Effect of planting methods of flax on garlic yield under different intercropping patterns

The purpose of this experiment was to investigate yield, yield components and economic evaluation of flax (Sakha 5) and garlic (Sids 40) under various planting methods and intercropping patterns. The experimental design was a split-plot design with four replicates. The main-plots were assigned to the three cultivating methods and the sub-plots were allocated to the four intercropping patterns. The results indicated that drilling as planting method achieved the highest values for most studied characters in both seasons for flax and garlic, except for number of cloves/plant and plant height in garlic. Intercropping system with low garlic density (100% flax + 12.5% garlic) produced the maximum values for stem diameter, straw yield, number of capsules and seed/plant, seed index and seed yield for flax and number of leaves and cloves/plant, head diameter and weight for garlic in both seasons. The highest bulb yield of garlic was achieved with intercropping 100% flax + 37.5% garlic in both seasons. It can be concluded that the most economic returns for both crops were obtained from drilling as planting method with intercropping pattern 100% flax + 37.5% garlic under the environmental conditions of North Delta of Egypt. Keywords: Intercropping, Land equivalent ratio (LER), Aggressivity (Ag), Relative crowding coefficient (RCC), economic evaluatio

Response of some flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) genotypes to different soil application levels of humic acid

Two field trials were established during 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 seasons at the Experimental Farm of Sakha Agricultural Research Station, Egypt, to evaluate the response of some flax genotypes (Strain 651, Sakha 3, Sakha 5 and Giza 12) to different fertilization levels of humic acid (HA) (0, 1000, 1500 and 2000 g/fed[1]) as a soil application. Split-plot design was used for the experiment with four replicates. The main-plots were assigned to the four fertilization levels of HA and the sub-plots were allocated to the four flax genotypes. The results pointed out that using 2000 g/fed of HA treatment significantly attained the highest values of all studied characters followed by 1500, 1000 and 0 g/fed during both seasons. The results also, referred that S.651 was significantly superior to the rest of the other genotypes in technical length, fiber length, fiber percentage and fiber yield/fed within both seasons. Giza 12 recorded significantly the most beneficial results for stem diameter, straw yield/plant, straw yield/fed, fruiting zone length, seed index and seed yield/plant in both seasons. Also, Sakha 5 significantly surpassed the other genotypes in number of capsules /plant, seed yield/fed, oil percentage and oil yield/fed in the 1st and 2nd seasons. Thus, this research recommended the use of 2000 g/fed of HA with the promising strain (S.651) to obtain the highest fiber yield/fed, or with Sakha 5 to gain the highest seed and oil yield/fed in Northern Delta region of Egypt. Keywords: Flax genotypes, humic acid, straw yield, seed yield, oil yield, fiber yield [1]  fed = feddan = 4200 m

Bone mineral density and risk of heart failure in older adults: The Cardiovascular Health Study

Background Despite increasing evidence of a common link between bone and heart health, the relationship between bone mineral density ( BMD ) and heart failure ( HF ) risk remains insufficiently studied. Methods and Results We investigated whether BMD measured by dual‐energy x‐ray absorptiometry was associated with incident HF in an older cohort. Cox models were stratified by sex and interactions of BMD with race assessed. BMD was examined at the total hip and femoral neck separately, both continuously and by World Health Organization categories. Of 1250 participants, 442 (55% women) developed HF during the median follow‐up of 10.5 years. In both black and nonblack women, neither total hip nor femoral neck BMD was significantly associated with HF ; there was no significant interaction by race. In black and nonblack men, total hip, but not femoral neck, BMD was significantly associated with HF , with evidence of an interaction by race. In nonblack men, lower total hip BMD was associated with higher HF risk (hazard ratio, 1.13 [95% CI, 1.01–1.26] per 0.1 g/cm 2 decrement), whereas in black men, lower total hip BMD was associated with lower HF risk (hazard ratio, 0.74 [95% CI, 0.59–0.94]). There were no black men with total hip osteoporosis. Among nonblack men, total hip osteoporosis was associated with higher HF risk (hazard ratio, 2.83 [95% CI, 1.39–5.74]) compared with normal BMD . Conclusions Among older adults, lower total hip BMD was associated with higher HF risk in nonblack men but lower risk in black men, with no evidence of an association in women. Further research is needed to replicate these findings and to study potential underlying pathways. </jats:sec

Male circumcision and HIV transmission: what do we know?

Male circumcision (MC) has been shown to be protective against heterosexual HIV transmission and is being explored in some parts of the world as a means of combating the epidemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that MC be considered as an important component of HIV prevention in high prevalence settings. We review evidence that demonstrates that the inner foreskin is likely to be the main portal of entry for the HIV virus in males. Whether removal of the inner foreskin accounts for all the protection afforded by circumcision is yet to be established. The proposed mechanisms of protection range from inherent immunohistological factors of foreskin such as difference in thickness of keratin layer and density of target cells for HIV between inner and outer foreskin to physiological mechanisms that follow male circumcision such as drying of secretions underneath foreskin after sexual intercourse, loss of microbiome that attract target cells to the genital mucosa and lack of priming the genital mucosa with less abundant sexual transmitted infections among circumcised men. The aim of this review is to give an updated account on the mechanisms proposed so far on the demonstrated 50-70% protection from HIV transmission through heterosexual intercourse, by male circumcision

Acetylcholine Contributes to Head Direction Cell Stability During Path Integration and Landmark Navigation

Perceived directional heading is represented in the brain by head direction (HD) cells, which fire rapidly when the head is pointed in one direction and become virtually silent when the head is pointed in all other directions. The HD signal is dominantly controlled by the position of visual landmarks, but can be maintained by path integration when familiar landmarks are not available. The neural mechanism(s) that allow path integration to maintain the HD signal have not been investigated, but a possible component of this mechanism is acetylcholine, given that selective cholinergic lesions impair path integration-based navigation. To test this, we recorded HD cell activity from the anterodorsal thalamus while rats foraged for food within a cylinder, or navigated within a dual chamber apparatus, after systemic injection of saline or atropine sulfate. In the cylinder, a prominent cue card served as the sole landmark for a standard session, after which the cue was removed for a no-cue session. Saline or atropine sulfate was then injected, and a second no-cue session was conducted, followed by standard, 90° cue rotation, standard, and no-cue sessions. During the first no-cue session after injection, some cells in atropine-treated rats showed slightly more drift in preferred firing direction (PFD) than control cells, but otherwise appeared to be unaffected by atropine. With the cue rotated 90º, 10 of the 19 (53%) cells in atropine-treated rats and 12 of the 17 (71%) control cells shifted within ± 30° of 90º. In the dual chamber apparatus, rats walked from a familiar cylinder to a novel rectangle via an alleyway, and then returned to the familiar cylinder. Control HD cells (n = 7) showed a slight PFD shift as the rat entered the novel rectangle (mean absolute shift = 17.14 ± 3.80°, range = -30 to 12°), suggesting the HD signal was maintained relatively well between arenas by path integration; upon return, the PFD returned to that of the first session (mean absolute shift = 5.14 ± 1.56°, range = -12 to 6°). In contrast, 7 of the 9 HD cells in atropine-treated rats (78%) showed greater PFD shifts between the familiar cylinder and novel rectangle (mean absolute shift = 86.00 ± 12.17°, angular shift range = -102 to 114°) and between the first and last sessions in the familiar cylinder (mean absolute shift = 24.00 ± 10.16°, angular shift range = 0 to -72°); 2 of the 9 cells (22%) showed considerable PFD drift during the novel rectangle or return cylinder sessions. Thus, acetylcholine is not critical for normal HD cell activity within a familiar environment, but facilitates the stability of the HD signal during both path integration and landmark navigation

Monolithic transformers for high frequency bulk CMOS circuits

This paper presents two monolithic transformer structures exhibiting high self resonance frequencies(fSR). Effect of positive and negative coupling factor on self resonance frequency is investigated. The transformer turn ratio and structure is selected to improve design and ease layout of a high frequency LNA and VCO. Measurement results of a transformer show good agreement with simulated values and demonstrate a coupling factor of 0.7 at 20 GHz

An integrated Structure-from-Motion and time-lapse technique for quantifying ice-margin dynamics

Fine resolution topographic data derived from methods such as Structure from Motion (SfM) and Multi-View Stereo (MVS) have the potential to provide detailed observations of geomorphological change, but have thus far been limited by the logistical constraints of conducting repeat surveys in the field. Here, we present the results from an automated time-lapse camera array, deployed around an ice-marginal lake on the western margin of the Greenland ice sheet. Fifteen cameras acquired imagery three-times per day over a 426 day period, yielding a dataset of ~19 000 images. From these data we derived 18 point clouds of the ice-margin across a range of seasons and successfully identified calving events (ranging from 234 to 1475 m2 in area and 815–8725 m3 in volume) induced by ice cliff undercutting at the waterline and the collapse of spalling flakes. Low ambient light levels, locally reflective surfaces and the large survey range hindered analysis of smaller scale ice-margin dynamics. Nevertheless, this study demonstrates that an integrated SfM-MVS and time-lapse approach can be employed to generate long-term 3-D topographic datasets and thus quantify ice-margin dynamics at a fine spatio-temporal scale. This approach provides a template for future studies of geomorphological change

Income Tax Avoidance and Evasion: A Narrow Bracketing Approach

We characterize optimal individual tax evasion and avoidance when taxpayers ìnarrow bracketî the joint avoidance/evasion decision by exhausting all gainful methods for legal avoidance before choosing whether or not also to evade illegally. We Önd that (i) evasion is an increasing function of the audit probability when the latter is low enough, yet tax avoidance is always decreasing in the probability of audit; (ii) an analogous Önding to the so-called Yitzhaki puzzle for evasion also holds for tax avoidance ñan increase in the tax rate decreases the level of avoided income and the level of avoided tax; and (iii) that, holding constant the expected return to evasion, it is not always the case that the combined loss of reported income due to avoidance and evasion can be stemmed by increasing the Öne rate and decreasing the audit probability

Reforming the Nigerian water and sanitation sector

Reforming the Nigerian water and sanitation secto