Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dung Beetle Community and Functions along a Habitat-Disturbance Gradient in the Amazon: A Rapid Assessment of Ecological Functions Associated to Biodiversity

Although there is increasing interest in the effects of habitat disturbance on community attributes and the potential consequences for ecosystem functioning, objective approaches linking biodiversity loss to functional loss are uncommon. The objectives of this study were to implement simultaneous assessment of community attributes (richness, abundance and biomass, each calculated for total-beetle assemblages as well as small- and large-beetle assemblages) and three ecological functions of dung beetles (dung removal, soil perturbation and secondary seed dispersal), to compare the effects of habitat disturbance on both sets of response variables, and their relations. We studied dung beetle community attributes and functions in five land-use systems representing a disturbance gradient in the Brazilian Amazon: primary forest, secondary forest, agroforestry, agriculture and pasture. All response variables were affected negatively by the intensification of habitat disturbance regimes, but community attributes and ecological functions did not follow the same pattern of decline. A hierarchical partitioning analysis showed that, although all community attributes had a significant effect on the three ecological functions (except the abundance of small beetles on all three ecological functions and the biomass of small beetles on secondary dispersal of large seed mimics), species richness and abundance of large beetles were the community attributes with the highest explanatory value. Our results show the importance of measuring ecological function empirically instead of deducing it from community metrics.
Electrodynamics of correlated electron systems

Physical and chemical systems can be characterized by their natural frequency and energy scales. It is hardly an exaggeration that most of what we know about such systems, from the acoustics of a violin to the energy levels of atoms, comes from their response to perturbations at these natural frequencies. It is of course the same situation in `correlated' electron materials. We can learn about the novel effects of strong electron-electron interactions and the properties of collective states of matter (superconductors, quantum magnets etc.) by characterizing their response to small amplitude perturbations at their natural frequencies. In solids, these natural frequency scales span an impressively large frequency range from x-ray down to DC. This incredibly broad range means that a blizzard of experimental techniques and analysis methods are required for the characterization of correlated systems with optical techniques. This short review and lecture notes attempt to lay out a brief summary of the formalism, techniques, and analysis used for `optical' spectroscopies of correlated electron systems. They are idiosyncratic, occasionally opinionated, and - considering the breadth of the subject - incredibly brief.
Energetics of Helicobacter pylori and Its Implications for the Mechanism of Urease-Dependent Acid Tolerance at pH 1

ABSTRACT In the presence of urea the neutrophilic human pathogen Helicobacter pylori survives for several hours at pH 1 with concomitant cytoplasmic pH homeostasis. To study this effect in detail, the transmembrane proton motive force and cytoplasmic urease activity of H. pylori were determined at various pH values. In the absence of urea, the organism maintained a close-to-neutral cytoplasm and an internally negative membrane potential at external pH values greater than 4 to 5. In the presence of urea, H. pylori accomplished cytoplasmic pH homeostasis down to an external pH of 1.2. At this external pH, the cytoplasmic pH was 4.9 and the membrane potential was slightly negative inside. The latter finding is in contrast to the situation in acidophiles, which develop inside-positive membrane potentials under similar conditions. Measurements of the time course of the membrane potential confirmed that addition of urea to the cells led to hyperpolarization. Most likely, this effect was due to electrogenic export of ammonium cations from the cytoplasm. The urease activity of intact cells increased nearly exponentially with decreasing external pH. This activation was not due to enhanced gene expression at low external pH values. In cell extracts the pH optimum of urease activity was dependent on the buffer system and was about pH 5 in sodium citrate buffer. Since this is the cytoplasmic pH of the cells at pH 1 to 2, we propose that cytoplasmic pH is a factor in the in vivo activation of the urease at low external pH values. The mechanism by which urease activity leads to cytoplasmic pH homeostasis in H. pylori is discussed.
Factors Affecting Profitability of Fish Farming Under Economic Stimulus Programme in Tigania East District, Meru County, Kenya

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors affecting profitability of fish farming under Economic Stimulus Programme in Tigania East District of Meru County, Kenya. In 2010, Economic Stimulus Programme was initiated by the Government of Kenya with the aim of encouraging fish farming in the region. The government spent more than 8 millions in fish farming in the district. The study was set to determine the influence of marketing on profitability of fish farming in Tigania East, establish the importance of related extension services on fish farming; determine the host's community cultural practises that influence fish farming and explore ways in which pond management skills influences fish farming. Many people turned to fish farming as a source of food and income generating activity. However, where adopted as business there were little returns from fish farming. Descriptive research design was employed in the study. The study applied descriptive research design by involving 200 fish farmers within Tigania East district. Stratified random sampling was used to select fish farmers. The study established that respondents were positive about the sustainability and positive impact of fish farming on their lives. Despite the government support fish farmers faced challenges in terms of access to market, access to technical information, predators and inadequate extension services. The study concluded that the Government needs to provide technical capacity building, market accessibility to the practicing fish farmers in their localities.
Africanization of a feral honey bee (Apis mellifera) population in South Texas: does a decade make a difference?

Abstract The arrival to the United States of the Africanized honey bee, a hybrid between European subspecies and the African subspecies Apis mellifera scutellata, is a remarkable model for the study of biological invasions. This immigration has created an opportunity to study the dynamics of secondary contact of honey bee subspecies from African and European lineages in a feral population in South Texas. An 11‐year survey of this population (1991–2001) showed that mitochondrial haplotype frequencies changed drastically over time from a resident population of eastern and western European maternal ancestry, to a population dominated by the African haplotype. A subsequent study of the nuclear genome showed that the Africanization process included bidirectional gene flow between European and Africanized honey bees, giving rise to a new panmictic mixture of A. m. scutellata‐ and European‐derived genes. In this study, we examined gene flow patterns in the same population 23 years after the first hybridization event occurred. We found 28 active colonies inhabiting 92 tree cavities surveyed in a 5.14 km2 area, resulting in a colony density of 5.4 colonies/km2. Of these 28 colonies, 25 were of A. m. scutellata maternal ancestry, and three were of western European maternal ancestry. No colonies of eastern European maternal ancestry were detected, although they were present in the earlier samples. Nuclear DNA revealed little change in the introgression of A. m. scutellata‐derived genes into the population compared to previous surveys. Our results suggest this feral population remains an admixed swarm with continued low levels of European ancestry and a greater presence of African‐derived mitochondrial genetic composition.
Equivalence of finite element methods for problems in elasticity

Modifications of the Morley method for the approximation of the biharmonic equation are obtained from various finite element methods applied to the equations of linear isotropic elasticity and the stationary Stokes equations, by elimination procedures analogous to those used in the continuous case. Problems with Korn’s first inequality for nonconforming $P_1 $ elements and its implications for the approximation of the elasticity equations are also discussed.
Organizational change enabled by the mandated implementation of new information systems technology: a modified technology acceptance model

1. AIIQXRACT Tbe abiWy to adapt to constantly changing envirmmentd pressures can be the difference between business survival and exthcth. Information Systems (IS) orgtmizations -the internal departments or div&ims responsible for guiding the deveIopment of information systems techmkgy for the parent organization -often play a cruciaI role in making change happen. IS managers have primarily focused on thetechnology change itself. However, IS managers must deai not only with technical issues, but they must also deal with the bnman issues of managing change. Therefore, it is important to understand not ~rdy the determinants of attitude toward a new ~C~Q~QW, but also to understand the determinants of attitude for the overall organizational change which is being enabled by a new information system or technology. Tbe attitude toward a change depends on a variety of factors that vary with each individual and situation. Individuals have both attitudes toward change in general, and attitudes toward each specific change that . they encounter. The attitude developed for a specific change is influenced by individual personality factors and beliefs about organizational factors such as the presence of adequate training and support. Understanding the influence of determinants used to evaluate organizational change enabled by a new IS technology can provide valuable insight for change management efforts. The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of attitude toward not just a new information systems implementation, but to the overall organizational change that it enables. A model is proposed which hypothesizes these factors. To test the model, an instrument based pn previous empirical research is also proposed. 1.1
Movements of migrating green turtles in relation to AVHRR derived sea surface temperature

Previous studies have shown that for some populations of marine turtle, individuals move along narrow migration corridors in the open ocean. It has been suggested that these migration corridors may correspond with nearsurface oceanographic features that can be detected by remote sensing. This idea is examined by superimposing the tracks of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) migrating from Ascension Island to Brazil, on sea surface temperature (SST) data derived from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) images. The turtles did not follow specific isotherms during migration nor make turns en-route where specific thermal cues were encountered. These results suggest that for this population, SST plays a minimal role in influencing the exact route that individuals follow.
The influence of stakeholder power on corporate social responsibility: evidence from a relationship-based economy

Purpose - – This study aims to examine whether lenders’ power and other attributes influence corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach - – This study uses content analysis to examine specific CSR-related attributes from 115 publicly listed firms in Bangladesh. By using various attributes of social and environmental reporting a disclosure index is also constructed. This study uses an Ordinary Lease Square Regression analysis to examine the relationship between stakeholders’ power and CSR reporting. Findings - – The finding is that lenders’ power, or the extent of borrowing, does not influence CSR exposure. However, lenders’ cost of monitoring and ability to monitor significantly and positively influence CSR exposure. Research limitations/implications - – This study is subject to some limitations, such as the subjectivity or judgement associated in the coding process. Practical implications - – The implication of this study is that, when multiple borrowing creates “claim-dilution” problems, lenders are found to influence CSR activity. Originality/value - – This study also supports the stakeholder theory and contributes to the literature on the practices of CSR reporting in the context of developing countries.
E1A Blocks Hyperphosphorylation of p130 and p107 without Affecting the Phosphorylation Status of the Retinoblastoma Protein

ABSTRACT The phosphorylation status of the pRB family of growth suppressor proteins is regulated in a cell cycle entry-, progression-, and exit-dependent manner in normal cells. We have shown previously that p130, a member of this family, exhibits patterns of phosphorylated forms associated with various cell growth and differentiation stages. However, human 293 cells, which are transformed cells that express the adenoviral oncoproteins E1A and E1B, exhibit an abnormal pattern of p130 phosphorylated forms. Here we report that, unlike pRB, the phosphorylation status of both p130 and p107 is not modulated during the cell cycle in 293 cells as it is in other cells. Conditional overexpression of individual G1/S cyclins in 293 cells does not alter the phosphorylation status of p130, suggesting that the expression of E1A and/or E1B blocks hyperphosphorylation of p130. In agreement with these observations, transient cotransfection of vectors expressing E1A 12S, but not E1B, in combination with pocket proteins into U-2 OS cells blocks hyperphosphorylation of both p130 and p107. However, the phosphorylation status of pRB is not altered by cotransfection of E1A 12S vectors. Moreover, MC3T3-E1 preosteoblasts stably expressing E1A 12S also exhibit a block in hyperphosphorylation of endogenous p130 and p107. Direct binding of E1A to p130 and p107 is not required for the phosphorylation block since E1A 12S mutants defective in binding to the pRB family also block hyperphosphorylation of p130 and p107. Our data reported here identify a novel function of E1A, which affects p130 and p107 but does not affect pRB. Since E1A does not bind the hyperphosphorylated forms of p130, this function of E1A might prevent the existence of “free” hyperphosphorylated p130, which could act as a CDK inhibitor.
Neural Noise and Movement-Related Codes in the Macaque Supplementary Motor Area

We analyzed the variability of spike counts and the coding capacity of simultaneously recorded pairs of neurons in the macaque supplementary motor area (SMA). We analyzed the mean-variance functions for single neurons, as well as signal and noise correlations between pairs of neurons. All three statistics showed a strong dependence on the bin width chosen for analysis. Changes in the correlation structure of single neuron spike trains over different bin sizes affected the mean-variance function, and signal and noise correlations between pairs of neurons were much smaller at small bin widths, increasing monotonically with the width of the bin. Analyses in the frequency domain showed that the noise between pairs of neurons, on average, was most strongly correlated at low frequencies, which explained the increase in noise correlation with increasing bin width. The coding performance was analyzed to determine whether the temporal precision of spike arrival times and the interactions within and between neurons could improve the prediction of the upcoming movement. We found that in ∼62% of neuron pairs, the arrival times of spikes at a resolution between 66 and 40 msec carried more information than spike counts in a 200 msec bin. In addition, in 19% of neuron pairs, inclusion of within (11%)- or between-neuron (8%) correlations in spike trains improved decoding accuracy. These results suggest that in some SMA neurons elements of the spatiotemporal pattern of activity may be relevant for neural coding.
How to choose from different botnet detection systems?

Given that botnets represent one of the most aggressive threats against cybersecurity, various detection approaches have been studied. However, whichever approach is used, the evolving nature of botnets and the required pre-defined botnet detection rule sets employed may affect the performance of detection systems. In this work, we explore the effectiveness two rule based systems and two machine learning (ML) based techniques with different feature extraction methods (packet payload based and traffic flow based). The performance of these detection systems range from 0% to 100% on thirteen public botnet data sets (i.e. CTU-13). We further analyze the performances of these systems in order to understand which type of a detection system is more effective for which type of an application.
Host Adaptation Is Contingent upon the Infection Route Taken by Pathogens

Evolution of pathogen virulence is affected by the route of infection. Also, alternate infection routes trigger different physiological responses on hosts, impinging on host adaptation and on its interaction with pathogens. Yet, how route of infection may shape adaptation to pathogens has not received much attention at the experimental level. We addressed this question through the experimental evolution of an outbred Drosophila melanogaster population infected by two different routes (oral and systemic) with Pseudomonas entomophila. The two selection regimes led to markedly different evolutionary trajectories. Adaptation to infection through one route did not protect from infection through the alternate route, indicating distinct genetic bases. Finally, relatively to the control population, evolved flies were not more resistant to bacteria other than Pseudomonas and showed higher susceptibility to viral infections. These specificities and trade-offs may contribute to the maintenance of genetic variation for resistance in natural populations. Our data shows that the infection route affects host adaptation and thus, must be considered in studies of host-pathogen interaction.
Environnement et croissance : Essais sur des implications des choix altruistes des ménages

Cette these est consacree a l‘etude de la relation entre la croissance economique et l’environnement, en tenant compte des decisions altruistes des menages envers leurs enfants en termes de legs economique, educatif et environnemental. Ce travail s’articule autour de trois chapitres. Le premier se focalise sur les premiers stades de developpement, marquant un tournant majeur de cette relation, et met en exergue le role des interactions des spheres economique, demographique et environnementale dans l’emergence d’un processus d’industrialisation polluante. Il illustre egalement les grandes disparites observees historiquement avec des economies piegees dans une trappe a pauvrete et d’autres se developpant au prix d’une pollution elevee. Les chapitres suivants s’interessent a des economies developpees. Le deuxieme chapitre prend en compte l’endogeneite des preferences environnementales pour analyser une politique environnementale composee d’outils usuels (taxe sur la pollution et depenses de depollution) et d’un outil educatif visant a sensibiliser les menages a l'environnement. Nous montrons qu’un tel "policy mix" peut permettre a la fois d’eviter des inegalites intergenerationnelles, provenant de fluctuations des preferences, et de favoriser la croissance economique. Le troisieme chapitre traite des effets de la pollution sur l’esperance de vie et de l’aspect inegalitaire de leur repartition au sein de la population. Nous trouvons qu’il existe une trappe a inegalites, ou les disparites empirent constamment mais qu’une politique environnementale peut permettre d’echapper a cette trappe et d’augmenter la croissance de l’economie, par ses effets sur la sante et l’education.
Retrieving Diverse Opinions from App Reviews

Context: Users can have conflicting opinions and different experiences when using software and user reviews serve as a channel in which users can document their opinions and experiences. To develop and evolve software that is usable and relevant for a diverse group of users, different opinions and experiences need to be taken into account. Goal: In this paper we present DIVERSE, a feature and sentiment centric retrieval approach which automatically provides developers with a diverse sample of user reviews that is representative of the different opinions and experiences mentioned in the whole set of reviews. Results: We evaluated the diversity retrieval performance of our approach on reviews from seven apps from two different app stores. We compared the reviews retrieved by DIVERSE with a feature-based retrieval approach and found that on average DIVERSE outperforms the baseline approach. Additionally, a controlled experiment revealed that DIVERSE can help develop- ers save time when analyzing user reviews and was considered useful for detecting conflicting opinions and software evolution. Conclusions: DIVERSE can therefore help developers collect a comprehensive set of reviews and aid in the detection of conflicting opinions.
Half-eigenvalues of self-adjoint, $2m$th-order differential operators and semilinear problems with jumping nonlinearities

We consider semilinear boundary value problems of the form Lu(x) = f(x, u(x)) + h(x), x ∈ (0, π), (1) where L is a 2mth order, self-adjoint, disconjugate ordinary differential operator on [0, π], together with appropriate boundary conditions at 0 and π, while f : [0, π] × R → R is a Carathéodory function and h ∈ L2(0, π). We assume that the limits a(x) := lim ξ→∞ f(x, ξ)/ξ, b(x) := lim ξ→−∞ f(x, ξ)/ξ, exist for a.e. x ∈ [0, π] and a, b ∈ L∞(0, π), but a 6= b. In this case the nonlinearity f is termed jumping. Closely related to (1) is the ‘limiting’ boundary value problem Lu = au − bu− + λu+ h, (2) where u±(x) = max{±u(x), 0} for x ∈ [0, π], and λ is a real parameter. Values of λ for which (2) (with h = 0) has a non-trivial solution u will be called halfeigenvalues of (L; a, b). In this paper we show that a sequence of half-eigenvalues exists, with certain properties, and we prove various results regarding the existence and multiplicity of solutions of both (1) and (2). These result depend strongly on the location of the half-eigenvalues relative to the point λ = 0. Some geometric properties of the Fuč́ık spectrum of L are also briefly discussed.