Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Early Root Herbivory Impairs Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Colonization and Shifts Defence Allocation in Establishing Plantago lanceolata

Research into plant-mediated indirect interactions between arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and insect herbivores has focussed on those between plant shoots and above-ground herbivores, despite the fact that only below-ground herbivores share the same part of the host plant as AM fungi. Using Plantago lanceolata L. , we aimed to characterise how early root herbivory by the vine weevil (Otiorhynchus sulcatus F.) affected subsequent colonization by AM fungi (Glomus spp.) and determine how the two affected plant growth and defensive chemistry. We exposed four week old P. lanceolata to root herbivory and AM fungi using a 2×2 factorial design (and quantified subsequent effects on plant biomass and iridoid glycosides (IGs) concentrations. Otiorhynchus sulcatus reduced root growth by c. 64%, whereas plant growth was unaffected by AM fungi. Root herbivory reduced extent of AM fungal colonization (by c. 61%). O. sulcatus did not influence overall IG concentrations, but caused qualitative shifts in root and shoot IGs, specifically increasing the proportion of the more toxic catalpol. These changes may reflect defensive allocation in the plant against further attack. This study demonstrates that very early root herbivory during plant development can shape future patterns of AM fungal colonization and influence defensive allocation in the plant.
Comparative Chloroplast Genomics of Gossypium Species: Insights Into Repeat Sequence Variations and Phylogeny

Cotton is one of the most economically important fiber crop plants worldwide. The genus Gossypium contains a single allotetraploid group (AD) and eight diploid genome groups (A–G and K). However, the evolution of repeat sequences in the chloroplast genomes and the phylogenetic relationships of Gossypium species are unclear. Thus, we determined the variations in the repeat sequences and the evolutionary relationships of 40 cotton chloroplast genomes, which represented the most diverse in the genus, including five newly sequenced diploid species, i.e., G. nandewarense (C1-n), G. armourianum (D2-1), G. lobatum (D7), G. trilobum (D8), and G. schwendimanii (D11), and an important semi-wild race of upland cotton, G. hirsutum race latifolium (AD1). The genome structure, gene order, and GC content of cotton species were similar to those of other higher plant plastid genomes. In total, 2860 long sequence repeats (>10 bp in length) were identified, where the F-genome species had the largest number of repeats (G. longicalyx F1: 108) and E-genome species had the lowest (G. stocksii E1: 53). Large-scale repeat sequences possibly enrich the genetic information and maintain genome stability in cotton species. We also identified 10 divergence hotspot regions, i.e., rpl33-rps18, psbZ-trnG (GCC), rps4-trnT (UGU), trnL (UAG)-rpl32, trnE (UUC)-trnT (GGU), atpE, ndhI, rps2, ycf1, and ndhF, which could be useful molecular genetic markers for future population genetics and phylogenetic studies. Site-specific selection analysis showed that some of the coding sites of 10 chloroplast genes (atpB, atpE, rps2, rps3, petB, petD, ccsA, cemA, ycf1, and rbcL) were under protein sequence evolution. Phylogenetic analysis based on the whole plastomes suggested that the Gossypium species grouped into six previously identified genetic clades. Interestingly, all 13 D-genome species clustered into a strong monophyletic clade. Unexpectedly, the cotton species with C, G, and K-genomes were admixed and nested in a large clade, which could have been due to their recent radiation, incomplete lineage sorting, and introgression hybridization among different cotton lineages. In conclusion, the results of this study provide new insights into the evolution of repeat sequences in chloroplast genomes and interspecific relationships in the genus Gossypium.
THE MANGA INTEGRAL FIELD UNIT FIBER FEED SYSTEM FOR THE SLOAN 2.5 M TELESCOPE

We describe the design, manufacture, and performance of bare-fiber integral field units (IFUs) for the SDSS-IV survey Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) on the the Sloan 2.5 m telescope at Apache Point Observatory. MaNGA is a luminosity-selected integral-field spectroscopic survey of 104 local galaxies covering 360–1030 nm at R ∼ 2200 ? > . The IFUs have hexagonal dense packing of fibers with packing regularity of 3 μm (rms), and throughput of 96 ± 0.5% from 350 nm to 1 μm in the lab. Their sizes range from 19 to 127 fibers (3–7 hexagonal layers) using Polymicro FBP 120:132:150 μm core:clad:buffer fibers to reach a fill fraction of 56%. High throughput (and low focal-ratio degradation (FRD)) is achieved by maintaining the fiber cladding and buffer intact, ensuring excellent surface polish, and applying a multi-layer anti-reflection (AR) coating of the input and output surfaces. In operations on-sky, the IFUs show only an additional 2.3% FRD-related variability in throughput despite repeated mechanical stressing during plate plugging (however other losses are present). The IFUs achieve on-sky throughput 5% above the single-fiber feeds used in SDSS-III/BOSS, attributable to equivalent performance compared to single fibers and additional gains from the AR coating. The manufacturing process is geared toward mass-production of high-multiplex systems. The low-stress process involves a precision ferrule with a hexagonal inner shape designed to lead inserted fibers to settle in a dense hexagonal pattern. The ferrule ID is tapered at progressively shallower angles toward its tip and the final 2 mm are straight and only a few microns larger than necessary to hold the desired number of fibers. Our IFU manufacturing process scales easily to accommodate other fiber sizes and can produce IFUs with substantially larger fiber counts. To assure quality, automated testing in a simple and inexpensive system enables complete characterization of throughput and fiber metrology. Future applications include larger IFUs, higher fill factors with stripped buffer, de-cladding, and lenslet coupling.
PADS: Passive detection of moving targets with dynamic speed using PHY layer information

Device-free passive detection is an emerging technology to detect whether there exists any moving entities in the area of interests without attaching any device to them. It is an essential primitive for a broad range of applications including intrusion detection for safety precautions, patient monitoring in hospitals, child and elder care at home, etc. Despite of the prevalent signal feature Received Signal Strength (RSS), most robust and reliable solutions resort to finer-grained channel descriptor at physical layer, e.g., the Channel State Information (CSI) in the 802.11n standard. Among a large body of emerging techniques, however, few of them have explored full potentials of CSI for human detection. Moreover, space diversity supported by nowadays popular multi-antenna systems are not investigated to the comparable extent as frequency diversity. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme for device-free PAssive Detection of moving humans with dynamic Speed (PADS). Both amplitude and phase information of CSI are extracted and shaped into sensitive metrics for target detection; and CSI across multi-antennas in MIMO systems are further exploited to improve the detection accuracy and robustness. We prototype PADS on commercial WiFi devices and experiment results in different scenarios demonstrate that PADS achieves great performance improvement in spite of dynamic human movements.
Magel2 knockout mice manifest altered social phenotypes and a deficit in preference for social novelty

MAGEL2 is one of five protein‐coding, maternally imprinted, paternally expressed genes in the Prader–Willi syndrome (PWS)‐critical domain on chromosome 15q11‐q13. Truncating pathogenic variants of MAGEL2 cause Schaaf‐Yang syndrome (SHFYNG) (OMIM #615547), a neurodevelopmental disorder related to PWS. Affected individuals manifest a spectrum of neurocognitive and behavioral phenotypes, including intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Magel2 knockout mice carrying a maternally inherited, imprinted wild‐type (WT) allele and a paternally inherited Magel2‐lacZ knock‐in allele, which abolishes endogenous Magel2 gene function, exhibit several features reminiscent of the human Prader–Willi phenotypes, including neonatal growth retardation, excessive weight gain after weaning and increased adiposity in adulthood. They were shown to have altered circadian rhythm, reduced motor activity and reduced fertility. An extensive assessment for autism‐like behaviors in this mouse model was warranted, because of the high prevalence of ASD in human patients. The behavior of Magel2 knockout mice and their WT littermates were assayed via open field, elevated plus maze, tube, three‐chamber and partition tests. Our studies confirm decreased horizontal activity of male and female mice and increased vertical activity of females, in the open field. Both sexes spent more time in the open arm of the elevated plus maze, suggestive of reductions in anxiety. Both sexes displayed a lack of preference for social novelty, via a lack of discrimination between known and novel partners in the partition test. The in‐depth investigation of behavioral profiles caused by Magel2 loss‐of‐function helps to elucidate the etiology of behavioral phenotypes both for SHFYNG and PWS in general.
Forward and Backward Private Searchable Encryption from Constrained Cryptographic Primitives

Using dynamic Searchable Symmetric Encryption, a user with limited storage resources can securely outsource a database to an untrusted server, in such a way that the database can still be searched and updated efficiently. For these schemes, it would be desirable that updates do not reveal any information a priori about the modifications they carry out, and that deleted results remain inaccessible to the server a posteriori. If the first property, called forward privacy, has been the main motivation of recent works, the second one, backward privacy, has been overlooked. In this paper, we study for the first time the notion of backward privacy for searchable encryption. After giving formal definitions for different flavors of backward privacy, we present several schemes achieving both forward and backward privacy, with various efficiency trade-offs. Our constructions crucially rely on primitives such as constrained pseudo-random functions and puncturable encryption schemes. Using these advanced cryptographic primitives allows for a fine-grained control of the power of the adversary, preventing her from evaluating functions on selected inputs, or decrypting specific ciphertexts. In turn, this high degree of control allows our SSE constructions to achieve the stronger forms of privacy outlined above. As an example, we present a framework to construct forward-private schemes from range-constrained pseudo-random functions. Finally, we provide experimental results for implementations of our schemes, and study their practical efficiency.
Detecting Loci under Recent Positive Selection in Dairy and Beef Cattle by Combining Different Genome-Wide Scan Methods

As the methodologies available for the detection of positive selection from genomic data vary in terms of assumptions and execution, weak correlations are expected among them. However, if there is any given signal that is consistently supported across different methodologies, it is strong evidence that the locus has been under past selection. In this paper, a straightforward frequentist approach based on the Stouffer Method to combine P-values across different tests for evidence of recent positive selection in common variations, as well as strategies for extracting biological information from the detected signals, were described and applied to high density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data generated from dairy and beef cattle (taurine and indicine). The ancestral Bovinae allele state of over 440,000 SNP is also reported. Using this combination of methods, highly significant (P<3.17×10−7) population-specific sweeps pointing out to candidate genes and pathways that may be involved in beef and dairy production were identified. The most significant signal was found in the Cornichon homolog 3 gene (CNIH3) in Brown Swiss (P = 3.82×10−12), and may be involved in the regulation of pre-ovulatory luteinizing hormone surge. Other putative pathways under selection are the glucolysis/gluconeogenesis, transcription machinery and chemokine/cytokine activity in Angus; calpain-calpastatin system and ribosome biogenesis in Brown Swiss; and gangliosides deposition in milk fat globules in Gyr. The composite method, combined with the strategies applied to retrieve functional information, may be a useful tool for surveying genome-wide selective sweeps and providing insights in to the source of selection.
N-Acetylcysteine rapidly replenishes central nervous system glutathione measured via magnetic resonance spectroscopy in human neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy

Persistent oxidative stress depletes reduced glutathione (GSH), an intracellular antioxidant and an important determinant of CNS injury after hypoxia ischemia. We used standard, short echo time Stimulated Echo Acquisition Mode (STEAM) to detect GSH by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in 24 term neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), on day of life 5–6, after rewarming from therapeutic hypothermia. MRS demonstrated reliable, consistent GSH of 1·64 ± 0·20 mM in the basal ganglia immediately before intravenous infusion of N-acetylcysteine. N-acetylcysteine resulted in a rapid and significant GSH increase to 1·93 ± 0.23 mM within 12–30 min after completion of infusion (n = 21, p < 0.0001, paired t-test), compared with those who did not receive N-acetylcysteine (n = 3, GSH = 1.66 ± 0.06 mM and 1.64 ± 0.09 mM). In one perinatal stroke patient, GSH in the diffusion-restricted stroke area was 1.0 mM, indicating significant compromise of intracellular redox potential, which also improved after N-acetylcysteine. For comparison, GSH in healthy term neonates has been reported at 2.5 ± 0.9 mM in the thalamus. This is the first report to show persistent oxidative stress reflected in GSH during the subacute phase in neonates with HIE and rapid response to N-acetylcysteine, using a short echo MRS sequence that is available on all clinical scanners without spectral editing.
GPS and Injury Prevention in Professional Soccer

Abstract Ehrmann, FE, Duncan, CS, Sindhusake, D, Franzsen, WN, and Greene, DA. GPS and injury prevention in professional soccer. J Strength Cond Res 30(2): 360–367, 2016—This study investigated the relationship between GPS variables measured in training and gameplay and injury occurrences in professional soccer. Nineteen professional soccer players competing in the Australian Hyundai A-League were monitored for 1 entire season using 5 Hz Global Positioning System (GPS) units (SPI-Pro GPSports) in training sessions and preseason games. The measurements obtained were total distance, high-intensity running distance, very–high-intensity running distance, new body load, and meters per minute. Noncontact soft tissue injuries were documented throughout the season. Players' seasons were averaged over 1- and 4-week blocks according to when injuries occurred. These blocks were compared with each other and with players' seasonal averages. Players performed significantly higher meters per minute in the weeks preceding an injury compared with their seasonal averages (+9.6 and +7.4% for 1- and 4-week blocks, respectively) (p < 0.01), indicating an increase in training and gameplay intensity leading up to injuries. Furthermore, injury blocks showed significantly lower average new body load compared with seasonal averages (−15.4 and −9.0% for 1- and 4-week blocks, respectively) (p < 0.01 and p = 0.01). Periods of relative underpreparedness could potentially leave players unable to cope with intense bouts of high-intensity efforts during competitive matches. Although limited by Fédération Internationale de Football Association regulations, the results of this study isolated 2 variables predicting soft tissue injuries for coaches and sports scientists to consider when planning and monitoring training.
Liquid Serial Dilution Is Inferior to Solid Media for Isolation of Cultures Representative of the Phylum-Level Diversity of Soil Bacteria

ABSTRACT Representatives of only four well-characterized bacterial phyla were isolated from a pasture soil by using liquid serial dilution culture. In contrast, members of Acidobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, and Gemmatimonadetes and of other poorly represented bacterial lineages were isolated in earlier experiments with solidified versions of the same media. We conclude that, contrary to expectation, liquid serial dilution culture is inferior to culturing on solid media for isolating representatives of many bacterial phyla from soil.
Tidal influence on seawater intrusion in unconfined coastal aquifers

Studies of seawater intrusion in unconfined coastal aquifers typically neglect oceanic oscillations such as tides and assume a static seaward boundary condition defined by the mean sea level. Laboratory experiments and numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the influence of tidal oscillations on the behavior of the saltwater wedge. For the conditions examined, the experiments showed that an upper saline plume formed in the intertidal zone due to tide‐induced seawater circulation. The presence of the upper saline plume shifted the fresh groundwater discharge zone seaward to the low‐tide mark and restricted the intrusion of the saltwater wedge. The overall seawater intrusion extent, as indicated by the wedge toe location, was reduced significantly compared with the nontidal (static) case. Results from the numerical model matched these experimental observations and further demonstrated the similar type of tidal influence on the saltwater wedge in a field‐scale aquifer system. The Glover (1959) solution for predicting the saltwater wedge was modified to account for the tidal effect by including the tide‐induced circulation as a “recharge” to the aquifer. The findings highlight the significant impact of the tide in modulating the groundwater behavior and salt‐freshwater dynamics, not only within but also landward of the intertidal zone.
A Beamformer Analysis of MEG Data Reveals Frontal Generators of the Musically Elicited Mismatch Negativity

To localize the neural generators of the musically elicited mismatch negativity with high temporal resolution we conducted a beamformer analysis (Synthetic Aperture Magnetometry, SAM) on magnetoencephalography (MEG) data from a previous musical mismatch study. The stimuli consisted of a six-tone melodic sequence comprising broken chords in C- and G-major. The musical sequence was presented within an oddball paradigm in which the last tone was lowered occasionally (20%) by a minor third. The beamforming analysis revealed significant right hemispheric neural activation in the superior temporal (STC), inferior frontal (IFC), superior frontal (SFC) and orbitofrontal (OFC) cortices within a time window of 100–200 ms after the occurrence of a deviant tone. IFC and SFC activation was also observed in the left hemisphere. The pronounced early right inferior frontal activation of the auditory mismatch negativity has not been shown in MEG studies so far. The activation in STC and IFC is consistent with earlier electroencephalography (EEG), optical imaging and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that reveal the auditory and inferior frontal cortices as main generators of the auditory MMN. The observed right hemispheric IFC is also in line with some previous music studies showing similar activation patterns after harmonic syntactic violations. The results demonstrate that a deviant tone within a musical sequence recruits immediately a distributed neural network in frontal and prefrontal areas suggesting that top-down processes are involved when expectation violation occurs within well-known stimuli.
Differentiation of external morphology of Oribatulidae ( Acari : Oribatida ) in light of the ontogeny of three species

In this paper the differentiation of external morphology and ontogeny of Oribatulidae were investigated, on the basis of Phauloppia lucorum (C. L. Koch, 1841), Lucoppia burrowsi (Michael, 1890), and Oribatula tibialis (Nicolet, 1855), which ontogeny is described and illustrated here for the first time. The juveniles of these species have smooth cuticle, a clavate sensillus with barbed head, and similar formulae of coxisternal, genital and aggenital setae, but differ mainly in body size, formulae of gastronotal setae, number of setal excentrosclerites on the gastronotum, and shape of some setae. The number of setal excentrosclerites and presence of seta h3 in larva differ the juveniles of Ph. lucorum and L. burrowsi from those of O. tibialis, and seem to have generic value, and are also associated with the number of notogastral setae in adults (14 pairs in two former species, 13 pairs in latter species). The juveniles of O. tibialis lack excentrosclerite at seta lm, comparing to those of Ph. lucorum and L. burrowsi, and this morphological character is shared with Scheloribates Berlese, 1908 and Liebstadia Oudemans, 1906 from the family Scheloribatidae. The larva of O. tibialis lacks seta h3, similarly as that of Scheloribates, while the larvae of Ph. lucorum, L. burrowsi, and Liebstadia have this seta. Presence of setal pair c3 in adult of Zygoribatula cf. frisiae (Oudemans, 1900) is recorded here for the first time, which indicates the order of loss of setae of c-series in Oribatulidae according to Grandjean (1951, 1958, 1968).
Recent Developments in Biocomposites Reinforced with Natural Biofillers from Food Waste

Due to environmental sustainability matters, this century has witnessed notable achievements in the field of biocomposite developments. Among all the biocomposites, those based on polymer matrices have been rapidly gaining attention. Thus, a comprehensive review of literature concerning the recent progress in using biofillers from food waste to reinforced polymer matrices including thermoplastics, thermosetting, and elastomer materials are highlighted and presented in this article. The overall characteristics of the newly developed biocomposites, including source, type, composition, as well as mechanical and morphological properties, are reviewed and reported. Finally, biocomposite development opportunities and challenges are discussed by highlighting the most important concerns. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Trapped field of YBCO single-domain samples using pulse magnetization from 77K to 20K

ReBCO single-domain bulk superconductors have been shown to trap significant magnetic field at 77K and below. They can advantageously replace permanent magnets in cryogenic motors; more power in a smaller volume can be achieved. But practically, their magnetization has to be performed in situ. Usually it implies the use of pulse magnetization which is severe for the samples. This technique generates heat and stress on the superconductors. The magnetic-flux-trapping capabilities of YBCO single-domain samples were explored using the pulse-field facilities at the LNCMP (National Pulsed Magnetic Field Laboratory) at Toulouse, France. The flux dynamic was monitored during magnetic pulses by measuring the surface induction with a Hall probe on top of the samples at different temperatures from 77K to 20K. The samples were 16 mm in diameter and about 10 mm in height. The best one trapped 400 mT at 77K and 2.5T at 20K. The trapped field increases almost linearly down to 40K. The magnetic pulse is seen to generate heat. The temperature rise increases with decreasing temperature dwell because of lower heat capacity. The achieved trapped field is a compromise between the temperature rise and the applied field, and depends greatly of the magnetization history.