Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sustainable Characterization of Silane Treated and Untreated Psidium Guajava Stem Natural Fibers Based Automobile Brake Pads

ABSTRACT The present study deals with the extraction and characterization of untreated and silane-treated natural fibers from stems of Psidium guajava (Guava plants) for automobile brake pad applications. The extraction of fibers was done from the Psidium guajava plant stems by the retting process followed by silane treatment. The untreated and silane-treated Psidium guajava fibers were analyzed for chemical, physical, and crystalline properties. These fibers were used in the brake pad composite developed using conventional industrial processes and analyzed for various performance characteristics as per industrial standards. The tribological performance of the developed brake pads was measured using the Chase test following IS 2742 Part-4 of 1994 or SAE J661:2012. It was found that silane-treated Psidium guajava fibers had acrystalline index of 42%, while it was 27% for untreated Psidium guajava fibers. The brake pads developed using silane-treated Psidium guajava fibers showed ahigher hardness of 99, while it was 90 for untreated Psidium guajava fibers proving better results upon the usage of silane-treated Psidium guajava fibers in brake pads. Scanning Electron Microscope studies of Chase tested brake pads that elucidated the plateau formations and back transfers.
Endophytic Bacillus spp. from Zingiber zerumbet rhizome, rhizosphere and axenic cultures: characterisation and identification of isolates with plant growth promoting activities and antagonism to soft-rot causative Pythium myriotylum

Abstract Prospecting for plant growth promoting (PGP) endophytes is of particular relevance especially for soil-borne Pythium species that pose major productivity constraint for spice crop, ginger. Pythium- resistant wild ginger congener, Zingiber zerumbet L Smith constitutes a good source for prospecting PGP endophytes. Present study towards characterising bacterial flora from Z. zerumbet endosphere and rhizosphere yielded a total of 109 isolates from different tissue sets viz., leaves, rhizomes, axenically grown in vitro plantlets and rhizosphere. Morphological and PCR-RFLP analysis categorised isolates to 16 groups with representatives from each group identified by 16S rRNA sequence analysis. Isolates ZzTC6, ZzER11 and ZzER62 identified respectively as Bacillus pumilus, B. amyloliquefaciens and B. subtilis exhibited antagonism to P. myriotylum. Isolates also exhibited PGP traits like catalase and ammonia production with ZzTC6 also being IAA producer while ZzER62 positive for HCN. Endophytic isolates constitutes a valuable resource for development of BCAs against Pythium mediated soft-rot disease.
Sofrimento Social de Trabalhadores Rurais Assentados na Contracorrente do Agronegócio, na Bacia do Juruena - MT

Resumo Este artigo trata da manifestação do sofrimento social de trabalhadores no processo de reconhecimento/titulação de terras em assentamento para agricultura familiar em meio ao latifúndio e a monoculturas de soja e algodão, configurações hegemônicas do agronegócio no estado de Mato Grosso, Brasil. Na sociedade contemporânea, o sofrimento social emerge como uma categoria importante na vida das pessoas em razão da impossibilidade de acesso a bens e serviços por uma parcela da população. No mundo rural, o sofrimento pode estar relacionado à perda dos meios de produção, condicionada pela posse da terra. Este trabalho estruturou-se em busca de compreender como esse sofrimento manifesta-se em um grupo de trabalhadores rurais assentados no município de Campos de Júlio. Com esse objetivo, foram entrevistados oito trabalhadores que possuíam lotes no Assentamento Rural Nova Esperança. As reflexões apontam para disputas na ocupação e uma luta pela terra acarretadas pela configuração do agronegócio local, conflitos que repercutem na subjetividade dos trabalhadores da agricultura familiar. Por outro lado, a luta pela terra gerou união entre membros do grupo como forma de resistência às pressões externas ao assentamento. Mesmo imersos em um ambiente estrutural de opressão e de negação, lograram desenvolver estratégias de defesa frente ao sofrimento social, que fortaleceram o grupo de trabalhadores assentados.
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Malt

The kilning of malt occurs at different temperatures, depending on the desired color and aromas. Higher temperatures applied during kilning can be involved in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) formation in malt. PAHs are undesirable and designated as health hazards, it is important to quantify and qualify them in different malts. Since the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) gave strict recommendations about PAHs in different foods, but omitted malt as a potential hazardous raw material that can cause health damage to beer consumers, the aim of this investigation was to assess the presence of 16 PAHs (naphthalene (Nap), acenaphthylene (Anl), acenaphthene (Ane), fluorene (Flu), anthracene (Ant), phenanthrene (Phen), fluoranthene (Flt), benz[a]anthracene (BaA), pyrene (Pyr), chrysene (Chry), benzo[b]fluoranthene (BbF), benzo[k]fluoranthene (BkF), benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), dibenz[a,h]anthracene (DahA), benzo[ghi]perylene (BghiP), and indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene (InP)) in different, commercially available malts (amber, black, pilsner, and cara-120). The results showed that PAHs are present in different malts, with some in high amounts (BaA in black malt was 737 µg/kg). Minimal levels of BaA were detected in the amber malt, 60.53 µg/kg. The PAH4 (BaP, BaA, BbF, and Chry) sums are identical to the BaA concentrations in all malts and greatly exceed the EFSA prescribed levels for PAH4 in processed cereal-based foods (1 µg/kg).
Transparency in Spanish Government in Times of Covid-19

Abstract Transparency is fundamental for the development of good governance, and even more so in times of crisis. The current crisis caused by the coronavirus has raised questions worldwide as to whether the government is acting transparently. In the case of Spain, the state of alarm decreed has suspended the terms and interrupted the deadlines for processing the procedures of public sector entities, including those affecting the Law on Transparency. This paper analyses how this suspension is affecting the actions carried out in Spain. It shows those practices that we consider to violate citizens' right to public information, and which are therefore not transparent. In Spain, there has been a setback in terms of access to public information and transparency, which has not only been visible in the management of COVID-19 data, but has also affected other areas such as public procurement.
The challenges faced by clinicians diagnosing and treating infantile nystagmus Part II: treatment

ABSTRACT Introduction Infantile nystagmus syndrome (INS) is the most common nystagmus type in children, and can be idiopathic or associated with ocular, neurologic, and systemic disease. Current treatment options for INS aim to optimize vision by reducing the intensity of nystagmus and correcting anomalous head postures and associated strabismus. A PubMed search of all articles published from January 1980 to July 2021 on the management of INS was performed. Areas covered This review will address the principles of nystagmus management, including optical, pharmacological and surgical options. Pharmacological treatments, such as gabapentin and memantine, are now being implemented in clinical practice. In patients with obvious torticollis, eye muscle surgery aims to shift the nystagmus null zone into the primary position. Expert opinion Successful management of INS depends on accurate diagnosis and identification of patient needs and concerns. Recent advances in pediatric retinal imaging and the identification of new genes have refined our understanding of INS subtypes, facilitate early diagnosis, and allow for individualized management. Due to the lack of randomized controlled trials, there is still no consensus on a clinical pathway for INS; however, there are several therapeutic options, which can result in improved vision and amelioration of anomalous head postures.
Métodos cuantitativos en paleoecología de comunidades

En este trabajo se describen los métodos cuantitativos más comunes empleados para la caracterización de paleocomunidades en un sitio determinado de manera general, estableciendo una guía breve y simple que incluye los principales índices utilizados en paleoecología. La secuencia combina atributos que incluye los siguientes pasos: 1) colectar, identificar y cuantificar el material paleontológico, 2) estimar patrones espaciales, 3) determinar la diversidad de especies mediante índices ecológicos, métodos de rarefacción, así como coeficientes de similitud y diferenciación composicional. Esto conlleva finalmente a poder reconocer atributos como el número y la abundancia relativa de especies, la naturaleza de sus interacciones y la estructura física de las comunidades. El conocimiento de los cambios ecológicos que han ocurrido en el pasado geológico contribuye no sólo a mejorar el entendimiento y manejo de los ecosistemas actuales, sino a fundamentar predicciones documentadas sobre las posibilidades futuras de cambio en algún o varios atributos o parámetros.
The use of indigenous bacterial community as inoculant for plant growth promotion in soybean cultivation

ABSTRACT We characterized the bacterial community in shoot and rhizosphere of healthy adult soybean plants grown in two differentially managed soils. Then, these communities were transplanted to seeds to assess their effect on seedling development. The bacterial communities of inoculated soybean seedlings were assessed through 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and seedlings’ growth was measured. The diversity in the bacterial consortium inoculum prepared from the rhizosphere was higher than those from the shoot. However, the application of bacterial consortium in seedling had no influence on diversity. The resulting bacterial community of seedlings inoculated with bacterial consortium presented an enrichment of specific plant growth-promoting groups, such as Gammaproteobacteria (Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, and Xanthomonas). The predicted potential functions showed an increased abundance of functions related to plant protection and nutrition. The application of bacterial consortium from the shoot of soybean plants grown in the soil with a previous history of soybean cultivation increased the seedling radicle length, hypocotyl length, and total dry weight by 44%, 30%, and 29%, respectively. Our study showed that selecting a consortium of indigenous microbes as inoculants is a potential approach to enhance the use and impacts of plant beneficial microorganisms on plant growth and possibly productivity.
Study of Saccadic Eye Movements in Diagnostic Imaging

Eye movements reflect the visual process of humans’ perception and cognition. In the field of medical imaging, the diagnosis rendered by radiologists is closely related to their eye movements when reading radiological images. It is beneficial to study the eye movements of radiologists to improve the diagnostic performance. However, existing studies are mainly focused on the radiologists’ fixations but rarely on their saccade patterns. Moreover, these studies are almost based on limited datasets. In this paper, we present a quantitative study of the gaze behavior of radiologists from the perspective of saccade patterns on a large-scale dataset. The dataset comprises of the eye-tracking data of 10 expert radiologists reading 196 mammograms. By analyzing the saccade amplitude, direction, and bias of radiologists, we found that radiologists have specific saccade patterns in image reading and the saccade patterns are significantly affected by the different reading phases, working experience, and orientations of the mammograms.
Periods as powerful data: User understandings of menstrual app data and information

Digital apps for tracking menstruation are widely used. Taking a critical menstruation and critical digital health approach, this research asks how menstrual app users perceive their data. Interviews with 25 menstrual app users across Aotearoa New Zealand, were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Some participants only track their period, while others track additional symptoms. They appreciated having a choice of data to track, entering extensive amounts of data. Most participants had not given much thought to their data, viewing it as uninteresting and unproblematic. A small group were concerned by the data risks and managed this in several ways. Participants across both groups supported using data for menstrual health research. This research demonstrates a need for digital literacy and for limits on the use of menstruation information, where menstruators themselves are controlling and benefitting from their data.
Productivity Enhancement of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) through Optimized Use of Poultry Manure and Mineral Fertilizers under Greenhouse Cultivation

Cucumber, a widely cultivated vegetable, is mostly grown under greenhouse conditions. In recent years, the overuse of inorganic fertilizers for higher yield attainment adversely has affected human health and the environment. Therefore, a greenhouse experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of different nutrient sources (poultry manure (PM) and mineral fertilizer (MF)) on productivity-enhancing parameters of cucumber via univariate and multivariate analyses. Amounts of PM and MF (NPK15:15:15) were added to coco-peat per cubic meter by weight/volume (w/v) ratios as follows: T1 (control), 60 kg PM; T2, 30 kg PM + 3 kg MF; T3, 30 kg PM + 5 kg MF, and T4, 30 kg PM + 7 kg MF. The univariate analysis performed on the collected data illustrated the significant enhancement in growth and productivity for the integrated use of PM and MF. Multivariate analyses (correlation, clustering, and Principal Component Analysis) validated the results of univariate analysis by differentiating treatments into two groups. The three treatments obtained a distinguished group from T1 (Control) and did not show significant differences among each other, with a maximum yield increase by T2 (74.6%). According to these results, T2 could improve cucumber productivity under greenhouse conditions. It can be taken as recommendations for better quality and yield enhancement in future improvement programs and cucumber-related farming communities.
Endemic New Zealand aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) parasitised by native Aphidiinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), not biological control parasitoids

Almost all known Aphidiinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) parasitoid species in New Zealand have been introduced as biological control agents (BCAs) for introduced aphids or have self‐introduced. The New Zealand endemic aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) fauna consists of a small number of species that are parasitised, on occasion, by Aphidiinae that remain unidentified. A persistent concern has been that introduced BCAs are among the parasitoids attacking the rare endemic aphids. After 14 years of collection, 66 cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene sequences were obtained from emerged parasitoids, mummies or by specific PCR from parasitised New Zealand aphids. Parasitoid samples were from 13 aphid species (eight endemic, plus five introduced species feeding on native plants) at 20 locations. The Aphidiinae COI sequences comprised two new clades of native New Zealand parasitoids. One species‐rich clade appeared to represent a radiation after dispersal to New Zealand, whereas the second clade consisted only of parasitoids from a single endemic host. The patterns of aphid/parasitoid associations were strongly suggestive of host specificity towards the endemic aphids, while a subgroup of the newly discovered native Aphidiinae was found parasitising four introduced aphid species, despite the short time period these aphids are assumed to have been in New Zealand. We found no evidence for attack of endemic aphids by introduced BCAs or other introduced aphidiines. On the rare occasions that parasitism was detected in the most common endemic Aphidinae aphid, Aphis cottieri Carver, 1999, it was by a native Aphidiinae lineage, not by Aphidius ervi Haliday, 1834.
Spatiotemporal Impacts of Urban Land Use/Land Cover Changes on Land Surface Temperature: A Comparative Study of Damascus and Aleppo (Syria)

Monitoring the impact of changes in land use/land cover (LULC) and land surface temperature (LST) is of great importance in environmental and urban studies. In this context, this study aimed to analyze the dynamics of LULC and its impact on the spatiotemporal variation of the LST in the two largest urban cities in Syria, Damascus, and Aleppo. To achieve this, LULC changes, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and LST were calculated from multi-temporal Landsat data for the period 2010 to 2018. The study revealed significant changes in LULC, which were represented by a decrease in agricultural land and green areas and an increase in bare areas in both cities. In addition, built-up areas decreased in Aleppo and increased in Damascus during the study period. The temporal and spatial variation of the LST and its distribution pattern was closely related to the effect of changes in LULC as well as to land use conditions in each city. This effect was greater in Aleppo than in Damascus, where Aleppo recorded a higher increase in the mean LST, by about 2 °C, than in Damascus, where it was associated with greater degradation and loss of vegetation cover. In general, there was an increasing trend in the minimum and maximum LST as well as an increasing trend in the mean LST in both cities. The negative linear relationship between LST and NDVI confirms that vegetation cover can help reduce LST in both cities. This study can draw the attention of relevant departments to pay more attention to mitigating the negative impact of LULC changes in order to limit the increase in LST.
Techno-Stress: Damage Caused by New Emerging Risks

The world moves and advances very quickly. Production systems and jobs evolve with the world. Occupational risks change as jobs change: The occupational risks of jobs we found two hundred years ago are different from the risks inherent to today’s jobs. The influence of technology is evident in many of today’s companies and, as a consequence, in the work that takes place in them. The recent COVID-19 pandemic, which has so upset the world, has made possible the acceleration in the massive use of certain communication tools that has been linked to the home confinement of a significant part of the population. Lots of workers and companies have been forced to telecommute. In a lot of countries, legislation and regulations were not prepared for these new ways of working: the laws have had to adapt to this new operation. In this area techno-stress has emerged, a new variety of stress derived from the use of new technologies at work, with the consequent negative psychosocial effects for the worker and the people around him, which can, at the same time, be the prelude to many others pathological processes of various nature.
Vegetation restoration types affect soil bacterial community composition and diversity in degraded lands in subtropical of China

Significant improvement of soil quality and biodiversity has been reported following vegetation restoration on the degraded lands in subtropical of China. However, so far the response of soil bacterial communities and drivers of their composition to differing vegetation restoration types are not well understood. In this study, we investigated soil physicochemical properties and bacterial communities in degraded land subjected to differing vegetation restoration types after 12 years of long‐term experiment. Restoration types included grassland, cropland, three differing plantation forests (orchard, coniferous forest, and coniferous forest with applied tillage), and control of degraded land. Bacterial community composition was examined using 16S rDNA sequencing. Result found that soil nutrient content includes soil organic carbon (SOC), total N (TN), available nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP), and available potassium (AK) was improved after 12‐year restoration and the highest contents were found in cropland. However, soil pH was decreased after revegetation in the order degraded land > grassland > forestland > cropland, and the soil C/N ratio was significantly decreased in cropland. Revegetation restoration significantly increased operational taxonomic units (OTUs), ACE, and Chao1 indices by 13.67–22.81%, 16.34–25.11%, and 14.66–24.00%, with relative abundances of bacterial phyla varying between the different vegetation types. Soil physicochemical properties (e.g. pH, SOC, TN, AN, AP, and AK) showed significant correlations with the majority of the dominant phyla. When degraded land was restored to cropland, soil C/N ratio decreased which promoted the growth of Actinobacteria. Revegetation with grassland and forest increased soil nutrient content and decreased pH, resulting in shifts in bacterial phyla favoring Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria. Our observations show that restoration of degraded land will lead to differing bacterial community compositions depending on the vegetation type.
Prevalence of Smoking among High School Students in Thimphu, Bhutan

Smoking is common among youths due to the increasing pace of modernization. It is also a major public health problem worldwide, causing preventable deaths and giving socio-economic burdens to society. Despite strict surveillance and the Tobacco Control Act of Bhutan, Bhutanese youths are increasingly found smoking. However, Bhutan has limited studies on smoking, particularly focusing on high school students. Thus, this study determined the prevalence of smoking among high school students of Thimphu, Bhutan. The self-structured questionnaires were distributed to a sample of 357 students determined using the Yamane formula. The result showed that the overall prevalence of smoking was 48.5%. More male students (63.6%) were found smoking than female students (28.3%). Students smoked different forms of tobacco products, such as cigarettes, cigars, hookah, and bidis, but commonly used tobacco product was cigarettes (63.4%). The most cited reasons for smoking were addiction, followed by peer pressure and outlook fashion. The risks of tobacco use are highest among those who start early and continue its use for a long period. Therefore, the early age of smoking initiation underscores the urgent need to intervene and protect high school students from falling prey to smoking addiction.