Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Allium cepa L. Inoculation with a Consortium of Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria: Effects on Plant Growth and Development and Soil Fertility Status and Microbial Community

The present work was aimed at investigating the effects of a four strains consortium—Azospirillum brasilense, Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus, Herbaspirillum seropedicae, and Burkholderia ambifaria—on crops of Allium cepa L. and its soil health. The bacterial consortium was inoculated on seeds of two different onion varieties; inoculated seeds and control ones (treated with autoclaved inoculum) were sown in open-field and followed until harvest. Plant growth development parameters, as well as soil physico-chemical and molecular profiles (DNA extraction and 16S community sequencing on the Mi-Seq Illumina platform), were investigated. The results showed a positive influence of bacterial application on plant growth, with increased plant height (+18%), total chlorophylls (+42%), crop yields (+13%), and bulbs dry matter (+3%) than the control. The differences between control and treated experimental conditions were also underlined in the bulb extracts in terms of total phenolic contents (+25%) and antioxidant activities (+20%). Soil fertility and microbial community structure and diversity were also positively affected by the bacterial inoculum. At harvest, the soil with the presence of the bacterial consortium showed an increase of total organic carbon, organic matter, and available P and higher concentrations of nutrients than control. The ecological indexes calculated on the molecular profiles showed that community diversity was positively affected by the bacterial treatment. The present work allowed to remark the effective use of plant growth-promoting bacteria as a valid fertilization strategy to improve yield in productive landscapes, whilst safeguarding soil biodiversity.
EVALUATION OF HYOLIPIPDEMIC ACTIVITY OF BETULA ALNOIDES BARK ON TRITON WR-1339 INDUCED HYPERLIPIDEMIA IN ALBINO RATS

The objective of the study was to investigate the antihyperlipidemic effect of Betula alnoides bark in triton WR 1339 induced hyperlipidemia in rats. Triton WR 1339 (350mg kg-1, i.p.) injection significantly (p<0.001) increased total cholesterol, triglyceride, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), Low density lipoprotein (LDL), phospholipids and decreased high density lipoprotein (HDL). Betula alnoides showed dose dependant decrease in the total cholesterol, triglyceride, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), Low density lipoprotein (LDL) and phospholipids. Betula alnoides increased high density lipoprotein (HDL). Administration of triton alone increased coronary risk index, atherogenic index and LDL, Betula alnoides and atorvastatin treatment decrease both the indices. It is concluded that Betula alnoides reduces total cholesterol, triglyceride, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), Low density lipoprotein (LDL), phospholipids, coronary risk index, atherosclerotic index and increased HDL in triton induced hyperlipidemia in rats.
Subtypes of NanS-p Sialate O-Acetylesterase Encoded by Stx2a Bacteriophages

Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing Escherichia coli strains are foodborne pathogens that can cause severe human diseases, such as haemorrhagic colitis and haemolytic uraemic syndrome. Stxs are encoded by bacteriophages (Stx phages) which show remarkable variations in genome composition and harbour several genes of unknown function. Recently, a gene encoding a sialate O-acetylesterase (NanS-p) was identified in some relevant Stx2a phages and it was suggested that it could provide advantages for bacterial growth in the gut. The aim of this study was to analyse the presence and sequence of nanS-p genes in available Stx2a phage genomes. A total of 59 DNA sequences of Stx2a phages were extracted from the NCBI GenBank database with the BLAST program using the stx2a sequence from phage 933W as a query sequence, either as complete phage genomes (45) or from bacterial genomes by subsequent analysis with the PHASTER web server (14). Comparative analysis revealed that nanS-p was located downstream of stx2a in all genomes. Twenty different amino acid sequences of NanS-p were identified. Specifically, catalytic esterase domains showed only 11 possible sequences, with differences mainly observed in nine amino acid positions. Sequences corresponding to the N-terminal domain (DUF1737) showed three possible sequences, two of them closely related, while the C-terminal domain was highly variable, with four groups with structural differences. Since sialate O-acetylesterase activity has been determined from particular Stx2a phages, new studies are necessary to evaluate if the NanS-p subtypes identified in the present study also differ in their biological activity.
A Probabilistic Model for Forging Flaw Crack Nucleation Processes

A probabilistic model for quantifying the number of load cycles for nucleation of forging flaws into a crack has been developed. The model correlates low cycle fatigue (LCF) data, ultrasonic testing (UT) indication data, flaw morphology and type with the nucleation process. The nucleation model is based on a probabilistic LCF model applied to finite element analyses (FEA) of flaw geometries. The model includes statistical size and notch effects. In order to calibrate the model, we conducted experiments involving specimens that include forging flaws. The specimens were machined out from heavy duty steel rotor disks for the energy sector. The large disks, including ultrasonic indications on the millimeter scale, were cut into smaller segments in order to efficiently machine specimens including manufacturing related forging flaws. We conducted cyclic loading experiments at a variety of temperatures and high stresses in order to capture realistic engine operating conditions for flaws as they occur in service. This newly developed model can be incorporated into an existing probabilistic fracture mechanics framework and enables a reliable risk quantification allowing to support customer needs for more flexible operational profiles due to the emergence of renewable energy sources.
Erwinia billingiae causes bacterial Canker of Mango (Mangifera indica) in Costa Rica

espanolIntroduccion. El cancer del mango ha ocasionado perdidas economicas en areas productivas en Costa Rica desde mediados de los 80. Los agentes causales han sido caracterizados solamente por metodos fenotipicos como Erwinia mangifera y E. herbicola. Objetivo. Confirmar, utilizando un enfoque molecular y fenotipico las especies de enterobacterias causantes del cancer bacterial del mango en Costa Rica. Materiales y metodos. Se tomaron frutas, ramas y troncos con sintomas en diferentes huertos de la provincia de Alajuela. Se realizo un aislamiento bacteriano y se evaluo la patogenicidad mediante la inoculacion de frutos y troncos de la variedad Tommy Atkins Los aislamientos positivos para la prueba de patogenicidad fueron re-inoculados, aislados e identificados para cumplir con los postulados de Koch. El aislado positivo CIBCM-Mg-115 que causo los sintomas fue analizado mediante la caracterizacion bioquimica completa y la identificacion molecular mediante analisis filogeneticos del ARNr 16S y los genes de mantenimiento atpD, gyrB, infB y rpoB. Resultados. De acuerdo con los datos obtenidos a partir de los analisis bioquimicos y moleculares se identifico a la cepa CIBCM-Mg-115 como Erwinia billingiae. Conclusion. E. billingiae corresponde a uno de los agentes causales del cancer bacteriano del mango (M. indica) en Costa Rica. EnglishIntroduction. In Costa Rica, bacterial canker of mango has caused economic losses in most of the productive areas since the mid-1980s. The causal agents have been identified only by phenotypic methods such as Erwinia mangifera and E. herbicola. Objective. To confirm, using a molecular and phenotypic approach, the species of the Enterobacteriaceae the cause bacterial canker of mango in Costa Rica. Material and methods. Fruits, branches, and trunks with symptoms were collected in different orchards in the Alajuela province. Bacterial isolation was performed, and pathogenicity was evaluated by inoculating fruits and trunks of the Tommy Atkins variety. The positive isolates for the pathogenic test were re-inoculated, isolated, and identified in order to fulfill Koch’s postulates. The CIBCMMg-115 positive isolate that caused symptoms was analyzed by complete biochemical characterization and molecular identification by phylogenetic analyses of 16S rRNA and the atpD, gyrB, infB, and rpoB housekeeping genes. Results. According to the data obtained from the biochemical and molecular analysis, the CIBCM-Mg-115 strain was identified as Erwinia billingiae. Conclusion. E. billingiae corresponds to one of the causal agents of bacterial canker on mango (M. indica) trees in Costa Rica.
Morphological, Physiological, and Molecular Responses of Sweetly Fragrant Luculia gratissima During the Floral Transition Stage Induced by Short-Day Photoperiod

Photoperiod-regulated floral transition is vital to the flowering plant. Luculia gratissima “Xiangfei” is a flowering ornamental plant with high development potential economically and is a short-day woody perennial. However, the genetic regulation of short-day-induced floral transition in L. gratissima is unclear. To systematically research the responses of L. gratissima during this process, dynamic changes in morphology, physiology, and transcript levels were observed and identified in different developmental stages of long-day- and short-day-treated L. gratissima plants. We found that floral transition in L. gratissima occurred 10 d after short-day induction, but flower bud differentiation did not occur at any stage under long-day conditions. A total of 1,226 differentially expressed genes were identified, of which 146 genes were associated with flowering pathways of sugar, phytohormones, photoperiod, ambient temperature, and aging signals, as well as floral integrator and meristem identity genes. The trehalose-6-phosphate signal positively modulated floral transition by interacting with SQUAMOSA PROMOTER-BINDING-LIKE PROTEIN 4 (SPL4) in the aging pathway. Endogenous gibberellin, abscisic acid, cytokinin, and jasmonic acid promoted floral transition, whereas strigolactone inhibited it. In the photoperiod pathway, FD, CONSTANS-LIKE 12, and nuclear factors Y positively controlled floral transition, whereas PSEUDO-RESPONSE REGULATOR 7, FLAVIN-BINDING KELCH REPEAT F-BOX PROTEIN 1, and LUX negatively regulated it. SPL4 and pEARLI1 positively affected floral transition. Suppressor of Overexpression of Constans 1 and AGAMOUSLIKE24 integrated multiple flowering signals to modulate the expression of FRUITFULL/AGL8, AP1, LEAFY, SEPALLATAs, SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE, and TERMINAL FLOWER 1, thereby regulating floral transition. Finally, we propose a regulatory network model for short-day-induced floral transition in L. gratissima. This study improves our understanding of flowering time regulation in L. gratissima and provides knowledge for its production and commercialization.
Mini Review of Cognitive Load Studies

To date, related cognitive load studies and theories have been developed more than 70 years. As a result, listing and comparing relative theories will help form a better understanding. Cognition is “the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses”, which has the corresponding psychological mechanism [1]. It involves many features of psychological processes such as attention, working memory, problem solving and decision making. Early psychologists took considerable time to formalize their theories regarding cognitive resources. In psychology, cognition is usually used within an information processing view of an individual’s psychological functions (Eysenck and Groome, 2015). In social cognition, the term is also used to explain attitudes, attribution, attention, and decision making. Attention is the first step of information processing in human brain, as a regulation mechanism of psychological activities, which has become a vital area of focus.
Influence of Shear Effects on the Characteristics of Axisymmetric Wave Propagation in a Buried Fluid-Filled Pipe

The acoustic propagation characteristics of axisymmetric waves have been widely used in leak detection of fluid-filled pipes. The related acoustic methods and equipment are gradually coming to the market, but their theoretical research obviously lags behind the field practice, which seriously restricts the breakthrough and innovation of this technology. Based on the fully three-dimensional effect of the surrounding medium, a coupled motion equation of axisymmetric wave of buried liquid-filled pipes is derived in detail, a contact coefficient is used to express the coupling strength between surrounding medium and pipe, then, a general equation of motion was derived which contain the pipe soil lubrication contact, pipe soil compact contact and pipe in water and air. Finally, the corresponding numerical calculation model is established and solved used numerical method. The shear effects of the surrounding medium and the shear effects at the interface between surrounding medium and pipe are discussed in detail. The output indicates that the surrounding medium is to add mass to the pipe wall, but the shear effect is to add stiffness. With the consideration of the contact strength between the pipe and the medium, the additional mass and the pipe wall will resonate at a specific frequency, resulting in a significant increase in the radiation wave to the surrounding medium. The research contents have great guiding effect on the theory of acoustic wave propagation and the engineering application of leak detection technology in the buried pipe.
Geometry of Black Holes

There exists a large scientific literature on black holes, including many excellent textbooks of various levels of difficulty. However, most of these prefer physical intuition to mathematical rigour. The object of this book is to fill this gap and present a detailed, mathematically oriented, extended introduction to the subject. The first part of the book starts with a presentation, in Chapter 1, of some basic facts about Lorentzian manifolds. Chapter 2 develops those elements of Lorentzian causality theory which are key to the understanding of black-hole spacetimes. We present some applications of the causality theory in Chapter 3, as relevant for the study of black holes. Chapter 4, which opens the second part of the book, constitutes an introduction to the theory of black holes, including a review of experimental evidence, a presentation of the basic notions, and a study of the flagship black holes: the Schwarzschild, Reissner–Nordström, Kerr, and Majumdar–Papapetrou solutions of the Einstein, or Einstein–Maxwell, equations. Chapter 5 presents some further important solutions: the Kerr–Newman–(anti-)de Sitter black holes, the Emperan–Reall black rings, the Kaluza–Klein solutions of Rasheed, and the Birmingham family of metrics. Chapters 6 and 7 present the construction of conformal and projective diagrams, which play a key role in understanding the global structure of spacetimes obtained by piecing together metrics which, initially, are expressed in local coordinates. Chapter 8 presents an overview of known dynamical black-hole solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations.
Psychosomatic aspects of motion and seasickness - a literature review and evaluation according to QUADAS-2 tool

Background Greater affluence and cheaper travelling have enabled a rapid increase in the number of people travelling around the world. About two thirds of travelers have experienced symptoms of motion sickness at least once. A known type of motion sickness is sea sickness. In extreme situations can concern as many as 60 % of even an experienced crew and as many as from 60 to 90% inexperienced sailors. Growing number research of is linking this disease to a psychosomatic reaction. The aim of the study was to review the literature on psychosomatic aspects of motion and seasickness and to evaluate them according to QUADAS-2 tool. Materials and methods Materials for this literature review were found by two authors using PubMed, ResearchGate, and Google Scholar databases. A combination of the keywords „seasickness”, „motion sickness”, „psychology” (according to Medical Subjects Headings- MeSH) was used to identify relevant studies. Finally, five publications were qualified for literature review. Each publication qualified for review was evaluated in accordance with the Quality Assessment Tool for Diagnostic Accuracy Testing (QUADAS-2). Results The knowledge gained from 4 studies indicated that there is a relationship between the symptoms of motion- and seasickness and psychological conditions, and one of them suggests that these relationships are small. According to the QUADAS-2 tool, there is low possibility of making mistakes in patient selection and test indexes, but the studies are at risk of bias in terms of time and flow. Conclusions Considering all the reports on this subject, it is suggested that psychological factors related to personality traits, self-control and neuroticism have a significant impact on motion sickness, including seasickness. It is recommended to conduct further research on the subject.
Experimental and Simulation Study of Effects in Etched Patch Antenna with Multi Slots

This paper aims for the design and development of a multi slotted novel patch antenna with multiband characteristics. The work focused on designing a patch, feedline with novel multi-slots on the same patch which can be commonly used in wireless applications. In addition, the analysis shows the effects of the improved antenna properties obtained by etching such novel slots on epoxy dielectric substrate using photolithography process. The paper concentrated on the design aspects of the patch antenna with slot dimensions as a function of operating wavelength (λ) to get better results. The antennas are implemented with the help of software package V15.4 - Integral Three-Dimension Equation (IE3D) EM simulator. The experimental and simulation findings show the overall required bandwidth of 1120MHz with a return loss of -43dB achieving a gain of 8.39dB with better radiation characteristics.
Smart Retail Traders, Short Sellers, and Stock Returns

Using short sell transactions data from 2010 to 2016, this paper is the first to provide a comprehensive sample of short selling initiated by retail investors. We find that retail short selling can predict negative stock returns. A trading strategy that mimics weekly retail shorting earns an annualized risk-adjusted value-(equal-) weighted return of 6% (12.25%). Their predictive power is beyond that coming from retail investors as a group or from off-exchange institutional short sellers. Our results suggest that retail short sellers can profitably exploit public information, especially when it is negative. Retail short sellers also tend to be contrarians who provide liquidity when the market is one-sided due to (institutional) buying pressure.
α phase growth and branching in titanium alloys

ABSTRACT The morphology and spatial distribution of alpha (α) precipitates have been mapped as a function of Mo content in Ti-Mo binary alloys employing a combinatorial approach. Heat-treatments were carried out on compositionally graded Ti-xMo samples processed using a rapid throughput laser engineered net shape (LENS) process. The composition space spans 1.5 at% to 6 at% Mo with ageing at 750°C, 650°C and 600°C following a β solution treatment. Three distinct regimes of α morphology and distribution were observed. These are colony-dominated microstructures originating from grain boundary α allotriomorphs, bundles of intragranular α laths, and homogeneously distributed individual fine-scale α laths. Branching of the α precipitates was observed in all these domains in a manner reminiscent of solid-state dendritic growth. The phenomenon is particularly apparent at low volume fractions of α. Similar features are present in a wide variety of alloy compositions. 3-dimensional features of such branched structures have been analysed. Simulation of the branching process by phase field methods incorporating anisotropy in the α/β interface energy and elasticity suggests that it can be initiated at growth ledges present at broad faces of the α laths, driven by the enhancement of the diffusion flux at these steps. The dependence of branching on various parameters such as supersaturation and diffusivity, and microstructural features like ledge height and distribution and the presence of adjacent α variants has been evaluated.
A MODEL FOR PERSONAL FINANCIAL PLANNING TOWARDS RETIREMENT

One problem for sustainability of systems pensions is how people without specialized financial training could manage their resources and their actual personal intentions towards retirement. Research objective is to analyse the relationship among several factors that affect the behaviour towards retirement, the financial management practices and the financial resources, by carrying out a structural equation model (SEM) that was tested in Spanish workers sample in three phases. The influence of financial literacy, financial retirement objectives, optimism on retirement, tolerance to financial risk, and the commitment to financial planning at time 1, are analysed as explanatory variables of financial management practices at time 2. Financial resources for retirement at time 3 are explained by financial management practices. According to results, the model can predict the 36% of the variance of financial management practices and 53% of the variance of financial resources for retirement. Thus, the model can be used for checking of knowledge of the personal financial behaviour before retirement, what enables a better personal financial planning. It would be possible to apply a model based on self-assessment in order to implement a complementary financial planning that would allow to maintain the welfare during retirement.
Delayed Diagnosis of Rare Cyanotic Cardiac Lesion in A Hypoxemic but otherwise Asymptomatic Infant

The causes of neonatal hypoxemia are usually either pulmonary or cardiac pathologies. We report a case of a 2-month-old boy with oxygen dependency since birth. He would desaturate down to 88-90% whenever supplemental oxygen was weaned off. Initial screening echocardiograms described only a small atrial septal defect, thus lung disease was thought to be the aetiology. Eventually, a detailed echocardiogram and CT angiography revealed anomalous right superior vena cava (RSVC) draining into the left atrium (LA). Echocardiography with bubble study injected via the upper extremities showed brisk filling of “bubbles” in the left heart, confirming fixed right-to-left shunting. Anomalous RSVC drainage into the LA is an extremely rare form of anomalous systemic venous drainage whereby unexplained hypoxemia is present and is sometimes the only clinical manifestation. Surgical correction of this anomaly is indicated to prevent complications of cyanosis and risk of systemic embolization. The surgery generally carries low risk and is associated with good long-term prognosis.