Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genotype×Environment Interactions and Stability for Grain Yield and its Components in WBPH Tolerant Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Genotypes

The present study was conducted during kharif, 2013–2015 with three different seasons at Main Rice Research Station, Anand Agricultural University, Nawagam, Gujarat. The stability analysis was carried out to study genotype x environment interaction for grain yield per plant. Analysis of stability parameters revealed that the mean squares due to genotypes were significant for all the characters. However, variances for environments were significant for all the characters studied except plant height and hulling per cent revealed that environment differ from season to season. The mean sums of squares for genotype×environment interactions in pooled analysis were found significant only for grain yield per plant. This suggested that the genotypes under study had reacted differently to the environments for grain yield per plant and remaining characters showed non-significant mean squares indicated that environment had little effects on the expression of those characters. Based on stability parameter for grain yield per plant, genotypes viz., IR 71700-247-1-1-2, IR 13146-45-2-3, IR 04A 395, IR 09A 102, IR 09N 190, IR 10A 110, IR 78581-12-3-2-2, GAR 13 and Gurjari were identified as stable genotypes with average stability and wider general adaptability over the environments. While, IR 02A 585, IR 77334-99-2-3-2 and IR 09A 104 were identified stable for favorable environments.
Self-focusing in nodal semimetals

We analyze the Kerr index, associated critical power, and focal length for nodal semimetals in a Weyl, Dirac, and gapped semimetal phase. Our model produces a Kerr index of 10−15−10−20m2/W in the micro-meter wavelength range. Novel dependence of the Kerr index, critical power, and focal length on temperature, chemical potential, bandgap, and node separation are readily obtained through our model and show that the tunability of the non-linear response of a nodal semimetal persists in its focusing phenomenon.
Physiological, anatomical and antioxidant responses to salinity in the Mediterranean pastoral grass plant Stipa lagascae

Abstract. Soil and water salinity is a major environmental problem in the dry Mediterranean regions, affecting rangeland production. This study investigated the effects of salinity on the wild perennial grass (Poaceae) species Stipa lagascae R. & Sch. , a potential forage plant that could be used to rehabilitate degraded rangelands in dry areas. In a laboratory, 3-month-old S. lagascae seedlings were subjected to increasing salt treatments (0–400 mm NaCl) for 45 days. Physiological and biochemical parameters such as leaf water potential (Ψw), leaf relative water content (RWC), proline, total soluble sugars, Na+, K+ and Ca2+ contents, and catalase, ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione reductase activities were measured. Total soluble sugars and proline concentrations increased and Ψw and RWC decreased with increasing salt concentrations. Lower salt concentrations induced a non-significant degradation of chlorophyll pigments. Shoot Na+ content increased with a salinity level, whereas shoot K+ and Ca2+ concentrations decreased and the K+ : Na+ ratio was lower. The salinity threshold, above which S. lagascae showed signs of damage, occurred at 300 mm. Plants have evolved reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging enzymes including catalase, ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione reductase, which provide cells with an efficient mechanism to neutralise ROS. The tolerance strategies of S. lagascae to moderate salinity seem to include osmotic adjustment through total soluble sugars and proline accumulation, and highly inducible antioxidative defence. Further investigations are necessary to study the effect of salt stress on distribution of ions (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl–, NO3–, SO42–) and osmotic adjustment. Photosynthesis and water-use efficiency parameters could be also useful tools.
Thermotolerant bacteria of biotechnological potential from hot springs in Eritrea

Thermophiles are excellent sources of enzymes that can withstand and carry out reactions efficiently under high temperatures. This study isolated and characterised thermotolerant bacteria that produce enzymes of potential industrial value from five hot springs in Eritrea. A total of 65 bacterial isolates were obtained from the five hot springs. Out of the 65 isolates; 19 isolates produced a positive reaction for amylases, 36 for carboxymethyl cellulases, eight for proteases, 10 for xylanases and 11 for pectinases. More than half (36 out of 65) were able to produce carboxymethyl cellulases. Six isolates which showed carboxymethyl cellulase activity were from the genus Bacillus, while those belonging to Brevibacillus were seven. BLAST analysis of the partial sequences showed that 19 out of the 24 isolates sequenced showed high similarity (> 99%) to those of reference strains of the genera Bacillus and Brevibacillus available in the Genebank and EZ-taxon databases. The five isolates (E5, G2, G8, M1 and M13) that showed moderate similarities (97.2-99%) to strains from the Genebank and EZ-taxon databases were further characterized. Physiological characterization of the five selected isolates based on tolerance to NaCl, temperature and production of hydrolytic enzymes indicated that these isolates are potentially novel. Isolates G8 and M13 showed significantly higher amylase activity (p < 0.05) than the other three isolates. Caseinase activity recorded by the five isolates was the highest (p < 0.05) compared to other enzyme activities. The enzymes produced by thermotolerant bacteria from the five hot springs may be potentially useful for catalysis under harsh operational conditions encountered in industrial processes. Key words: Thermphilic, bacteria, thermozymes, hot springs, Eritrea.
A Hybrid Foresting Model for the Wind Energy based on Small World Optimization Algorithm and BP Neural Network

Wind energy is a clean and pollution-free renewable energy source, but it has the characteristics of randomness and intermittentness. Therefore, it is of great economic significance and practical value to study the high-precision wind power prediction model for accurately predict the power generation of wind farms. This paper use the small world optimization algorithm (SWOA) to optimize the selection of the weights and threshold of the BP neural network, so that it has the advantages of small errors and global optimization. Then we proposes an improved BP neural network model based on the small world optimization algorithm. Afterwards, the model was applied to wind power prediction in actual wind fields. The experiment results show that SWOA can quickly and accurately find the global optimal solution of the parameters of the BP neural network model, which can further improve the SWOA-BP model to obtain better prediction performance.
Characterisation and modelling of a polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase from Aquitalea sp. USM4 reveals a mechanism for polymer elongation

Polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase, PhaC, is a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of PHA, a type of bioplastics with huge potential to replace conventional petroleum-based plastics. While two PhaC structures have been determined recently, the exact mechanism remains unclear partly due to the absence of a tunnel for product passage. The PhaC from Aquitalea sp. USM4, PhaCAq, was characterised and showed a Km of 394 μM and a kcat of 476.4 s−1 on the 3HB-CoA substrate. A model based on the structure of the closely related PhaC from Cupriavidus necator, PhaCCn revealed a three-branched tunnel at the dimeric interface. Two of the branches open to the solvent and serve as the putative routes for substrate entrance and product exit, while the third branch is elongated in a PhaC1 model from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, indicating a function of accommodating the hydroxyalkanoate (HA) moiety of the HA-CoA substrate. Docking of the two tetrahedral intermediates formed during catalysis suggests a PHA elongation mechanism that requires the HA moiety of the ligand to rotate ~180°. Both classes I and II PhaCs share a common mechanism for polymer elongation, and substrate specificity is determined in part by a bulky Phe/Tyr/Trp residue in the third branch in class I, which is conserved as Ala in class II to create room for longer substrates. The PhaCAq model provides fresh insights into a general PhaC mechanism, pinpointing key residues for potential engineering of PhaCs with desirable characteristics.
PHYSICO-CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RUSSIAN TEA FUNGUS: KOMBUCHA

Objective: To characterize various physicochemical parameters for Russian tea fungus: Kombucha . Methods: In the present investigation, various physicochemical analyses of kombucha such as, estimation of biomass, ascorbic acid, acetic acid, carotenoid contents, antioxidant activity and antibacterial activity against E. coli, Salmonella sp and Staphylococcus aureus were carried out after growing at different temperature and pH with varied concentrations of 5, 10, 15 and 20% tea powder boiled for 10 min along with 5% sugar and filtered to obtain tea decoction. Results: The bacteria in kombucha were Gram-negative, flexible rods. Both bacteria and yeast were positive for acid and gas production with glucose and sucrose and negative with lactose. A highest biomass content of 33.39 and 32.9 g/l in 5 and 10% tea decoction respectively was observed when grown statically at 25 °C and pH 5.0. Highest carotenoids (92.5 μg/ml) content was found at normal pH without setting, while 85 and 84 μg/ml at pH 4.5 and 5.0 respectively under static condition. A highest DPPH(2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) inhibition of 76.95% with IC 50 value 3.26 mg/ml and ascorbic acid content of 33.19% were found with 5% tea at 25 °C and pH 4.5. Acetic acid, which was shown to be one of the antimicrobial agents in k ombucha had the highest strength of 2.25 g/l in 5% tea grown at 25 °C and normal pH, while 4.5g/l at pH 4.5. The antibacterial activity showed the sensitivity of Escherichia Coli with 57% and Salmonella sp with 42.9% inhibition for k ombucha grown at 25 °C and pH 4.5 when compared to positive control. Conclusion: Kombucha , a miracle drink can be exploited furthermore for human well-being through combating various health issues due to changing lifestyle.
Crown canker caused by Paramyrothecium roridum on greenhouse muskmelon (Cucumis melo) in China

Abstract A crown canker disease causing yellowing and wilting of the leaves was observed on muskmelon (Cucumis melo) plants in a number of greenhouses in Shouguang county, Shandong province, China, during April 2014 to July 2015, resulting in serious economic losses. Black sporodochia with white mycelial tufts emerged on surfaces of lesions at the base of the stem. Eleven fungal strains were isolated from infected tissues. On the basis of morphological features, ITS-5.8S rDNA and TEF1 sequence analysis, the isolates were identified as Paramyrothecium roridum (Tode) L. Lombard & Crous (syn. Myrothecium roridum Tode). The pathogenicity of the isolates was confirmed. The morphological characteristics of reisolated strains from inoculated muskmelon plants showing symptoms of crown canker were consistent with the original strains. A host range test indicated that strains had a wide range of hosts. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of muskmelon crown canker caused by P. roridum in China. This disease could have a significant economic impact on muskmelon production.
New Online Streaming Feature Selection Based on Neighborhood Rough Set for Medical Data

Not all features in many real-world applications, such as medical diagnosis and fraud detection, are available from the start. They are formed and individually flow over time. Online streaming feature selection (OSFS) has recently attracted much attention due to its ability to select the best feature subset with growing features. Rough set theory is widely used as an effective tool for feature selection, specifically the neighborhood rough set. However, the two main neighborhood relations, namely k-neighborhood and neighborhood, cannot efficiently deal with the uneven distribution of data. The traditional method of dependency calculation does not take into account the structure of neighborhood covering. In this study, a novel neighborhood relation combined with k-neighborhood and neighborhood relations is initially defined. Then, we propose a weighted dependency degree computation method considering the structure of the neighborhood relation. In addition, we propose a new OSFS approach named OSFS-KW considering the challenge of learning class imbalanced data. OSFS-KW has no adjustable parameters and pretraining requirements. The experimental results on 19 datasets demonstrate that OSFS-KW not only outperforms traditional methods but, also, exceeds the state-of-the-art OSFS approaches.
Event history analysis of dynamic networks

Statistical analysis on networks has received growing attention due to demand from various emerging applications. In dynamic networks, one of the key interests is to model the event history of time-stamped interactions among nodes. We model dynamic directed networks via multivariate counting processes. A pseudo partial likelihood approach is exploited to capture the network dependence structure. Asymptotic results are established. Numerical experiments are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposal.
Krylov methods for inverse problems: Surveying classical, and introducing new, algorithmic approaches

Large‐scale linear systems coming from suitable discretizations of linear inverse problems are challenging to solve. Indeed, since they are inherently ill‐posed, appropriate regularization should be applied; since they are large‐scale, well‐established direct regularization methods (such as Tikhonov regularization) cannot often be straightforwardly employed, and iterative linear solvers should be exploited. Moreover, every regularization method crucially depends on the choice of one or more regularization parameters, which should be suitably tuned. The aim of this paper is twofold: (a) survey some well‐established regularizing projection methods based on Krylov subspace methods (with a particular emphasis on methods based on the Golub‐Kahan bidiagonalization algorithm), and the so‐called hybrid approaches (which combine Tikhonov regularization and projection onto Krylov subspaces of increasing dimension); (b) introduce a new principled and adaptive algorithmic approach for regularization similar to specific instances of hybrid methods. In particular, the new strategy provides reliable parameter choice rules by leveraging the framework of bilevel optimization, and the links between Gauss quadrature and Golub‐Kahan bidiagonalization. Numerical tests modeling inverse problems in imaging illustrate the performance of existing regularizing Krylov methods, and validate the new algorithms.
Effect of distance from edge on exotic grass abundance in tropical dry forests bordering pastures in Ecuador

Abstract: We compared exotic pasture grass cover near the edges of 20–25-y-old secondary forests (N = 8) with those of mature forests (N = 8), bordering actively grazed pastures on the Pacific Coast of Ecuador. We estimated grass cover in 224 1 × 3-m plots along transects that ran from the pasture edge into forest interiors (11–44 m). Using a spline regression, we divided the transects into three segments: exterior (in the pasture), edge and interior (in the forest). With a stepwise regression, we tested the effect of transect section, forest type and distance from edge on grass cover. Forest type, distance from edge, interior transect section and the combined effect of distance from edge in both the interior and exterior sections explained variation in grass cover. Grass abundance was higher and penetrated further into secondary than mature forests. Edge proximity and differences in forest canopy openness likely favours recruitment and persistence of pasture grasses.
Drying kinetics and thermodynamic properties of bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.) leaves

ABSTRACT Bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.) is a versatile plant that can be consumed as a food and has therapeutic applications. Studying its drying process is important to maintain their leaf quality during storage. The objective of this study was to evaluate the drying kinetics of bitter melon leaves and determine their thermodynamic properties. The leaves were placed in polyethylene trays and subjected to drying in an oven at temperatures of 20, 30, 40, and 50 °C until reaching hygroscopic equilibrium. The experimental data were fitted to several non-linear regression models to characterize the drying process. The Arrhenius model was used to obtain the coefficients of diffusion and the activation energy, which were used to calculate the enthalpy, entropy, and the Gibbs free energy. Midilli and Page were the best models to represent the drying kinetics of bitter melon leaves at temperatures of 20, 30, 40, and 50 °C. Increases in the drying air temperature increased the Gibbs free energy and water diffusivity in the interior of the leaves. Enthalpy and entropy decreased as the temperature was increased.
Dynamics of Physical Capital in Artisanal Fisheries and Policy Implications

The dynamics of physical capital stock and net investment in artisanal fisheries of Al-Seeb - a coastal fishing town of Muscat Governorate are examined covering the period 2004-2013 . Data were gathered from two sources namely the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and field survey. A hedonic regression model is used to examine the influence of boat characteristics on the boat acquisition prices and then to derive the growth rate of physical capital stock. Boat characteristics comprising of ‘age’, ‘horsepower (hp)’ and ‘length (vl)’ are found to be statistically significant at the 5% level and carry sign consistent with the economic theory of depreciation and cost respectively. While inter-annual fluctuation of net investment is observed, a positive trend in cumulative investment with an average growth rate of 7.63% is experienced in the fishery during 2004-2013. A crude assessment of the operating costs and the gross revenue of surveyed boat-owners in 2015 showed that on average monthly economic profit of 570.97±169.36SD OMR was received by individual boat-owner which complements the positive trend in cumulative investment.These findings have important management and policy implications in relation to the effective management of harvesting capacity as well as attract investment in the fishery. Finally, some limitations of the study are discussed along with the indication of potential future research.
A revision of the southern African katydid genus Griffiniana Karny (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Mecopodinae)

The South African genus Griffiniana Karny of squamipterous to macropterous katydids (Tettigoniidae: Mecopodinae:Aprosphylini) is revised and a key to species is provided; G. duplessisae sp. n. from the Western Cape Province is de-scribed; acoustic behavior of G. capensis Karny, G. duplessisae, and G. longipes (Naskrecki) is described. The genus Ewanella Naskrecki is considered a junior synonym of Griffiniana, and E. breviuscula Gorochov is synonymized with G. longipes.
Decreasing labor intensity in agriculture and the accessibility of major cities shape the rural population decline in postsocialist Russia

ABSTRACT Rural population decline has been observed in most developed and emerging economies but has been especially apparent in postsocialist countries. In this paper, we investigate the spatial patterns and the determinants of the rural population dynamics during the transition period from 1991 to 2010 in Tyumen Province, Russia, with the aim of better understanding the forces underlying depopulation. We use descriptive and exploratory statistical tools to analyze data from population censuses and district-level statistics of agriculture. Our results reveal distinct differences in the spatial clusters of the population increase and decline in the first and second decades of the post-Soviet era. We argue that these differences reflect the penetration of market relations into the countryside. The emergence of market forces initially advantaged the areas that were more suited to agriculture, which experienced population growth in the 1990s. Later, the drop in agricultural output, market-driven restructuring of farms, and introduction of labor-saving technologies reduced employment in agriculture. During the 2000s, labor opportunities in agriculture were no longer statistically related to rural population dynamics, while population dynamics in the villages have increasingly been determined by transport accessibility to larger markets, especially to the provincial capital. Governments need to be sensitive to these spatial and temporal population dynamics to foster opportunities in the countryside, avoid the negative side effects of depopulation on local economies and ensure the provision of social services.
Anthropization and Climate Change: Impact on the Discharges of Forest Watersheds in Central Africa

Climate change and anthropization are major drivers of river flows variability. However, understanding their simultaneous impact on discharges is limited. As a contribution to address this limitation, the objective of this study is to assess the impact of climate change and anthropization on the discharges of two watersheds of Central Africa (Nyong and Ntem) over a recent period. For this, the hydropluviometric data of the watersheds concerned were analyzed using the Pettitt test. Similarly, the dynamics of the main land use modes (LUM) have been assessed, through classifications obtained from the processing of Landsat satellite images of the watersheds studied on two dates. The results of this study show that in Central Africa, annual discharges have decreased significantly since the 1970s, and yet the decline in annual rainfall does not become significant until the 2000s. The discharges of the rainy seasons (spring and autumn) recorded the most important changes, following variations in the rainfall patterns of the dry seasons (winter and summer) that precede them. Winters experienced a significant decrease in precipitation between the 1970s and 1990s, which caused a drop in spring flows. Their rise, which began in the 2000s, is also accompanied by an increase in spring flows, which nevertheless seems rather slight in the case of the Nyong. Conversely, between the 1970s and 1990s, there was a joint increase in summer rainfall and autumn flows. A decrease of summer rainfall was noted since the 2000s, and is also noticeable in autumn flows. Maximum flows have remained constant on the Nyong despite the slight drop in rainfall. This seems to be the consequence of changes in land use patterns (diminution of forest and increasing of impervious areas). The decrease in maximums flows noted on the Ntem could be linked to the slight drop in precipitation during the rainy seasons that generates it. Factors such as the general decrease in precipitation during the winter and the reduction in the area occupied by water bodies could justify the decrease in minimum flows observed in the two watersheds. These findings would be vital to enhance water management capabilities in the watersheds concerned and in the region. They can also give some new elements to study and understand the seasonal variation and fresh water availability in downstream, estuaries and coastal areas of the regional rivers.