku kalitesi ve yaşam kalitesi arasında güçlü pozitif korelasyon vardı (p<0,01). Ancak Lomber vertebra (L1-L4) T-skorları ve L1-L4 BMD değerleri ile VAS, toplam PUKİ skoru, QUALEFO-41 toplam skoru ve BDÖ skorları arasında korelasyon bulamadık. Sonuç: Postmenopozal osteoporozlu hastalarda yüksek ağrı skorları düşük uyku ve yaşam kalitesi ve depresyon ile ilişkili olabilir. Depresyon, uyku bozukluğu ve düşük yaşam kalitesi birbirini etkileyebilir. Postmenopozal osteoporozlu hastalarda temel tedavinin yanında sık bir yakınma olan sırt ağrısının tedavi edilmesi, uyku ve yaşam kalitesi ve depresyon üzerinde olumlu sonuçlar sağlayabilir. (Türk Osteoporoz Dergisi 2014;20: 6-9) Anah tar ke li me ler: Ağrı, depresyon, postmenopozal osteoporoz, uyku kalitesi, yaşam kalitesi The Effect of Back Pain on Quality of Life, Sleep Quality and Depression in Patients with Postmenopausal Osteoporosis
Adding Dynamicity to the Uncertainty that Characterizes Distributed Systems: Challenges Ahead

The uncertainties inherent to distributed systems, such as unpredictable message delays and process failures, gave place to a great research effort in the past, where numerous solutions to fault-tolerance mechanisms have been proposed with a variety of guarantees and underlying system assumptions. The advent of new classes of distributed system applications (such as social networks, security, smart objects sharing etc) and technologies (VANET, WiMax, Airborn Networks, DoD Global Information Grid, P2P) are radically changing the way in which distributed systems are perceived. Such emerging systems have a composition, in term processes participating to the system, that is self-defined at run time depending, for example, on their will to belong to such a system, on the geographical distribution of processes etc. In this paper, we point to some of the challenges that have to be addressed by fault-tolerance solutions in the light of such a new dynamicity dimension, and that will motivate our future collaborative work.
ONSET OF THE MUTUAL THERMAL EFFECTS OF SOLID BODY AND NANOFLUID FLOW OVER A FLAT PLATE THEORETICAL STUDY

The falling and settling of solid particles in gases and liquids is a natural phenomenon happens in many industrial processes. This phenomenon has altered pure forced convection to a combination of heat conduction and heat convection in a flow over a plate. In this paper, the coupling of conduction (inside the plate) and forced convection of a non-homogeneous nanofluid flow (over a flat plate) is investigated, which is classified in conjugate heat transfer problems. Two-component four-equation non-homogeneous equilibrium model for convective transport in nanofluids (mixture of water with particles<100nm) has been applied that incorporates the effects of the nanoparticles migration due to the thermophoresis and Brownian motion forces. Employing similarity variables, we have transformed the basic non-dimensional partial differential equations to ordinary differential ones and then solved numerically. Moreover, variation of the heat transfer and concentration rates with thermal resistance of the plate is studied in detail. Setting the lowest dependency of heat transfer rate to the thermal resistance of the plate as a goal, we have shown that for two nanofluids with similar heat transfer characteristics, the one with higher Brownian motion (lower nanoparticle diameter) is desired.
A MODAL APPROACH FOR THE GYROSCOPIC QUADRATIC EIGENVALUE PROBLEM

The Automated Multi-Level Substructuring (AMLS) has been developed to reduce the computational demands of frequency response analysis. AMLS automatically divides a large finite element model into many substructures on a number of levels based on the sparsity structure of the system matrices. Assuming that the interior degrees of freedom depend quasistatically on the interface degrees of freedom, and modeling the de- viation from quasistatic dependence in terms of a small number of selected substructure eigenmodes the size of the finite element model is reduced substantially. In this paper we consider conservative gyroscopic eigenvalue problems. The original AMLS method ne- glects the gyroscopic effects. We generalize the AMLS approach taking advantage of the fact that for gyroscopic problems there exists a basis of eigenvectors which can be used when modeling the deviation from quasistatic behaviour. In both cases the resulting quadratic eigenproblem is still very large. We suggest to solve it by the nonlinear Arnoldi method taking advantage of the minmax characterization of its eigenvalues.
Defining the molecular interactions between the formin Bnr1 and its regulators Smy1 and Bud14

The polarization of eukaryotic cells often relies upon the dynamic assembly and turnover of filamentous actin (F-actin). In the budding yeast S. cerevisiae, this is accomplished through the well-regulated activities of the formins Bnr1 and Bni1. These proteins polymerize F-actin from actin monomers and incorporate the resulting filaments into actin cables used for polarized secretory traffic. The formin homology (FH2) domain of formins directly nucleates actin filament “seeds” and then elongates filaments that can be organized into cables with specific architectures. Several regulators of Bnr1 are used by cells to control the length and shape of their actin cables, including the negative regulators Bud14 and Smy1. However, the complete mechanism by which these factors mediate the inhibition of Bnr1 and serve to govern cable growth and architecture has yet to be illuminated. In this thesis, I describe my work done to map the surfaces of Bnr1 necessary for interactions with its regulators Bud14 and Smy1 through mutational analysis of the Bnr1 FH2 domain. I first tested the ability of Bnr1 FH2 mutants to assemble actin filaments in the presence of the inhibitors Smy1 or Bud14, and found several refractive alleles of Bnr1. I then integrated one such allele at the genomic BNR1 locus to study the effects of the mutation on in vivo actin cable dynamics, thus shedding light on the importance of Bnr1 regulation by Smy1 and Bud14 in cells.
Knowledge NetworksA Social Network Analysis of Dissertation Subjects

This paper presents a social network analysis of the subject areas of tourism dissertations in North America based on the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses-Full text database (1994-2008). This study demonstrates the openness and vibrancy of the tourism field from a network perspective. The longitudinal examinations revealed a U-shape pattern in the structural evolution of the knowledge network in tourism research. 21 key subjects were identified as the anchors of the dynamic tourism knowledge system, and their associations with each other were also examined. In addition, this article discusses the relations between the major subject areas and the faculty program distributions of doctoral tourism research at North American institutions.
TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS ON THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF HIGH RATE TEACHER-TURNOVER OF MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE TEACHERS IN RURAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS - A CASE STUDY OF NKAYI DISTRICT

It is an indisputable fact that expert teachers are perhaps the most fundamental resource for improving student learning. Therefore, the need for the retention of qualified teachers particularly in specialist areas cannot be overemphasized. In many developing countries, Zimbabwe included, teacher turn-over has been a problem especially since the outbreak of HIV/AIDS where during the early 1990s, a large number of professionals, teachers included, succumbed to the epidemic in large numbers. Other factors like retirement and resignations have also played a role towards teacher turn-over. However, the most common form of teacher turn-over is whereby qualified teachers leave poor rural schools to better schools particularly in urban areas. Thus, most rural schools fail to attract qualified mathematics and science teachers and resort to using the unqualified and under qualified teachers thereby creating a dilemma, where the least prepared teachers teach the most educationally vulnerable children. As a result, the pass rate of pupils in rural secondary schools at public examinations, particularly in mathematics and science is consistently low. This study draws on a quantitative inquiry to investigate teachers' perceptions on the causes of high-turnover of mathematics and science teachers from rural secondary schools in Zimbabwean secondary schools. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. The target population comprised all secondary school teachers from Nkayi District in Matabeland North Province. The sample consisted of 120 teachers randomly sampled. All the information was collected through a questionnaire which largely had close-ended questions and two open-ended questions. The study revealed that the majority of teachers felt that poor conditions of service forced many mathematics and science teachers to leave rural secondary schools if not the teaching profession altogether. The high teacher turn over caused high failure rates in mathematics and science in the rural secondary schools. The study recommends that Government should allocate more resources to rural schools in order to improve the working conditions of teachers. The study also recommends that there should be a specific rural allowance for mathematics and science teachers to attract and retain more expert teachers in these subject areas.
The minimum labelling spanning tree problem is formally defined as follows : MLST problem : Given a labelled graph

This paper studies heuristics for the minimum labelling spanning tree (MLST) problem. The purpose is to find a spanning tree using edges that are as similar as possible. Given an undirected labelled connected graph, the minimum labelling spanning tree problem seeks a spanning tree whose edges have the smallest number of distinct labels. This problem has been shown to be NP-complete. A Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP) and different versions of Variable Neighbourhood Search (VNS) are proposed. They are compared with other algorithms recommended in the literature: the Modified Genetic Algorithm and the Pilot Method. Nonparametric statistical tests show that the heuristics based on GRASP and VNS outperform the other algorithms tested. Furthermore, a comparison with the results provided by an exact approach shows that we may quickly obtain optimal or near-optimal solutions with the proposed heuristics.
Fate of Notochord Cells in Murine Models of Injury and Ageinduced Intervertebral Disc Degeneration

The first manifestations of low back pain are thought to be the result of degeneration of the intervertebral disc (IVD). There is surprisingly little known regarding the cellular composition and function of specific cell types within the nucleus pulposus (NP) of the IVD, particularly in models of degeneration. High-frequency, low-amplitude whole body vibration (WBV) is a form of mechanical stimuli that is currently used to treat a wide range of musculoskeletal disorders including osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and back pain. Recent data from the S-Lab using a mouse model demonstrated that daily exposure to WBV results in degenerative changes to the intervertebral discs of the spine. Furthermore, the composition of the human NP changes with age; however, to date, no studies have been conducted to examine the origins of NP cells in older mice. To determine the fate of notochord cells in murine models of injuryand age-induced intervertebral disc degeneration, histological examination and molecular analysis were used to characterize the extent of degeneration and cell type. This study aims to better assess the changes in cellular composition of the IVD in response to injury and age, an important consideration in targeted therapeutic strategies to treat IVD degeneration and back pain. Background Low back pain is the second most common chronic condition in industrialized countries, with a lifetime prevalence of up to 84% (1). While the etiology of low back pain remains unknown, the first manifestations are thought to be a result of degeneration of the intervertebral disc (2). The physiological functions of the IVD include mechanical stabilization of the spine, load bearing during axial compression, and providing flexibility
Sacramento Assessment Center: A Comprehensive Multi-Perspective Model for Effective Assessment of Juvenile Offenders

The Sacramento Assessment Center is a residential-based assessment service utilized by the Juvenile Justice system in Sacramento County, California. This service utilizes a multi-dimensional approach to assessment, looking closely at ten different areas of functioning, including psychological, psychiatric, criminological, substance use, educational, occupational, recreational, social attachment, medical, and placement adjustment. The paper describes both the rational for and the process of this assessment, exploring the personnel and tools required to produce this level of service to adjudicated youth. The general conclusion is that an extensive, multi-dimensional assessment is an important service to render, in order to identify criminological needs, specify appropriate placement and services, and thus make the most efficient use of limited resources available to serve this population and lower recidivism rates.
Psychological support for people with dementia : a preliminary study

Aim/Purpose: Evidence suggests nonpharmacological therapies could improve quality of life in people with Alzheimer’s disease (Olazaran et al.,2010). This study aimed to explore attitudes to, and acceptability of,psychological support for people with mild dementia, from their perspective. Design/Methodology: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five people identified from secondary care services. Questions concerned the experience of being diagnosed, experience of support services and their opinion of alternative support options. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Results/Findings: Three main themes were identified: loss, coping mechanisms and support. Loss of physical abilities was associated with loss of identity and place in the community. Coping mechanisms included asserting control, and growth and development, including engaging in new activities or using humour. Individual needs and preferences were key to effective support. Social aspects of support and opportunities to talk about their feelings were valued by participants. Counselling, mindfulness and group-based activities, including walking and gardening, were viewed positively. Support from admiral nurses or specialist nurses tended to be viewed in terms of physical health needs, and most needed in later stages of dementia. Research Limitations: Limitations include the small sample size, potential inaccuracies acknowledged by participants regarding recollections of events and researcher bias in hoping that psychological support would be well received. Conclusions/Implications: Talking therapies and psychosocial interventions are acceptable sources of support. Person-centred support which considers personal preferences and abilities can support people to live well with dementia.
Moist-soil Plant Seed Production for Waterfowl at Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, Illinois

Abstract The Illinois River Valley (IRV) is a critical ecoregion for migratory waterfowl. Significant wetland loss occurred in this region in the early 20th Century, and remaining wetlands are subject to additional degradation via sedimentation, summer flooding from the Illinois River and invasive species. Managed moist-soil wetlands may provide quality foraging habitat for migrating waterfowl, but contemporary estimates of seed production and carrying capacity do not exist for the IRV. We evaluated seed production and carrying capacity of a 931-ha moist-soil wetland at Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge in central Illinois during falls 1999–2001. Seed production varied annually (329–1231 kg/ha), but overall was greater than previously published estimates for other areas of North America. Estimated carrying capacity across years was 6.760 ± 411 (se) duck use-days/ha; this value was 1.5–15.4 times greater than other published carrying capacity estimates for harvested corn, rice and soybeans. We recommend continued regional-scale research to estimate foraging carrying capacity of moist-soil wetlands for waterfowl in mid-latitude regions, such as the IRV or upper Mississippi River.
A Novel 3 Transistor XOR Gate Based Full Adder Design for VLSI Applications

This paper deals with a new way of designing XOR gate using 3 transistors. A full adder circuit has been designed using proposed 3T XOR circuit and a transmission gate is used extensively in very large-scale integration (VLSI) application. The power consumption of the circuit is in range of 421.7256uw to 581.542uw in 0.35 um technology with a voltage supply range of 1.8V to 3.3V. The simulation process has performed by the SPICE and DSCH tool based on TSMC 0.35um CMOS technology. The power consumed by the 3T XOR gate as well as single bit full adder has been compared with previous reported circuits, the proposed circuit shows good performance in terms of the factors power consumption, speed and area optimization(transistor count).