Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parasitism, developmental plasticity and bilateral asymmetry of wing feathers in alpine swift, Apus melba, nestlings

The hypothesis that developmental instability is a cost of developmental plasticity is explored using the alpine swift (Apus melba) as a model organism. In a previous study, experimentally parasitized nestlings showed a reduced wing growth rate in the first half of the rearing period when parasites were abundant (i.e. peak infestation) and an accelerated growth rate (i.e. compensatory growth) in the second half when parasites decreased in number. This suggests that alpine swifts are able to adjust growth rate in relation to variation in parasite loads. Because developmental plasticity may entail fitness costs, the energy required to sustain compensatory growth may be invested at the expense of developmental stability, potentially resulting in larger deviations from symmetry in paired, bilateral traits (i.e. fluctuating asymmetry, FA). This hypothesis predicts higher FA in parasitized than deparasitized nestlings because of compensatory growth, and hence individuals sustaining the highest level of compensatory growth rate should exhibit the highest FA levels. Another non-mutually exclusive hypothesis argues that parasites directly cause FA by diverting energy required by host for maintenance and growth, and predicts that individuals suffering the most from parasitism during peak infestation should exhibit the highest FA levels. The present study shows that wing feathers of experimentally parasitized nestlings were more asymmetrical than those of experimentally deparasitized ones 50 days after hatching. Furthermore, in parasitized individuals FA was negatively correlated with wing growth rate during the period of peak infestation but not during the period of compensatory growth. These findings suggest that developmental homeostasis is more sensitive to parasites than to compensatory growth.
Does Mucosal or Serosal Side Approximation Affect the Efficacy of Native Small Intestinal Submucosa Graft Repair of Neurotmesis

FDA approved, commercial, modified porcine small intestinal submucosa (SIS) is utilized clinically for peripheral nerve repair. However, if measures can be put in place to insure its safety, native SIS prepared from locally available porcine resources would provide easy access to an inexpensive alternative. Both forms of this material lack antigenicity, have inherit properties which provides a favorable growth environment, and have been successfully used experimentally as a natural conduit in peripheral nerve repair. Successful recovery from a peripheral nerve injury is dependent on the efficiency and speed of axonal regeneration to the point of distal interruption of the nerve. Native SIS is a component of an absorptive structure and there are structural differences which affect directional porosity between the luminal (mucosal) and abluminal (serosal) surfaces which could impact axonal regeneration, but have not been investigated. This proof of concept study comparing the effectiveness of the porcine native SIS surfaces for axon regrowth was conducted over a period of 16 weeks. In each of the 12 participating Sprague-Dawley rats, a SIS graft was used to reconnect the sciatic nerve after a 2 mm section was transected. In half of the rats, the graft was placed with mucosal side nerve approximation. In the other half of the rats, the graft was placed with serosal side nerve approximation. Comparisons were made regarding visual appearance throughout the entirety of the study, as well as selected gait criteria used to analyze functional recovery, and histological morphometric analysis to determine extent of nerve iv regeneration. Results indicated no significant differences in functional recovery, or extent of nerve regeneration, resulting from mucosal or serosal side approximation to the nerve in the use of native SIS in the repair of neurotmesis.
Does a BIS-Guided Maintenance of Anesthetic Depth Prevent Implicit Memory?

Recent studies investigating the relationship between depth of anesthesia and implicit memory have conflicting results. Limitations of these studies include lack of standardization in surgical procedures and failure to control depth of anesthesia prospectively. We assessed implicit memory function at two different (BIS-guided and pro-spectively controlled) anesthetic depths during surgical stimulus. A list of words was played via headphones to 37 patients during orthopedic surgery under general anesthesia. The Bispectral (BIS) Index was monitored and patients were randomized to remain in a deeper (BIS 40-45) or lighter (BIS 55-60) plane of surgical anesthesia during word presentation. Postoperatively, implicit memory performance was tested using a simple auditory word-stem completion test for presented as well as non-presented words. Absence of explicit memory was evaluated by asking four standard questions regarding intraoperative awareness. All patients received sevoflu-rane and fentanyl for general anesthesia. There was no evidence of implicit memory in either study group. Hit rates for presented and non-presented words were 0.23 ± 0.14 and 0.25 ± 0.09, respectively. No explicit memory was reported by any patient. Depth of anesthesia did not affect implicit memory formation in anesthetized pa-tients undergoing surgery. General anesthesia, even at a higher BIS range, appears to abolish implicit memory as assessed by a simple word-stem completion test.
Determining the conditions for temperature measurements during flat lapping

Lapping is used in the production of components of the highest quality in terms of form finish accuracy and surface integrity. A number of precision manufacturing applications use lapping process as a critical technology to achieve thickness tolerance and surface quality specification. Because of required parts accuracy tool flatness is the key to the successful machining. To avoid its excessive thermal expansion, plate temperature research was taken. This work presents a part of results concerning temperature measurements conditions. Experiments were being conducted during flat lapping with use of ABRALAP 380 lapping machine and infrared camera V-20 II produced by VIGO System SA. Firstly the influence of conditioning rings number on wheel temperature rise was investigated. It was proved that number of rings had a significant impact on temperature rise value and the highest were during machine working with all three rings. Then another test was made, to simulate the work during real 8-hours shift. The aim was to determine time of machine working after which temperature would stop rising. Temperature was measure during Al2O3 (95%) elements lapping with use of silicon carbide grains. Tests results showed that after five hours temperature fluctuated around a certain value. In future analysis temperature after five hours lapping will be taken into account.
MACROPARASITE COMMUNITY AND ASYMMETRY OF THE YELLOW EEL ANGUILLA ANGUILLA IN SALSES-LEUCATE LAGOON, SOUTHERN FRANCE

European eel parasites, in particular invasive species, are suspected to have a strong influence on the population dynamics of their host. The aim of this work was to study the relationship between parasitic fauna of yellow eels caught at Salses-Leucate lagoon and the fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of some functional bilateral traits: pectoral fins, eyes and otoliths. Epidemiological distance matrices and FA distance matrices were calculated on the basis of the Euclidian distances between each pair of eel and were then compared with a Mantel test in order to establish if there was a relationship between parasitism and FA. Our results revealed different morphological characteristics between eels caught at different dates; only otoliths were found asymmetric. The parasite richness was of 10 species, 1 Nematoda, 1 Acanthocephala, 1 Monogenea and 7 Digenea. We failed to find a significant relationship between asymmetry and parasitism, except for parasites found in the stomach. We discussed the results in the light of the eel life cycle, the specificity of parasite - eel systems and the impact of parasites on the host physiology.
Lasing at the band edges of plasmonic lattices

We report room-temperature lasing in two-dimensional diffractive lattices of silver and gold plasmon particle arrays embedded in a dye-doped polymer that acts both as waveguide and gain medium. As compared to conventional dielectric distributed feedback (DFB) lasers, a central question is how the underlying band structure from which lasing emerges is modified by both the much stronger scattering and the disadvantageous loss of metal. We use spectrally resolved back-focal plane imaging to measure the wavelength and angle dependence of emission below and above threshold, thereby mapping the band structure. We find that, for silver particles, the band structure is strongly modified compared to dielectric reference DFB lasers since the strong scattering gives large stop gaps. In contrast, gold particles scatter weakly and absorb strongly, so that thresholds are higher, but the band structure is not strongly modified. The experimental findings are supported by finite element and Fourier modal method calculations of the single-particle scattering strength and lattice extinction.
Measurement of local creep properties in stainless steel welds

A high temperature measurement system for creep deformation based on the digital image correlation (DIC) technique is described. The new system is applied to study the behaviour of a multi-pass welded joint in a high temperature tensile test and a load controlled creep test at 545°C. Spatially resolved tensile properties and time dependent creep deformation properties across a thick section type 316 stainless steel multi-pass welded joint are presented and discussed. Significantly lower creep strain rates are observed in the HAZ than in the parent material which is attributed to the introduction of substantial plastic strain in the parent material on initial loading. The weld metal shows the fastest creep rates and a variation that appear to correlate with individual weld passes. The visual information provides not only the local creep strain distribution but also the reduction of area and true stress distribution based on strains measured in the transverse direction. The results demonstrate the capability of the DIC technique for full field measurement of displacement and strain at high temperature long term creep tests.
Mortality shocks and the human rate of aging

Investigating the effect of mortality shocks on humans is difficult in the absence of laboratory experiments. However, some events in human history serve as natural experiments. Using data for Australian prisoners during WWII and for the Ukrainian Famine in 1933, I analyzed the effect of sudden changes in external conditions on the rate of aging. This may help to decide whether the rate of aging is sensitive to the environment or is stable. The mortality of the prisoners of war was higher during the imprisonment but the slope of the curve did not change. During the Ukrainian Famine, the curves in the years of crisis converged at old ages. By adopting a cohort perspective I found evidence of selection that could be the cause of the convergence. The analysis suggests that sudden and transitory exposure to severe conditions shifts the mortality curve upward proportionally at all ages, leaving the rate of aging unchanged.
A Review on Pedestrian Detection Techniques

: Pedestrian detection is a process in which number of person are detected from the image or the live video. This information send to user in the forms of sound or video alarm. It helps user in taking necessary preventive decision. Pedestrian detection process comes under security and safety aspect. As, security and safety is prime concern in today’s digital world, it has gaining more concentration. It is being a very popular topic for research. This paper introduces various pedestrian detection techniques based on image processing and its various problems in detail. With variation in illumination, postures and clothing of pedestrian, detection process is a really difficult and challenging task. However, as demand of accuracy and speed of detection in real time is increasing, researchers are more focusing to tackle these problems. Efficient pedestrian detection with highest accuracy and speed of detection is required.
Measurements of turbulent diffusion in uniformly sheared flow

Abstract The diffusion of a plume of dye in uniformly sheared turbulent flow in a water tunnel was investigated using simultaneous stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (SPIV) and planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF). Maps of the mean concentration and the turbulent concentration fluxes in planes normal to the plume axis were constructed, from which all components of the second-order turbulent diffusivity tensor were determined for the first time. Good agreement between the corresponding apparent and true diffusivities was observed. The turbulent diffusivity tensor was found to have strong off-diagonal components, whereas the streamwise component appeared to be counter-gradient. The different terms in the advection–diffusion equation were estimated from the measurements and their relative significance was discussed. All observed phenomena were explained by physical arguments and the results were compared to previous ones.
Dendroclimatology of yellow cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis) in the Pacific Northwest of North America

As the oldest known conifer species in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), yellow cedar (Callitropsis nootkatensis (D. Don) (Spach)) represent an underexploited paleoclimate resource of significant dendroclimatological value. This is the first dendroclimatological study of high elevation yellow cedar within the North Cascades of Washington. In addition, I explored the coherence of yellow-cedar chronologies at the regional scale. I established master tree-ring chronologies and radial-growth characteristics of 50 high-elevation yellow cedars from four sites along the west slope of the North Cascades. Significant (p<0.05) mean inter-series (r=0.61) and inter-site (r=0.75) correlations in radial-growth pattern revealed a common limiting factor to yellow-cedar growth within the region. Correlation (r=0.23-0.54) between PRISM climate data and the master chronologies indicated that summer minimum temperatures were the dominant limiting factor of growth for North Cascades yellow cedar. By expanding the sample area to include yellow-cedar chronologies from Mount Rainier WA and Vancouver Island BC, I showed a significant shared pattern of radial growth between these regions. In order to determine the influence of multi-decadal climate forcings associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), I constructed an averaged PNW treering chronology. Correlation analysis detected the influence of the PDO throughout the chronology. Wavelet analysis revealed the low-resolution (150-250 year) influences of temperature across the regional chronology and significant suppressed growth at all sites in response to stratospheric volcanic eruptions during the 1810’s. Further sampling and the inclusion of yellow cedar in multi-proxy reconstructions could improve scientific understanding of paleoclimate in the PNW.
INHERITANCE AND PHENOTYPIC CORRELATIONS OF AGRONOMIC TRAITS IN GRAPEVINE OFFSPRINGS

The mode of inheritance and the degree of phenotypic correlation between some more important agronomic traits in two offsprings obtained by direct and reciprocal crossing of cultivars ‘Smederevka’ and ‘Gewurztraminer’ were investigated in this study. In 62 genotypes from direct crossing (Smederevka  Gewurztraminer) and 66 genotypes from reciprocal crossing (Gewurztraminer  Smederevka), the traits evaluated were as follows: time of bud burst, flowering time, ripening time, bunch weight, berry weight, grape yield, sugar content of must and total acidity of must. The genotypes of F1 generation for the investigated traits were arranged into a number of categories by the OIV method. In both crossing combinations (direct and reciprocal) for most traits, the same mode of inheritance (partial dominance, dominance or heterosis) was determined. Differences in the mode of inheritance, depending on whether the parental varieties were used as a father or mother, were found only for ripening time (partial dominance and intermediate inheritance). The prevailing mode of inheritance established for most of studied traits, regardless of the crossing method, was negative heterosis. From all examined traits, a significant influence of maternal effect was determined for the inheritance of flowering time and ripening time. In both crossing combinations, statistically significant phenotypic correlations were found between some studied traits.
A One-Parameter Family of Middle Proximal ADMM for Constrained Separable Convex Optimization

This work is devoted to studying a family of Middle Proximal Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (MP-ADM) for solving multi-block constrained separable convex optimization. Such one-parameter family of MP-ADM combines both Jacobian and Gauss-Seidel types of alternating direction method, and proximal point techniques are only applied to the middle subproblems to promote the convergence. We analyze the global convergence as well as the sublinear convergence rate of the proposed algorithm in the ergodic sense. Moreover, its linear convergence is established under the assumptions that the sub-differential of each component function in the objective function is piecewise linear and all the constraint sets are polyhedra. Our MP-ADM is later extended to another version with special proximal terms that can make the middle subproblems become proximal mappings. Compared with several stateof-the-art algorithms, the new MP-ADM is validated to be numerically efficient for solving a latent variable Gaussian graphical model selection problem arising from statistical learning.
Rational curves on Del Pezzo manifolds

Abstract We exploit an elementary specialization technique to study rational curves on Fano varieties of index one less than their dimension, known as del Pezzo manifolds. First, we study the splitting type of the normal bundles of the rational curves. Second, we prove a simple formula relating the number of rational curves passing through a suitable number of points in the case of threefolds and the analogous invariants for del Pezzo surfaces.
Massive double compact object mergers: gravitational wave sources and r-process element production sites

With our galactic evolutionary code that contains a detailed intermediate-mass and massive binary population model, we study the temporal evolution of the galactic population of double neutron star binaries, mixed systems with a neutron star and black hole component, and double black hole binaries. We computed the merger rates of these relativistic binaries and translate them into LIGO II detection rates. We demonstrate that accounting for the uncertainties in the relation “initial mass-final mass” predicted by massive close binary evolution and due to the possible effect of large stellar wind mass loss during the luminous blue variable phase of a star
Balancing the management control package of small, rapidly growing firms in turbulent environments

The thesis of this paper is that the management control package of small rapidly growing firms in turbulent environments needs to be based on a dynamic conception of balance. While many contemporary management control frameworks endorse balance as a guiding principle for management control, its specific features receive little attention and implicit conceptions are static. This paper first characterises the balance of a control package in terms of situational requirements on component selection, component weight, relations and coherence. The paper then examines the consistency between balance in contemporary management control frameworks and implications for balance derived from firm attributes. The conclusions suggest that by considering balance as a state and as an act, acknowledging requirements of balance and imbalance, and recognising situational and temporal dimensions of balance, we may advance the boundaries of management control research.
Biodiversity and ecophysiology of aeroterrestrial green algae ( Trebouxiophyceae , Chlorophyta )

Neither the conventional morphological nor the modern molecular species concept result in a satisfying taxonomical system for microalgae. This is especial true for aeroterrestrial members of the Trebouxiophyceae, which often exhibit simple but ambiguous morphotypes. Therefore, polyphasic approaches combining molecular, morphological or physiological traits with chemical characters can lead to an improved designation of certain strains to different classes or orders. Polyols are known as important organic osmolytes and compatible solutes in several algal lineages, and additionally have been successfully used as chemotaxonomical markers in ancestral red algae. In this study, the distribution of polyols was examined in 35 green algal strains from 5 different clades belonging to the classes Trebouxiophyceae and Chlorophyceae. Sorbitol was detected in representatives of the Prasiola-clade, while ribitol was present in the Elliptochlorisand Watanabeaclade. Apatococcus lobatus, as member of the Watanabea-clade, occupied an exceptional position as it contained erythritol in addition to ribitol. Members of the order Chlorellales as well as two representatives of the class Chlorophyceae did not contain polyols. Thus, the constitutive presence of specific polyols facilitates a differentiation between species of the Prasiola-clade from the Elliptochlorisand Watanabea-clade, respectively. The existence of erythritol in A. lobatus might even permits Chapter 3.2 Polyols in Chemotaxonomy 16 identification on the genus level. The data indicate a high chemotaxonomical value for polyols in trebouxiophyceaen taxonomy.
Long-time and large-distance asymptotic behavior of the current–current correlators in the non-linear Schrödinger model

We present a new method allowing one to derive the long-time and large-distance asymptotic behavior of the correlation functions of quantum integrable models from their exact representations. Starting from the form factor expansion of the correlation functions in finite volume, we explain how to reduce the complexity of the computation in the so-called interacting integrable models to the one appearing in free fermion equivalent models. We apply our method to the time-dependent zero-temperature current–current correlation function in the non-linear Schrödinger model and compute the first few terms in its asymptotic expansion. Our result goes beyond the conformal field theory based predictions: in the time-dependent case, excitations other than the ones on the Fermi surface contribute to the leading orders of the asymptotics.
OutputFeedbackController Synthesis forDescriptor Systems SatisfyingClosed-LoopDissipativity

This paper is concerned with synthesis of output feedback controllers for descriptor systems to attain dissipativity of the closed-loop system. A necessary and sufficient condition is provided in terms of LMIs for the existence of a controller satisfying dissipativity and admissibility (an internal stability) of the closed-loop system. Unlike previous results, the condition does not depend on the choice of the descriptor realization. The derived LMI condition with a rank constraint for synthesis is a generalization of those for LMI-based H∞ control of state-space systems to descriptor systems.