Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Climatic adaptation in an isolated and genetically impoverished amphibian population

The capacity of populations to respond adaptively to environmental change is essential for their persistence. Isolated populations often harbour reduced genetic variation, which is predicted to decrease adaptive potential, and can be detrimental under the current scenarios of global change. In this study, we examined climatic adaptation in larval life history traits in the pool frog Rana lessonae along a latitudinal gradient across the northern distribution area of the species, paying special attention to the isolated and genetically impoverished fringe populations in central Sweden. Larvae from eight populations within three geographic areas (Poland, Latvia and Sweden) were reared under three temperatures (19, 22 and 26°C) in a common garden laboratory experiment. We found clear evidence for latitudinal adaptation in R. lessonae populations, larvae from higher latitudes growing and developing faster than low-latitude ones. Larvae from the Swedish populations were able to compensate for the effects of cooler temperatures and a shorter growth season with genetically higher growth and development rates (i.e. countergradient variation) in the two higher temperature treatments, but there was no difference among the populations at the lowest temperature treatment, which is likely to be close to the temperature limiting growth in R. lessonae. Our results demonstrate that isolated and genetically impoverished populations can be locally adapted, and identify the Swedish fringe populations as a significant conservation unit adapted to the northern environmental conditions.
Survey for Aflatoxin in the Eggs of chickens and risk factors that may lead birds to aflatoxin exposure in Kaduna Metropolis, Nigeria

Families bring out their grains from storage to clean up and if the grains change color or smell due to poor storage, they are sold to especially poultry toll feed millers either as whole grains or grinded fine particles, at cheap prices. The objective of this study is to determine the occurrence of residues of aflatoxin in eggs. Eggs from Igabi (A), Chikun (B), Kaduna North (C), Kaduna South (D) local government areas had some levels of aflatoxin concentrations of up to 6.13 ug/kg, 8.75 ug/kg, 14.08 ug/kg and 10.94 ug/kg respectively. Eggs sampled from major egg marketers in Kaduna metropolis revealed aflatoxin concentrations of up to 17.5 %. The likely human exposure to mycotoxins are birds and eggs. The implication is that the birds would consume aflatoxin contaminated feed which they may pass to eggs and meat, which eventually human being would consume and become toxicated. Some of the predisposing risk factors that may have led to the contamination of poultry by aflatoxin include poor biosecurity practices by subsistent farmers, deep litter system of housing for birds may contaminate the feeds. It is recommended that there should be adequate ventilation in live bird markets to reduce the multiplication of mycotoxin producing Aspergillus species.
Effects of ocean acidification on visual risk assessment in coral reef fishes

1. With the global increase in CO2 emissions, there is a pressing need for studies aimed at understanding the effects of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems. Several studies have reported that exposure to CO2 impairs chemosensory responses of juvenile coral reef fishes to predators. Moreover, one recent study pointed to impaired responses of reef fish to auditory cues that indicate risky locations. These studies suggest that altered behaviour following exposure to elevated CO2 is caused by a systemic effect at the neural level. 2. The goal of our experiment was to test whether juvenile damselfish Pomacentrus amboinensis exposed to different levels of CO2 would respond differently to a potential threat, the sight of a large novel coral reef fish, a spiny chromis, Acanthochromis polyancanthus, placed in a watertight bag. 3. Juvenile damselfish exposed to 440 (current day control), 550 or 700 μatm CO2 did not differ in their response to the chromis. However, fish exposed to 850 μatm showed reduced antipredator responses; they failed to show the same reduction in foraging, activity and area use in response to the chromis. Moreover, they moved closer to the chromis and lacked any bobbing behaviour typically displayed by juvenile damselfishes in threatening situations. 4. Our results are the first to suggest that response to visual cues of risk may be impaired by CO2 and provide strong evidence that the multi-sensory effects of CO2 may stem from systematic effects at the neural level.
National Identity, Citizenship and Immigration: Putting Identity in Context

In this paper we suggest that there is a need to examine what is meant by "context" in Social Psychology and present an example of how to place identity in its social and institutional context. Taking the case of British naturalisation, the process whereby migrants become citizens, we show that the identity of naturalised citizens is defined by common-sense ideas about Britishness and by immigration policies. An analysis of policy documents on "earned citizenship" and interviews with naturalised citizens shows that the distinction between "elite" and "non-elite" migrants is evident in both the "reified" sphere of policy and the "common sense" sphere of everyday identity construction. While social representations embedded in lay experience construct ethno-cultural similarity and difference, immigration policies engage in an institutionalised positioning process by determining migrants' rights of mobility. These spheres of knowledge and practice are not disconnected as these two levels of "managing otherness" overlap-it is the poorer, less skilled migrants, originating outside the West who epitomise difference (within a consensual sphere) and have less freedom of mobility (within a reified sphere). We show that the context of identity should be understood as simultaneously psychological and political.
Fully automated dual-resolution serial optical coherence tomography aimed at diffusion MRI validation in whole mouse brains

Abstract. An automated dual-resolution serial optical coherence tomography (2R-SOCT) scanner is developed. The serial histology system combines a low-resolution (25 μm / voxel) 3 × OCT with a high-resolution (1.5 μm / voxel) 40 × OCT to acquire whole mouse brains at low resolution and to target specific regions of interest (ROIs) at high resolution. The 40 × ROIs positions are selected either manually by the microscope operator or using an automated ROI positioning selection algorithm. Additionally, a multimodal and multiresolution registration pipeline is developed in order to align the 2R-SOCT data onto diffusion MRI (dMRI) data acquired in the same ex vivo mouse brains prior to automated histology. Using this imaging system, 3 whole mouse brains are imaged, and 250 high-resolution 40 × three-dimensional ROIs are acquired. The capability of this system to perform multimodal imaging studies is demonstrated by labeling the ROIs using a mouse brain atlas and by categorizing the ROIs based on their associated dMRI measures. This reveals a good correspondence of the tissue microstructure imaged by the high-resolution OCT with various dMRI measures such as fractional anisotropy, number of fiber orientations, apparent fiber density, orientation dispersion, and intracellular volume fraction.
Optimal Income Taxation with Spillovers from Employer Learning

I study optimal income taxation when human capital investment is imperfectly observable by employers. In the model, Bayesian inference about worker productivity compresses the wage distribution, lowering the private return to human capital investment. An externality arises: given the same information, employers are more optimistic about each individual if workers are generally more productive. The significance of this externality hinges on the accuracy of employers’ beliefs and the responsiveness of human capital. For the United States, taking it into account lowers optimal marginal tax rates for most workers, reducing them by a maximum of 9–13 percentage points between $50,000 and $100,000. (JEL D83, H21, H24, J24, J31, M51, M52)
Ethanol Production and Gasoline Prices: A Spurious Correlation

Abstract Ethanol made from corn comprises 10% of U.S. gasoline, up from 3% in 2003. This dramatic increase was spurred by recent policy initiatives such as the Renewable Fuel Standard and state-level blend mandates and supported by direct subsidies such as the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit. Some proponents of ethanol have argued that ethanol production greatly lowers gasoline prices, with one industry group claiming it reduced gasoline prices by 89 cents in 2010 and $1.09 in 2011. The 2010 figure has been cited in numerous speeches by Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack. We show that these estimates were generated by implausible economic assumptions and spurious statistical correlations. To support this last point, we use the same statistical models and find that ethanol production “decreases” natural gas prices, but “increases” unemployment in both the U.S. and Europe. We even show that ethanol production “increases” the ages of our children. Overall, we see no compelling reason to believe that the effect of ethanol use on gasoline prices has been more than $0.10 per gallon.
Stability of velocity in the major industrial countries : A Kalman filter approach

Forecasting models are estimated using annual data for the income velocity of money in seven major industrial countries. The predictions are conditional on the realized value of the long-term domestic government bond rate. These forecasts did not deteriorate over the period 1980-88, compared with the earlier postwar period. Velocity of M1 is found to be very interest elastic in almost all countries; velocity of M2, less so. The specifications (based on Kalman filters) point to a nonconstant trend in velocity, raising questions about the assumptions required for the cointegration techniques used in other research on money demand.
Why Do Employees Leave Their Jobs for Self-Employment? – The Impact of Entrepreneurial Working Conditions in Small Firms

Based on the finding that entrepreneurs who found new firms tend to work as employees of small rather than large firms prior to start-up, we test how different working conditions, which enhance entrepreneurial learning, affect their decision to become entrepreneurs when moderated by firm size. Based on data of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we find a significant relationship between entrepreneurial learning (extracted in an orthogonal factor analysis based on twelve working conditions as proxy for entrepreneurial human capital and work experience) and firm size when predicting the probability of leaving paid employment for self-employment. We think, that this is a special kind of knowledge spillover. We also control for other aspects such as gender, age, wage, etc. – factors that may potentially influence the decision to become self-employed. Thus, our analysis sheds new light onto the black box of SMEs as a hotbed of new start-ups.
Ambiguity and conflict in the development of ‘Third Mission’ indicators

This paper borrows analytical tools from the study of public policy, applying them to issues surrounding the development of universities' ‘Third Mission’ indicators. The ‘Third Mission’ refers to all activities concerned with the generation, use, application and exploitation of knowledge and other university capabilities outside academic environments. The paper analyses the generation and management of Third Mission indicators as an example of policy implementation. Using the cases of the UK and Spain, it finds a high level of ambiguity in the definition of policy goals accompanied by conflict among policy stakeholders. In these cases, policy analysts have suggested that policy implementation becomes ‘symbolic’, and depends on the strength of local stakeholder coalitions. We find that the development of Third Mission indicators fits this model, and conclude by discussing the policy implications of this finding. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.
Systematics of the garden lizards, Calotes versicolor group (Reptilia, Squamata, Agamidae), in Myanmar: central dry zone populations

George R. Zug1,4, Herrick H.K. Brown1, James A. Schulte II1,3, and Jens V. Vindum2 1 Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20560; 2 Department of Herpetology, California Academy of Sciences, 875 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103 USA; 3 Current address: 177 Clarkson Science Center, Department of Biology, MRC 5805, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699-5805.
Indefinite causal order enables perfect quantum communication with zero capacity channels

Quantum mechanics is compatible with scenarios where the relative order between two events can be indefinite. Here we show that two independent instances of a noisy process can behave as a perfect quantum communication channel when used in a coherent superposition of two alternative orders. This phenomenon occurs even if the original process has zero capacity to transmit quantum information. In contrast, perfect quantum communication does not occur when the message is sent directly from the sender to the receiver through a superposition of alternative paths, with an independent noise process acting on each path. The possibility of perfect quantum communication through independent noisy channels highlights a fundamental difference between the superposition of orders in time and the superposition of paths in space.
Molecular evaluation of bivoltine, polyvoltine and mutant silkworm (Bombyx mori L.) with RAPD, ISSR and RFLP-STS markers

Mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori L.), the most important silk producing insect, exhibits wide diversity in morphological and biometric characters. Characterization of vast genetic resources based on the morphological and quantitative traits is not solely dependable as the phenotypic traits are influenced by environment. In order to study genetic relatedness of the selected and varied genotypes, six each of the bivoltine, polyvoltine silkworm accessions and mutant stocks, were studied with RAPD, ISSR and RFLP-STS markers. Twelve RAPD primers generated 172 markers of which 161 were polymorphic, generating 93.60% polymorphism. Pair-wise genetic divergence varied from 0.209 between Mysore Princess and Rong Diazo to 0.588 between Boropolu and TMS-35. The ISSR primers generated 156 markers of which 132 were polymorphic thus generating 84.62% polymorphism. The pair-wise genetic diversity among the genotypes varied from 0.189 between Rong Diazo and BL-23 to 0.438 between MU-10 and TMS-35. Similarly, 10 RFLP-STS primers produced a total of 69 bands, out of which 53 were polymorphic thus realizing 75.6% polymorphism. Genetic distance varied from 0.242 between Nistari-M and BL-23 to 0.730 between Fengshong and TMS-17. On clustering with UPGMA and principal component analysis (PCA), RAPD and ISSR markers clearly discriminated the bivoltines and multivoltines and a multivoltine Tamil Nadu white occupied the positions among bivoltines, since it has bivoltine parentage. Boropolu, an original land race from North East India, and Feng shong, a Chinese silkworm strain, also showed a closer genetic relationship.
THE EFFECT OF WATER STRESS ON RADIATION INTERCEPTION, RADIATION USE EFFICIENCY AND WATER USE EFFICIENCY OF MAIZE IN A TROPICAL CLIMATE

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of deficit irrigation on radiation capture, radiation use efficiency (RUE) and water use efficiency (WUE) in maize production, and to assess how these factors impact biomass production in water stress environments. Five irrigation levels were investigated: a full irrigation treatment with a water depth of 60 mm (I1), and four deficit irrigation treatments with depths of 50 (I2), 40 (I3), 30 (I4) and 20 mm (I5). Crop water stress index values indicated treatments I2 and I3 caused mild water stress while I4 and I5 caused severe stress. Water deficits significantly (p<0.05) reduced leaf area index compared to full irrigation. The reduction in biomass for I2 to I5 ranged between 7 and 43% relative to I1. In I1, the RUE was 3.46 g MJ-1, while mild and severe water stress significantly reduced it to 3.11 and 2.69 g MJ−1, respectively. A reduction in both intercepted photosynthetically active radiation and RUE contributed significantly to biomass reduction. Mild and severe water stress improved the WUE within range of 2 and 25% and 10 and 34%, respectively. The results suggest that in mild water stress environments, high RUE aids in minimizing production losses, and in cases of severe water stress, the reduced ability to capture and utilize radiation is compensated by improving the WUE.
Strong coast-ocean and surface-depth gradients in prokaryotic assemblage structure and activity in a coastal transition zone region

The distribution of marine Crenarchaeota Group I, marine Euryarchaeota Group II and some major groups of Bacteria (SAR 11, Roseobacter, Gammaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes) was investigated in the North Atlantic water column (surface to 2000 m depth) along a transect from the coastal waters of the NW African upwelling to the offshore waters of the Canary Coastal Transition Zone (CTZ). Catalyzed reporter deposition-fluorescence in situ hybridization (CARD-FISH) was used to describe the prokaryotic assemblages. Bulk picoplankton abundance and leucine incorporation were determined. Pronounced changes in prokaryotic assemblage composition were observed from the coast to the open ocean and at the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM) with decreasing bulk het- erotrophic activity. All bacterial groups decreased in absolute abundances from the coast to the open ocean; both archaeal groups increased towards the open ocean. Prokaryotic abundance and activity decreased 2 and 3 orders of magnitude, respectively, from the surface to 2000 m. Prokaryotic growth rates were high in the mesopelagic zone (~0.13 d -1 ), compared to other reports from the central North Atlantic. SAR11 in total picoplankton abundance decreased from 42% in the DCM to 4% at 2000 m, while marine Crenarchaeota Group I increased from 1% in the DCM to 39% in the oxygen minimum layer. A clear influence of the different intermediate water masses was observed on the bulk hetero- trophic picoplankton activity, with lower leucine incorporation rates corresponding to layers where patches of Antarctic Intermediate Water were detected. Coast-ocean and surface-depth gradients in bulk prokaryotic abundance and production and assemblage composition were comparable to changes observed in basin-scale studies, pinpointing the CTZs as regions of strong variability in microbial diversity and metabolism.
Growth and maturation of the ghost shrimp Lepidophthalmus sinuensis Lemaitre and Rodrigues , 1991 ( Crustacea , Decapoda , Callianassidae ) , a burrowing pest in penaeid shrimp culture ponds *

In northern South America, the ghost shrimp Lepidophthalmus sinuensis Lemaitre and Rodrigues has been found restricted to oligohaline estuaries on the Caribbean coast of Colombia (Lemaitre and Rodrigues, 1991). From previous study of a congeneric species, osmoregulatory capacity and tolerance of hypoxia in this genus (Felder, 1978, 1979; Felder et al., 1986) appear to exceed abilities reported in most other callianassid genera (Thompson and Pritchard, 1969; Forbes, 1974, 1978; Mukai and Koike, 1984; Posey, 1987). Such adaptation has allowed members of the genus to exploit extensively low salinity habitats, especially richly organic silty bars and banks of lower river mouths or intertidal mudflats (Felder and Manning, 1997). In L. sinuensis and some eastern Pacific congeners (Nates and Felder, 1998), this adaptation also includes sediments of tropical, estuarine ponds in which penaeid shrimp are cultured. Dense accumulations of ghost shrimp in these penaeid culture ponds are favored by their abbreviated larval development (Nates et al., 1997). At high levels of infestation by these burrowers, metabolic impacts and bioturbation appear to decrease penaeid shrimp production by reducing survival rates of postGrowth and maturation of the ghost shrimp Lepidophthalmus sinuensis Lemaitre and Rodrigues, 1991 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Callianassidae), a burrowing pest in penaeid shrimp culture ponds*
Deterministic properties of mine tremor aftershocks

Mine tremor aftershock sequences from two deep mines in the Far West Rand goldfield, South Africa, were analysed in order to determine the influence of geological and mining parameters on the risk posed by aftershocks. Mainshocks were stacked in time and space and the aftershock productivity was calculated for various subsets. Contrary to our working hypothesis, no significant differences were found between the aftershock productivity of mainshocks located in high stress areas and those located in low stress areas, or between mainshocks located in high strain-rate areas and those located in low strain-rate areas, or between mainshocks located near to geological features and those located further away from geological features. Thus, while the incidence of mainshocks may be affected by stress, strain rate and proximity of geological features, these factors do not have significant influence on aftershock productivity. Consequently, guidelines governing the time period and distance from the mainshock in which hazard is considered to be elevated need not take variations in these geological and mining parameters into account.
Investigation of the 1+1 dimensional Thirring model using the method of matrix product states

We present preliminary results of a study on the non-thermal phase structure of the (1+1) dimensional massive Thirring model, employing the method of matrix product states. Through investigating the entanglement entropy, the fermion correlators and the chiral condensate, it is found that this approach enables us to observe numerical evidence of a Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition in the model.
The Conflict between General Equilibrium and the Marshallian Cross

There is a conflict in the mechanism for price determination used in a Marshallian partial equilibrium supply and demand framework and the Walrasian general equilibrium framework. It is generally thought that partial equilibrium is a simplified approximation to the complexities of the general model. The goal of this paper is to show that there is a strong conflict between the two models - intuitions and heuristics suggested by partial equilibrium are contradicted by extensions to the general equilibrium case. We review the literature on the conflict and also provide a very simple model where partial equilibrium analysis fails completely. Several intuitively plausible remedies fail to restore partial equilibrium results. We show that Marshallian analysis can be made to work only under rather stringent conditions requiring joint production with low fixed costs and decreasing returns resulting in identical production proportions by all producers.
Clarifications on the Damping Mechanism Related to the Hunting Motion of the Wheel Axle of a High-Speed Railway Vehicle

Abstract—In order to explain the damping mechanism, related to the hunting motion of the wheel axle of a high-speed railway vehicle, a generalized dynamic model is proposed. Based on such model, analytic expressions for the damping coefficient and damped natural frequency are derived, without imposing restrictions on the ratio between the lateral and vertical creep coefficients. Influence of the travelling speed, wheel conicity, dimensionless mass of the wheel axle, ratio of the creep coefficients, ratio of the track span to the yawing diameter, etc. on the damping coefficient and damped natural frequency, is clarified.