Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of a Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense) Biotype Resistant to ACCase-Inhibiting Herbicides in Northern Greece

Abstract A johnsongrass population from a cotton field in northern Greece along with a population from the university farm (“Control”) were evaluated for resistance to the herbicide quizalofop; cross-resistance to cycloxydim, propaquizafop, and fluazifop (acetyl coenzyme A [CoA] carboxylase [ACCase]-inhibiting herbicides), and multiple resistance to nicosulfuron (acetolactate synthase [ALS]-inhibiting herbicides). In greenhouse experiments, the application of four times the recommended rates of quizalofop and propaquizafop to suspected resistant rhizomatous plants resulted in 4 and 5% growth reduction, respectively. However, the growth of suspected resistant seedlings was reduced by 54 and 28% after the application of two times the recommended rate of the same herbicides. In contrast, the application of quizalofop and propaquizafop at recommended rates on rhizomatous plants and seedlings of the Control population reduced their growth by 97 to 100%. Also, the growth reduction of both populations by the application of cycloxydim, fluazifop, and nicosulfuron at recommended rates ranged from 93 to 100%. In the field experiment, quizalofop and propaquizafop applied at four times the recommended rate reduced growth of the suspected resistant population by 9 and 18%, respectively, whereas the recommended rate of fluazifop gave a 94% growth reduction of this weed. The herbicide rate required for 50% growth reduction (GR50) values for rhizomatous plants of the suspected resistant population were 0.90 and 2.465 kg ai/ha for quizalofop and propaquizafop, respectively, whereas the corresponding GR50 values for the seedlings were 0.074 and 0.185 kg ai/ha. These results indicate that a johnsongrass population developed cross-resistance to quizalofop and propaquizafop, but did not evolve cross-resistance to cycloxydim and fluazifop or multiple resistance to nicosulfuron. Nomenclature: Cycloxydim; fluazifop; nicosulfuron; propaquizafop; quizalofop; johnsongrass, Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers. SORHA; cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L.
Physiological Effect of Ghrelin on Body Systems

Ghrelin is a relatively novel multifaceted hormone that has been found to exert a plethora of physiological effects. In this review, we found/confirmed that ghrelin has effect on all body systems. It induces appetite; promotes the use of carbohydrates as a source of fuel while sparing fat; inhibits lipid oxidation and promotes lipogenesis; stimulates the gastric acid secretion and motility; improves cardiac performance; decreases blood pressure; and protects the kidneys, heart, and brain. Ghrelin is important for learning, memory, cognition, reward, sleep, taste sensation, olfaction, and sniffing. It has sympatholytic, analgesic, antimicrobial, antifibrotic, and osteogenic effects. Moreover, ghrelin makes the skeletal muscle more excitable and stimulates its regeneration following injury; delays puberty; promotes fetal lung development; decreases thyroid hormone and testosterone; stimulates release of growth hormone, prolactin, glucagon, adrenocorticotropic hormone, cortisol, vasopressin, and oxytocin; inhibits insulin release; and promotes wound healing. Ghrelin protects the body by different mechanisms including inhibition of unwanted inflammation and induction of autophagy. Having a clear understanding of the ghrelin effect in each system has therapeutic implications. Future studies are necessary to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of ghrelin actions as well as its application as a GHSR agonist to treat most common diseases in each system without any paradoxical outcomes on the other systems.
MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATION AND WIDTH OF ECOLOGICAL NICHE

In six bird species convenient for study, niches are known to be broader on some islands than on the mainland. In every case there is also greater variation in a bill measurement on the islands, except for one species in which the niche on the Canary Islands is narrower than that on the mainland. The adjusted variances average about twice as great in the broader niche. These and other results suggest that continuous variation within local populations is often adaptive in itself and is not part of the genetic or phenotypic load.
Construct Validity in Scientific Representation: A Philosophical Tour

This article presents a philosophical tour encircling the concept construct validity. Encapsulated by two major perspectives, realism and antirealism, we visit key topics within the philosophy of educational science such as representation and reference, truth, explanation and causation. We discuss how realism and antirealism deal with unobservables through the distinction between appearance and reality. We examine the two perspectives’ stance on observational terms (O-terms) and theoretical terms (T-terms), and look at the consequences implied for researchers that reside within the two perspectives. We argue that the understanding of the concept of construct validity is essential for educational researchers and researchers from any scientific discipline. Furthermore, the discussions of construct validity raised here is important beyond the research realm, such as in educational practice and in all everyday inferences people make about theoretical entities. Any researcher and practitioner is free to choose between the -isms, but must be aware that the choice has consequences.
Diversity of the culturable endophytic fungi producing L-asparaginase in arid Sinai, Egypt

Twenty-five endophytic fungal species were recovered and identified from a twenty-three plant species collected from Saint Katherine Protectorate, South Sinai Egypt, during the period of 2017-2019` with a total count of 4,466 CFU. Alternaria alternata recorded the highest count of 1382 CFU out of 4466 CFU and the highest frequency of occurrence with 22 cases of isolation out of 23 plant species. In relation to host plant, Euphorbia obovata hosted the highest count (366 CFU), while Artemisia herba-alba hosted the highest fungal species richness value with 9 species out of 25. Isolated taxa were screened for L-asparaginase production where 7 strains belonging to 4 different species showed a positive result with an enzymatic activity ranging from 44.5 ± 1.66 to 152.58 ± 0.63 U ml -1 . Lasiodiplodia theobromae isolated from Teucrium polium recorded the highest activity with 152.58 U ml -1 . The present study suggests that L. theobromae has the potential to be used as an alternative and reliable source of L-asparaginase for potent anticancer agents.
Optimal conditions for induction of competence in nitrogen-fixing Azotobacter vinelandii

Competence development in nitrogen-fixing Azotobacter vinelandii cells was optimal at pH 7.2–7.4 which necessitated additional buffering of the iron-limited nitrogen-free competence medium or the addition of a suitable organic acid salt, e.g., sodium acetate. An autolysin was active in this pH range and competent cells were more susceptible to autolysis than the general cell population. Competence development also required restricted aeration of the culture, and only those cultures that attained zero dissolved oxygen became competent. Restricted aeration served to protect the iron-limited cell nitrogenase from oxygen inactivation thus allowing the culture to reach zero dissolved oxygen. The inclusion of additional sources of reductant, e.g., malate, in buffered competence medium resulted in increased respiration and protection of nitrogenase, increased cell mass, and poly-β-hydroxybutyrate synthesis, but decreased competence. A possible explanation for the apparent competition between competence developme.
VISE: Combining Intel SGX and Homomorphic Encryption for Cloud Industrial Control Systems

Protecting data-in-use from privileged attackers is challenging. New CPU extensions (notably: Intel SGX) and cryptographic techniques (specifically: Homomorphic Encryption) can guarantee privacy even in untrusted third-party systems. HE allows sensitive processing on ciphered data. However, it is affected by i) a dramatic ciphertext expansion making HE unusable when bandwidth is narrow, ii) unverifiable conditional variables requiring off-premises support. Intel SGX allows sensitive processing in a secure enclave. Unfortunately, it is i) strictly bonded to the hosting server making SGX unusable when the live migration of cloud VMs/Containers is desirable, ii) limited in terms of usable memory, which is in contrast with resource-consuming data processing. In this article, we propose the VIrtual Secure Enclave (VISE), an approach that effectively combines the two aforementioned techniques, to overcome their limitations and ultimately make them usable in a typical cloud setup. VISE moves the execution of sensitive HE primitives (e.g., encryption) to the cloud in a remotely attested SGX enclave, and then performs sensitive processing on HE data–outside the enclave–leveraging all the memory resources available. We demonstrate that VISE meets the challenging security and performance requirements of a substantial application in the Industrial Control Systems domain. Our experiments prove the practicability of the proposed solution.
Natural colonisation of an open area by Quercus robur L. – From where did the vectors disperse the seed?

Abstract We quantified seed flow distances from seed trees of Quercus robur L. into areas with no forest cover based on a population of 147 trees growing next to an open heath land hosting many young oak seedlings. We sampled seedlings along four transects (6–700 m from the source population), and revealed likely parentage of seedlings by microsatellite genotyping data. We found seedlings that fitted the source population at distances up to 700 m, which was the furthest distance from the source population at which seedlings were sampled. However, we estimated that approximately half of the sampled seedlings did not originate from the source population, but must have been recruited from more distant oak populations, growing at least 500 m away. We conclude that the genetic origin and composition of natural regeneration of Q. robur are likely to originate from trees distributed at the landscape level rather than merely trees in the vicinity of the regenerated area. Implications for genetic management are discussed. The quantitative results fit well with qualitative reports of birds transporting acorns several hundred metres away from seed parents.
Nematode Resistance Derived from Wild Beet and its Meiotic Stability in Sugar Beet

Three different karyotypes of sugar beet with resistance against the beet cyst nematode (Heterodera schachtii) have been investigated. These comprised monosomic addition lines (2n = 19) with one complete chromosome from B. patellarris or B. procumbens, one line with a chromosomal fragment added to the normal sugar beet chromosome complement (2n =18 + fragment) and one diploid line (2n = 18). The fragment originated from a B. procumbens chromosome since during meiosis it formed a univalem. It carries the gene for nematode resistance. Meiotic disturbances like univalems. laggards, anaphase I bridges, fragments and micronuclei were observed in all resistant genotypes. These may result in an exclusion of the chromosome fragment carrying the resistance from the rest of the genome. In the diploid resistant line, a chromosome with a translocation could be distinguished from the other B. vulgaris chromosomes. Meiotic irregularities also appeared in diploid resistant types and are one main reason for low transmission of the resistance. Tin-relationship between meiotic stability and the transmission rate of the resistance gene is discussed.
Gene constitution of South-East Asian native chickens, commercial chickens and jungle fowl using polymorphisms of four calpain genes

The gene constitution of polymorphisms of the four calpain genes (µ-calpain, m-calpain, p94, and µ/m-calpain) were analyzed in South-East Asian native chickens, White Leghorn and Broiler commercial chickens, and Red and Green jungle fowl. Polymorphisms were detected at all loci in chickens and Red jungle fowl, but only for CAPN1 (µ-calpain gene) in Green jungle fowl. CAPN2 and CAPN1.5 are linked on chicken chromosome 3, and the genotype for these loci were treated as haplotype. Some combinations of calpain loci were tested using principal component analysis, and the best combination (CAPN1, CAPN3, and CAPN1.5) was determined. The proportion of polymorphic loci (Ppoly) and heterozygosity ( ) were 1.00 and 0.316‐0.465 in domestic chickens and red jungle fowl, and 0.33 and 0.137 in Green jungle fowl, respectively. GST values suggested that the degree of subdivision among native chickens was relatively low except for Thailand, which was highest. Pair-wise FST testing, dendrogram and principal component analysis from the results of calpain loci showed that the four South-East Asian native and commercial chicken populations were close genetically.
The Value of Direct Instruction for At-Risk Students

Students of color and low-income students are at a much higher risk of dropping out of school than more privileged students. Dropping out of school can lead to severe social issues -- students who drop out of school are much more likely to end up incarcerated and to remain unemployed for long periods of time. However, strong empirical research indicates that certain teaching methods are highly beneficial for the academic achievement of at-risk students in addition to being beneficial for the achievement of all students in general. These teaching methods are based around direct, teacher-centered instruction. In contrast, teaching methods based around minimally-guided instruction tend to be ineffective (or even detrimental) for at-risk students. This text outlines the benefits of direct instruction and the potential risks of minimally-guided instruction, along with specific steps for implementing effective teaching strategies.
Food, Feeding, and Condition of Lobsters, Homarus americanus, Throughout the Seasonal Cycle in Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland

The rock crab, Cancer irroratus, and spider crab, Hyas araneus, made up about 50% of the food of lobsters in Bonavista Bay, Nfld. The sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus drobachiensis, several species of molluscs, and several species of sea stars made up 7.1, 10.9, and 10%, respectively. The remainder was mainly a variety of bottom invertebrates but fish and seaweeds were also fairly common. There was a change to a slightly more calcium-rich diet during the molting season. A rapid increase in feeding activity during the summer coincided with increasing temperatures, but despite decreasing temperatures during the fall, feeding activity remained high. The feeding index for females remained high longer into the winter than for males. Physiological condition was directly related to the molting cycle. Premolt condition was very high, postmolt very low, and recovery to the intermolt condition was attained about months after the peak molting period.
The distance decay of similarity in ecological communities

Biological similartiy typically decreases with geographical distance. Despite the recent attention to the distance decay relationship, there is no consensus on how the relationship varies across organism groups, geographic gradients and environments. We first conducted a quantitative meta-analysis of 401 distance decay relationships across a wide range of organisms, ecosystems and geographical gradients, and then united the effects of categorical and continuous variables on the rate of distance decay using a general linear model (GLM). As effect sizes we used the similarity at one km distance (initial similarity) and the distance that halves the similarity from its value at one km distance (halving distance). Both the initial similarity and halving distance were significantly affected by variables characterizing the spatial scale, organism properties, study region and ecosystem concerned. The patterns appear robust as the results of meta-analysis and GLM only differed in marginal details. According to GLM with Akaike’s information criterion, the most parsimonious models explained 55.3 and 37.6% of variance in initial similarity and halving distance, respectively. Across large scales, similarity was decreasing slightly faster at high latitudes than at low latitudes, while small-scale turnover was higher at low latitudes. We also found significant differences in initial similarity among the realms, with terrestrial systems showing higher small-scale beta diversity. The decrease in community similarity at large scales was higher among organisms that are actively mobile than among passively dispersed organisms. We conclude that regression of similarity against distance unites several ecological phenomena such as dispersal propensity and environmental structuring, and provides an effective approach for gauging the spatial turnover across sites. We also found that the patterns in beta-diversity are highly scale-dependent.
Ethnobotanical study of Tehsil Kabal, Swat District, KPK, Pakistan.

A total of 140 plants have been reported ethnobotanically from Tehsil Kabal, Swat District. These include the 133 plants (95%) of angiosperms, 3 (2.14%) of gymnosperms, and 2 (1.42%) each of pteridophytes and fungi. The largest family is Lamiaceae represented by 11 species followed by Rosaceae represented by 9 species. Among angiosperms 76 (55.63%) were herbs, 17 (12.78%) were shrubs, and 40 (30.07%) were trees; 127 plants (95.48%) were dicot while 6 plants (4.51%) were monocot. Most of the plants were used for more than one purpose. Generally the plants were used for medicinal, fuel, timber wood, food, and fodder for cattle purposes.
Inbreeding depression in the gynodioecious shrub Hebe subalpina (Scrophulahaceae)

Abstract Inbreeding depression caused by self-fertilisation was examined in the gynodioecious shrub Hebe subalpina under two planting regimens, non-competitive and competitive. We found differences among families in the magnitude of inbreeding depression, ranging from 0.31 to 0.63. On average, outcrossed progeny grew nearly twice as large as selfed progeny, and the coefficients of variation (CVs) for dry mass were lower for outcrossed progeny than selfed progeny within the non-competitive regimen. Planting regime had a highly significant effect on dry mass, such that plants grown in the competitive regimen were an order of magnitude smaller than those in the non-competitive regimen, and they also had higher CVs. However, planting regimen did not significantly affect the magnitude of inbreeding depression. Our results suggest that intrinsic differences exist in the growth rate of selfed and outcrossed individuals, and that inbreeding depression helps to maintain females at a high frequency in the populatio.
Automated Classification of Multiple Cardiovascular Diseases from ECG Signal

CVDs are problems of the heart and veins and incorporate coronary illness, cerebrovascular sickness, rheumatic coronary illness and different conditions. Cardiovascular infections (CVDs)are the number 1 reason for death internationally, taking an expected 17.9 million lives every year. In this work there is identification of three significant cardiovascular illnesses to be specific Arrhythmia, congestive cardiovascular breakdown and typical sinus arrhythmia. The preprocessing of the crude ECG signal is finished utilizing Observational deterioration to get 12 Intermediate modal functions (IMFs) which are symmetrical in nature. Denoised Altered sign is acquired by adding the mix of IMFs which will be the most ideal situation with least clamor and twisting. The adjusted sign is utilized in as contribution to prepare the CNN model. In this manner, prepared CNN model is tried by utilizing the ideal ECG information contribution for the order of Cardiovascular Ailment. Keywords— Cardiovascular Diseases, Electrocardiogram, Empirical Mode Decomposition, Convolution Neural Networks.
Cell surface displacement during euglenoid movement and its computer simulation

We recently showed by videomicroscopy that adjacent pellicular strips slide relative to each other without contraction during S-shaped bending movement in Euglena fusca (Suzaki and Williamson, 1985). In order to validate this sliding strip mechanism for other species and other shape changes, a theoretical analysis and a computer simulation were carried out. Some of the commonly observed euglenoid cell shapes (rounded. S-shaped, and embryo-like shapes) were generated. Our results suggest that Euglena probably achieves a variety of cell shape changes by means of locally regulated sliding between adjacent pellicular strips of constant length and width.
Relative Importance of Ingested Sediment and Pore Water as Bioaccumulation Routes for Pyrene to Oligochaete (Lumbriculus variegatus, Müller)

It is generally accepted that sediment ingestion is an important route in accumulation of highly hydrophobic sedi ment-bound contaminants. The significance of this route is, however, difficult to quantify reliably. For this purpose, the relative importance of pore water and ingested sediment as sources was studied by exposing individual oligochaetes of different size to radiolabeled pyrene spiked lake sediment for 28 days. Simultaneously, their ingestion behavior (egestion rate) was followed. The design allowed comparison of the bioaccumulation process between individuals ingesting and noningesting sediment. Pyrene accumulated mainly through ingested material. After 8 days of exposure, approximately 61% of the body burden had accumulated via ingested material. Uptake clearance rates differed between worm groups, which started sediment ingestion at different points of time. This was probably due to decreasing bioavailability. The data signify the importance of ingested material in bioaccumulation of hydrop.
Rearing honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) in vitro: effects of feeding intervals on survival and development

Summary A new and simple technique was developed to rear honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) in vitro. One day old larvae were grafted into Petri dishes and fed a basic diet at six different time intervals. There were no differences in the larval weights, survival rates or ovariole numbers of the bees among the groups that were fed at different intervals, but they were heavier and had larger ovaries than hive reared bees. It was shown that honey bees can be reared in vitro without replenishing their food daily. This simple mass provisioning technique reduces the labour involved, and enables the researcher to raise large number of bees in vitro.
VET for secondary school students: post-school employment and further training destinations

Students who did VET for Secondary School Students (VfSSS) studies were more likely than those who did not to be in full-time and permanent employment five years after their studies. Those who had undertaken a school-based apprenticeship or traineeship were also among the most likely to be in full-time and permanent employment and in jobs related to their VfSSS studies. In comparison, those who did not do VfSSS studies were more likely than those who did to be in casual or part-time employment, with substantial proportions currently studying, or having gained a bachelor's degree or higher. Although the most common post-school qualifications for VfSSS students were VET qualifications, around 20 per cent of VfSSS students had also completed a bachelor's degree, suggesting that students in these programs are not a homogenous group.