Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Persistence and Extinction of One-Prey and Two-Predators System

In this paper, a mathematical model is proposed and analysed to study the dynamics of one-prey two-predators system with ratio-dependent pre- dators growth rate. Criteria for local stability, instabil ity and global stability of the nonnegative equilibria are obtained. The permanent co-existence of the three species is also discussed. Finally, computer simulat ions are performed to investigate the dynamics of the system.
EFFECT OF DIETARY PROTEINS AND AMINO ACIDS ON THE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF MICE TO BACTERIAL INFECTIONS

Young mice were maintained for periods of 1 to 6 weeks on experimental diets containing all known growth factors, but differing in their protein and amino acid contents. All diets were supplemented with L-cystine. The effect of the nutritional regimen on infection was tested by inoculating the animals with either one of four pathogens (Mycobacterium tuberculosis var. bovis, Mycobacterium fortuitum, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae type C), and by observing the survival time. The infective dose was administered by either one of three routes: intravenous, intraperitoneal, or air-borne (aerosol). In some experiments, the animals were maintained in groups of five throughout the tests. In other experiments they were housed in individual cages. This difference in housing did not affect the results in a detectable manner. Mice fed diets containing 5 or 8 per cent casein as sole source of amino acid (except for cystine supplementation) proved more susceptible to the experimental diseases than did mice fed diets containing 15 or 20 per cent of the same protein. Susceptibility to infection developed when wheat gluten, or soybean α-protein, was substituted for casein—even in high concentrations (15 or 20 per cent). In one experiment, mice were fed a diet containing as sole source of amino acids a mixture of soybean and rice flour, so designed as to provide a protein concentration of 15 per cent, with an amino acid pattern similar to that of casein. These animals gained weight at the same rate as those fed a diet containing 15 per cent casein and they exhibited a satisfactory level of resistance to bacterial infection. The infection-enhancing effect of low casein concentration (5 and 8 per cent) could be corrected by supplementing the diet with the proper mixture of amino acids. This could be done using either synthetic or natural amino acids. In contrast, susceptibility to infection developed when low casein diets were supplemented with unbalanced mixtures of amino acids. The infection-enhancing effect of gluten diets could not be corrected by supplementing the latter with lysine even though this supplementation markedly improved weight gains in uninfected animals. It appears in conclusion that the relative proportion of the various amino acids in the diet is as important a factor as their total amount in conditioning resistance to bacterial infections. This effect of nutrition on resistance can be detected irrespective of the route of infection: intravenous, intraperitoneal, or air-borne. Moreover, the effect has been observed with two strains of mice differing markedly in their natural resistance to bacterial infection.
Neural substrates, experimental evidences and functional hypothesis of acupuncture mechanisms

Objectives – Athough acupuncture therapy has demonstrated itself to be effective in several clinical areas, the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture in general and the analgesic effect in particular are, however, still not clearly delineated. We, therefore, have studied acupuncture analgesic effect through fMRI and proposed a hypothesis, based on the obtained result, which will enlighten the central role of the brain in acupuncture therapy.
Remote detection of aluminum and trace methane using mobile femtosecond laser system of T&T Lab

We report two remote sensing experiments of aluminum in the winter time and trace methane in the summer time using the mobile femtosecond laser facility T&T (Terawatt & Terahertz) designed by the Defence R&D Canada-Valcartier (DRDC-Valcartier) [1]. This system is similar in many respects to Teramobile, the Franco-German laser system [2].
Tuning of tungsten thin film superconducting transition temperature for fabrication of photon number resolving detectors

Tungsten thin films can form in one of two crystal structures: alpha (bcc), with a superconducting transition temperature (T/sub c/) of 15 mK, and beta (A15), with a T/sub c/ between 1 and 4 K. Films with intermediate T/sub c/s are composed of both alpha and beta phases. We have investigated how to tune the film T/sub c/ in order to obtain certain values (T/sub c/ /spl sim/ 100 mK) suitable for the fabrication of photon number resolving transition-edge sensor (TES) and arrays of TES detectors for astronomical and quantum information applications. Variation of deposition conditions, and also the choice of the underlayer/coating for equal deposition conditions, affect the T/sub c/s of tungsten films. We have used x-ray diffraction to determine the structure of tungsten thin films and film stress. The results indicates that the film stress state depends on the underlying substrate and coating. To understand the variation of T/sub c/ values and to allow precise tuning of these values, we have investigated substrates and coatings for tungsten film multilayer stacks and determined tungsten film stress by x-ray diffraction at both room temperature and 8 K.
Genomic and Phenotypic Characterization of Vibrio cholerae Non-O1 Isolates from a US Gulf Coast Cholera Outbreak

Between November 2010, and May 2011, eleven cases of cholera, unrelated to a concurrent outbreak on the island of Hispaniola, were recorded, and the causative agent, Vibrio cholerae serogroup O75, was traced to oysters harvested from Apalachicola Bay, Florida. From the 11 diagnosed cases, eight isolates of V. cholerae were isolated and their genomes were sequenced. Genomic analysis demonstrated the presence of a suite of mobile elements previously shown to be involved in the disease process of cholera (ctxAB, VPI-1 and -2, and a VSP-II like variant) and a phylogenomic analysis showed the isolates to be sister taxa to toxigenic V. cholerae V51 serogroup O141, a clinical strain isolated 23 years earlier. Toxigenic V. cholerae O75 has been repeatedly isolated from clinical cases in the southeastern United States and toxigenic V. cholerae O141 isolates have been isolated globally from clinical cases over several decades. Comparative genomics, phenotypic analyses, and a Caenorhabditis elegans model of infection for the isolates were conducted. This analysis coupled with isolation data of V. cholerae O75 and O141 suggests these strains may represent an underappreciated clade of cholera-causing strains responsible for significant disease burden globally.
Endoscopic transsphenoidal pituitary surgery: a single surgeon experience and the learning curve

Abstract Endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery for pituitary adenomas has been introduced as an alternative to transsphenoidal microsurgery. This is the first Australian study to evaluate a single surgeon's experience by comparing our results with other series and attempting to identify a learning curve. Retrospective analysis was carried out on 79 consecutively treated patients by fully endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery by a single neurosurgeon over a period spanning from July 1998 to September 2010 at St George Public and Private hospitals. The mean age at time of surgery was 56.7 years (SD ± 16.3, range 26–85) and the mean follow-up period was 38.2 months (SD ± 33, range 1–136). Gross total resection (GTR) was noted in 63% of patients, endocrinological cure was achieved in 53% and visual field improvements were noted in 86% of patients. Intra-operative CSF leaks occurred in 19% of procedures, while the rates of post-operative CSF rhinorrhea was 3% and post-operative diabetes insipidus was 13%. There was one post-operative death (1%). Compared to microsurgery, intra-operative CSF leaks and meningitis seem less frequent with an endoscopic approach. With increasing experience, we found a non-statistically significant trend towards higher rates of GTR, and improved visual fields. Endocrinological cure rates were clearly better with experience (p < 0.01). There may be a learning curve that can be overcome in 30–40 cases. Endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery provides similar tumour and patient outcomes when compared to transsphenoidal microsurgery. In this single surgeon's experience, there was a trend to indicate improved performance with more case experience.
Mobile entertainment: review and redefine

A primary difficulty when researching mobile entertainment is that of definition. It is recognized that, as mobile entertainment is a social and commercial process as well as a technical one, a diversity of other definitions for mobile entertainment is held by numerous industry producers, manufacturers and end consumers as well as researchers of different background. This paper presents a framework to examine mobile entertainment from multiple points of views concerning the service, network and device related sectors. This allows future research to be conducted with the clarity of distinguishing mobile entertainment services of different domains. The paper also tries to collate and rationalize possibilities and restrictions of existing and emerging mobile entertainment technologies with respect to this framework. The paper explores a number of scenarios to reflect the understanding on the value Web. This paper serves as foundation for further studies concerning factors influencing adoption of mobile entertainment in Malaysia.
Exponential Stability With  $L_{2}$-Gain Condition of Nonlinear Impulsive Switched Systems

In this technical note, we consider exponential stability and stabilization problems of a general class of nonlinear impulsive switched systems with time-varying disturbances. By using the switched Lyapunov function method, sufficient conditions expressed as algebraic inequality constraints and linear matrix inequalities are obtained. They ensure that the nonlinear impulsive switched systems are not only exponentially stable but also satisfy the L2-gain condition. Based on the stability results obtained, an effective computational method is devised for the construction of switched linear stabilizing feedback controllers. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the results obtained.
Small within-day increases in temperature affects boldness and alters personality in coral reef fish

Consistent individual differences in behaviour, termed personality, are common in animal populations and can constrain their responses to ecological and environmental variation, such as temperature. Here, we show for the first time that normal within-daytime fluctuations in temperature of less than 3°C have large effects on personality for two species of juvenile coral reef fish in both observational and manipulative experiments. On average, individual scores on three personality traits (PTs), activity, boldness and aggressiveness, increased from 2.5- to sixfold as a function of temperature. However, whereas most individuals became more active, aggressive and bold across temperature contexts (were plastic), others did not; this changed the individual rank order across temperatures and thus altered personality. In addition, correlations between PTs were consistent across temperature contexts, e.g. fish that were active at a given temperature also tended to be both bold and aggressive. These results (i) highlight the importance of very carefully controlling for temperature when studying behavioural variation among and within individuals and (ii) suggest that individual differences in energy metabolism may contribute to animal personality, given that temperature has large direct effects on metabolic rates in ectotherms.
Twin Matter Waves for Interferometry Beyond the Classical Limit

An entangled state of up to 10,000 atoms is used to enhance the resolution of an atomic interferometer. Interferometers with atomic ensembles are an integral part of modern precision metrology. However, these interferometers are fundamentally restricted by the shot noise limit, which can only be overcome by creating quantum entanglement among the atoms. We used spin dynamics in Bose-Einstein condensates to create large ensembles of up to 104 pair-correlated atoms with an interferometric sensitivity −1.61−1.1+0.98decibels beyond the shot noise limit. Our proof-of-principle results point the way toward a new generation of atom interferometers.
Growing the charging station network for electric vehicles with trajectory data analytics

Electric vehicles (EVs) have undergone an explosive increase over recent years, due to the unparalleled advantages over gasoline cars in green transportation and cost efficiency. Such a drastic increase drives a growing need for widely deployed publicly accessible charging stations. Thus, how to strategically deploy the charging stations and charging points becomes an emerging and challenging question to urban planners and electric utility companies. In this paper, by analyzing a large scale electric taxi trajectory data, we make the first attempt to investigate this problem. We develop an optimal charging station deployment (OCSD) framework that takes the historical EV taxi trajectory data, road map data, and existing charging station information as input, and performs optimal charging station placement (OCSP) and optimal charging point assignment (OCPA). The OCSP and OCPA optimization components are designed to minimize the average time to the nearest charging station, and the average waiting time for an available charging point, respectively. To evaluate the performance of our OCSD framework, we conduct experiments on one-month real EV taxi trajectory data. The evaluation results demonstrate that our OCSD framework can achieve a 26%-94% reduction rate on average time to find a charging station, and up to two orders of magnitude reduction on waiting time before charging, over baseline methods. Moreover, our results reveal interesting insights in answering the question: “Super or small stations? ”: When the number of deployable charging points is sufficiently large, more small stations are preferred; and when there are relatively few charging points to deploy, super stations is a wiser choice.
Shape‐Customizable Macro‐/Microporous Carbon Monoliths for Structure‐to‐Functionality CO2 Adsorption and Novel Electrical Regeneration

Potential of porous carbons for practical applications is often limited by their intrinsic fragility and poor processability. Here, a facile approach to fabricate hierarchically macro‐/microporous carbon monolith (CM) with high strength and integrated structure is developed, which offers great possibilities for structure‐to‐functionality applications. Through a fiber‐reinforced sol–gel process and an ambient pressure drying approach, aerogel‐like CMs can be designed and fabricated in customizable forms. In particular, a novel scroll‐type carbon monolith (S‐CM) is constructed, which can mimic a roll‐to‐roll tube reactor and thus avoid the packing problems arising from the granules or powders of conventional activated carbons. The resulting CM exhibits a high CO2 adsorption capacity of 15.9 mmol g−1 at 25 bar and a breakthrough capacity of 1 mmol g−1 at 1 bar. Moreover, owing to the integrated structure and good electrical conductivity, the scroll‐type S‐CM can be easily regenerated by employing a low‐energy electrothermal desorption technique. The specialized design of the CMs should fulfill industrial directives and may provide an access route to more efficient porous carbons for structure‐oriented and process‐intensified applications.
A Norway Spruce FLOWERING LOCUS T Homolog Is Implicated in Control of Growth Rhythm in Conifers1[OA]

Growth in perennial plants possesses an annual cycle of active growth and dormancy that is controlled by environmental factors, mainly photoperiod and temperature. In conifers and other nonangiosperm species, the molecular mechanisms behind these responses are currently unknown. In Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) seedlings, growth cessation and bud set are induced by short days and plants from southern latitudes require at least 7 to 10 h of darkness, whereas plants from northern latitudes need only 2 to 3 h of darkness. Bud burst, on the other hand, is almost exclusively controlled by temperature. To test the possible role of Norway spruce FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT)-like genes in growth rhythm, we have studied expression patterns of four Norway spruce FT family genes in two populations with a divergent bud set response under various photoperiodic conditions. Our data show a significant and tight correlation between growth rhythm (both bud set and bud burst), and expression pattern of one of the four Norway spruce phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein gene family members (PaFT4) over a variety of experimental conditions. This study strongly suggests that one Norway spruce homolog to the FT gene, which controls flowering in angiosperms, is also a key integrator of photoperiodic and thermal signals in the control of growth rhythms in gymnosperms. The data also indicate that the divergent adaptive bud set responses of northern and southern Norway spruce populations, both to photoperiod and light quality, are mediated through PaFT4. These results provide a major advance in our understanding of the molecular control of a major adaptive trait in conifers and a tool for further molecular studies of adaptive variation in plants.
Liquidity and Shareholder Activism

Blockholders' incentives to intervene in corporate governance are weakened by free-rider problems and high costs of activism. Theory suggests activists may recoup expenses through informed trading of target firms' stock when stocks are liquid. We show that stock liquidity increases the probability of activism but does less so for potentially overvalued firms for which privately informed blockholders may have greater incentives to sell their stake than to intervene. We also document that activists accumulate more stocks in targets when stock is more liquid. We conclude that liquidity helps overcome the free-rider problem and induces activism via preactivism accumulation of target firms' shares.
Evaluation of corrosion behaviour of aluminum in different environment

The corrosion behaviour of aluminum in hydrochloric, nitric, sulfuric and phosphoric acids was investigated using weight loss method. The results shows that the corrosion rate of aluminium in HCl, H 3 PO 4 , H H 3 PO 4 > H HNO 3 Keywords : aluminum, weight loss, corrosion rate, thermodynamic and kinetic parameters
Spectrum of Cosmic Rays Produced in Supernova Remnants

Nonlinear kinetic theory of cosmic-ray (CR) acceleration in supernova remnants is employed to calculate CR spectra. The magnetic field in SNRs is assumed to be significantly amplified by the efficiently accelerating nuclear CR component. It is shown that the calculated CR spectra agree in a satisfactory way with the existing measurements up to the energy 1017 eV. The power-law spectrum of protons extends up to the energy 3 × 1015 eV with a subsequent exponential cutoff. It gives a natural explanation for the observed knee in the Galactic CR spectrum. The maximum energy of the accelerated nuclei is proportional to their charge number Z. Therefore, the break in the Galactic CR spectrum is the result of the contribution of progressively heavier species in the overall CR spectrum so that at 1017 eV the CR spectrum is dominated by iron group nuclei. It is shown that this component plus a suitably chosen extragalactic CR component can give a consistent description for the entire Galactic CR spectrum.
INCA Algorithm for Training Voice Conversion Systems From Nonparallel Corpora

Most existing voice conversion systems, particularly those based on Gaussian mixture models, require a set of paired acoustic vectors from the source and target speakers to learn their corresponding transformation function. The alignment of phonetically equivalent source and target vectors is not problematic when the training corpus is parallel, which means that both speakers utter the same training sentences. However, in some practical situations, such as cross-lingual voice conversion, it is not possible to obtain such parallel utterances. With an aim towards increasing the versatility of current voice conversion systems, this paper proposes a new iterative alignment method that allows pairing phonetically equivalent acoustic vectors from nonparallel utterances from different speakers, even under cross-lingual conditions. This method is based on existing voice conversion techniques, and it does not require any phonetic or linguistic information. Subjective evaluation experiments show that the performance of the resulting voice conversion system is very similar to that of an equivalent system trained on a parallel corpus.
Analysis of the long jump technique in the transition from approach to takeoff based on time-continuous kinematic data

There are many studies on the biomechanics of the long jump, but few researchers have investigated how the athlete has to perform the last strides in order to prepare for takeoff. In this investigation, a pattern recognition approach was applied to analyze the movement structure during the last strides of the approach run and the jump. Time-continuous kinematic data of 57 trials (4.45-6.84 m) was analyzed. Cluster analysis identified at coarse level different movement patterns for each flight and support phase. Above these structural differences, individual movement patterns were diagnosed, especially for the jump. Further, the contribution of single variables on the differences of the complex movement patterns was determined by discriminant analysis. Based on the results, conclusions were drawn concerning the long jump and individuality in training. Overall, the applied pattern recognition method allows for the identification of structural changes of movement patterns as well as individual movement styles. This offers a wide range of application in various areas like sports training and rehabilitation.
Demographic and Spatiotemporal Patterns of Avian Influenza Infection at the Continental Scale, and in Relation to Annual Life Cycle of a Migratory Host

Since the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in the eastern hemisphere, numerous surveillance programs and studies have been undertaken to detect the occurrence, distribution, or spread of avian influenza viruses (AIV) in wild bird populations worldwide. To identify demographic determinants and spatiotemporal patterns of AIV infection in long distance migratory waterfowl in North America, we fitted generalized linear models with binominal distribution to analyze results from 13,574 blue-winged teal (Anas discors, BWTE) sampled in 2007 to 2010 year round during AIV surveillance programs in Canada and the United States. Our analyses revealed that during late summer staging (July-August) and fall migration (September-October), hatch year (HY) birds were more likely to be infected than after hatch year (AHY) birds, however there was no difference between age categories for the remainder of the year (winter, spring migration, and breeding period), likely due to maturing immune systems and newly acquired immunity of HY birds. Probability of infection increased non-linearly with latitude, and was highest in late summer prior to fall migration when densities of birds and the proportion of susceptible HY birds in the population are highest. Birds in the Central and Mississippi flyways were more likely to be infected compared to those in the Atlantic flyway. Seasonal cycles and spatial variation of AIV infection were largely driven by the dynamics of AIV infection in HY birds, which had more prominent cycles and spatial variation in infection compared to AHY birds. Our results demonstrate demographic as well as seasonal, latitudinal and flyway trends across Canada and the US, while illustrating the importance of migratory host life cycle and age in driving cyclical patterns of prevalence.