Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SIX Chatting With a Tiny Belowground Member of the Holobiome : Communication Between Plants and Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria

Adva ISSN http: As sessile organisms, plants have facilitated to actively protect themselves against biotic and abiotic stresses. For this, plants keep communicating with other organisms including insect and microbes inside and outside plant surface including root surface. In the area around the root referred to as the rhizosphere, diverse root-associated bacteria interact with plants with both positive and negative effects. In the past three decades, a group of rhizosphere bacteria known as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have been intensively studied for possible use in improving plant health. Here, we provide an overview of the current knowledge on the nature of PGPR, their signatures and their nces in Botanical Research, Volume 82 0065-2296 //dx.doi. org/10.1016/bs.abr. 2016.09. 002 © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 135 j 136 R. Sharifi and C. -M. Ryu roles in plant growth promotion and biological control against plant pathogens, as revealed by classic physiological and morphological observations and recent cuttingedge technology. We also discuss new information on insecteplantePGPR tritrophic interactions, as well as technology transfer from the laboratory to the field. We use the new concept of the holobiome to help elucidate plantePGPR interactions. Understanding plant rootebacterial communications in this novel framework may facilitate the improvement of plant health in agricultural production systems.
Occupational Exposure Assessment of Chromium (VI): A Review of Environmental and Biological Monitoring

Chromium (VI) compounds are used in various industries like metal coatings, protective paints, dyes and pigments for their properties especially anti-corrosive ones. Exposure to Cr (VI) may induce cancer, and cause irritation or damage to the respiratory tract, eyes, and skin. In addition, it may lead to mutagenic, genotoxic, and reproductive effects on humans. Workers are often exposed to airborne Cr (VI) via the inhalation of dust, fume or mist. There are various procedures for Cr (VI) exposure assessment as part of risk characterization and implementing a monitoring program. Analysis of chromium in environmental or biological samples must be considered. Air sampling and chromium analysis by different instruments and techniques, biological monitoring by different procedures to detect biomarkers, investigation of carcinogenicity and genotoxicity mechanism, medical examinations, and occupational exposure limits in workplace air and biological matrices are the important factors to be considered in the risk assessment strategy of Cr (VI). The purpose of this article was to review the literature and provide useful information about different methods for environmental and biological monitoring of chromium (VI) in order to assess quantitatively the risk of exposure to this compound.
Political influence: a culture in University decision-making

Higher educational organization, established, maintained and aided by the government in socio-economically and educationally least developed country, have come under the direct secrutiny and supervision of government. It is often argued that universities, created by Acts passed by the legislature and supported by government funds, are often financially and politically controlled by the government. Besides, appointing the chief executive of the university, the government controls the administrative and decision-making power of the university. There are some views that support this practice of political control over the administrative and decision-making affairs of the institutions of higher education. These views are based on the argument that the organizations with some type of political control can progress more easily toward the achievement of their goals (Livingstone, 1974). One of the goals of university officials is the establishment of a positive relationship between the university and the outside political world. This relationship, as Livingstone argued, determines the degree of political control over the universities. He attached political influence in the decision-making of the university into two sources: political figures and the government. The former consisting of elected officials, educated politicians and boards of education, and the latter containing central and local government bodies. The former has the power and influence to set institutional goals, policies, and overall guidelines; whereas the latter influences the means and resources of the institutions (Livingstone, 1974). The power of these political agencies to influence university decision-making is derived from the public, for they come from the people they represent. But in the case of Nepal, the elected political officials assume the control over the central and the local government bodies, and these bodies are inclined to the political decisions made by the political figures in the party/ies in power.
Nematodes that Ride Insects: Unforeseen Consequences of Arriving Species§

ABSTRACT Insects that arrive in new regions can be hosts for a variety of unseen metazoans, including microscopic nematodes, which are carried phoretically as dauer juveniles or as internal/ external parasites in various stages. This includes insects that arrived by natural means, were purposefully introduced for biological control before strict APHIS/PPQ provisions, were inadvertently introduced as hitchhikers or stowaways, or were brought in as part of the pet trade or for food. In some cases, the host associations are so specific that they may pose little threat, but in other cases where host specificity is relatively wide and/or host transfer opportunities exist, the nematode associates can expand, colonize and establish associations with native insects causing various downstream environmental effects. Because nematodes are mostly microscopic, the consequences of such introductions are usually not considered in the pet trade or as an added consequence as introduced or invasive insects arrive in the state and establish themselves. These arrival scenarios are discussed with real-world examples, including one with damage potential for Florida and the southeastern U.S., i.e. the red ring nematode that is associated with palm weevils.
Promotions and Incentives in Nonprofit and for-Profit Organizations

Using data from the 1992–95 Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality, an employer survey, the authors document a new empirical finding that workers are less likely to receive promotions in nonprofit organizations than in for-profit firms. The study also uncovers evidence that wage increases associated with promotion were of comparable magnitudes in the two sectors, as was the potential for within-job wage growth; nonprofits were less likely than for-profits to base promotions on job performance or merit; nonprofits were less likely to use output-contingent incentive contracts to motivate workers; and the observed difference in promotion rates between the nonprofit and for-profit sectors was more pronounced for high-skilled than for low-skilled workers. The authors also propose a theory that potentially explains the broad pattern of evidence they uncover, based on the idea that nonprofit workers are more intrinsically motivated (attracted to their work for reasons transcending material compensation) than are for-profit workers.
Negative Phototaxis Results from Avoidance of Light and Temperature in Stream Salamander Larvae

Abstract Forest removal is a global threat to amphibian diversity. Declines occur within these areas, but many amphibians also avoid moving into or through disturbed areas. Understanding which cues result in avoidance may provide targets for preservation of amphibian occupancy and population connectivity. Negative phototaxis is known from many amphibians, but light can serve as a cue or as a proxy for other environmental cues like temperature. This study sought to evaluate whether larval salamander habitat selection was influenced most by light or temperature cues. Because some individuals choose to remain in deforested habitat, we also assessed whether differences in habitat selection existed between individuals from forested and deforested habitat. Using a laboratory experiment, we found that salamanders use both light and temperature cues for habitat selection. Although salamanders demonstrated larger responses to temperature, they were willing to move into warmer habitats to avoid light. Individuals from deforested regions preferred brighter and warmer areas than individuals from forested regions although plasticity was higher with respect to light relative to temperature. We also noted that salamander thermal preferences were lower than daytime temperatures in small (< 60 m) deforested regions. Overall, a combination of light and thermal cues following forest removal may contribute to avoidance of deforested regions, but more research is necessary to understand why some salamanders continue to occupy warm and bright-disturbed areas.
Impact of fluency and segmental categorization in L2: the case of French final fricatives uttered by German speakers

This study examines the effects of L1/L2 interferences at the segmental level, and of lack of fluency at the sentence level, on the realizations of French final fricatives by German learners. Due to L1/L2 interference, German speakers tend to devoice French final fricatives. A well-known effect of the lack of L2 mastering is the decrease of the speech articulation rate, which lengthens segment average duration. In order to better apprehend the impact of categorization and fluency, we selected four series of consonants from the IFCASL corpus, i.e. voiced and unvoiced fricatives uttered by French native (FF) and German non-native (GF) speakers. The realizations of unvoiced consonants uttered by GF speakers are essentially dependent upon fluency, whereas the realizations of voiced consonants by the same speakers are dependent upon both fluency and categorization. We evaluated a set of acoustic cues related to the voicing distinction-including consonant duration and periodicity-, and submitted the data to a hierarchical clustering analysis (HCPC, from R, FactoMineR package). Results, discussed as a function of speaker's level and prosodic boundaries, confirmed the mutual importance of fluency and segmental categorization on non-native realizations.
Evaluation of Asthma Symptoms to Assess Asthma Control Status in a Primary Care Setting: An Exploratory Analysis of Pooled Data from Three Trials

Background: Primary care physicians in Japan see many patients in a given day; consequently, they find it challenging to devote sufficient time for detailed clinical consultation and evaluation of asthma control status. The aim of this study was to investigate asthma symptoms that reveal the presence of inadequately controlled asthma. Methods: A pooled analysis of baseline data from 100 patients with asthma treated with inhaled corticosteroid(s) (ICS) alone or ICS/long-acting beta-agonist who participated in three previous clinical trials was performed. Asthma control status and asthmatic symptoms were determined using a five-item Asthma Control Questionnaire, and whether asthmatic symptoms reflect clinical markers was investigated. Results: Nocturnal awakening owing to asthmatic symptoms was observed only in the uncontrolled asthma group. Patient-reported wheezing was not observed in the group with well-controlled asthma, but was observed in all patients in the uncontrolled asthma group. Virtually all patients, irrespective of asthma control status, reported symptoms in the morning, limitation of normal daily activities, and shortness of breath. Conclusions: The presence of nocturnal awakening due to asthma and wheezing likely reflected uncontrolled asthma. These results will lead to re-recognition that clinical interview, querying nocturnal awakening from asthma and wheezing is a simple and useful approach to assess asthma control status in a primary care setting.
Evaluation of Corner Detection Algorithms for Human Emotion Modeling

Human emotion modelling could prove to be an important area of application for the purpose of increasing interaction between human and the computer. For modelling emotion, we have used corners as facial feature present in the image. A corner is a very important feature of an image. It represent intersection of two curves/edges, it also represents a significant change in the colour intensities in the image nearby the point itself. Extraction of corners in the image may prove to be very useful in certain areas of image processing. In this paper, various corner detection algorithms like SUSAN, Harris, Moravec and FAST corner detector algorithms are empirically evaluated with our proposed brute force approach. The comparison is based on
Adaptive sampling with a Lipschitz criterion for accurate metamodeling

Lipschitz Sampling, unlike standard space lling strategies (Minimax and Maximin distance, Integrated Mean Squared Error, Eadze-Eglais, etc.) for producing good metamodels, incorporates information from output evaluation in order to estimate in some sense the local complexity of the function at hand. The complexity indicator considered is a suitable denition of local Lipschitz constant. New points are proposed to be evaluated where the product of the local Lipschitz constant by the distance from the nearest already evaluated point is maximum. Benchmarks are proposed on standard test functions in comparison with standard space lling strategies. Smaller prediction errors are obtained by Lipschitz sampling when the function considered shows sudden variations in some part of the domain and varies more slowly in other regions.
Standard Cosmology and Alternatives: A Critical Appraisal

▪ Abstract This review takes a critical look at the cosmological scenario at the turn of the century by examining the available cosmological models in the light of the present observational evidence. The center stage is held by the big bang models, which are collectively referred to here as standard cosmology (SC) and its extensions. SC itself is characterized by a seven parameter set of models based on Einstein's general theory of relativity. The seven parameters are H0, ΩB, ΩDM, ΩΛ, ΩR (describing the background universe, and A, n (specifying the amplitude and power law index of initial fluctuation spectrum). The extended SC includes extrapolations of the SC to earlier epochs when the mean energies of the particles were greater than about 100 GeV. The strength of the SC is seen to lie in its successful prediction of the expansion of the universe, the abundance of light nuclei, and the spectrum and anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMBR). The SC has led to a whole class of theories of stru.
Radiation doses due to the natural radioactivity in Pakistan marble

In view of its high potential for containing large amounts of radioactive materials and due to its wide-spread use as construction and facing material worldwide, radiation doses received from the marble used in dwellings have been determined. As a first step, specific activity measurements were made using a NaI(Tl) gamma ray spectrometer using the spectrum stripping technique. For the samples studied, the average values of specific activities for 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K have been found to be 27, 26 and 58 Bg kg-1 respectively. The mesh-adaptive, volume-integral method based code INGRE (Mirza et al. , 1991) gave calculated values of the dose equivalent rates inside the standard room (Tufail et al. , 1994) due to 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K; these we re found to lie between 5-77, 12-52 and 1-11 nGy h-1 respectively. The values of whole-body dose equivalent rates have been found to lie in the 27-108 nGy h-1 range. As these values are below internationally accepted maximum permissible values, therefore marble available in Pakistan can safely be used in dwellings as a construction material.
Child Care Availability, Quality and Affordability: Are Local Problems Related to Labour Supply?

We examine whether responses to survey questions about child care availability, quality and cost, aggregated at the local geographical level, have any explanatory power in models of partnered female and lone parent labour supply. We find evidence that partnered women and lone parents who live in areas with more reports of lack of availability, low quality or costly child care work fewer hours and are less likely to work than women in areas with fewer reported difficulties with child care.
Influence of integrated soil fertility management in wheat and tef productivity and soil chemical properties in the highland tropical environment

Soil fertility depletion and soil quality decline have been threatening the ecological and economic sustainability of crop production. In order to improve soil fertility and nutrient management approaches, on-farm integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) trials were conducted to evaluate the effects of organic and inorganic fertilizers on wheat (Triticum estivum L.) and tef (Eragrostis tef) yield and soil fertility in the highland Nitisol area of Ethiopia during 2010 and 2011 cropping seasons. The treatments were five selected combinations of N and P, manure and compost. These included control, farmers’ practice (23/10 kg NP ha -1 ), recommended NP rate (60/20 kg NP ha
Wavelength-diversity transmission for fading mitigation in the atmospheric optical communication channel

Mitigation of index of refraction turbulence (IRT) effects is crucial in long-range atmospheric communication links. Diversity-transmission is one favorable way for fading compensation. One of several different diversity concepts is the exploitation of the wavelength-dependent index of refraction of the atmosphere, which leads to ideal stochastically independent fading at different wavelengths, depending on the scenario. This concept is here named wavelength-diversity (WLD). Theoretical analysis and numerical simulation for the strength of this effect are given and verified by experimental tests.
Fluorescent Labeling, Sensing and Differentiation of Leukocytes from Undiluted Whole Blood Samples

In this paper, we demonstrated leukocyte labeling, sensing and differentiation from undiluted human whole blood samples with microfabricated devices. A challenging issue in leukocyte sensing from blood samples is the required high dilution level, which is used mainly to prevent interference from the overwhelmingly outnumbered erythrocytes. Dilution is undesirable for micro hemacytometers. It not only increases sample volume and processing time, but also requires mixing and buffer storage for on- chip implementation. Unlike commercial bulk instruments and previous efforts by other groups, we completely eliminated the requirement for dilution by staining leukocytes specifically with fluorescent dye acridine orange (AO) in undiluted human whole blood and then sensing them in microfluidic devices. Green fluorescent signal centered at 525 nm was used for leukocyte count and red fluorescent signal centered at 650 nm was used for leukocyte differentiation. Throughput of one hundred leukocytes per second was achieved, which means operation time for one sample only requires several seconds.
ONE HEALTH - CONCEPT FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW

“One Health” has been defi ned as “the collaborative eff ort of multiple disciplines — working locally, nationally, and globally — to attain optimal health for people, animals and the environment”. One Health is a new initiative, but with the concept that extends back to ancient times. One Health is an interdisciplinary concept for complex health challenges from a holistic integrated perspective, more then a divided perspective based on diff erent disciplines. Th ere is no isolation, wild animals, domestic animals, pathogens and diseases do not know of the political borders. Th e aim of the One Health initiative is to form unifi ed solutions applicable for the improvement of health of humans, animals and the environment. A workshop was organized for the representatives of all structures and levels of medical and veterinary services of Serbia. During four tasks, among joint working groups, the most important structure of One Health was proposed, introducing possible concept in Serbia.
EMTA’s Evaluation of the Elastic Properties for Fiber Polymer Composites Potentially Used in Hydropower Systems

Fiber-reinforced polymer composites can offer important advantages over metals where lightweight, cost-effective manufacturing and high mechanical performance can be achieved. To date, these materials have not been used in hydropower systems. In view of the possibility to tailor their mechanical properties to specific applications, they now have become a subject of research for potential use in hydropower systems. The first step in any structural design that uses composite materials consists of evaluating the basic composite mechanical properties as a function of the as-formed composite microstructure. These basic properties are the elastic stiffness, stress-strain response, and strength. This report describes the evaluation of the elastic stiffness for a series of common discontinuous fiber polymer composites processed by injection molding and compression molding in order to preliminarily estimate whether these composites could be used in hydropower systems for load-carrying components such as turbine blades. To this end, the EMTA (Copyright © Battelle 2010) predictive modeling tool developed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been applied to predict the elastic properties of these composites as a function of three key microstructural parameters: fiber volume fraction, fiber orientation distribution, and fiber length distribution. These parameters strongly control the composite mechanical performance andmore » can be tailored to achieve property enhancement. EMTA uses the standard and enhanced Mori-Tanaka type models combined with the Eshelby equivalent inclusion method to predict the thermoelastic properties of the composite based on its microstructure. « less
A practical map-matching algorithm for GPS-based vehicular networks in Shanghai urban area

Currently, vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET) has been paid much attention. Also, we utilize 4000 taxis and 1000 buses equipped with GPS-based mobile sensors in Shanghai city, which constitute a GPS-basedvehicularnetworks if we assume that vehicles can communicate with each other. Unfortunately, these sensors are set with long sampling interval by the taxi or bus companies, such as 1-2 minutes. In order to analyze the characteristics of this vehicular networks, such as connectivity, effective networking protocol and mobility model, first we need to get the real trace of vehicles based on sparse GPS data we received due to the long sampling interval. In this paper, we are interested in developing a practical map-matching algorithm because of the well-known error of GPS data. Two algorithms for map-matching (NMA and EMA) axe proposed based on the distance and angle factors. These algorithms are verified by the field test. The testing result shows that a practical map- matching algorithm EMA can work fairly well based on these imperfect data made available by the GPS-based sensor in Shanghai urban area.