Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Growth, Nutritional Status, Chlorophyll Content, and Antioxidant Responses of the Apple Rootstock MM 111 Shoots Cultured Under High Boron Concentrations In Vitro

ABSTRACT The in vitro response of the apple rootstock MM 111 to increasing concentrations of boron (B) (0.1, 0.5, 1, 3, and 6 mM) in MS medium is reported. The in vitro cultures of MM 111 shoots produced the highest fresh mass when 0.1 mM B was included in the medium. By increasing B concentration of the culture medium from 0.1 to 6 mM, B, phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg) concentrations of explants increased, whereas potassium (K), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn) concentrations decreased. Chlorophyll content (SPAD units) of leaves declined as B concentration of the culture medium increased from 0.1 to 6 mM. The highest peroxidase (POD) activity in leaves was recorded in the presence of 6 mM B in the medium. By increasing B concentration of the medium from 0.1 to 3 mM, catalase (CAT) activity increased in leaves. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in leaves and stems increased as B concentration of the medium increased. The non-enzymatic antioxidant power activity of leaves (FRAP values) increased gradually as B concentration of the medium increased.
Die Trespen-Halbtrockenrasen (Mesobrometum erecti Koch 1926) im mittleren Steirischen Ennstal (Steiermark, Österreich) - Ökologie, Soziologie und Naturschutz.

The Mesobrometum erecti Koch 1926 in the middle of the Styrian Enns valley (Styria, Austria) ecology, sociology and nature protection The M eso b ro m etu m e rec ti occurs in the semi-dry conditions of the research area (middle of the Sty­ rian Enns valley, Austria). The soil is usually shallow and low in nutrients, with high base saturation, and is mainly in the carbonate buffer range. It also has a relatively high electrical conductivity and low contents of lactate and water-soluble P2O 5. It is often supersaturated with Ca2+. The low availability of phosphorus seems to be the main limiting factor for plant growth. Syntaxonomical classification closely follows the different amounts of clay in the soil, which lead to different temperature, water and nutrient conditions. The subassociation of C o lc h ic u m a u tu m n a le is typical in the clay-rich rendzic leptosols. These sites are characterised by semi-dry conditions with peri­ odic moistening. The typical subassociation occurs on calcaric cambisols with low clay content. These sites are semi-dry. The B ro m u s erec tu s semi-dry grassland is characterised by many hemicryptophytes. The root-shoot ratio is higher than in the A lc h e m illo m o n t ic o la e -A rrh e n a th e re tu m . One of the most important features of Poaceae and Cyperaceae root anatomy in semi-dry conditions is a wide stele and a narrow cortex, with an irregular arrangement of cortex cells with triangular intercellulars. The roots of B ro m u s erec tu s plants are highly infected by mycorrhiza. The B ro m u s erec tu s semi-dry grassland has lower yield and fodder quality than manured grassland. The feed intake is almost similar. The plants of the B ro m u s erec tu s semi-dry grassland display a relative­ ly efficient uptake of mineral nutrients (relatively high nutrient-use efficiency). The M eso b ro m etu m e rec ti is one of the most species-rich plant communities in the research area and an important biotope for many rare and protected plant and animal species. The high species richness occurs on semi-dry, nutrient-poor sites, where many mesophytes and xerophytes find good growth conditions. Care and protection of the semi-dry grassland is an important task for agriculture. Only late mowing or extensive grazing guarantees the protection of these plant communities.
Petal Abscission in Rose Flowers: Effects of Water Potential, Light Intensity and Light Quality

Abstract Petal abscission was studied in roses ( Rosa hybrida L.), cvs. Korflapei (trade name Frisco), Sweet Promise (Sonia) and Cara Mia (trade name as officially registered cultivar name). Unlike flowers on plants in greenhouses, cut flowers placed in water in the greenhouse produced visible symptoms of water stress, depending on the weather during the experiment and on the cultivar. Cut Frisco roses showed no visible signs of water stress and the time to petal abscission was as in uncut flowers. In Sonia roses the symptoms of water stress varied from mild to severe, and the number of flowers in which the petals abscised varied from 100% (mild stress) to 0% (severe stress). An antimicrobial compound in the vase water of Sonia roses, or removal of the leaves, alleviated the symptoms of water stress and increased the number of stems in which the petals abscised. Cut Cara Mia roses showed severe symptoms of water stress in all experiments and petal abscission was found in only a few flowers, even when the stems were placed at 20 °C and low photon flux (15 μmol m -2 s -1 ). Abscission in Sonia and Cara Mia roses was low or absent when the water potential of the leaves reached values below -2.0 MPa within the first 5 d of the experiment; such low values were not reached in Frisco roses. Addition of sucrose to the vase solution, together with an effective antimicrobial compound, had no effect on the time to petal abscission, at any light intensity. Placing flowers in far-red light also had no effect on abscission, compared with flowers placed in red light or white light of the same photon fluence. It is concluded that petal abscission in the rose cultivars studied is not affected by their water status unless the plants reach a low water potential (about -2 MPa) early on during vase life. Petal abscission is not inhibited by low light intensity nor affected by the Pr/Pfr ratio.
Application and efficacy of information technology in construction industry

In the 21st century, information technology (IT) is seen as a tool that assists companies to perform more efficiently and effectively. However, many studies have posed the question whether the benefits outweigh the investments. The issue is more serious in the construction industry where there are factors that limit performance such as inadequate training, ineffective use of IT infrastructures, maintenance inadequacies and less than positive staff perceptions concerning IT implementations by management. Malaysia is a rapidly developing country and IT integration has to be efficient to help accelerate development. This study aims to analyze IT effectiveness in construction companies focusing on small and medium contracting enterprises (SMCE). The study reviewed literature related to IT implementation and its services in the construction industry with the objective of highlighting the appropriate conceptual IT effective model in the context of the Malaysian construction industry. The review was also performed to identify important factors attributed to performance and hindrances of performance of Malaysian construction companies. The paper concludes with tentative implications for IT implementation with the necessity to comprehend operational and process-level changes as well as impact isolation of specific IT application types concerning firm’s dynamic capabilities, which mediate IT impacts on firm performance. Key words: Information technology, construction industry, Malaysia, performance, information technology effectiveness, information technology implementation.
Taxonomy and distribution of meiobenthic intertidal foraminifera in the coastal tract of Midnapore (East), West Bengal, India

Taxonomy and distribution of recent meiobenthic intertidal foraminifera in the coastal tract of Midnapore District have been studied for a period of two years (March, 2009- February, 2011). A total of 44 meiobenthic foraminiferal species belonging to 22 genera, 17 families, 14 super families and 7 orders has been recorded from the intertidal belts of this coastal environment. Faunal assemblages revealed a dominance of the order Rotaliida (20 species) followed by the order Miliolida (9 species), order Lituolida (7 species), Lagenida (3 species), Trochamminida (2 species), Buliminida (2 species) and order Textulariida (1 species). Asterorotalia trispinosa, A. multispinosa, A. dentata, Ammonia beccarii, A. tepida, Miliammina fusca, Quinqueloculina seminulum, Trochammina inflata, Ammobaculites agglutinans, Elphidium hispidulum, and E. crispum were found to be the most abundant foraminifera recorded from different study sites during different seasons.
Isolation and Identification of Actinomycetes Present in Activated Sludge Scum

A study was carried out to isolate and identify actinomycetes present in activated sludge scum. Samples from two activated sludge treatment plants were analyzed. One hundred and five strains were isolated. The predominant organism in both treatment plant samples was Nocardiaamarae. Fifty-one strains of N. amarae were isolated. The second most common organism (24 strains) was N. asteroides. The other isolates were identified as Rhodococcuscoprophilus, R. equi, R. erythropolis, R. maris, Mycobacteriumfortuitum, and strains belonging to the genera Nocardia, Rhodococcus, Oerskovia, Amycolatopsis and Micromonospora. Distribution of actinomycetes in the samples varied. This observation appeared to indicate that plant design, operational and environmental conditions might play an important role in determining the types of actinomycetes in aeration basins.
Should I Defend or Should I Go? An Adaptive, Qualitative Examination of the Personal Costs and Benefits Associated With Bullying Intervention

Bystanders play a crucial role in encouraging or preventing bullying situations and feature prominently in several international antibullying programs (e.g., KiVa). Despite a surge of recent interest in bystanders, relatively little is known about the functional reasons why individuals choose to engage with or ignore bullying incidents. Given the importance of bystanders’ influence on bullying, we argue that further consideration needs to be given to the individual costs and benefits of bystanders’ intervention. Adolescents in our study (N = 101, M = 15.37 years) read different bullying scenarios and were then asked to respond with how the bystander would react in each scenario while considering and explaining potential personal costs and benefits. We focused on the cognitive reasoning of important factors adolescents may consider when faced with the decision of whether to intervene or not in a bullying situation. Our study provides novel evidence that adolescents engage in quite explicit cost–benefit decisions regarding their decisions of whether or not they would intervene in bullying. The content and structure of these cost–benefit decisions support an adaptive model of bullying behavior and may be helpful in developing more targeted peer-based antibullying programs.
Temperature response measurements from eucalypts give insight into the impact of Australian isoprene emissions on air quality in 2050

Abstract. Predicting future air quality in Australian cities dominated by eucalypt emissions requires an understanding of their emission potentials in a warmer climate. Here we measure the temperature response in isoprene emissions from saplings of four different Eucalyptus species grown under current and future average summertime temperature conditions. The future conditions represent a 2050 climate under Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5, with average daytime temperatures of 294.5 K. Ramping the temperature from 293 to 328 K resulted in these eucalypts emitting isoprene at temperatures 4–9 K higher than the default maximum emission temperature in the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN). New basal emission rate measurements were obtained at the standard conditions of 303 K leaf temperature and 1000 µmol m−2 s−1 photosynthetically active radiation and converted into landscape emission factors. We applied the eucalypt temperature responses and emission factors to Australian trees within MEGAN and ran the CSIRO Chemical Transport Model for three summertime campaigns in Australia. Compared to the default model, the new temperature responses resulted in less isoprene emission in the morning and more during hot afternoons, improving the statistical fit of modelled to observed ambient isoprene. Compared to current conditions, an additional 2 ppb of isoprene is predicted in 2050, causing hourly increases up to 21 ppb of ozone and 24-hourly increases of 0.4 µg m−3 of aerosol in Sydney. A 550 ppm CO2 atmosphere in 2050 mitigates these peak Sydney ozone mixing ratios by 4 ppb. Nevertheless, these forecasted increases in ozone are up to one-fifth of the hourly Australian air quality limit, suggesting that anthropogenic NOx should be further reduced to maintain healthy air quality in future.
Perceptions of the New Role of the Research Champion in Developing a New ITE Partnership: Challenges and Opportunities for Schools and Universities

After a process of competitive tendering for the provision of initial teacher education in Wales, there is an opportunity to re-examine the relationship between schools and universities. With the growing importance of research for both student and serving teachers, the Cardiff Partnership developed a model where a school-based 'Research Champion' (RC) would be an integral part of the support for capacity building and developing excellence. Although this model has previously been used in different forms at Oxford and Manchester Universities, the role was new to schools in the Cardiff Partnership. Semi-structured one-to-one interviews were conducted with a representative sample of RCs in primary and secondary schools and university staff to reflect on the challenges and opportunities in the early stages in developing this unique role in the context of an evolving education context in Wales. This study uses data from these interviews to establish key ideas around the emerging role of the RC, the shift in working relationships between schools and universities and what is needed to bridge the gap between research and practice. Interviews were transcribed and, after open-ended thematic analysis, opportunities and challenges are reported. These themes include: bridging the gap between educational research and classroom practitioners; types of knowledge drawn upon by teachers; changes in role and identity. Suggestions for further research monitoring the ongoing development of the role are suggested.
A test of the sexy-sperm and good-sperm hypotheses for the evolution of polyandry

The sexy-sperm hypothesis proposes that polyandrous females will have a selective advantage over monandrous females as their sons will be sired by males with competitively superior sperm and will inherit this trait. Although the good-sperm hypothesis also predicts that offspring will be sired by males with competitively superior sperm, it additionally assumes a positive correlation between offspring sperm quality and the general viability of both sons and daughters. We examined the potential for sexy-sperm and good-sperm processes by exploring the effect of polyandry on offspring sperm quality and immunocompetence in the field cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus, a species in which sperm viability predicts sperm competitive ability. In the parental generation, females were mated monandrously or polyandrously, where each female received 3 matings. We reared the resultant offspring through to maturity and assayed approximately 10 offspring per family for both sperm viability and immunity. We found that male offspring from polyandrous mothers had higher sperm viability, but that this was not phenotypically associated with male or female offspring condition, as measured by either immune function or ability to survive a bacterial infection. Thus, our data are consistent with a sexy-sperm, but not a good-sperm model in explaining the evolution of polyandry in this species.
AGE STRUCTURE OF NEOTROPICAL MIGRANTS DURING FALL MIGRATION IN SOUTH DAKOTA: IS THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS REGION AN INLAND “COAST”?

Abstract Proportions of juvenile birds in migrant populations at coastal stopover sites are often higher than proportions of juveniles at inland stopover sites, a phenomenon called the “coastal effect. ” The northern Great Plains forms the western boundary of the migratory ranges for many Neotropical woodland migrants. Moreover, woodland habitat is scarce in this region, consisting primarily of natural riparian corridor woodlands (hereafter corridors) and planted woodlots and shelterbelts around farmsteads and agricultural fields (hereafter woodlots). Due to the scarcity of woodland habitat, one might expect that adults—by virtue of their experience and better-developed navigational abilities—would avoid the Great Plains during fall migration, thus producing age structures in migrant populations similar to those found at coastal sites. We tested this “inland coast” hypothesis for Neotropical migrants captured during fall migration at corridor and woodlot stopover sites in southeastern South Dakota. We classified migrants into three groups based on whether our South Dakota study sites were peripheral (western edge of migratory range within South Dakota), near-peripheral (western edge in, or just west of, Wyoming or Montana), or central (western edge well west of Montana and Wyoming) to their regular migratory ranges. We captured higher juvenile proportions of peripheral (86.5 ± 10.4%, 2 species) and near-peripheral (85.6 ± 4.5%, 7 species) migrants than central migrants (79.6 ± 7.2%, 5 species), but the difference was not significant (P = 0.11). The proportion of juveniles was inversely correlated with the distance of our study sites from the western edge of a given species' migratory range (r = 0.476, P = 0.085). The proportion of juvenile Neotropical migrants at our study sites was near the upper end of proportions recorded for other inland sites in North America, but was slightly lower than those recorded at coastal sites. Our results are, therefore, only partially consistent with the inland coast hypothesis, suggesting that factors other than geographic location also shape age structures at our study sites. The mean proportion of juveniles (for species captured ≥13 times in both habitats; n = 10) was significantly greater (P = 0.002) in the woodlot (89.1 ± 7.0%) than in corridors (73.8 ± 12.5%). The differential age structure in the two habitats suggests that habitat characteristics may influence age structure of the migrant community, but mechanisms for such an influence are currently unknown.
American chestnut survival in understory mesic sites following the chestnut blight pandemic

American chestnut survival was studied in 15 mesic understory sites located in the former oak–chestnut forest region of the eastern United States. Mesic deep coves and northeasterly slopes studied had no or low chestnut survival. Several shallow coves, north to northwesterly slopes, and a large cove slope examined had good chestnut survival. Live chestnut to chestnut stump ratios of 1 or greater were found on these sites. High canopy-tree basal area was not always associated with low chestnut survival, and vice versa. For five mesic sites studied in more detail, high chestnut survival was associated with higher basal areas for understory species (> 2.5 cm dbh) and frequency and basal area of red maple. Chestnut blight incidence was low or zero at these sites. Mesic sites, especially shallow coves, with surviving chestnuts may have the greatest potential for chestnut growth and biocontrol of blight, if effective hypovirulence, blight resistance, and forest management measures are developed. Key words: ches.
Insects and Mites Associated with Hot Spots in Farm Stored Grain

Hot spots may develop quickly in farm stored grain under Canadian winter conditions. Heavy infestations of mites, insects and fungi may accompany such hot spots (Stirrett and Arnott, 1933; Watters, 1955). Once the heating process is initiated, whatever its cause, it brings about a rapid deterioration of grain, tluough charring of kernels, and reduction of their germinability, and by providing optimum conditions for the growth and reproduction of storage fungi, insects and mites.
Estudo filogeográfico de Bothrops jararaca (WIED, 1824) baseado no DNA mitocondrial (squamata: serpentes: viperidae)

Bothrops jararaca is a pitviper distributed across the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, manly in the south and southeastern regions of Brazil, being one of the main causes of the more than 10,000 registered snakebites in Brazil. Large variation in color and drawn patterns has been described, however noting is known about the population genetic and evolutionary history. We analyzed the sequence variation at the mitochondrial gene cytocrome b in 154 individuals from 96 localities and five specimens from two closely related insular species (B. insularis and B. alcatraz). Phylogenetic and network analyses reveled the existence of a southern and a southeastern clade with high support for all methods. The boundary between the two clades is near to where is today the Paranapanema River, between the São Paulo and the Paraná State, although its seems that this river is not a dispersion barrier to this species. The divergence time for these two clades was estimated at 3.5 to 1.0 millions years BP at the late Pliocene or early Pleistocene, when the tropical rain forest was fragmented by large climatic changes. Our data suggest that the SOC subclade underwent a moderate bottleneck followed by a large size expansion while SEC showed signals of range and size expansion, and absence of a strong bottleneck. The origin of the insular B. alcatraz and B. insularis occurred in the Late Pleistocene by individuals from the actual B. jararaca species, and its origins may be associated with the fluctuation of the sea level at that period.
Quantitative genetics and breeding methods in autopolyploid plants

Genetique quantitative et methodes de selection chez les especes autopolyploidesPartant des particularites de l'etat autopolyploide, cet ouvrage est une formulation des concepts essentiels dans les domaines suivants : genetique des populations, genetique quantitative, methodologie de selection et creation de varietes. De nombreux resultats sont aussi presentes en fonction du niveau de ploidie, la diploidie devenant alors un cas particulier. La detection de QTL et la selection assistee par marqueurs sont egalement traitees.C'est un ouvrage pour tous les chercheurs travaillant sur les especes autopolyploides, pour les enseignants et les etudiants qui desirent approfondir leurs connaissances en considerant le niveau de ploidie. Les selectionneurs trouveront aussi les elements pour choisir les methodes de selection et de creation varietale les plus appropriees.
Platelet Oxidative Stress and Antioxidant Nutrients

Reactive oxidant species (ROS) and intracellular antioxidants are on a sophisticated equilibrium that may lead to cellular damage in case of enhanced production of ROS and/or lowered antioxidant status. Several enzymatic pathways concur to the platelet production of ROS, including NADPH oxidase, myeloperoxidase, xanthine oxidase and uncoupled eNOS. Platelet NADPH oxidase seems to play a crucial role in platelet activation. Pharmacologic approach to reduce platelet activation by the down-regulation of NAPDH oxidase, may represent a future target of antiplatelet drugs. In this context some antioxidant molecules content in food, such as polyphenols, Vitamin E, Vitamin C and PUFAn-3, would be of potential interest.