Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Variability in the Response of Chickpea Cultivars to Short-Term Salinity, in Terms of Water Retention Capacity, Membrane Permeability, and Osmo-Protection

Seedlings of 2 chickpea cultivars (Cicer arietinum L.), salt-tolerant kabuli (CSG 9651) and salt-sensitive desi (DCP 92-3), were raised under control (distilled water) and salinity (EC = 4, 6, and 8 dS m-1) conditions. Salt treatments were applied once symbiosis was well established (i.e. 15 days after sowing [DAS]) and continued until the last sampling stage (i.e. 70 DAS). The experiments were terminated 70 DAS and the plants were analyzed 40 and 70 DAS. Salt stress decreased the relative water content (RWC), membrane stability index (MSI), leaf chlorophyll (CHL), plant biomass, and grain yield, and increased total soluble sugars in both cultivars at both stages (40 and 70 DAS). Salinity-induced declines in RWC, MSI, CHL, biomass, and grain yield were significantly greater in desi DCP 92-3 than in Kabuli CSG 9651. DCP 92-3 also had higher accumulation of Na+ in the roots as well its translocation into shoots, which had a negative impact on the K+/Na+ ratio. Results indicate that the salinity tolerance of kabuli CSG 9651, as manifested by less of a decrease in biomass and grain yield, was associated with higher membrane permeability, osmolyte concentration, and potassium content, and lower sodium content, as compared to salt-sensitive desi DCP 92-3. It is apparent that the salt-tolerant cultivar had better protection against salt-induced stress as a result of the cumulative action of various physiological and biochemical processes.
Uganda's Electricity Sector Reforms and Institutional Restructuring

Using time series and the Uganda National Household Survey data, this paper seeks to examine the impact of the electricity reforms on the performance of the sector. Specifically, we investigate the effectiveness of the reforms in terms of sector performance taking into consideration various performance indicators such as electricity access, generation per capita, distribution efficiency, price trends, subsidies and customer growth. These indicators were selected on the basis of the rationale of the reforms. Results show that connectivity is increasing, but cannot be statistically linked to the reforms. In addition, we show that the reforms have tended to favour the urban dwellers with connectivity levels rising from 36 percent in 1992 to 46 percent in 2009 while the rural dwellers have benefitted less due to the slow rural electrification rate. Electricity generation per capita remains low and there is a widening demand generation gap, increased reliance on thermal generation, and rising cost per unit of electricity. Overall, the results do not generate significant evidence linking improved sector performance to the reforms. However, we recommend that these results be interpreted with caution due to the short time periods involved.
Crustal structure and magmato-tectonic processes in an active rift (Asal-Ghoubbet, Afar, East Africa): 1. Insights from a 5-month seismological experiment

We seek to characterize how magmatic and tectonic activities combine and interact during the continental rifting process. We address this question in two companion papers. In both, we analyze the seismicity that occurs in an active magmato-tectonic rift, Asal-Ghoubbet (East Africa), to identify the features and/or processes responsible for its activity. Here, we report results from a 5-month experiment that we conducted in the rift. Eleven seismometers were deployed to complement the eight-station permanent network. This allowed recording ∼400 earthquakes in the rift; 200 events could be well located (precision 5–6 km) magma reservoir. Most events concentrate at the roof of the pipe (at 3–4 km) and result from up and down slip ruptures on both the volcanic (ring) and tectonic faults that enclose the pipe at depth. The up and down motions are likely driven by pressure changes in the magma reservoir. Hence, although a few rift faults were associated with seismicity, most remained seismically silent during the experiment. In the companion paper, we analyze the seismic activity in the rift over the 23 years that followed its last rifting episode. This confirms the importance of the Fieale-Shark Bay plumbing system in the overall rift behavior.
Re-Analysis of Mortality Rates Using Linear Regression Models

Many studies have found correlations between any number of ecological, sociological, and pollution variables and mortality rates. Because of the growing disparity in mortality rates between peoples, it is of the utmost importance to understand the underlying causes. McDonald performed a multiple regression analysis on a data set that included 15 sociological, ecological, and pollution predictor variables and one response, mortality. They were able to derive a model using ridge analysis to eliminate variables since the data set has strong collinearities between predictors. This paper re-analizes that data using several linear regression methods and compares the resulting models to those derived in the original study. From a permutation Monte Carlo simulation I conclude that the Partial Least Squares method has the strongest predictive power with respect to this data set.
Functions of Flavonoids in Plant–Nematode Interactions

Most land plants can become infected by plant parasitic nematodes in the field. Plant parasitic nematodes can be free-living or endoparasitic, and they usually infect plant roots. Most damaging are endoparasites, which form feeding sites inside plant roots that damage the root system and redirect nutrients towards the parasite. This process involves developmental changes to the root in parallel with the induction of defense responses. Plant flavonoids are secondary metabolites that have roles in both root development and plant defense responses against a range of microorganisms. Here, we review our current knowledge of the roles of flavonoids in the interactions between plants and plant parasitic nematodes. Flavonoids are induced during nematode infection in plant roots, and more highly so in resistant compared with susceptible plant cultivars, but many of their functions remain unclear. Flavonoids have been shown to alter feeding site development to some extent, but so far have not been found to be essential for root–parasite interactions. However, they likely contribute to chemotactic attraction or repulsion of nematodes towards or away from roots and might help in the general plant defense against nematodes. Certain flavonoids have also been associated with functions in nematode reproduction, although the mechanism remains unknown. Much remains to be examined in this area, especially under field conditions.
DRUG RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT - CASE SCENARIOS, DEVELOPMENT PROCESS, RISKS AND BENEFITS

BACKGROUND AND AIMS. Drug development has been classically associated with large pharmaceutical companies developing ‘blockbuster’ drugs aimed at large patient populations through high market penetration and multiple indication life cycle management. Higher costs and lower output have rendered this model inefficient and unsustainable. The aims of this thesis were to assess: suitability of test procedures, benefit to risk profile during development, importance of stages of discovery and development for benefit/risk and entrepreneurship, expert judgement in making ‘go/nogo’ decisions, and implications for innovation. METHODS. Literature review was used to identify why drugs fail and characterise drug regulation history. Examples of drugs in different development stages were critically reviewed for choice of test procedure and assessment of benefit/risk in context with knowledge and scientific expertise today. An 18-step model of drug discovery and development was defined. Using web-based questionnaires, health experts were asked the importance of each step for assessing benefit/risk, and entrepreneurial input. Individual judgement using real drug case scenarios was studied by scoring ‘go/no-go’ decisions on a Likert scale. Relative importance of assessment of risk versus entrepreneurial need was compared on the model. Influence of entrepreneurial characteristics on the expert assessments and on decision making was explored. RESULTS. Drugs failed development for inefficacy and toxicity. Choice of test procedure confirmed anti-hypertensive and anti-asthmatic efficacy of K+ channel openers in the laboratory, but these models were poor predictors of clinical potential. Alternative indications and potential routes of administration were left unexplored. Advances in molecular biology and screening have still failed to yield a product with full clinical potential. Retrospective case studies and prospective multicentre studies for an approved immunosuppressant proved valuable approaches for assessing risk of malignancy and risk during pregnancy. Identifying risk factors helps patients and carers in counselling to reach better outcomes. Health experts perceived toxicology, clinical trials, and pharmacovigilance most important for benefit/risk assessment. In contrast, drug discovery and later phases of development were of entrepreneurial importance. Results modelling revealed in-house entrepreneurial ‘core’ and external outsourcing opportunity. Experts showed marked variability in individual judgment for making ‘go/no-go’ decisions despite having the same information. Expert risk perception and decision making were not consistently influenced by entrepreneurial character. Optimised decision making was identified to be critical for effective drug development. CONCLUSIONS. These findings reinforce the opinion that restructuring and opening up drug discovery and development to more external input is likely to increase the innovative capacity and efficiency of the whole drug discovery and development process.
Granero-Molina, José and Fernández-Sola, Cayetano and López-Domene, Esperanza and Hernández-Padilla, José Manuel and São Romão-Preto, Leonel and Castro-Sánchez, Adelaida Maria (2015) Effects of web-based electrocardiography simulation on strategies and learning

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New technique of filling friction stir welding

A new technique of filling friction stir welding (FFSW) relying on a semiconsumable joining tool has been developed to repair the keyhole left at the end of friction stir welding (FSW) seam. The conventional non-consumable tool of FSW was transformed, and a semiconsumable joining tool consisting of alloy steel shoulder and aluminium alloy joining bit was designed to create a solid state joint. Using the combined plastic deformation and flow of the consumable joining bit and the wall of the keyhole, the FFSW process is able to repair the keyhole with both metallurgical and mechanical bonding characteristics, and the FSW seam can be achieved without keyhole or other defects. The relative tensile strength and elongation of the FFSW joint are 84·3 and 98·9% of the base weld without defects respectively.
Effects of land use and fine-scale environmental heterogeneity on net ecosystem production over a temperate coniferous forest landscape

In temperate coniferous forests, spatial variation in net ecosystem production (NEP) is often associated with variation in stand age and heterogeneity in environmental factors such as soil depth. However, coarse spatial resolution analyses used to evaluate the terrestrial contribution to global NEP do not generally incorporate these effects. In this study, a fine-scale (25 m grid) analysis of NEP over a 164-km2 area of productive coniferous forests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States was made to evaluate the effects of including fine scale information in landscape-scale NEP assessments. The Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM×) sensor resolved five cover classes in the study area and further differentiated between young, mature and old-growth conifer stands. ETM× was also used to map current leaf area index (LAI) based on an empirical relationship of observed LAI to spectral vegetation indices. A daily time step climatology, based on 18 years of meteorological observations, was distributed (1 km resolution) over the mountainous terrain of the study area using the DAYMET model. Estimates of carbon pools and flux associated with soil, litter, coarse woody debris and live trees were then generated by running a carbon cycle model (Biome-BGC) to a state that reflected the current successional status and LAI of each grid cell, as indicated by the remote sensing observations. Estimated annual NEP for 1997 over the complete study area averaged 230 g C m−2, with most of the area acting as a carbon sink. The area-wide NEP is strongly positive because of reduced harvesting in the last decade and the recovery of areas harvested between 1940 and 1990. The average value was greater than would be indicated if the entire area was assumed to be a mature conifer stand, as in a coarse-scale analysis. The mean NEP varied interannually by over a factor of two. This variation was 38% less than the interannual variation for a single point. The integration of process models with ground surface information provided by remote sensing provides a framework for investigating mechanisms regulating NEP and evaluating coarse resolution globally applied NEP scaling efforts.
The impact of vibrational Raman scattering of air on DOAS measurements of atmospheric trace gases

Abstract. In remote sensing applications, such as differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS), atmospheric scattering processes need to be considered. After inelastic scattering on N2 and O2 molecules, the scattered photons occur as additional intensity at a different wavelength, effectively leading to "filling-in" of both solar Fraunhofer lines and absorptions of atmospheric constituents, if the inelastic scattering happens after the absorption. Measured spectra in passive DOAS applications are typically corrected for rotational Raman scattering (RRS), also called Ring effect, which represents the main contribution to inelastic scattering. Inelastic scattering can also occur in liquid water, and its influence on DOAS measurements has been observed over clear ocean water. In contrast to that, vibrational Raman scattering (VRS) of N2 and O2 has often been thought to be negligible, but it also contributes. Consequences of VRS are red-shifted Fraunhofer structures in scattered light spectra and filling-in of Fraunhofer lines, additional to RRS. At 393 nm, the spectral shift is 25 and 40 nm for VRS of O2 and N2, respectively. We describe how to calculate VRS correction spectra according to the Ring spectrum. We use the VRS correction spectra in the spectral range of 420–440 nm to determine the relative magnitude of the cross-sections of VRS of O2 and N2 and RRS of air. The effect of VRS is shown for the first time in spectral evaluations of Multi-Axis DOAS data from the SOPRAN M91 campaign and the MAD-CAT MAX-DOAS intercomparison campaign. The measurements yield in agreement with calculated scattering cross-sections that the observed VRS(N2) cross-section at 393 nm amounts to 2.3 ± 0.4 % of the cross-section of RRS at 433 nm under tropospheric conditions. The contribution of VRS(O2) is also found to be in agreement with calculated scattering cross-sections. It is concluded, that this phenomenon has to be included in the spectral evaluation of weak absorbers as it reduces the measurement error significantly and can cause apparent differential optical depth of up to 3 ×10−4. Its influence on the spectral retrieval of IO, glyoxal, water vapour and NO2 in the blue wavelength range is evaluated for M91. For measurements with a large Ring signal a significant and systematic bias of NO2 dSCDs (differential slant column densities) up to (−3.8 ± 0.4) × 1014 molec cm−2 is observed if this effect is not considered. The effect is typically negligible for DOAS fits with an RMS (root mean square) larger than 4 × 10−4.
Gender diversity and non-binary presentations in young people attending the United Kingdom’s National Gender Identity Development Service

There has been a recent rise in the number of people who hold a non-binary gender identity. However, the proportion of young people attending gender services who identify as non-binary has not yet been investigated. This article presents the findings from a pilot study of newly designed questionnaire, the Gender Diversity Questionnaire, which included questions about gender identity and gender expression. Responses from 251 adolescents attending the United Kingdom’s National Gender Identity Development Service between June 2016 and February 2017 are reported here. The majority, 56.9%, of young people identified as trans, 29.3% identified as a binary gender (male or female), 11% identified as non-binary and 1.2% as agender. There were no significant differences in self-defined identities based on assigned gender or age. However, once young people were separated into these groups, some of them were very small; thus, a larger sample is required. In terms of aspects of gender expression that were important to the young people, the data formed five themes – name and pronouns, external appearance, the body, intrinsic factors and ‘other’. Strengths and weaknesses of the research are discussed as well as future work that will be conducted.
Implicit bias in impression formation: associations influence the construal of individuating information

The present research investigated the influence of group-related evaluative associations on the process of impression formation. In particular, we expected the impact of a target's category membership on the construal of ambiguous behaviour to be moderated by perceivers' evaluative associations related to the target category. Associative strength was further expected to have an indirect effect on dispositional inference, mediated by its impact on behaviour identification. Results support both of these assumptions. Moreover, the influence of evaluative associations on impression formation was not moderated by perceivers' motivation to control prejudiced reactions. Rather, motivation to control moderated only the relation between evaluative associations and the explicit endorsement of prejudiced beliefs about the target group in general, such that explicit prejudice endorsement was correlated with evaluative associations only for perceivers low, but not for those high in motivation to control. Implications for prejudice control are discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Reliable H∞ filter design for sampled-data systems with consideration of probabilistic sensor signal distortion

This study is concerned with the reliable filtering problem for the sampled-data system subject to a class of probabilistic sensor signals distortion. A new distortion model is developed by introducing a diagonal random matrix whose elements obey the Gaussian distribution. The main purpose in this study is to design a filter such that the error dynamics of the filtering process subject to the probabilistic sensor signal distortion is mean-square asymptotically stable. Based on the modified delay-central-point (DCP) method and the convexity property of the matrix inequality, new criteria are derived for the existence of the desired H ∞ filters, by which it leads to much less conservative analysis results. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Characterizing counter-streaming interpenetrating plasmas relevant to astrophysical collisionless shocks

A series of Omega experiments have produced and characterized high velocity counter-streaming plasma flows relevant for the creation of collisionless shocks. Single and double CH2 foils have been irradiated with a laser intensity of ∼ 1016 W/cm2. The laser ablated plasma was characterized 4 mm from the foil surface using Thomson scattering. A peak plasma flow velocity of 2000 km/s, an electron temperature of ∼ 110 eV, an ion temperature of ∼ 30 eV, and a density of ∼ 1018 cm−3 were measured in the single foil configuration. Significant increases in electron and ion temperatures were seen in the double foil geometry. The measured single foil plasma conditions were used to calculate the ion skin depth, c/ωpi∼0.16 mm, the interaction length, lint, of ∼ 8 mm, and the Coulomb mean free path, λmfp∼27mm. With c/ωpi≪lint≪λmfp, we are in a regime where collisionless shock formation is possible.
Seasonal Dynamics of Wood Formation in Pinus Halepensis from Dry and Semi-Arid Ecosystems in Spain

The seasonal dynamics of cambial activity, wood formation, occurrence of false rings (FR), and tangential bands of resin canals (RC) were investigated in Pinus halepensis from three Mediterranean dry and semi-arid ecosystems in Spain. We collected intact tissues of phloem, cambium, and outer xylem at monthly intervals throughout 2004 from each time six trees at the three sites.Cell divisions in the cambium in all trees started before our first sampling in mid-March and ceased between November and December. Cambial activity was characterized by two maxima; one in spring and another in autumn.Trees still grew in summer but at a very low rate. The first solitary RC were formed in May or June and tangential bands of RC in June or July. In general, tangential bands of RC were observed in wider growth rings. The formation of tangential bands of RC seems to be induced by drought in the second half of the growing season. FR were formed as a result of cambial reactivation in autumn and were observed in growth rings that contained more than 50 cells in a radial row. It appears that summer drought and early autumn precipitation play an important role in false-ring formation.
Gene expression Characterizing the dynamic connectivity between genes by variable parameter regression and Kalman filtering based on temporal gene expression data

Motivation: One popular method for analyzing functional connectivity between genes is to cluster genes with similar expression profiles. The most popular metrics measuring the similarity (or dissimilarity) among genes include Pearson’s correlation, linear regression coefficient and Euclidean distance. As these metrics only give some constant values, they can only depict a stationary connectivity between genes. However, the functional connectivity between genes usually changes with time. Here, we introduce a novel insight for characterizing the relationship between genes and find out a proper mathematical model, variable parameter regression and Kalman filtering to model it. Results: We applied our algorithm to some simulated data and two pairs of real gene expression data. The changes of connectivity in simulated data are closely identical with the truth and the results of two pairs of gene expression data show that our method has successfully demonstrated the dynamic connectivity between genes. Contact: jiangtz@nlpr.ia. ac.cn
Phylogeny of the genus Agama based on mitochondrial DNA sequence data

We present a preliminary phylogeny for 19 species of African Agama lizards based on a maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis of 1,181 bp of mitochondrial DNA sequence data. Monophyletic radiations of species in East, South and West Africa are supported, as well as a clade containing two species (A. doriae and A. sankaranica) distributed across the Sahel region. West African populations of A. agama are paraphyletic with respect to A. finchi from westernmost Kenya, providing further evidence for a biogeographic corridor between West and East Africa. Populations of A. agama form four phylogeographic groups, which suggests that A. agama may be composed of multiple independent evolutionary lin- eages.