Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The species richness of nonvolant mammals in Shennongjia Nature Reserve, Hubei Province, China: distribution patterns along elevational gradient

The species richness of nonvolant mammals in different habitats at six sites of Shennongjia Nature Reserve was investigated during 1999～2001. The habitats were classed into eight types: primary forest, selectively logged forest (primary forest with deadwood removal), secondary forest, shrub forest, grassland, rivers and streams, crop field, and residential areas. The small nonvolant mammals were investigated using steel removal traps. Large nonvolant mammals were studied through data on skin trade, line transects and survey of mammal trails. The vegetation of forests was sampled in plots of 10 m×10 m. The results indicate that there are 59 species of nonvolant mammals in Shennongjia Nature Reserve(not including the introduced species Cervus nippon ). At the same elevation, the primary forest usually has higher species richness than selectively logged forest and secondary forest, suggesting that logging has greatly reduced species richness. By comparing species richness at different elevations in the same habitat, it is found that the highest species richness occurs at the middle elevational zones (800～1700 m). In primary forest and secondary forest, species richness is highest at Dongxi at 1700 m elevation. In the selectively logged forest, species richness peaks at Jiuchong at 800 m elevation. Species composition at the six sites can be classed into two groups by cluster analysis: a higher elevational group (above 2100 m) and a middle low elevational group (below 1700 m). The vertical distribution of species composition is matched with that of vegetation. The species richness of the mammals at different sites is correlated with average tree species richness in a unit area (100 m 2), number of habitat types and elevation. There is a correlation among average tree species richness, number of habitat types and elevation, suggesting that elevation has a very important effect on average tree species richness and the number of habitat types. Two conservation implications were formulated from the results. First, emigrant engineering and forest recovery for the reserve should begin at Jiuchong, which has the highest species richness, then be carried out at Dongxi and Xiagu. Second, the zone between the two fragments of the reserve should be set aside as a protected corridor to improve the flow of individuals and genes between the fragments.
Study on the homologous resistance and cross-resistance of Lactobacillus casei 05-21 under three stress conditions

The homologous resistance and cross-resistance of Lactobacillus casei 05-21 against acid,bile and NaCl stresses were studied,which were constantly encountered during the cheese manufacturing and in the human gastrointestinal tract.First,the sublethal and lethal levels of acid,bile and NaCl stresses were determined,as pH=5.0 and pH=3.5,0.05% and 0.3%,2 % and 18%,respectively.Homologous-resistance experiments revealed that the survival rate of cultures could increase to 23,25 and 75 times,respectively,when exposed to acid,bile and NaCl for 2h.The research on cross-resistance demonstrated that when pre-exposed to acid stress,the survival rate of cultures against the bile and NaCl stresses was 20 times and 11 times higher than the control;When pre-exposed to NaCl stress,the survival rate against the bile increased 250 times,which however could not induce the resistance against acid stress.Compared with log-phase cultures,stationary-phase cultures possessed remarkable resistance against stresses.This research provided a significant theoretical basis for optimizing cheese production and in-creasing the survival rate of Lactobacillus casei in the human gastrointestinal tract.
The epidemiology and molecular characterization of Burkholderia pseudomallei in Malaysian Borneo

Melioidosis is a potentially fatal disease caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei which is endemic in Malaysian Borneo. The general aim of this study is to elucidate the molecular epidemiology of B. pseudomallei in Malaysian Borneo. Consistent with the Wallace line theory of separation, genotyping showed Malaysian Borneo clinical B. pseudomallei isolates were more related to Southeast Asian strains than to Australian strains. Whole genome sequencing demonstrated that B. pseudomallei from Sarawak were very closely related to each other. Biochemical testing using VITEK 2 revealed that 25% of B. pseudomallei from Malaysian Borneo were misidentified as B. cepacia, suggesting that specificity of that identification system is regionally dependent. A major and unexpected finding was that 88% of Sarawak B. pseudomallei were gentamicin susceptible, with these B. pseudomallei being restricted to multilocus sequence type ST881 and its single locus variant ST997. A novel nonsynonymous mutation was identified within amrB, an essential component of the AmrAB-OprA multi-drug efflux pump. Reversion of the mutation to the wild-type sequence confirmed the role of this mutation in conferring aminoglycoside and macrolide sensitivity. No environmental B. pseudomallei were isolated from Sarawak but other Burkholderia species were isolated, prompting the formulation of hypotheses to explain the lack of environmental B. pseudomallei. Although inconclusive, experiments showed antagonistic activities by other environmental Burkholderia spp. recovered from environmental sampling studies towards B. pseudomallei and also that gentamicin susceptible B. pseudomallei were slightly xiv less robust than gentamicin resistant strains in competing with other soil microorganisms. This thesis contributed to the understanding of the population structure of B. pseudomallei in Malaysian Borneo, Southeast Asia and globally. The discovery of gentamicin susceptibility in Sarawak B. pseudomallei has significant implications for laboratory diagnosis and environmental sampling of B. pseudomallei in Malaysian Borneo and potentially in other melioidosis endemic regions. Although the exact distributions, quantification and potential environmental hazards and implications of B. pseudomallei in Malaysian Borneo remain uncertain, these studies have led to important research questions now to be explored. Most immediate is further searching for the proposed existence of an as yet unidentified localized niche of B. pseudomallei in Malaysian Borneo.
Anti-diabetes Constituents in Leaves of Smallanthus sonchifolius

The inhibitory effect of smallanthaditerpenic acids A, B, C and D previously isolated from leaves of Smallanthus sonchifolius (yacon) on α-glucosidase were examined and their IC50 were determined to be 0.48 mg/mL, 0.59 mg/mL, 1.00 mg/mL, and 1.17 mg/mL respectively. In addition, a rapid, reliable RP-HPLC method for the analysis of chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, and smallanthaditerpenic acids A and C in yacon leaves was established, and the variation in their contents in leaves from plants cultivated in different places and collected at different times of the year were compared. The established analytical method for determining smallanthaditerpenic acids A and C, chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid presented good results and could be used as a method for the quality control of S. sonchifolius leaves.
Characteristics of climate resources under global climate change in the North China Plain

In the past few decades,significant changes of climate resources had taken place across the North China Plain(NCP),corresponding to global climate changes. Climate change has caused far-reaching impacts to agricultural production in the North China Plain,where is one of the most important food production regions in China. In this study,characteristics of regional distribution of climate resources during the five different decades from 1961 to 2007 were analyzed by using daily weather data from 59 typical agro-meteorological stations located the North China Plain. The major results showed:(1) heat resources in the North China Plain were significantly enriched during the study period due to global climatic warming,such as ≥0℃ and ≥10℃ accumulative air temperature markedly increased,specially,in north and east. (2) Annual precipitation decreased about 20 mm per decade from 1961 to 2007. Seasonal precipitation in summer and autumn also decreased with rate ranging from 25 mm/10a to 40 mm/10a,however,slightly increased in spring and winter. In addition,yearly mean of reference crop evapotranspiration (ET0) was declined in the North China Plain. The decreasing rate of rainfall was a little more than that of ET0. (3) Sunshine hours in the North China Plain showed a significant declination,especially in large and middle size urban area.
Network Security Metrics: Estimating the Resilience of Networks Against Zero Day Attacks

Computer networks are playing the role of nervous systems in many critical infrastructures, governmental and military organizations, and enterprises today. Protecting such mission critical networks means more than just patching known vulnerabilities and deploying firewalls or IDSs. Proper metrics are needed in evaluating the security level of networks and provide security enhanced solutions. However, without considering unknown zero-day vulnerabilities, security metrics are insufficient to capture the true security level of a network. My Ph.D's work is aiming to develop a series of novel network security metrics with a special focus on modeling zero day attacks and study the relationships between software features and vulnerabilities. In the first work, we take the first step toward formally modeling network diversity as a security metric by designing and evaluating a series of diversity metrics. In particular, we first devise a biodiversity-inspired metric based on the effective number of distinct resources. We then propose two complementary diversity metrics, based on the least and the average attacking efforts, respectively. In the second topic, we lift the attack surface concept, which calculates the intrinsic properties of software applications, to the network level as a security metric for evaluating the resilience of networks against potential zero day attacks. First, we develop models for aggregating the attack surface among different resources inside a network. Second, we design heuristic algorithms to avoid the costly calculation of attack surface. Predicting and studying the software vulnerability both help administrators to improve security deployment for their organizations and to choose the right applications among those with similar functionality, and for the software vendors to estimate the security level of their software applications. In the third topic, we perform a large-scale empirical study on datasets from GitHub and different versions of Chrome to study the relationship between software features and the number of vulnerabilities. This study quantitatively demonstrates the importance of features in the vulnerability discovery process based on machine learning techniques, which provides inputs for network level security metrics. Those features could serve as inputs for future network security metrics.
Quantitative assessment of patch edge effects and its ecological implications

Edge effects refer to the variation of certain ecological processes across the boundaries or the transition zones between different ecosystems. The magnitude and extent of landscape edge effects vary according to the level of landscape heterogeneity, the targets of interest, and the spatial configuration of landscape patches. The similarity between core patches and surrounding landscape could enhance or reduce edge effects. Understanding landscape edge effects is, therefore, critical to the appropriate use of environmental data collected through field surveys. Unfortunately, landscape edge effects are often neglected and as a result, data obtained in the areas under the influence of edge effects and acquired within the core areas are mixed in use. This often leads to absurd conclusions. Therefore, the quantitative assessment of landscape edge effects is important not only to the design of environmental field observation framework, but also to the planning of functionalzones and biodiversity conservation in a protected area. However, there is a lack of effective methods for landscape edge effect quantification. In this paper, we propose amethod for quantitative assessment of landscape edge effects by using the concept of landscape ecology and GIS technique. We also discuss the ecological implications of landscapeedge effect quantification.
Monensin Toxicosis in Broiler Chickens

Chickens treated at seven weeks of age with 150, 200, or 250 mg of crystalline monensin sodium/kg body weight had signs of toxicosis, including extreme weakness, anorexia, paralysis and death. Gross lesions included emaciation, generalized congestion, myocardial enlargement and pallor, and hydropericardium. Samples of ventricular myocardium, superficial pectoralis (white fibers), anterior latissimus dorsi (intermediate fibers), and sartorius muscles (mixed red, intermediate, and white fibers) were examined by light microscope. Intermyofibrillar vacuolation, histochemically positive for neutral fat, was severe in the myocardium and red muscle fibers and moderate in the intermediate muscle fibers. Myofiber necrosis was limited to the red muscle fibers. Mitochondrial degeneration was apparent in myocardial sections from several chickens. Interstitial infiltration by macrophages and heterophils was common in the myocardium and aerobic skeletal muscle.
Genetics and Molecular Mapping of Rust Resistance in Wheat

Wheat leaf rust, caused by Puccinia triticina Eriks, is known to cause significant yield losses in wheat. Durum wheat genotype Trinakria showed high level and broad spectrum seedling resistance to 18 leaf rust races. The F1 from cross between A-9-30-1/Trinakria tested at seedling stage showed resistance to leaf rust races, 77-5 and 104-2. A total of 220 F2 plants derived from the cross A-9-30-1/Trinakria were evaluated against leaf rust race 77-5. Of these 220 F2 plants, 156 plants were resistant while 54 showed susceptible reaction. A total of 86 plants in BC1 population derived from cross A-9-30-1/Trinakria // A-9-30-1 were also screened against leaf rust race 77-5. Out of these, 41 plants were resistant and remaining 45 showed susceptible reactions. The present investigations showed that Trinakria carries broad spectrum and a high degree of resistance to leaf rust pathotypes. Genetic analysis at seedling stage against pathotype 77-5 in F2 and BC1 generations confirmed the presence of a single dominant gene. 4.2.
New Developments in Ovarian Dynamics and the Law of Follicular Constancy

The comparative condition of ovarian fragments has been studied in fully grown isolated rabbits, some of which possessed normal ovaries, whilst in others the normal amount of ovarian tissue had been previously reduced by partial castration. No pronounced increase in weight of ovarian tissue was observed in cases of partial castration though the experiments lasted 4½ months; this is contrary to what has been observed in young rabbits. The features characteristic of ovarian fragments in partially castrated hosts were quite definite: (1) the total number of primary follicles was greatly reduced as compared with ovarian fragments present in normal females; (2) the number of large follicles (with a diameter of not less than 1 mm.) in an ovarian fragment grown in a partially castrated animal was not less than that in both ovaries of a normal animal. A diminution in the total number of primary follicles was observed also when calculated per mg. of the original mass of the fragment. The maximum diameter of the follicles in the ovarian fragments in partially castrated rabbits was not greater than in normal ovaries. These observations are in accordance with the "Law of follicular constancy. " The deviations from the law of follicular constancy which were formerly observed in partial castration (persistence of mature follicles and formation of follicular cysts) are probably to be explained by a disturbance of the normal balance between formation and use of " X -substances" necessary for follicular development; this disturbance possibly represents a final stage in the life of an ovarian fragment after extensive use has been made of primary follicles. The meaning of ovarian hypertrophy is also discussed. It is suggested that the integrative processes which take place in an ovarian fragment after partial castration are not to be characterised by increase of weight but only by those processes which are dictated by the law of follicular constancy.
Research progress on the impacts of transgenic resistant plants on pollinating bees

With the commercial planting of transgenic plants on a large scale, their impacts on non-target organisms have become an important part of risk assessment of transgenic organisms. The flowers of many transgenic plants are phanerogams that require bees for pollination. Some transgenic plants do not need bee pollination but are important food sources for bees. Transgenic plants with resistance traits may have direct or indirect effects on bees. Direct effects may arise upon ingestion of transgene products (proteins) if they are expressed in pollen or nectar. Methodologies to test chemical pesticides are used to evaluate the direct effects. Many studies have been conducted on the impacts of purified transgene product ingestion on honey bees (Apis mellifera) and bumblebees (Bombus terrestris). The action mechanisms of several transgene products, such as Bt, protease inhibitor, chitinase and glucanase, are discussed. Indirect effects may occur if plant transformation results in unexpected changes in the plant's phenotype, especially the changes in flower phenotype. Tests with whole transgenic plants have been conducted to assess the indirect effects. The indices measured include bee gut physiology, food consumption, olfactory learning behavior, oral toxicity and longevity. Most tests have been conducted in the laboratory with individual larvae or adult bees. There have also been some tests with colonies under containment and observations of bee foraging on transgenic plants and these are summarised. The results so far suggest that whether transgenic plants would have impacts on pollinating bees and the extent of the impacts depend largely on the biological characteristics of the transgenic plants, the traits of transgene proteins expressed, and the expression of transgene proteins in the parts of the transgenic plants ingested by bees. Generally, proteins such as lepidopteran-specific Bt toxins and glucan-degrading enzymes have no effects on bees. Proteins that target more general aspects of insect biology, such as protease inhibitors (PI) or chitinases, have been demonstrated to have some adverse impacts on bees. The dosage of transgene products ingested by the bee will determine the extent of such effects. However, it has been difficult to analyze and compare different results and to reach a definite conclusion, because different methods were adopted in these studies. Technical standards for evaluating the impacts of transgenic plants on bees need to be developed and refined.
Effect of Dietary Fatty Acids on Incorporation of Long Chain Polyun Saturated Fatty Acids and Conjugated Linoleic Acid in Lamb,Beef and Pork Meat

Inspired by the health conscious consumer,several studies in meat producing domesticated animals have been completed that have aimed at increasing the polyunsaturated fatty acid content,and in particular the n-3 or-3 long chain fatty acids,as well as the conjugated linoleic acid(CLA) content in intramuscular fat of beef,lamb and pork meat.Increasing the n-3 content in animal meats can be achieved by including fish oil/fish meal in the diet(i.e.rich in eicosapentaenoic acid(EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid(DHA)),linseed(oil) and/or forages(i.e.rich in linolenic acid(LNA)). Diets rich in LNA result in an increased level of LNA,EPA and docosapentaenoic acid(DPA) in the meat,while in most cases no effect on intramuscular DHA level was observed.Increasing DHA contents in meat was mainly achieved when fish oil/fish meal was included in the animals diet.In most studies,an increased n-3 content in the intramuscular fat was accompanied with a decreased n-6 deposition,mainly due to a lower n-6 dietary supply between the treatments.This resulted in a more favourable n-6/n-3 ratio in the meat while the polyunsaturated fatty acid/saturated fatty acid(P/S) ratio was less affected.Attempts to increase the intramuscular c9t11CLA content was accomplished by feeding ruminants n-3 rich diets(linseed either or not in combination with grass(silage)),fish oil or high concentrate diets rich in linoleic acid(LA). The c9t11CLA content in beef and lamb meat varied between 0.2 and 1.0 g/100 g of total fatty acids and was not increased to a high extent by nutritional factors.In contrast,including CLA-oils consisting of several CLA isomers in the diet ofmonogastrics markedly increased the intramuscular CLA content.
SEASONAL CHANGES AND MULTIVARIATE STUDIES OF THE MINERAL ELEMENT STATUS OF SEVERAL MEMBERS

SUMMARY (1) The mineral element status of eight members of the Ericaceae growing in garden plots was monitored over a 2-year period. The seasonal changes in mineral element status were related to the seasonal changes in growth of these species. (2) Multivariate analyses of these data differentiated between the species in a way that could be related to their ecological distributions. (3) Species found in the more base-rich heathland soils had higher tissue concentrations of calcium and magnesium, and species with an oceanic distribution had higher levels of sodium in their tissues.
Peramalan Inflasi di Demak Menggunakan Metode ARIMA Berbantuan Software R dan MINITAB

Peramalan digunakan untuk memprediksi sesuatu yang akan terjadi di masa mendatang sehingga tindakan yang tepat dapat dilakukan. ARIMA merupakan salah satu metode peramalan runtun waktu yang dikembangkan dimana data pengamatan dalam sebuah data runtun waktu diasumsikan berhubungan satu sama lain secara statistik. R dan Minitab termasuk kelompok software statistik yang dapat digunakan untuk pengolahan data peramalan, akan tetapi penggunaan Minitab lebih populer daripada R. Ketidakstabilan inflasi di kabupaten Demak di masa mendatang menyulitkan bank sentral maupun pemerintah dalam menentukan kebijakan. Tujuan kajian ini yakni meramalkan inflasi di kabupaten Demak bulan Maret 2017 sampai dengan Desember 2017 menggunakan model ARIMA terbaik berbantuan software R dan Minitab serta untuk memilih software yang lebih akurat dalam melakukan analisis ARIMA. Data inflasi diambil dari BPS Kabupaten Demak dari bulan Januari 2009 sampai dengan Februari 2017. Analisis ARIMA yang dilakukan sesuai dengan prosedur Box-Jenkins yakni melakukan identifikasi terhadap data, mengestimasi parameter dan uji signifikansi, serta menentukan model ARIMA terbaik. Hasil analisis menggunakan R dan Minitab menunjukkan model ARIMA terbaik adalah ARIMA(2,0,0). Langkah-langkah analisis ARIMA baik menggunakan R maupun Minitab mudah dilakukan. Akan tetapi, R dinilai lebih akurat daripada Minitab karena pada tahap identifikasi data, selain dapat mengidentifikasi data melalui grafik, pada R juga tersedia uji ADF sedangkan pada Minitab hanya dapat mengidentifikasi data secara visual melalui grafik yang terkadang menyulitkan penganalisa data untuk menentukan stasioneritas data sebagai asumsi awal yang harus dipenuhi sebelum melakukan uji lanjut