bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Biology and Nutritional Indexes of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Saccharine Sorghum
Authors: Barcelos Lauren M. , Fernandes Fabrício O. , Lopes Caroline , Emygdio Beatriz M. , Valgas Ricardo , Carvalho Indyra F. de , Rosa Ana Paula S. A. da
Published: March 2019

Saccharine sorghum has been analyzed as a supplementary prime matter for ethanol production, especially during the sugarcane off-season period. However, it has proven to be highly susceptible to insect attacks during the cultivation cycle. The fall armyworm should be emphasized due to its voracity and high damage capacity enhanced by feeding-caused decrease in photosynthetic area. Current analysis studies the biology and determines the nutritional indexes of Spodoptera frugiperda in saccharine sorghum. Cultivars of saccharine sorghum BRS 506, BRS 509 and BRS 511were evaluated. Duration and survival of the egg, caterpillar, pre-pupal and pupal phases were determined, coupled to weight of pupae and caterpillar, life span, fecundity and pre-egg laying period. Although S. frugiperda completed its life cycle on cultivars BRS 506 and BRS 511, egg-laying and egg feasibility rates were low, whereas insects did not lay eggs on cultivar BRS 509. There was no significant difference in feeding intake by S. frugiperda among these three sorghum cultivars. Results suggest that saccharine sorghum is not a suitable host for S. frugiperda. Biological data reveal that the three saccharine sorghum cultivars are recommended for the grain production system since the number of specimens of the next generation is low or null.
Effect of Cultivation and Soil Tillage Systems on the Microbial Biomass in Castor Bean Crop at the Irecê Plateau, Bahia
Authors: Dias Camila Brasil , Gross Eduardo , Paiva Arlicélio de Queiroz , Souza Luciano da Silva , Ledo Carlos Alberto da Silva , Xavier Francisco Alisson da Silva
Published: March 2019

Inadequate soil management alters the microbiological attributes of the soil, causing reduction in microbial biomass and activity. Microbial biomass is the living and active part of the soil and can serve as an indicator of changes in the quantity of due to changes in land use. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of intercropping and soil tillage systems on the microbial biomass in castor bean-based crop in the Irecê Plateau, Bahia, Brazil. The experiment was carried out on an eutrophic Haplic Cambisol with clay texture in the Mata Verde Farm of Alto do Quindinho, municipality of São Gabriel, Irecê Plateau, Bahia, Brazil. Six intercropping systems were evaluated including solely castor bean (control) and castor bean intercropped with each of the castor bean cake, common bean, pigeon pea, corn, and gliricidia. Plowing + harrowing and subsoiling were the two soil tillage techniques associated to the intercropping systems. C and N contents in microbial biomass (Cmic and Nmic), soil basal respiration and metabolic quotient were determined in soil samples collected from the 0-10 and 10-30 cm layers. The different soil management systems influenced microbial biomass and activity, and the most suitable conditions for soil microbiota occurred in the soil tillage system with subsoiling. In the semi - arid condition, at 0-10 cm depth, the castor bean + castor bean cake crop system promoted an increase of Cmic content, and the castor + gliricidia system increased Nmic content, both under soil tillage with subsoiling.
Evaluation of Precipitation and Evapotranspiration Obtained by Remote Sensing With Meteorological Stations in the State of Goiás
Authors: Moraes Victor Hugo , Giongo Pedro Rogerio , Arantes Bruno Henrique Tondato , Costa Estevam Matheus , Ventura Matheus Vinícius Abadia , Cavalcante Thomas Jefferson , Giongo Angelina Maria Marcomini
Published: March 2019

The measures of precipitation and evapotranspiration can be realized by means of meteorological predictors or by meteorological satellites. Both types have advantages and disadvantages. Emission is one of the most important climatic parameters for a region’s socioeconomic and environmental formation, while evapotranspiration is more important for global and local climate mediators. The objective of this work was to analyze the comparative form of the rainfall satellite data through the TRMM and evapotranspiration satellite, by the MODIS satellite, with surface data, that is, of meteorological demarcations, distributed in the State of Goiás, in the years of 2012 and 2013. The monthly measurements were taken in meteorological stations (automatic and conventional), distributed and representative in the State of Goiás. Data collection of the stations was done through the INMET website. The data of the TRMM satellite were obtained from the LAPIG-MAPS platform, developed by the Laboratory of Image Processing and Geoprocessing of the Federal University of Goiás (LAPIG/UFG), for the generation of the quarterly maps for the year 2012 and 2013. The high regression between the data of the surface meteorological stations and the data of TRMM satellite for the year of 2012 and 2013 allows to affirm a high reliability to the orbital data. The evapotranspiration data present low correlation between satellite data (MOD16) and surface stations. Still, this information evidences high potentiality and availability of information in large spatial and temporal scale.
Post-harvest Evaluation of Bananas (Musa sp.) Cultivated in the Brazilian Semi-arid Region When Submitted to Cold Storage
Authors: Paula José Aluisio de Araújo , Santos Elizangela Cabral , Cardoso Eudes de Almeida , Sousa Roberto Pequeno de , Assis Janilson Pinheiro de , Meinerz Marta Juvenia Andrade Oliveira , Linhares Paulo César Ferreira , Macedo Alexandre Lopes
Published: March 2019

This study evaluates the post-harvest quality of fruits of different banana cultivars regarding type of propagation when stored in cold at three different times at constant temperature. The experiment was carried out at the Fazenda Terra Santa in the semi-arid region of northeastern Brazil. We applied a completely randomized experiment in a 6 × 3 factorial, evaluating the post-harvest development of ‘Prata-anã’ and ‘Pacovan’ cultivars, propagated in three different ways and analyzed at three distinct times of storage in the cold. The following fruit quality variables were analyzed: soluble solids, vitamin C content, titratable acidity, and potential of hydrogen (pH). The analysis of variance revealed a significant effect at 1% probability in all sources of variation of analyzed variables of Soluble Solids and pH, for the unfolding treatments × storage time of the analyzed variables Vitamin C and titratable acidity, and for the source of variation treatment of the vitamin C variable. The ‘Prata-anã’ cultivar propagated by rhizome with “ceva” was the most efficient technique of propagation, providing good soluble solids and titratable acidity contents, but with the lowest pH values.
Performance-Based Assessment: Approach and Obstacles by Higher-Elementary Science Teachers in Palestine
Authors: Abualrob Marwan M. A. , Al-Saadi Said H.
Published: March 2019

The study sought to identify the extent to which higher-elementary science teachers utilize the Performance-Based Assessment Approach. It further aimed at investigating the factors that hinder science teachers from using performance-based assessment in Palestine. The study data were collected by questionnaire administrated to 109 science teachers from 60 higher elementary schools. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 14 science teachers. The findings indicate that Palestinian science teachers rarely utilize Performance-Based Assessment to assess their students’ achievement. It was concluded that the selected science teachers have obstacles in implementing Performance-Based Assessment which was grouped into five categories. Recommendations were offered in light of the study findings.
Effects of 10-Week Whole Body Vibration Training on Strength, Flexibility and Agility in Taekwondo Athletes
Authors: Aksoy Duygu
Published: March 2019

Whole Body Vibration (WBV) is a type of exercise commonly applied as a modern exercise technique. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of WBV applied for 10-week on strength, flexibility and agility in taekwondo athletes. A total of 23 healthy young males participated in the present study. The athletes were separated randomly into two groups as the control group (n=11) and whole body vibration training group (n=12). The WBV training group did training 3 days a week for 10 weeks. The Control Group did not do any trainings. The hand grip strength test, vertical jump test, sit-reach test, agility t-test were applied to the WBV training group and control group before and after the 10-week WBV training. The comparisons between the groups were analyzed by using an independent sample t-test at a significance level of p<0.05. No statistically significant differences were detected between the pre-test hand grip strength, vertical jump test, sit-reach test and agility t-test results of the WBV training group and control group according to the Independent sample t test. In the post-test results, statistically significant differences were detected between the vertical jump test, sit-reach test, agility t-test however, no statistically significant differences were detected between the hand grip strength results. The intra-group comparisons were made according to the paired sample t test at a significance level of p<0.05. Although statistically significant differences were detected in the WBV training group between the pre-test-post-test, vertical jump test, sit-reach test, agility t-test values, no statistically significant differences were detected between the hand grip strength results. No statistically significant differences were detected between the hand grip strength, vertical jump, sit-reach, agility t-test pre-test and post-test results of the control group. Long-term whole body vibration training has positive strength, flexibility and agility values.
ESTABLISHMENT OF ICOM NATIONAL COMMITTEE
POLAND AND THE ROLE IT PLAYED IN 1947–1958
Authors: Folga-Januszewska Dorota
Published: March 2019

International Committee Poland (PKN) of the
International Council of Museums (ICOM) was founded in
1947 as a result of Poland having joined the United Nations,
and subsequently the International Council on Monuments
and Sites (UNESCO). Throughout the 72 years of its activity,
ICOM Poland (PKN ICOM) has transformed from a smallsized
group of museum directors and experts (21 individuals
in 1947) into a team of professionals amounting to over
300 individuals (either professionally active or retired). Their
contribution to shaping Polish museology will likely become
the topic of an extensive monograph.
In 1947-2018, ICOM Poland was presided by 8 individuals
(see Table 1.); their operation mode was specified by
subsequent ICOM Statues, modified by the General
Assembly, as well as the ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums.
It is the first decade of the ICOM Poland operations
that is discussed in the paper; the names of the illustrious
museologists of that period are given; they were the ones
who in 1947-58 worked out the principles of cooperation,
and despite the challenging political situation, were able
to gradually introduce the rules of creating museums and
of managing them as institutions of heritage protection
and active learning, open to a broad exchange of ideas
and international cooperation; furthermore, they worked
out the assumptions and models for museum exhibits’
conservation and documentation.
El auge de blockchain y sus posibilidades reales de aplicación en los registros de las administraciones públicas
Authors: Vega Maza Marina
Published: March 2019

La tecnología blockchain o DLT (distributed ledger technology) dota a los objetos de una identidad digital permanente en el tiempo, al margen de su naturaleza, y ha irrumpido con fuerza en diversos campos de la mano de las criptomonedas. Más allá del auge en el ámbito financiero, su aplicación en la Administración pública se antoja amplia y rupturista, especialmente en el registro de distintos tipos de activos, y la Unión Europea se configura como uno de sus principales impulsores. No obstante, esta tecnología se encuentra aún en un estado embrionario y la literatura actual tiende a exaltar sus posibles beneficios, sin analizar de forma sistemática su implementación o limitaciones. Asimismo, resulta costoso encontrar ejemplos de proyectos consolidados en el ámbito gubernamental, en su mayoría debido a la reforma normativa que debe preceder su plena adopción. Este artículo aborda esta deficiencia y recoge un compendio de casos reales de registros de identidades y de la propiedad sobre tecnología blockchain, de corte europeo e internacional (países como Estonia, Suecia o Estados Unidos). A partir de dicho análisis y aplicando una doble clasificación funcional y técnica, examina sus diferentes esquemas de funcionamiento y extrae sus principales implicaciones y retos en el marco legal vigente. Se recurre a una perspectiva técnico-jurídica y presta especial atención a aspectos tales como los contratos inteligentes (smart contracts).
Qualifying Clients and Job Orders
Authors: Coverdill James E. , Finlay William
Published: March 2019

This chapter examines how headhunters decide whether to invest time, money, and effort in a job order or search assignment. The decision is a two-step process, involving an assessment of both client and job order. Clients are rated according to how much access to hiring managers they provide, how quickly they respond to headhunters, how well they treat candidates, and how much they pay in fees. Job orders are evaluated according to how urgent the need to fill the position is, how clear the job description is, and whether the salary offered and qualifications sought make the search viable. The chapter shows that headhunters struggle to recruit effectively when they are required to work with human resources or talent acquisition departments rather than hiring managers.
Introduction
Authors: Cohen Kenneth
Published: March 2019

The Introduction defines “sporting culture” according to early Americans’ use of the word “sport,” which referred as much to a desirable quality of uncertainty and risk as it did to particular types of activity. Based on this definition, and theoretical frameworks borrowed from Max Weber and Erving Goffman, “sporting culture” is presented as a battleground for status and power in a time and place where economic risk-taking, a credit economy, and a Revolution rooted in “equality” invited all sorts of Americans to assert themselves. After laying out the definition and stakes of early American sport, the Introduction provides a general overview of the work’s narrative arc and underscores the point that just because sporting culture was ultimately a vehicle for the construction of a white male republic and the preservation of the power of wealth does not mean it did not also expand democracy by granting unique opportunities for self-assertion through which poor white men, African Americans, and women forced elites to accept and respond to popular challenges to their rule.
Sport Reborn
Authors: Cohen Kenneth
Published: March 2019

Chapter Three moves ahead from the Revolution, covering the period from the 1780s to the 1820s. In this “early national” era, elite investors decided to try again to craft genteel sport, though they changed its format from aiming to establish elites through non-remunerative sponsorship and distinctive space and behavior to requiring them to earn distinction by contributing to the commercial growth of their communities. As a result, sporting events became more thoroughly commercial than ever before and investors increasingly ran them as “capitalists” who centralized their control over the assets and profits required to produce sporting activities. The chapter concludes by making clear that the second effort to produce genteel sport was national in scale, despite regional differences over slavery that affected certain sporting experiences.
Sporting Cultures
Authors: Cohen Kenneth
Published: March 2019

The final chapter explores the experience of participating in mass sporting culture. It begins by introducing the notion of “cultural mobility,” a concept which describes how white men took advantage of both the accessibility created in the early national period as well as the re-introduction of standardized genteel and rough sporting spaces to challenge class stereotypes by moving easily between claims of genteel and raw masculine superiority. Political parties then drew from the cultural mobility at sporting events to appeal to the white male electorate through a new “mass politics” that continued to borrow heavily from sporting culture to emphasize democratic experiences despite widening disparities of wealth and hardening class lines. In the end, then, white men negotiated a sporting culture that rejected elitism but excluded others while crafting a reverence for wealth and a sense of equal opportunity. Because of sporting culture’s political salience in the white male republic, understanding this negotiation helps us understand not just the nature of sport but the nature and limits of democracy and power in the early nineteenth century.
Magnificent Centuries and Economies of Desire
Authors: Bloch Alexia
Published: March 2019

This chapter traces encounters between Turks and people from the former Soviet Union, starting with a blockbuster telenovela featuring Hürrem, a passionate 16th century “Russian” woman who was in Süleyman the Magnificent’s harem, later becoming his wife. Emphasizing two periods, the 1920s “Islamic jazz age”, when hundreds of thousands of Russian speakers arrived in Istanbul as they fled the Russian Revolution, and a post-Soviet era when “Russians” are again highly visible as tourists and labor migrants, the chapter depicts a history of trade, mobility, and desire linking the former Soviet Union and Turkey. The chapter also analyzes politics of gender in a neoliberal Turkey defined by decades of secularism, a vibrant feminist movement, and a growing prevalence of Islamist ideals.
Strategic Intimacy, “Real Love,” and Marriage
Authors: Bloch Alexia
Published: March 2019

Drawing on conversations and formal interviews with more than fifty women working long-term as sales assistants, exotic dancers, and domestic workers in Istanbul, this chapter explores the intimate ties that post-Soviet migrant women often maintain with Turkish men. The chapter considers the role that strategic intimacies play in mobility projects globally and reflects on how hegemonic masculinities in Turkey come together with dominant forms of femininity among post-Soviet migrant women. Finally the chapter argues that while structural constraints and border regimes in part shape migrant women’s intimate practices, women’s accounts of love, romance, and conversions to Islam as a sign of devotion to their lovers, suggest a line between “love” and material security is blurred and shifts over time.
Conclusion
Authors: Steele Abbey
Published: March 2019

The conclusion situates Colombia, displacement, and elections during civil wars in comparative perspective, and discusses the long-term implications of displacement for peace-building and state-building. Though the specific combination of factors leading to political cleansing in Colombia is unique, the mechanisms that they triggered are not. In that sense, the unintended consequences of democratic reform in Colombia should be a warning for other civil war contexts. Further, the politics of displacement are enduring: in order for Colombia’s peace process to take hold, reparations to victims and land restitution need to be addressed – but the resistance to these forms of justice is likely to be fierce and politically powerful. More broadly, integrating the recently demobilized FARC into the political system should be undertaken with caution so it does not provoke a similar wave of violence and cleansing that this book describes.
Introduction
Authors: Quigley Fran
Published: March 2019

The cost of medicines drains our governments’ budgets, and barriers to medicines lead to more expensive healthcare treatments and illnesses that drag down our economy. For the poor and the uninsured, access to medicines is a matter of life and death. Millions of people need medicines that are priced at levels they simply cannot afford. These suffering patients face a real problem: their desperate need for affordable drugs clashes with the core business model of a powerful industry.
The Methods of Socialism
Authors: Mëhilli Elidor
Published: March 2019

This chapter shows how Soviet inventions became an Albanian national story. It looks at the Soviet advisers who came to lift the country from poverty in the 1950s. The Soviet Union became associated with industrial methods, including Stakhanovism (workers surpassing production norms). Socialism thus came with physical acts that required proper verbal identification and repetition, allowing Albanian peasants to make claims about themselves, their past, and their future. “Soviet experience” stood in contrast to “old ways,” which were backward, pre-socialist techniques, property regimes, traditional conventions and social mores, and religion. Rather than looking at the Soviet-Albanian encounter in terms of oppression and resistance, it is useful to see how it created modes of interpretation. The chapter’s core case study is the Stalin textile mills outside of the capital city Tirana.
The Great Leap
Authors: Mëhilli Elidor
Published: March 2019

This chapter takes up the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s, which delivered a major blow to the idea of a unified socialist world. The Chinese challenge to the Soviet leadership created an opportunity for the unreconstructed party in Albania: retain the essential features of Stalinism, but switch from Moscow to Beijing. What happened to Soviet and Eastern bloc borrowings after this dramatic split? What about all the Soviet-trained cadres, who now seemed like a liability? The chapter shows that the same exchange mechanisms established with Moscow and the Eastern bloc had to be retooled to conform to a new geopolitical reality. State officials approached Beijing for factories, loans, weapons, and engineers. They also looked to Cuba, North Korea, and newly independent African countries for cooperation. The chapter concludes with an analysis of how China’s Cultural Revolution created opportunities for Albanian subjects to make their own global claims.
Conclusion
Authors: Figlerowicz Marta
Published: March 2019

The conclusion presents some larger questions and opportunities raised by this argument. Spaces of Feeling revisits relatively old-fashioned subjective aspirations toward social exemplarity, autonomy, and self-knowledge in order to suggest that, even in this post-human day and age, it still takes us much effort to shed them. Through fictionalized and lyricized models of introspective thinkers beset by doubts about the speed, range, and independence of their inward reflections, it reframes our cognitive and affective liabilities as new points of entry into what we mean by self-awareness, and what our stakes are in attaching (or refusing to attach) value to it.
Photography’s Aura
Authors: Hori Hikari
Published: March 2019

It is impossible to understand the media-scape of Japan from the 1920s through 1945 without analyzing the implications of representations of the emperor as well as the effects of state-led- and voluntary self-censorship on their production and reception. The emperor’s portrait photograph (goshin’ei) was too sacred to gaze upon, and citizens and soldiers even died to protect it. It was preserved with extreme care in public institutions and battleships. On the other hand, paradoxically, Hirohito was the first emperor whose public appearances were covered by multiple mass media, ranging from personalized collectible postcards to newsreels, which were readily available for viewers’ scrutiny. These contradictory viewing practices, one prohibited and another accessible, disrupted the visual culture of emperor-centered disciplined and nationalized imperial citizenship. (122 words)
The Dream of Japanese National Animation
Authors: Hori Hikari
Published: March 2019

Chapter Four turns to animated film, revealing the various transnational inspirations that constructed the medium in its formative years in Japan. Moreover, it also emphasizes the transmedia recursivity of painting, photography, dramatic and documentary films, and animation during total war. Several distinct visual motifs, national historical incidents, and narrative molds were repeatedly used in different media in the early 1940s, which sustained the sense of national affiliation of imperial citizens, forged shared emotions and sensitivity, and privileged specific myths, ideas, and aesthetics. Works by animator Seo Mitsuyo (1911-2010) and his contemporaries serve as a guide to the development of the medium as well as to futile attempts to create a nationalized form. The chapter reveals the animators’ artistic curiosity about foreign theories and films; their passionate creativity; and the collisions between abstract political ideologies of cultural purity and actual, heterogeneous filmmaking practices. (142 words)
The Ayatollahs and the Struggle to Maintain Legitimacy in the New Public Sphere
Authors: Sayej Caroleen Marji
Published: March 2019

Chapter One explores the ways in which the ayatollahs adapted politically to survive after 2003. The power vacuum created a space for new social actors to challenge their status and position, in intellectual, social and material terms. One challenge came from Sunni Islamists, ranging from efforts to form a Sunni marja‘iyyato the sectarian terror of al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia and, eventually, ISIS. Lay Shiite groups offered Shiites an alternative to the traditional clerical model, and appealed especially to the urban poor. The most important of these groups formed under the leadership of Muqtada al-Sadr. In response to this existential threat, the ayatollahs worked to maintain their position as the most legitimate religious voices at the grassroots level.
Sistani, Guardian of the Democratic Process
Authors: Sayej Caroleen Marji
Published: March 2019

This chapter focuses exclusively on Ayatollah Sistani and his impact on democracy in Iraq. It traces his activities through Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s two terms in office, ending in 2014. Sistani proved to be a strategic political actor, motivated by the Iraqi political milieu, rather than acting on religious impulses. He monitored the political process with intense interest and intervened when he deemed it necessary. Acting as a “guide” to the political process, Sistani enriched the discourse on democracy with debates surrounding national unity, pluralism, legitimacy, the ballot box and human rights. He was successful in putting Iraqis at the center of the electoral process, against the desires of US advisers.
Lightweight data management with dtool
Authors: Olsson Tjelvar S.G. , Hartley Matthew
Published: March 2019

The explosion in volumes and types of data has led to substantial challenges in data management. These challenges are often faced by front-line researchers who are already dealing with rapidly changing technologies and have limited time to devote to data management. There are good high-level guidelines for managing and processing scientific data. However, there is a lack of simple, practical tools to implement these guidelines. This is particularly problematic in a highly distributed research environment where needs differ substantially from group to group and centralised solutions are difficult to implement and storage technologies change rapidly. To meet these challenges we have developed dtool, a command line tool for managing data. The tool packages data and metadata into a unified whole, which we call a dataset. The dataset provides consistency checking and the ability to access metadata for both the whole dataset and individual files. The tool can store these datasets on several different storage systems, including a traditional file system, object store (S3 and Azure) and iRODS. It includes an application programming interface that can be used to incorporate it into existing pipelines and workflows. The tool has provided substantial process, cost, and peace-of-mind benefits to our data management practices and we want to share these benefits. The tool is open source and available freely online at http://dtool.readthedocs.io.
Extricating the Impacts of Tactics of Nitrogen Source on the Growth & Development of Lilium Cultivars
Authors: Wani Muneeb Ahmad , Nazki Imtiyaz Tahir , Bhat Reyaz Ahmad , Ashraf Rahat , Malik Sajid Ali , Din Ambreena , Bhat Zahoor Ahmad
Published: March 2019

Lilium is one of the most important cut flower and ranks second among bulbous flowers in international market. The scope of the study lies in the fact that despite having the congenial climate of Kashmir for bulb production, the cultivators are importing the bulbs from abroad, so there was need to rationalize the nutrition for optimum plant growth and bulb yield of lilies under Kashmir valley conditions. Consequently, an investigation was undertaken to evaluate the differential response of Asiatic lilies cultivars to different methods of application and nitrogen sources (urea and calcium nitrate) in terms of plant growth, bulb development and yield. Significant differences were observed in growth parameters and behaviour of two cultivars viz., Serreda and Navona. Calcium nitrate significantly improved plant height, leaf area (LA) and LA index (LAI) recorded at 50, 75, 90, and 105 days after planting (DAP). Bulb yield parameters (weight of mother bulb, weight of bulblets, number of bulbs plant-1, propagation coefficient) varied significantly between the two cultivars. Calcium nitrate significantly improved bulb weight, bulb circumference, the number of bulbs plant−1 and propagation coefficient. However, the effect of three and four split nitrogen application on plant height, LA and LAI was significant at 90-105 day interval. Ca(NO3)2 was more effective in ensuring the prompt availability of nitrogen to plants as compared to urea (NH2CONH2); also it was advantageous for improving the bulb growth because of presence of critically important micronutrient i.e. calcium. Split application of nitrogen was advantageous not only in improving the growth and yield attributes but also in preventing the significant losses of nitrogen caused by various processes such as leaching.
How Distortionary are Oil Price Shocks to Consumer Prices? Empirical Evidence from Nigeria Using Dynamic Co-Integration Models
Authors: Abdulkabir N. Adedeji , Mohammed Musa , Jibrin M. Talba , Jiddah M. Ajayi
Published: March 2019

This paper examines the response of consumer prices to the oil price shocks in Nigeria. The current oil price slump and its slowness to rise for giving hope to economic recovery pose a threat to many oil-backed economies, particularly Nigeria. As such, oil price and consumer price index are modelled, based on dynamic error-correction models, with aim to capture asymmetric response of consumer prices to a change in oil price. Quarterly time series data spanned from 2001Q1 to 2016Q4 were obtained and analyzed using dynamic co-integration method which allows for asymmetric adjustments. Our results revealed that three disaggregated consumer prices exhibit some degree of persistence to their long-run values, however, their responses are faster to a rise than to a fall in oil price. Correspondingly, aggregate price is found to be rigid downward, suggesting high prices of consumer commodities in Nigeria. This serves as a confirmation that low oil price is likely attributed to the high costs of basic consumer commodities in Nigeria, perhaps due to subsidy removal. We thus recommend that a credible price stabilization policy should be designed to curb the price-increasing effect that an oil price downturn may have on consumer commodities, such target should specifically focus on food and beverages, clothing, and energy prices.
Heavy Metal Concentration and Physicochemical Parameters in Soil and Plants near Unengineered Dumpsites in Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Authors: Eseyin O. Olushola , Udom G. J. , Osu I. Charles
Published: March 2019

Cross sectional study was conducted around two unengineered dumpsites in Port Harcourt, Nigeria on heavy metal concentrations and physicochemical parameters in soil and plants. Physicochemical parameters studied include pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Electrical Conductivity (EC), Nitrite ion, Phosphate ion, Sulphate ion, Chloride ion and heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Zn, Fe, and Cu). The result shows that edible plants were observed to have recorded one variety of metal or the other; and a relatively higher concentration of metals were found in the soil than in plant which indicates possible gradual movement of metals from the soil samples into the plants. Chloride ion concentration was negligible in all edible plants, but traces of other anions were recorded in both plants. Both dumpsites have contamination factor (CF) ranging from low to very highly polluted for different metals. Contamination degree (CD) at the dumpsites showed that both sites have very high degree of contamination. Pollution Load Index (PLI) of 4.64 in S1 (Soil sample from Choba dumpsite) and 4.19 in S2 (Soil sample from Ada-George dumpsite) show that there is progressive deterioration of the two sites. Index of geoaccumulation (Igeo) values obtained show that Zn was the only metal that did not enrich the soil with Zero (0) values (S1 = -0.04, and S2 = -2.00); which indicate that it originated from natural processes or crustal materials alone, and not from anthropogenic sources. Other metal concentrations ranged from unpolluted to moderately polluted and to extremely polluted. Bioaccumulation Factor (BAF) showed that all the dumpsites are excluders and are not effective accumulators of metals and anions from the soil into the plants. Urgent attention has to be given to the dumpsites to prevent further degradation of the soil and possible bioaccumulation of metals in edible plants.
Ultrathin Polyoxometalate Coating as the Redox Shuttle for Acid‐Free Electrochromic Polymer Capacitive Windows
Authors: Wang Shi‐Ming , Kim Younghoon , Kim Byeonggwan , Han Minsu , Kim Eunkyoung
Published: March 2019

Polyoxometalate is explored as a redox shuttle for non‐electrochromic charge‐balancing material of the conjugated polymer (CP)‐based electrochromic window (ECW). H3PW12O40 is electrochemically deposited on a TiO2 nanoparticle film that is coated on a fluorine doped tin oxide glass. The content of PW12 is increased as the TiO2 film is thicker. The PW12‐coated TiO2 film (PWTNF) is applied as a counter electrode (CE) of a CP‐based ECW in an ionic liquid electrolyte, to increase the potential distribution at the CP‐coated working electrode, thereby decreasing the operation voltage of the ECW. This could be ascribed to the function of PW12 as an electron acceptor and redox shuttle that allows effective charge transport from/to the CE and nearby TiO2 nanoparticles. For the optimized ECW with PWTNF as a CE, the maximum optical contrast is obtained at the applied voltage of 1.5 to −2.0 V (68%), along with long cyclability (2500 cycles), bistability (> 2.35 h) and UV stability (> 60 h). The ECW with PWTNF exhibits reproducible capacitive properties, along with high figure of merit for color change with a high power output, in acid‐free electrolyte for the first time.
Hierarchical Porous Ni3S4 with Enriched High‐Valence Ni Sites as a Robust Electrocatalyst for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction
Authors: Wan Kai , Luo Jiangshui , Zhou Chen , Zhang Ting , Arbiol Jordi , Lu Xihong , Mao Bing‐Wei , Zhang Xuan , Fransaer Jan
Published: March 2019

Electrochemical water splitting is a common way to produce hydrogen gas, but the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) significantly limits the overall energy conversion efficiency of water splitting. In this work, a highly active and stable, meso–macro hierarchical porous Ni3S4 architecture, enriched in Ni3+ is designed as an advanced electrocatalyst for OER. The obtained Ni3S4 architectures exhibit a relatively low overpotential of 257 mV at 10 mA cm−2 and 300 mV at 50 mA cm−2. Additionally, this Ni3S4 catalyst has excellent long‐term stability (no degradation after 300 h at 50 mA cm−2). The outstanding OER performance is due to the high concentration of Ni3+ and the meso–macro hierarchical porous structure. The presence of Ni3+ enhances the chemisorption of OH−, which facilitates electron transfer to the surface during OER. The hierarchical porosity increases the number of exposed active sites, and facilitates mass transport. A water‐splitting electrolyzer using the prepared Ni3S4 as the anode catalyst and Pt/C as the cathode catalyst achieves a low cell voltage of 1.51 V at 10 mA cm−2. Therefore, this work provides a new strategy for the rational design of highly active OER electrocatalysts with high valence Ni3+ and hierarchical porous architectures.
Electrical Conduction at the Interface between Insulating van der Waals Materials
Authors: Kashiwabara Yuta , Nakano Masaki , Nakagawa Yuji , Wang Yue , Matsuoka Hideki , Iwasa Yoshihiro
Published: March 2019

Emergent properties of 2D materials attract considerable interest in condensed matter physics and materials science due to their distinguished features that are missing in their bulk counterparts. A mainstream in this research field is to broaden the scope of material to expand the horizons of the research area, while developing functional interfaces between different 2D materials is another indispensable research direction. Here, the emergence of electrical conduction at the interface between insulating 2D materials is demonstrated. A new class of van der Waals heterostructures consisting of two sets of insulating transition‐metal dichalcogenides, group‐VI WSe2 and group‐IV TMSe2 (TM = Zr, Hf), is developed via molecular‐beam epitaxy, and it is found that those heterostructures are highly conducting although all the constituent materials are highly insulating. The WSe2/ZrSe2 interface exhibits more conducting behavior than the WSe2/HfSe2 interface, which can be understood by considering the band alignments between constituent materials. Moreover, by increasing Se flux during heterostructure fabrication, the WSe2/ZrSe2 interface becomes more conducting, reaching nearly metallic behavior. Further improvement of the crystalline quality as well as exploring different material combinations are expected to lead to metallic conduction, providing a novel functionality emerging at van der Waals heterostructures.
The Growing Development of DNA Nanostructures for Potential Healthcare‐Related Applications
Authors: Mathur Divita , Medintz Igor L.
Published: March 2019

DNA self‐assembly has proven to be a highly versatile tool for engineering complex and dynamic biocompatible nanostructures from the bottom up with a wide range of potential bioapplications currently being pursued. Primary among these is healthcare, with the goal of developing diagnostic, imaging, and drug delivery devices along with combinatorial theranostic devices. The path to understanding a role for DNA nanotechnology in biomedical sciences is being approached carefully and systematically, starting from analyzing the stability and immune‐stimulatory properties of DNA nanostructures in physiological conditions, to estimating their accessibility and application inside cellular and model animal systems. Much remains to be uncovered but the field continues to show promising results toward developing useful biomedical devices. This review discusses some aspects of DNA nanotechnology that makes it a favorable ingredient for creating nanoscale research and biomedical devices and looks at experiments undertaken to determine its stability in vivo. This is presented in conjugation with examples of state‐of‐the‐art developments in biomolecular sensing, imaging, and drug delivery. Finally, some of the major challenges that warrant the attention of the scientific community are highlighted, in order to advance the field into clinically relevant applications.
Ceria Nanoparticles Fabricated with 6‐Aminohexanoic Acid that Overcome Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome
Authors: Jeong Han‐Gil , Cha Bong Geun , Kang Dong‐Wan , Kim Do Yeon , Yang Wookjin , Ki Seul‐Ki , Kim Song I , Han Juhee , Kim Chi Kyung , Kim Jaeyun , Lee Seung‐Hoon
Published: March 2019

Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is self‐destructive and uncontrollable inflammatory response of the whole body triggered by infection, trauma, or a variety of severe injuries. Although reactive oxygen species play a pivotal role in the development of SIRS, the trials with conventional antioxidants have failed to improve patient outcome. Ceria nanoparticles (CeNPs) have potent, autocatalytic reactive oxygen species scavenging activities, which may have sufficient therapeutic effects for SIRS. Herein, 3 nm CeNPs are fabricated totally in aqueous phase by using 6‐aminohexanoic acid (6‐AHA) and their Ce3+ to Ce4+ ratio is increased to enhance antioxidative properties. The obtained 6‐AHA‐CeNPs demonstrate strong antioxidative and anti‐inflammatory effects in various biofluids and inflammatory cells. In SIRS animal models, 6‐AHA‐CeNPs are demonstrated to reduce multiple organ injuries and inflammation. Moreover, 6‐AHA‐CeNPs decrease mortality and improve clinical scores of SIRS models. These findings suggest that 6‐AHA‐CeNPs have potential as a therapeutic nanomedicine for SIRS.
Do Images of Biskyrmions Show Type‐II Bubbles?
Authors: Loudon James C. , Twitchett‐Harrison Alison C. , Cortés‐Ortuño David , Birch Max T. , Turnbull Luke A. , Štefančič Aleš , Ogrin Feodor Y. , Burgos‐Parra Erick O. , Bukin Nicholas , Laurenson Angus , Popescu Horia , Beg Marijan , Hovorka Ondrej , Fangohr Hans , Midgley Paul A. , Balakrishnan Geetha , Hatton Peter D.
Published: March 2019

The intense research effort investigating magnetic skyrmions and their applications for spintronics has yielded reports of more exotic objects including the biskyrmion, which consists of a bound pair of counter‐rotating vortices of magnetization. Biskyrmions have been identified only from transmission electron microscopy images and have not been observed by other techniques, nor seen in simulations carried out under realistic conditions. Here, quantitative Lorentz transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray holography, and micromagnetic simulations are combined to search for biskyrmions in MnNiGa, a material in which they have been reported. Only type‐I and type‐II magnetic bubbles are found and images purported to show biskyrmions can be explained as type‐II bubbles viewed at an angle to their axes. It is not the magnetization but the magnetic flux density resulting from this object that forms the counter‐rotating vortices.
Space‐Confined Polymerization: Controlled Fabrication of Nitrogen‐Doped Polymer and Carbon Microspheres with Refined Hierarchical Architectures
Authors: Wang Tao , Sun Yan , Zhang Liangliang , Li Kaiqian , Yi Yikun , Song Shuyan , Li Mingtao , Qiao Zhen‐An , Dai Sheng
Published: March 2019

The construction of refined architectures plays a crucial role in performance improvement and application expansion of advanced materials. The synthesis of carbon microspheres with a refined hierarchical structure is still a problem in synthetic methodology, because it is difficult to achieve the necessary delicate control of the interior structure and outer shell across the microscale to nanoscale. Nitrogen‐doped multichamber carbon (MCC) microspheres with a refined hierarchical structure are realized here via a surfactant‐directed space‐confined polymerization strategy. The MCC precursor is not the traditional phenolic resol but a new kind of 2,6‐diaminopyridine‐based multichamber polymer (MCP) with a high nitrogen content up to 20 wt%. The morphology and sizes of MCP microspheres can be easily controlled by a dual‐surfactant system. The as‐synthesized MCC with a highly microporous shell, a multichamber inner core, and beneficial N‐doping can serve as a promising supercapacitor material.
VI3—a New Layered Ferromagnetic Semiconductor
Authors: Kong Tai , Stolze Karoline , Timmons Erik I. , Tao Jing , Ni Danrui , Guo Shu , Yang Zoë , Prozorov Ruslan , Cava Robert J.
Published: March 2019

2D materials are promising candidates for next‐generation electronic devices. In this regime, insulating 2D ferromagnets, which remain rare, are of special importance due to their potential for enabling new device architectures. Here the discovery of ferromagnetism is reported in a layered van der Waals semiconductor, VI3, which is based on honeycomb vanadium layers separated by an iodine–iodine van der Waals gap. It has a BiI3‐type structure (, No.148) at room temperature, and the experimental evidence suggests that it may undergo a subtle structural phase transition at 78 K. VI3 becomes ferromagnetic at 49 K, below which magneto‐optical Kerr effect imaging clearly shows ferromagnetic domains, which can be manipulated by the applied external magnetic field. The optical bandgap determined by reflectance measurements is 0.6 eV, and the material is highly resistive.
On‐Chip Polarization Rotators
Authors: Hou Zhi‐Shan , Xiong Xiao , Cao Jia‐Ji , Chen Qi‐Dai , Tian Zhen‐Nan , Ren Xi‐Feng , Sun Hong‐Bo
Published: March 2019

On‐chip polarization manipulation is proposed via a waveguide that is adiabatically twisted along its longitudinal axis, which can be fundamental building blocks for polarization‐encoded optical communication and information processing. With the help of femtosecond direct laser writing, the polarization rotators for both telecom and visible wavelengths are fabricated, which show polarization conversion efficiencies of >90% at 1550 nm and ≈80% at 646 nm, respectively. Furthermore, a polarization router consisting of multiple waveguides with different twisting angles is demonstrated. With the polarization router, photons with different polarizations are directed to different paths. Based on such platform, the path entanglement between the photons can be transformed to polarization entanglement, which will extend the quantum information technology to higher‐dimensional Hilbert space.
Amphoteric Indium Enables Carrier Engineering to Enhance the Power Factor and Thermoelectric Performance in n‐Type AgnPb100InnTe100+2n (LIST)
Authors: Xiao Yu , Wu Haijun , Wang Dongyang , Niu Changlei , Pei Yanling , Zhang Yang , Spanopoulos Ioannis , Witting Ian Thomas , Li Xin , Pennycook Stephen J. , Snyder Gerald Jeffrey , Kanatzidis Mercouri G. , Zhao Li‐Dong
Published: March 2019

The Ag and In co‐doped PbTe, AgnPb100InnTe100+2n (LIST), exhibits n‐type behavior and features unique inherent electronic levels that induce self‐tuning carrier density. Results show that In is amphoteric in the LIST, forming both In3+ and In1+ centers. Through unique interplay of valence fluctuations in the In centers and conduction band filling, the electron carrier density can be increased from ≈3.1 × 1018 cm−3 at 323 K to ≈2.4 × 1019 cm−3 at 820 K, leading to large power factors peaking at ≈16.0 µWcm−1 K−2 at 873 K. The lone pair of electrons from In+ can be thermally continuously promoted into the conduction band forming In3+, consistent with the amphoteric character of In. Moreover, with rising temperature, the Fermi level shifts into the conduction band, which enlarges the optical band gap based on the Moss–Burstein effect, and reduces bipolar diffusion and thermal conductivity. Adding extra Ag in LIST improves the electrical transport properties and meanwhile lowers the lattice thermal conductivity to ≈0.40 Wm−1 K−1. The addition of Ag creates spindle‐shaped Ag2Te nanoprecipitates and atomic‐scale interstitials that scatter a broader set of phonons. As a result, a maximum ZT value ≈1.5 at 873 K is achieved in Ag6Pb100InTe102 (LIST).