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Rhizoctonia solani is the most serious problem on sugar beet Beta vulgaris L. grown in North Dakota and Minnesota. Picoxystrobin, a quinone outside inhibitor, and penthiopyrad, a succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor, were used alone and in combinations for controlling R. solani AG 2-2 IIIB on sugar beet under greenhouse conditions of 22 ± 2 °C and a 12-h photoperiod. Fungicides were applied in-furrow at planting, followed by inoculation with R. solani grown on barley seeds. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with four replicates and the experiment was repeated three times. Stand counts were taken and roots were evaluated for symptoms using a 0 to 7 scale 21 days after inoculation. Analysis of variance was conducted by the SAS general linear model, and Fisher’s protected least significant difference at α = 0.05 was used to compare treatment means. Fungicides used alone and in mixtures provided effective control of R. solani, which had significantly greater percent survivors than the inoculated check. This research demonstrated that picoxystrobin and penthiopyrad have the potential to be used for providing control of R. solani on sugar beet.  

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Methodand Materials: A total of 112 subjects with Text neck syndrome were selected using simple random sampling technique from Saveetha medical college and hospital based on inclusion and exclusion criteria after which detailed study procedure were explained to patients and written informed consent were obtained. The participants age from 18 to 30 years and both male and female gender had been diagnosed with Text neck syndrome. The 56 individuals in each group into two groups. The experimental group (Myofascial trigger release technique) Control group (Muscle energy technique) for both groups pretest results from, EMG and pressure algometer were documented. Treatment intervention consisted of 4 weeks with 3 sessions per week.
Findings: On comparing pre-test and post-test within experimental group & control group on EMG and Pressure algometer score shows highly significant difference in mean values at P ≤ 0.0001.
Conclusion: The study concluded that the myofascial trigger release technique was more effective than muscle energy technique.
 

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Empirical studies examining the effects of language learning have largely focused on linguistic changes in learners. Regrettably, this has left the non-linguistic changes under-researched. To address this, the current study examined what self-identity changes Chinese university EFL learners experienced and how individual characteristics (i.e., gender, starting age of study, and university major) may have affected these changes. To do so, a self-identity change questionnaire was administered online to 416 Chinese university students using a convenience sampling strategy. Seven identity change variables were measured by the survey: changes in (1) positive self-confidence, (2) negative self-confidence, (3) productive identity change, (4) additive identity change, (5) zero change, (6) subtractive change, and (7) split change. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that the items on the questionnaire measured their intended identity change variable. Descriptive statistics showed that participants experienced changes in self-confidence, additive identity, and productive identity, but did not experience subtractive or split change. The results also showed that the participants were unaware that they had experienced any changes. Multiple analysis of variance results showed that the individual characteristics contributed to some variation in the identity changes. The findings support theories suggesting that language learning contributes to non-linguistic changes within learners.  

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Several languages displayed in Language Landscape (LL) in tourism cities are foremost to be explored since they can depict the battle and position of each language. As China has a tight cooperation with Indonesia and other countries, Mandarin has begun to be utilized in the public sphere, such as in the LL. Thus, this present study intends to analyze the use and position of Mandarin, the underlying reasons for using Mandarin, society’s perspective, and its implication. The qualitative method was applied in which all data were explained descriptively by engaging documentation and a questionnaire for data collection. The former was done through the 831 signs displayed in tourism cities in East Java (27 Mandarin LL involved). The latter was conducted through the 127 responses from various backgrounds: old and younger generations. The results indicate that (1) Mandarin LL with top-down signs get a higher percentage than bottom-up signs in which Mandarin is in the fourth position, (2) the utilization of Mandarin in LL is to reveal their identity of the LL owner, (3) it is not vital to display Mandarin in LL due to the lack knowledge of it. Even if societies have negative perceptions of Mandarin, they confess that Mandarin is extensively spread due to its fast growth in any sector. Consequently, this study is crucial to give a wake-up call to the government and speakers of indigenous languages that they should take essential action to preserve the position of local-ethnic languages in LL.

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The Hargreaves-Samani (HS) equation, which estimates reference evapotranspiration (ET0) using only temperature as input, should be most suitable for ET0 prediction based on weather forecasting data. In the current study, the HS equation is calibrated with daily ET0 by the Penman-Monteith equation, and is evaluated to check the possibility of predicting daily ET0 based on weather forecast data. The HS equation is likely to overestimate daily ET0 in the humid regions of China. Coefficients a and c are calculated as 0.00138 and 0.5736 according to local calibration. The calibrated HS equation performs considerably better than the original one. The proposed equation could be an alternative and effective solution for predicting daily ET0 using public weather forecast data as inputs. The error of daily ET0 prediction increases with the increase in the error of daily temperature range (TR) or daily mean temperature (Tmean). This error is likely to be more sensitive to the error in TR than in the Tmean. Ensuring that TR errors are less than 2°C is necessary for perfect estimations of ET0 based on public weather forecast data using the calibrated HS equation.

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Individual grain weight of wheat kernels differs with their positions on a spike. Cultivation practices (such as fertilizer nitrogen and plant growth regulators application) can be used to improve weight of basal and distal kernels. For this purpose, two experiments based on randomized complete block design were carried out with three replications. The aim of this research was to study the mechanisms related to sink strength as well as the regulatory factors affecting sink activity. One cultivar of a facultative wheat, cv Yangmai15, was used. Treatments of the experiments included application of nitrogen (two levels) and plant growth regulators [abscisic acid (ABA) and Fluridone (inhibitor ofABA synthesis)] in basal and distal kernels, respectively. Results showed that nitrogen application increased grain yield and its components. Grain filling in basal kernels started earlier and its rate was higher than that of the distal kernels. Nitrogen fertilizer increased the individual kernel weight both in basal and distal kernels, and the rate of increment was higher than the control, even in distal kernels. The application ofABA resulted in increase in grain weight, whereas a considerable decrease in grain weight was observed in response to Fluridone compared to the control. Nitrogen application together withABA application enhanced the activity of SuSase, AGPase, SSS, and SBE in basal and distal kernels and the increment in the activity was higher in distal kernels. It is concluded that simultaneous application of nitrogen andABA enhanced grain weight by regulating the activity of key enzymes involved in starch synthesis. 

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A stable Agrobacterium-mediated transformation system was established using bialaphos as the selective agent in soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]. The cotyledonary node explants of the soybean cultivar ‘NY-1001’ were inoculated with the Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA105, harboring the vector pCAMBIA3301 containing the gus gene as the reporter gene and the bar gene conferring bialaphos resistance. The highest frequency of GUS transient expression (92%) was obtained after inoculation and 4-day co-cultivation with A. tumefaciens strain EHA105. Efficient GUS expression was observed in regenerated shoots from explants after 4-day co-cultivation combined with culturing on shoot induction medium (SIM) without bialaphos for 7 days followed by 4 mg.L^-1 bialaphos for 2 weeks. Bialaphos (4 mg.L^-1 in SIM; 2 mg.L^-1 in shoot elongation medium (SEM)) effectively selected the transformants. The putative transformants and escapes could be exactly distinguished by using a half-leaf GUS assay method to detect GUS expression in the elongated resistant shoots, which resulted in the shortening of culture period for the early detection of transformed shoots. The transformation efficiency of this system was 1.06%. The transgenic plants were verified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Southern blotting, and herbicide-resistant responses. All four T₀ transgenic plants were fertile and transmitted the phenotypes of both gus and bar in a 3:1 ratio to their progeny. These results indicate that the established system is suitable for further breeding of herbicide-resistant transgenic cultivars, as well as for functional genomics studies of soybeans.

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Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) contains the biological properties of the major standard non–volatile pungent compounds of ginger, namely, [6]–, [8]–, and [10]–gingerols, as well as [6]– , [8]–, and [10]–shogaols. So far, the comparative antioxidant potencies among shogaols and gingerols have not been studied in detail and reported. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine and compare the antioxidant abilities of the six main compounds. Results showed that[6]–, [8]–, and [10]–gingerols, as well as [6]–, [8]–, and [10]–shogaols exhibited substantial in vitro antioxidant activities. The DPPH^•, ABTS^•+,and FRAP assays results showed that the antioxidant abilities of [6]–shogaol were greatest among the six gingerols and shogaols studied (P< 0.05), and those of [6]–, [8]–, and [10]–shogaols were greater than those of [6]–, [8]–, and [10]–gingerols, respectively, which can be attributed to the presence of α, β–unsaturated ketones moieties. Moreover, the observation that the antioxidant abilities of [6]–gingerol were greater than those of [8]– and [10]–gingerols (P< 0.05) indicated that the short carbon chains of [6]–gingerol and [6]–shogaol played a significant role in making them more potent antioxidants than the other four longer carbon chain compounds. This finding can be attributed to gingerols undergoing dehydration transformations into shogaols during oven drying. Our results provided some new information on the antioxidant abilities of gingerols and shogaols.

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In plants, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is synthesized by polyamine degradation pathway besides GABA shunt. Aminoguanidine (AG) is a specific inhibitor of the key enzyme (diamine oxidase, DAO) for GABA formation in polyamine degradation pathway. In this study, AG was applied to study the functions of polyamine degradation pathway on growth and GABA accumulation in germinating fava bean under hypoxia-NaCl stress. The results showed that 5.0 mmol L^-1 of AG inhibited DAO activity maximally but not entirely, and inhibited the growth of sprouts simultaneously. Hence, blocking polyamine degradation pathway significantly affected the growth of germinating fava bean. Polyamine degradation pathway provided 26.9 and 29.3% of GABA in cotyledon and embryo, respectively, because DAO activity was not inhibited entirely. Polyamine, especially putrescine (Put), accumulated after polyamine degradation pathway was blocked, indicating that Put was the main substrate of GABA in polyamine degradation pathway.

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Low phosphorous (P) availability in soils limits production of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] around the world. This study was conducted to determine whether exogenous expression of the rice (Oryza sativa L.) phosphates transporter gene OsPT2 would increase inorganic phosphates (Pi) acquisition and improve yield in transgenic soybean. Cotyledonary-node explants of the soybean were inoculated with the Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA105 harboring the vector pCAMBIA3301-OsPT2, which contained OsPT2, gus and bar genes. Ten fertile T₀ transgenic plants were obtained and semi-quantitative RT-PCR of progenies demonstrated that OsPT2 gene was overexpressing in the T₂ generation. Three T₂ transgenic lines overexpressing OsPT2 were selected and subjected to testing for tolerance to low concentrations of Pi (low-Pi; 20 μM Pi) by hydroponic culture using modified Hoagland’s nutrient solution. The total P contents in the leaves, stems, roots, and seeds of the transgenic plants significantly increased under the concentrations of low-Pi and 1,000 μM Pi of standard Hoagland’s nutrient solution. Under low-Pi stress, the yields of the transgenic lines were significantly higher than those of the wild type. Taken together, our data suggest that the overexpression of OsPT2 in transgenic soybean lines improves Pi acquisition and seed yield, and OsPT2 may serve as one of the promising target genes that can be manipulated in crop improvement for minor use of Pi fertilizers.

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 The fruit set rate and yield of pear are commonly low due to insufficient pollination, as the species is unattractive to honeybees. To improve honeybee foraging behavior for the pollination of Dangshan pear (Pyrus bretschneideri cv. dangshansuli), nine methods were used to attract bees. A control treatment of colonies was fed with normal sugar syrup, while six other treatments were fed using sugar syrup mixed with Pear syrup, Gallic acid, Arginine (Arg), Lysine (Lys), Methionine (Met), or 8-Br-cGMP; plates containing Juvenile Hormone analog ZR-512, Brood Pheromone (BP), and Queen Mandibular Gland Pheromone (QMP) were placed inside the hives of another three treatments. Pollination efficacy was compared using the pollen load weight and quantity of foraging bees. The peak time of pear pollen gathering was 10:00–11:00 regardless of treatment. The pear pollen load weight per day was increased by all nine treatments. Pear pollen load weight per day was 49.11 g in the control. The QMP treatment yielded the heaviest pear pollen load weight per day (77.56 g), followed by the 8-Br-cGMP (64.45 g) and BP treatments (64.20 g). The percentages of pear pollen weight and quantity in the total pollen per day were both highest in the BP treatment (80.23%, 87.27%), followed by those in the QMP (79.32%, 86.74%) and Lys treatments (76.25%, 85.81%). In conclusion, BP was the most effective treatment for improving honeybee pollination behavior in the pear orchard, while other treatments, including Arg, Lys, 8-Br-cGMP, ZR-512, and QMP, could also be useful.

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Paris polyphylla Smith var. yunnanensis (Liliaceae) is an important traditional medicinal plant of the Yunnan Province in China. However, the genomic information regarding this plant is limited. To further understand its molecular background, we conducted Illumina HiSeq 2000 second-generation sequencing of this plant species. Approximately 30,198,679 reads with an average length of 202 bases were obtained from its root cells. These reads were assembled into 56,095 unique sequences and approximately 49.7% of the unique sequences were annotated by Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) similarity searches against public sequence databases. Most of these unigenes were mapped to carbohydrate metabolism, energy metabolism, and secondary metabolite biosynthetic pathways. Additionally, 3,853 EST-SSRs were identified as potential molecular markers in our unigenes. Of these, 9 nuclear SSR markers were employed to assess genetic diversity and structure of 11 geographically disjunct populations. The present study revealed a moderate genetic diversity (He= 0.527) and low genetic differentiation (Fst= 0.103), which may be ascribed to an earlier period of more pronounced gene flow when the species had a more continuous distribution. The 11 studied populations were divided into two clusters based on the UPGMA dendrogram, which were not congruent with their geographical distributions. Overall, the root transcriptome sequences generated in this study reveal novel gene expression profiles and offer important clues for further study of the molecular mechanism of Paris’ root secondary metabolite synthesis and population genetics. The EST-SSR markers identified will also facilitate marker-assisted selection in Paris breeding.

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Low temperature is a limiting factor of seed germination and plant growth. In this study, two independent experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of low temperature on germination, early seedling growth and antioxidant systems in two provenances of Elymus nutans Griseb. (Damxung, DX and Gannan, GN). The seeds and early seedlings of DX were more tolerant to low temperture than those of GN. Low temperature (5^oC) negatively affected seed Germination Percentage (GP), Germination Energy (GE) and the First Germination Time (FGT) in both provenances of E. nutans. Low temperature also increased Mortality Percentage (MP) when compared with control plants grown at 25^oC. Low temperature treatments significantly reduced length and fresh/dry weight of shoots and roots in the two accessions after 29 days of exposure to 5^oC. In the second experiment, after 5 days of low temperature treatment, DX exhibited significantly higher Chlorophyll (Chl) and Carotenoid (Car) content as well as increased activities of Peroxidase (POD), SuperOxide Dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT). In contrast we observed lower Electrolyte Leakage (EL) and reduction of the amounts of MalonDiAldehyde (MDA), Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and superoxide radical (). We conclude that GN is more susceptible to low temperature than DX due to more severe oxidative damage resulting from Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and lower antioxidant enzyme activities.

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Influence of water on the dielectric properties of jujube, yellow-locust, and vitex honey was investigated by dielectric spectroscopy in broadband from 40 Hz-40 GHz. At lower frequencies, two relaxations which were from interface polarization and dipole orientation polarization of macromolecules in honey were observed. Other relaxations contributed by free and bound water were observed at microwave frequencies. The analysis of the observed relaxations revealed that the honey/water interface and bound water molecules that interact with the macromolecules in honey are responsible for the changed dielectric properties of honey solutions. Besides, the linear correlations between the permittivity (around 2.45 GHz) and water content of honey solutions were developed, which indicates that water content in honey solutions can be measured by dielectric spectroscopy. In addition, we also compared the dielectric properties of different pure honey types and found that the pure yellow-locust honey, which contains the maximum water content, has the highest permittivity. This suggests that different honey types with different water content can be roughly identified by dielectric spectroscopy. This study shows that the water content influences the dielectric properties of honey and dielectric spectroscopy is feasible for detecting honey adulteration with water.
 

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Wild pepper (Capsicum frutescens L.) could be a source of variation to improve cultivated pepper due to its unique traits with adapting challenges caused by adversity. Interspecific hybridization has been used as an effective way of pepper introgression breeding, which transfers genes of interest from wild relatives to cultivated crops. Here, eight fertile hybrids F₁ were produced from pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) and the wild relative (C. frutescens), as female and male, respectively, by interspecific hybridization. Interspecific hybrids were identified using conventional morphological descriptors and SSR molecular markers. The results showed that significant differences in agronomic traits existed among cultivated pepper, wild relatives, and interspecific hybrid F₁. Interspecific hybrid F₁ presented intermediate values, although they were closer to the wild species in most of the agronomic traits. Analysis of SSR markers clearly showed that interspecific hybrid F₁ had bands from the paternal and maternal accessions, which indicated that F₁ hybrid was heterozygous. Our results provide hybrid for breeder to transfer genes of interest from wild relative, C. frutescens, to cultivated pepper, which is an important step for introgression breeding.
 

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Surrounding the central core of a concrete component by means of an internal or external factor such as transverse reinforcements, carbon and polymer fibers and steel sheets causes confinement for the concrete. Confining generally improves the strength and ductility of concrete components. As a result of boosting the local performance of elements, the overall performance of structure is made progress. Recently, tending to build irregular structures has been increasing. The presence of irregularity in the structure has always been one of the challenges faced by engineers.  In this investigation, the influence of confinement phenomenon on the seismic performance (damage level and behavior factor) of the moment resisting reinforced concrete frames with vertical irregularity is assessed. To do so, 31 moment resisting frames with vertical irregularity are categorized in four classes including 3-, 6-, 9- and 12-story and the roof displacement-base shear curves of them are acquired using pushover analysis. The capacity curve of each frame is achieved in two states including neglecting the confinement effect and considering it. The outcomes indicate that not only can confining improve the seismic performance of structures but also it can decrease the imposed damage of structures. In other words, comparing the capacity curves of each frame with/without confining effect shows that taking the confinement effect leads to improving the secant stiffness and strength of the frame. Furthermore, due to confinement effect, lateral load carrying capacities of the frames are boosted and the considered damage levels are achieved in higher base shear and roof displacements in comparison with the state that confinement is not considered. The observed values of damage levels indicate that the influence of confinement for higher frames is more significant and the maximum base shears for the frames with the confining action is around 3-19% higher than those of the frames without confinement effect. For 3-story frames, considering confinement effect leads to improving 3.9, 3.6 and 2.9% in damage levels of DL, SD, and NC. For 6-story frames these values are 6.9, 9.5, and 6.8% respectively. Taking confinement effect results in improving 18.25, 11.8, and 14.6% in damage levels of DL, SD, and NC and 14.3, 14.2, and 13.3% improvement for 12-story frames. Comparing the behavior factors in the two states demonstrates that considering confining effect improves the mean values of behavior factors around 10.4%. In addition, the observed values of behavior factors show that the differences between the amounts of behavior factors (with/without confinement effect) for the frames with more stories are higher. It is manifested that type of irregularity plays significant role on the seismic behavior of the moment-resisting reinforced concrete frames. Comparing the analytical behavior factor obtained in the current study with the prescribed value of behavior factor in Iranian seismic code shows that although the proposed value of Iranian seismic code is conservative for low-rise frames, this value is not met for high-rise frames.
 

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Eustoma grandiflorum is considered as the ‘next rose’ in floriculture, ranking top-ten in cut flowers. In this study, we investigated the ploidy level and genome size of 28 commercial cultivars of E. grandiflorum through flow cytometry. The analysis of each cultivar showed that only one cultivar was tetraploid, whereas the rest were diploids. By comparing with a standard reference genome of Solanum lycopersicum, the genome size (1C) of E. grandiflorum cultivars ranged from 1.26 to 2.64 Gb, which was in line with their ploidy levels and previous data. Although a large number of plant phenotypic diversities were observed in the experimental cultivars, the genome size displayed little difference in diploids, indicating that the monoploid DNA amount of E. grandiflorum is relatively conserved during artificial selection. It is possible to sequence the genome of E. grandiflorum using the latest sequencing techniques, which could provide a solid foundation for molecular biology research and molecular breeding for E. grandiflorum.

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The negative impact of excessive fertilization on the sustainable development of agriculture has become the focus of universal attention. Thus, the aim is to maximize the yield of rice without imposing too much damage on the environment. This paper uses data regression analysis based on the statistical data (from 1990 to 2020) of a certain region to explore the impact of fertilizer application on rice yield, and adopts the sensitivity analysis to study the sensitivity of rice yield to the applied amount of chemical fertilizer. The results show that the average rice yield increased with increasing Nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) fertilizers application within the statistical data range; while the average rice yield decreased as Phosphorus (P) fertilizer application increased. Simultaneously, increasing the application of N and K fertilizers improved the average rice yield. Reducing the amount of P fertilizer and increasing the proportion of K fertilizer positively affected the average rice yield. The sensitivity analysis indicated that the average rice yield was most sensitive to K application amount. The sensitivity value maximized at a small amount of N fertilizer (11.25 kg hm^-2) and a large amount of P fertilizer (6 kg hm^-2). The findings reveal the interactive effect of multiple fertilizer application rates on grain yield and address the unclear mechanism of single fertilizer application on grain yield in the existing research. This paper provides a theoretical basis for scientific fertilizer use, agricultural quality, efficiency improvement, and sustainable development of agriculture.