Phosphorus Solubilizing Patterns of Different Phosphorus Sources in Rice Cultivation, Sri Lanka: A Case Study

Biofilm enriched Eppawala Rock Phosphate (Biofilm-ERP) has been identified as a potential alternative for Triple Super Phosphate (TSP) application for rice cultivation in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. This is currently practiced in a few rice growing districts in Sri Lanka with the name of biofilm-ERP practice showing the most promising results in rice cultivation. This study was conducted to evaluate the Phosphorus (P) solubilizing patterns of biofilm-ERP over the Department of Agriculture (DOA) recommended full TSP dosage (2013)(CFE) for rice. For the treatments, a modified chemical fertilizer (CFM) mixture was developed by replacing TSP in the DOA recommendation (CFE) from biofilm- ERP. Nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) levels were maintained as per the DOA recommendations and control was maintained without any fertilizer amendments. The experiment was arranged in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replicates. Soil pH, available N and P, organic matter (OM), and microbial biomass C were measured at the initially and end of the experiment. Solubilized P was recovered by leaching in two weekly intervals for up to three months. A significant effect was observed among the P solubilization patterns of treatments. Accordingly, the significantly (p<0.05) highest solubilized P was recorded with biofilm-ERP practice with a slightly increasing trend. Further, this pattern showed a slowly increasing trend over the solubilization period being caused by microbial assimilation of P and releasing of P into soil followed by microbial decomposition obviously with microbial biomass C measurements. The CFE solubilized the P also with a slightly increasing trend but it was significantly lower than the biofilm-ERP. In conclusion, biofilm-ERP was identified as the most outstanding P solubilizer with a sustained pattern for solubilized P. Hence, this biofilm-ERP would be an effective alternative for TSP for rice cultivation in near future. However, further field studies are needed for concrete findings

Is the LAN effect in morphosyntactic processing an ERP artifact?

Available online 4 February 2019.The left anterior negativity (LAN) is an ERP component that has been often associated with morphosyntactic processing, but recent reports have questioned whether the LAN effect, in fact, exists. The present project examined whether the LAN effect, observed in the grand average response to local agreement violations, is the result of the overlap between two different ERP effects (N400, P600) at the level of subjects (n = 80), items (n = 120), or trials (n = 6160). By-subject, by-item, and by-trial analyses of the ERP effect between 300 and 500 ms showed a LAN for 55% of the participants, 46% of the items, and 49% of the trials. Many examples of the biphasic LAN-P600 response were observed. Mixed-linear models showed that the LAN effect size was not reduced after accounting for subject variability. The present results suggest that there are cases where the grand average LAN effect represents the brain responses of individual participants, items, and trials.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry [PSI 2014-54500- P; IJCI-2016-27702; PSI2017-82941-P]; the Basque Government [PI_2015_1_25]; and the Severo Ochoa [SEV-2015-0490]

Spatiotemporal Neurodynamics Underlying Internally and Externally Driven Temporal Prediction: A High Spatial Resolution ERP Study

Temporal prediction (TP) is a flexible and dynamic cognitive ability. Depending on the internal or external nature of information exploited to generate TP, distinct cognitive and brain mechanisms are engaged with the same final goal of reducing uncertainty about the future. In this study, we investigated the specific brain mechanisms involved in internally and externally driven TP. To this end, we employed an experimental paradigm purposely designed to elicit and compare externally and internally driven TP and a combined approach based on the application of a distributed source reconstruction modeling on a high spatial resolution electrophysiological data array. Specific spatiotemporal ERP signatures were identified, with significant modulation of contingent negative variation and frontal late sustained positivity in external and internal TP contexts, respectively. These different electrophysiological patterns were supported by the engagement of distinct neural networks, including a left sensorimotor and a prefrontal circuit for externally and internally driven TP, respectively

High temporal discounters overvalue immediate rewards rather than undervalue future rewards : an event-related brain potential study

Impulsivity is characterized in part by heightened sensitivity to immediate relative to future rewards. Although previous research has suggested that "high discounters" in intertemporal choice tasks tend to prefer immediate over future rewards because they devalue the latter, it remains possible that they instead overvalue immediate rewards. To investigate this question, we recorded the reward positivity, a component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) associated with reward processing, with participants engaged in a task in which they received both immediate and future rewards and nonrewards. The participants also completed a temporal discounting task without ERP recording. We found that immediate but not future rewards elicited the reward positivity. High discounters also produced larger reward positivities to immediate rewards than did low discounters, indicating that high discounters relatively overvalued immediate rewards. These findings suggest that high discounters may be more motivated than low discounters to work for monetary rewards, irrespective of the time of arrival of the incentives

Contributions of the Event-Related Potential Technique to Narcissism Research Exemplified by Variations of Admiration and Rivalry with Face and Error Processing ERP Components

Highly narcissistic individuals perceive reality in favour of their grandiosity. Research has examined these distorted perceptions thoroughly at the self-report and behavioural level. However, we do know little about the underlying neural processes that lead to these distorted perceptions. The event-related potential (ERP) technique appears well-suited to uncover these processes and elucidate intrapersonal self-regulation in narcissism. Surprisingly, narcissism research has hardly applied this method. The current thesis describes two studies that relate Admiration and Rivalry (two narcissism dimensions; Back et al., 2013) to face- and error-processing ERP components and, thereby, illustrates the usefulness of the ERP technique for narcissism research. Study 1 analysed variations of Admiration and Rivalry with two face processing ERP components, P1 and N170, which were registered while participants (N = 59) viewed their own, a celebrity’s, and a stranger’s face. Multilevel models revealed variations of Admiration with the P1 and variations of Rivalry with the P1 and the N170. Study 2 explored variations of Admiration and Rivalry with two error processing ERP components, Ne and Pe, which were recorded while participants (N = 89) performed a speeded Go/noGo task under ego-threatening conditions. Multilevel models discovered variations of Rivalry with Ne but did not indicate variations of either Admiration or Rivalry with the Pe. Given the respective ERP literature, the results of both studies pointed to several intrapersonal self-regulation strategies that highly narcissistic individuals might use to protect and enhance their grandiosity, including attentional inhibition, an expectancy-driven perception, rapid mobilisation of defensive systems, and a trait-like defensive reactivity. Thereby, both studies demonstrated that ERP research can generate revealing and unique data on narcissistic functioning. In light of the current results and the global neuronal workspace theory, which provides further ideas on the neural mechanisms underlying narcissistic perception, the thesis discusses promising future neuro-cognitive research on narcissism, which might help us better understand this complex construct

The real SAP® Business one cost : a case study of ERP adoption in an SME

This paper reports on a UK based service management Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) that invested into SAP® Business One. The action research case study highlights the real cost and difficulties faced in moving to the one single SAP system and the process that was followed in order to identify third-party vendors that can integrate or customise SAP® Business One. This paper highlights the additional costs required to ensure a ‘fit-for-purpose’ solution to close the gap between strategic needs and the existing SAP Business One solution. The gap itself is illustrated by highlighting 10 key functionalities expected by the given service management SME. The actual implementation cost of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) was found to be approximately double the initial SAP costs. The real costs involve time for, among other things, process reengineering, strategic decision making, software add-ons, staff-training, project-management and software maintenance