Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cyprinodontiformes : Nothobranchiidae ) , a new killifish species from the Cuvette centrale in the Congo Basin ( Democratic Republic of Congo )

Aphyosemion pseudoelegans, new species, is described, based on collections that have been misidentified for decades as A. elegans by all authors. The new species superficially resembles A. elegans, but can be distinguished from the latter and all other species of the genus by a diagnostic combination of colour pattern characters, most prominently it has a dark red to black dorsal fin in males, a colour pattern always absent in all known A. elegans populations, including the type specimens, and an asymmetrical colour pattern on caudal fin margins versus symmetrical in A. elegans. Aphyosemion pseudoelegans, new species, is found in small rivers on the left bank of the middle Congo, where it occurs sympatric and sometimes even syntopic with A. elegans, A. sp. aff. castaneum, or an undescribed species of Aphyosemion at Ikela. Résumé. Aphyosemion pseudoelegans, espèce nouvelle, est décrite, sur base de collections qui furent, depuis des décades, mal identifiées en tant que A. elegans par tous les auteurs. La nouvelle espèce ressemble superficiellement à A. elegans, mais peut en être distinguée, ainsi que de toutes les autres espèces du genre, par une combinaison diagnostique de caractères du patron de coloration. Principalement, elle présente une nageoire dorsale rouge foncé à noire chez les mâles, un patron de coloration toujours absent chez toutes les populations connues de A. elegans, y inclus les spécimens types, et un patron de coloration asymétrique des marges de la nageoire caudale alors qu’il est symétrique chez A. elegans. Aphyosemion pseudoelegans, espèce nouvelle, se rencontre dans de petites rivières de la rive gauche du Congo Moyen. Elle y est sympatrique, et parfois même syntopique, de A. elegans, A. sp. aff. castaneum, ou une espèce nondécrite de Aphyosemion à Ikela.
EFFECT OF MYCORRHIZAL INOCULATION ON THE GROWTH AND PHYTOEXTRACTION OF HEAVY METALS BY MAIZE GROWN IN OIL CONTAMINATED SOIL

Pot experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of AM (Glomus mosseae) fungi inoculation (M) on the growth of maize and phytoextraction of selected heavy metals from a soil contaminated with crude oil (C). Four soil treatments, each with three replicates i.e., C + M + , M + , C + and control (without oil and inoculum) were conducted. Half of the pots with the soil treatments were planted with singly sown (SS) and the other half with densely sown i.e., four maize seedlings (DS). Various plant growth attributes were measured at weekly intervals Cu 2+ , Ni
Status and Cooperation Shape Lesbian Stereotypes: Testing Predictions from the Stereotype Content Model

Research on perceptions of homosexuals implicitly assumes that individuals think about lesbians as an undifferentiated group. By contrast, this paper investigated the stereotypes of the overall category as well as of different subgroups of lesbians within the frame of the stereotype content model (SCM). Participants (N = 70) rated the overall category and four subgroups on perceived warmth, competence, status, and interdependence (cooperative vs. competitive). Results showed that the overall category landed in the middle of the competence-warmth space, while the subgroups spread across the SCM dimensions. Moreover, perceived status and cooperation predicted competence and warmth stereotypes, respectively. Perceived competition failed to predict warmth stereotypes. The importance of these findings for lesbian stereotyping and for the SCM is discussed.
Enhancing Students' Learning and Self- Efficacy through Blended Learning in a Teachers' Program.

Blended Learning (BL) strategies play an important role in collaboration, communication skills, motivation, attitudes, interaction with the subject and practical skills. However, their relationship with students' learning and self efficacy were not studied enough and this was the focus of this study. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of blended learning strategy on enhancing students' learning and raising their self efficacy. A sample of 28 students participated in the study. They were divided randomly into two groups. One group studied through blended learning (BL) strategy and the other through regular conventional methods. Both groups were asked to respond to a self efficacy scale and take achievement test. The results indicated that students in the blended learning strategy group outscored in grades significantly their counter partners in conventional method. However there were no significant differences among the two groups in the self-efficacy measures. Within the scope of this study, the results implied that BL in teacher education might be applied in order to provide better learning environment.
Therapeutic Administration of Mycobacterium bovis BCG Killed by Extended Freeze-Drying Modulates Airway Inflammation in a Chronic Murine Model of Asthma

Background: We previously showed that treatment with Mycobacterium bovis BCG killed by extended freeze-drying (EFD BCG) modulates inflammation through regulatory T cells (Tregs) in an acute asthma model. In this study, we investigated the kinetics of Treg induction as well as their long-term homing in spleen and lungs correlating with reduced airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) in a murine model of acute allergic asthma. We then evaluated the therapeutic implication of EFD BCG in a chronic asthma model. Methods: Tregs expressing Foxp3 were analyzed in various organs shortly and long-term after EFD BCG, live- and Heat Killed-(HK-) BCG treatments in an acute model of asthma. We further studied EFD BCG treatment on airway inflammation using a chronic model of asthma in mice. Results: Foxp3 expression peaked in the inguinal draining lymph-nodes (iDLNs) 2-4 days after EFD BCG treatment whereas it was long-term observed in spleen (days 7 to 90). This increase in Foxp3 expression was also found in lungs upon intranasal ovalbumin (OVA) challenge in OVA-sensitized mice. The loss of protection 4 months after EFD BCG treatment was correlated with the end of this phenomenon. Moreover, major lung inflammation hallmarks of severe asthma after multiple allergen challenges promoting chronic airway inflammation in OVA sensitized mice were reduced by EFD BCG treatment: AHR, eosinophils and neutrophils in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), mucus metaplasia, Th2 as well as Th17 cytokine levels in BAL and sera. EFD BCG treatment also enhances PPAR-γ expression and regulates NF-κBp65 translocation in lung extracts in this model of chronic asthma. Conclusions: EFD BCG treatment induced long-term protective effect associated to Foxp3 Tregs in the spleen and lungs in an acute model of asthma and inhibits AHR in a chronic model of asthma. EFD BCG could be a new and promising immuno-modulatory alternative treatment to corticoids in severe human asthma.
Instrumenting Simple Risk Communication for Safer Browsing

The computer security community is in an ongoing struggle with usability, human risk perception, and behaviors. Similarly, people outside this community continue to struggle with computer security. For most people it is difficult to know if they are working with a secure remote system or facing an online threat. The popularity of fake antivirus is a testament to the role of simple confusion in high-risk online behavior. Education is a popular proposed solution, as is making the individual tools for secure computing more usable. Here we illustrate that it is feasible to communicate to people as they are, when they need it, in terms they understand, without additional education. As opposed to training or teaching people to recognize and deal with each risk as appropriate, we developed an interaction approach based simply on safety. We developed and tested a Java-based Web extension to engage users as partners in aggregate risk mitigation. Rather than focusing on specific decontextualized risks we provided a high level estimate that combined privacy and security risks and let participants choose to take those risks or not. Specifically, we tested a tool using simple cartoons that functioned both as communication and controls of security settings. The experimental group was safer on-line in that they ran fewer scripts, disable most iframes, blocked the vast majority of Flash, and trivially identified each webpage which they had previously not encountered as new. These participants did so with no security training, nor increased knowledge of security or technology. Nonetheless, these participants used the non-technical language of the interaction and expressed more awareness of risk. Conversely, those in the control group felt more safe despite their unprotected high-risk Internet browsing. Using simple images as the controller and the communication enabled participants to align their perceptions of risk with the actual on-line risk; they chose to be safer.
Impacts of climate change on net productivity of coastal waters: implications for carbon budgets and hypoxia

General circulation models predict that freshwater discharge from the Mississippi River (USA) to the coastal ocean would increase 20% if atmospheric CO2 concentration doubles. Here we use a coupled physical-biological 2-box model to investigate the potential impacts of increased freshwater and nutrient inputs on the production and decay of organic matter in the coastal waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Model results for a doubled CO2 climate indicate that the annual net productivity of the upper water column (NP, 0 to 10 m) is likely to increase by 65 g C m-' yr-', relative to a 1985-1992 average (122 g C m-' yr-'). Interestingly, this projected increase is of the same magnitude as the one that has occurred slnce the 1940s due to the introduction of anthropogenlc nutrients. An increase in annual NP of 32 g C n1r2 yr-' was observed during the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1993, thus indicating the general validity of a doubled CO2 scenario. The total oxygen uptake in the lower water column (10 to 20 m), in contrast, IS likely to remain at its present value of about 200 g O2 m-' yr-'. Thus, carbon export and burial, rather than in situ respiration, are likely to be the dominant processes balancing coastal carbon budgets, leading perhaps to an expanded extent of the hypoxic zone.
Crop Sequence Effects on Leaf Spot Diseases of No-Till Spring Wheat

Crop sequence is an important management practice that may lower the risk for leaf spot diseases of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Field research was conducted near Mandan, ND, to determine the impact of crop sequences on leaf spot diseases of hard red spring wheat early in the growing season. Spring wheat was evaluated for disease severity following crop sequence combinations of 10 crops [buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench), canola (Brassica napus L.), chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), corn (Zea mays L.), dry pea (Pisum sativum L.), grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.), oil seed sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.), and hard red spring wheat). Spring wheat leaves with distinct lesions were collected for determination of lesion number and percentage necrosis data, which were used to estimate leaf spot disease severity. Pyrenophora tritici-repentis (Died.) Drechs. , the cause of tan spot, and Phaeosphaeria nodorum (E. Miiller) Hedjaroude, the cause of Stagonospora nodorum blotch, were the major leaf spot diseases and consistently present throughout the growing season. The frequency of isolation following alternative crops was generally lower compared with spring wheat following wheat. Leaf spot diseases on spring wheat were impacted by crop sequencing. Spring wheat following crop sequences with alternative crops for 1 or 2 yr had lower levels of disease severity compared with a continuous spring wheat treatment early in the growing season. Disease severity was apparently not related to the percentage of crop residue coverage on the soil surface associated with various crop sequence combinations. New alternative crops preceding spring wheat reduce levels of leaf spot diseases.
Knowledge about HIV / AIDS: The Influence of Lifestyles and Self-Regulation in Adolescents

Adolescents’ vulnerability to HIV/AIDS infection arises from their immaturity, sexual risk behaviours as well as factors of a social, economic, cultural and gender nature. Adolescence is a stage of the lifecycle in which managing constant and daily temptations and gaining and maintaining healthy lifestyles are difficult tasks and a test of the powers of self-regulation. The purpose of the study is to analyze the relationship between socio-demographic variables, school context, lifestyles, self-regulation skills and knowledge about HIV/AIDS in adolescents in secondary education in Portugal. A quantitative, cross-sectional, analytical, descriptive and correlational study with a sample of 971 adolescents in secondary education was conducted. The evaluation protocol includes a socio-demographic questionnaire, the school context, lifestyles, the Reduced Questionnaire of Self-regulation, Knowledge About AIDS Scale for Adolescents. The sample consisted of 50.80% boys and 49.20% girls, 43.40% of the adolescents with or less than 16 years, 66.40% residing in rural areas and 77.30% cohabiting with parents. The correlations indicate that among adolescents’ knowledge about AIDS and the subscale setting goals there is a positive and significant correlation ( r = 0.224, p = 0.000), as well as the overall value of the Self-regulation Scale. Significant and negative correlations are presented for the impulse control subscale ( r = -0.257, p = 0.000) and not significant to the overall self-regulation value ( r = -0.041, p = 0.099), ranging in reverse, meaning that more knowledge about AIDS, better self-regulation with regard to impulses subscale. Self-regulated behaviour requires control of immediate needs, mobilization of thoughts, feelings and behaviours for purposes of long-term health, especially with regard to the prevention of HIV/AIDS.
A Longitudinal Cross-Lagged Study of the Role of Parental Self-Criticism, Dependency, Depression, and Parenting Stress in the Development of Child Negative Affectivity

Parental self-criticism and dependency, referring to maladaptive expressions of self-definition issues and relatedness, respectively, confer vulnerability to psychopathology in the transition to parenthood, in part through their association with stress generation. This prospective study is the first to study the intergenerational transmission of vulnerability to distress associated with these stress-generation effects from first-time parents to offspring. Mother- and father-reported data concerning parental self-criticism, dependency, depression, parenting stress and child negative affectivity (N = 121), measured when their child was in infancy and again 1 year later, were analysed using multilevel structural equation modelling. Results showed that parenting stress partially mediated the relation between parents' self-criticism and child negative affectivity over time. Dependency, in contrast, did not show direct or indirect effects on child negative affectivity, and was characterized by small stress-generation effects. No child-to-parent effects were found. These findings shed new light on the intergenerational transmission of vulnerability to distress associated with both personality dimensions, with self-criticism having greater negative effects than dependency on vulnerability to distress in offspring.
Characterization of grain iron and zinc in lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus culinaris) and analysis of their genetic diversity using SSR markers.

Forty-one elite lentil lines were studied for stability of grain Fe and Zn concentration across three locations (New Delhi, Ludhiana and Pantnagar) in India. The stability analysis was carried using Eberhart and Russel's stability model. Pooled analysis of variance over locations revealed highly significant differences between genotypes, locations and genotype x location interaction. The maximum mean for grain Fe concentration over the locations was obtained for L 4704 (136.91 mg/kg grain), while for grain Zn concentration was highest for VL 141 (81.542 mg/kg grain). The highest mean grain Fe and Zn was recorded at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi (Fe-87.30 mg/kg and Zn-68.602 mg/kg). Although both micronutrients were influenced by environment, grain Fe showed more G x E interaction in comparison to grain Zn concentration. Six lentil genotypes exhibited stability for grain Fe concentration and fifteen genotypes for grain Zn concentration were identified. The studied genotypes with diverse micronutrients concentration were analysed for molecular diversity using 32 polymorphic SSR markers. These markers amplified a total of 130 bands with PIC value ranging from 0.138 to 0.798. Based on SSR allelic diversity, genotypes were grouped in two major clusters. The clustering pattern indicated variability in the studied lines. On the basis of genetic diversity for micronutrient concentration, ten crosses are suggested for hybridization purpose to obtain the transgressive segregants. The combined analysis of multi-location phenotyping and genetic diversity further suggests six potential crosses for developing micronutrient rich varieties for the future.
Genetic variation for plasticity in physiological and life-history traits among populations of an invasive species, the terrestrial isopod Porcellio laevis

ABSTRACT Background: Evolutionary interpretations of life-history as well as physiological patternsrequire distinction between genotypic variations and environmentally induced phenotypicvariation. Problem: We investigate the extent to which variation in life history and metabolism have anenvironmental or a genetic basis in an invasive species. Methods: We used the widely distributed isopod, Porcellio laevis , as a model. To examine theeffects of latitudinal gradients in temperature and photoperiod on life-history and physiologicaltraits, we studied three populations located along a latitudinal gradient. We performed twocommon garden experiments using 20 families from each population. Treatments were: (1)12 C, 12/12 h light/dark and (2) 20 C, 14/10 h light/dark. Measurements of metabolic rate andlife-history traits were performed on females from the F 1 generation. Conclusions: (1) Differences in life-history and metabolic traits among populations mimicthe natural pattern of latitudinal variation in a cold environment, where offspring size andreproductive output increase towards higher latitudes and metabolic rate increases towardslower latitudes. (2) There is genetic variation for plasticity in response to the environment,which may be acted upon by natural selection. (3) Our results support the hypothesis thatphenotypic plasticity itself is an adaptive response to environmental heterogeneity.
Increasing the Reliability of Fuzzy Inference System- Based Skin Detector

Problem statement: Skin detection is a common primitive for many human-related image processing applications, such as video surveillance, naked image filters and face detection. Skin color is considered as a useful and discriminating spatial feature for many applications, but it is not robust enough to deal with complex image environments. Skin tones range from dark (some Africans) to light white (Caucasians and some Europeans). In addition, both the light-changing conditions and the existence of objects with skin-like colors could cause some major difficulties faced pixel-based skin detector depending only on a color feature. Approach: This study proposed a novel Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) for skin detection, which combines both color and texture features. To increase the reliability of the skin detection process, neighborhood pixel information is incorporated into the proposed method. The color feature is represented using RGB color model, while the texture feature is estimated using three statistical measures: standard deviation, entropy and range. The subtractive clustering-based fuzzy system method and the Sugeno type reasoning mechanism are used for modeling FIS-based skin detection. The proposed approach builds a fuzzy model of skin detection from existing images within skin and non-skin regions (output data) and from both color and texture features of the skin regions (input data). Results: The proposed skin detection method achieved a true positive rate of approximately 90% and a false positive rate of approximately 0.22%. Furthermore, this study analyzes and compares the obtained results from the proposed skin detection with threshold-based skin detector to show the level of robustness, using both color and texture features in the proposed skin detector. Conclusion: It was found that a skin detector based on both color and texture features can lead to an efficient and more reliable skin detection method compared with other state-of-the-art threshold-based skin detectors. The proposed detector reduces the FP rate to 0.22% compared with a skin detector based on predefined color rules.
Free Radicals and Oxidative Stress in Neurodegenerative Diseases : Relevance of Dietary Antioxidants

Cellular antioxidants are known to change their redox state, and they can be targeted for destruction, regulate oxidative processes involved in signal transduction, effect gene expression and pathways of cell proliferation and death. Oxidants and antioxidants play an important role in maintaining a balance between free radicals produced by metabolism or derived from environmental sources and the antioxidant system of the body. A complex natural antioxidant system exists in the biological systems, which is responsible for prevention of damage by pro-oxidants. Impaired endogenous antioxidant system favours accumulation of free radicals, which not only induces the process of lipid peroxidation but also plays a central role in neurodegeneration. The increased incidence of neurodegenerative diseases may be attributed to a pro-oxidative environment caused by smoking, alcohol abuse, UVA and UVB radiations, air pollution as well as inappropriate nutrition. The dependence of disease severity on imbalance between oxidants and natural defences suggests that oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in the progression of neurodegeneratve diseases and could serve as a useful target for treatment. It is our attempt to put forth the evidence for involvement of free radicals in pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases and the potential of treatment with antioxidants and scavenger substances. We also review the role of dietary antioxidants in chemoprevention and/ or therapy of neurodegenerative diseases.
Occlusion detection in video sequences

An occlusion is the region between two overlapping objects with disparate motion. Detecting these occluded objects is crucial for many of the video processing. The Occlusion detection is decomposed into two independent sub problems. The First is to detect foreground objects on a frame-wise basis, by labeling each pixel in an image frame as either foreground or background. The second is to couple object observations at different points in a sequence to yield the object's motion trajectory and Occlusion. The motion segmentation is based on an adaptive background subtraction method that models each pixel as mixture of Gaussians. The Gaussian distributions are then evaluated to determine which are most likely to result from a background process. This is useful to track moving objects and detect occlusion in lighting changes, repetitive motions from cluster, and long term scene changes.