Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Osmoregulation and sodium balance in Crangon vulgaris (Fabricius) (Crustacea, Natantia) in varying salinities

Abstract Specimens of the decapod crustacean Crangon vulgaris from the Oresund were found to be hyperosmotic in salinities below 25‰ and hypo-osmotic above this salinity. The hyperosmoticity is larger and the hypo-osmoticity smaller than earlier reported for Crangon from the North Sea. This feature is considered an adaptation to the lower salinity prevailing in Baltic waters. Sodium is maintained more concentrated to the medium up to 400 mEq/1 and less concentrated in media above this value. The ability to keep its haemolymph concentration so independent of the outer medium is made easier by a low surface permeability. Crangon adapts its haemolymph sodium to a changed outer medium already after 3–5 hours. When the animals were transferred to a higher salinity the sodium concentration in the haemolymph initially rises and decreases again after ca. 2 hours; when transferred to a lower salinity the sodium concentration decreases steadily till a new steady state is achieved.
Advanced Placement Exam Scores as a Predictor of Performance in Introductory College Biology, Chemistry and Physics Courses.

Introduction Students who take Advanced Placement (AP) examinations in high school seek the option of receiving credit for and bypassing introductory college level courses. These exams are constructed and graded by the College Entrance Examination Board (College Board) to “allow participating colleges and universities to award high school students college credit, advanced placement, or both” (College Board, 2004, p. 6). While the granting of credit or placement remains at the discretion of each individual college or university, the College Board is unequivocal in its interpretation of AP exam scores: AP Exam grades of 5 are equivalent to the top A-level work in the corresponding college course. AP Exam grades of 4 are equivalent to a range of work representing mid-level A to mid-level B performance in college. Similarly, AP Exam grades of 3 are equivalent to a range of work representing mid-level B to mid-level C performance in college (College Board, 2006, p. 1). 1 The purpose of this study is to appraise the College Board’s claim of the equivalence of Advanced Placement courses as measured by AP exam scores with the comparable college course in three science disciplines: biology, chemistry, and physics. This is a complex issue because, to some degree, AP course-taking is a sorting process that draws primarily highly motivated, high achieving students. If this self-selection effect is ignored, the outcome of AP course-taking itself may be overestimated. Dougherty, Mellor and Jian (2006a) offered the following insight: Much of those [AP] students later success in college may be due not to the AP classes themselves, but to the personal characteristics that led them to participate in the classes in the first place – better academic preparation, stronger motivation, better family advantages, and so on. These selection effects will affect any comparison of AP and non-AP students (p. 3).
Investigating the Effectiveness of an Inquiry-Based Intervention on Human Reproduction in Relation to Students’ Gender, Prior Knowledge and Motivation for Learning in Biology

Despite the importance of understanding how the human reproductive system works, adolescents worldwide exhibit weak conceptual understanding, which leads to serious risks, such as unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Studies focusing on the development and evaluation of inquiry-based learning interventions, promoting the knowledge of human reproduction, are very few. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an inquiry-based intervention on human reproduction in relation to students’ gender, prior knowledge and motivation for learning in biology. Data collection methods included students’ pre- and post-tests, evaluating students’ conceptual understanding regarding human reproduction, and measurements of students’ motivation employing the Motivational Learning Environment survey. The sample for the pre- and post-test conceptual understanding data included the whole population of the 7th graders in Cyprus (n = 6465). Students’ motivation data were collected from a representative sample of the entire 7th graders population (n = 946 students). Statistical analyses indicated a statistically significant increase in students’ conceptual understanding as well as in their motivation for learning in biology. However, students’ gender, prior knowledge and initial motivation for learning in biology seemed to mediate the effectiveness of the inquiry-based intervention. All of these variables are deemed, therefore, as of great importance for the design, implementation and evaluation of biology teaching interventions.
Systemic resistance induced by rhizosphere bacteria

Nonpathogenic rhizobacteria can induce a systemic resistance in plants that is phenotypically similar to pathogen induced systemic acquired resistance Rhizobacteria mediated induced systemic resistance has been demonstrated against fungi,bacteria,and viruses in Arabidopis,bean,camation,cucumber,radish,tobacco and tomato under conditions in which the inducing bacteria and the challenging pathogen remained spatially separated Bacteria induce plants to produce the JA and ethylene to develop the ISR And ISR is effective under field conditions and offers a natural mechanism for biological control of plant disease
Hearing in the speckled wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae)

Research on butterfly communication has focused primarily on vision and chemoreception, while the role of hearing remains largely unexplored. The first objective of this study was to investigate the morphology, physiology, and function o f the Vogel’s organ in Pararge aegeria (Satyrinae). Vogel’s organ occurs at the base of the forewing and features the typical morphology of a tympanal hearing organ. Physiological recordings of the tympanal nerve reveal broadband sensitivity in the range of 1 kHz 18 kHz. A best frequency was found at 6.5 kHz (best threshold at 56 dB SPL and median threshold at 70.4 dB SPL). In conjunction with analysis of bird flight sounds, the results support the hypothesis that this Vogel’s organ functions to detect avian predators. Secondly, the morphology and taxonomic distribution of Vogel’s organ was explored in Satyrinae. Vogel’s organ was found throughout this subfamily and a diversity of morphological forms implies functional diversity. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgements I would like to thank my committee, Dr. Tom Sherratt and Dr. John Lewis, and my supervisor, Dr. Jayne Yack for all of their suggestions and recommendations. Further thanks to Jayne Yack for always making time for “quick” meetings, her early mornings and weekends reading my lengthy drafts, and her endless support, academic and otherwise, over the last four years. Working for Dr. Yack has been a life-changing experience, she will continue to be a constant source of inspiration and motivation and has taught me much more than a love for Leps. The Yack lab members deserve many thanks for their assistance. For the bird recordings, a special thanks goes out to Karla Lane for her assistance in the field and Katie Lucas and Abeer Sami for calibrating the microphones. I would also like to extend a special thank-you to Sarah Brown for sharing all of the wonderful experiences of being a graduate student without whom I might not have made it through. I would also like to thank Dr. Jeff Dawson for always being there to offer advice on everything and his much appreciated acoustic expertise. Thank-you to my new supervisor, Dr. James O’Hara, for taking me on and so generously allowing me to finish my thesis while beginning my position with him at AAFC. I would like thank my family for all of their encouragement and support over years and for doing their best to get excited with me about insects. A very special thanks for Matt for all his love and support and for motivating me to finish my thesis and finally move on from student life. I am very grateful to Jake Miall, Melanie Gibbs, Dr. Hans Van Dyck, and Dr. Christer Wiklund for providing P. aegeria specimens, without whom this project would not have been possible. Thank-you also to the generous and helpful sources of specimens
Características físicas, nutricionales y capacidad germinativa de frijol criollo bajo estrés hídrico

El género Phaseolus se encuentra ampliamente distribuido en el país, en una variedad de condiciones edafoclimáticas, esto ha permitido que los agricultores del estado de Oaxaca, dada su orografía seleccionen materiales que se adapten a sus particulares condiciones. El presente trabajo se realizó en el Instituto Tecnológico del Valle de Oaxaca (ITVO), con la finalidad de evaluar colectas de semillas de frijoles criollos (Phaseolus vulgaris y Phaseolus lunatus) procedentes de los Valles Centrales de Oaxaca en cuanto a sus características físicas, nutrimentales y capacidad de germinación bajo condiciones de estrés hídrico, generado por la adición de osmolitos en el medio de germinación. Se pudo observar una variación biológica en cuanto a características físicas relacionadas con tamaño, color y peso. Los resultados indican que en relación a su composición nutricional estas colectas presentan contenidos de proteínas, grasas y fibra cruda en porcentajes similares a los reportados en otros estudios. La capacidad germinativa varió entre las colectas aun en condiciones normales (control), el valor más bajo lo presentó la colecta frijolón (52.5%), mientras que las colectas negro delgado, blanco delgado, negro grueso y colorado tuvieron el porcentaje de germinación mas alto en condiciones limitantes de agua. El PEG fue el osmolito que más redujo la capacidad germinativa de las semillas, y en el caso de sacarosa se observó que ésta favoreció el porcentaje de germinación con respecto al resto de los osmolitos utilizados.
Promoters, enhancers and insulators for improved mosquito transgenesis

Promoters, Enhancers and Insulators for Improved Mosquito Transgenesis. (August 2005) Christine Elizabeth Gray, B.S., DePaul University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Craig J. Coates Low level and variable transgene expression plague efforts to produce and characterize transgenic lines in many species. When transformation efficiency is high, productive transgenic lines can be generated with reasonable effort. However, most efforts to date in mosquitoes have resulted in suboptimal levels of transformation. This, coupled with the large space and intensive labor requirements of mosquito colony maintenance makes the optimization of transformation in mosquitoes a research priority. This study proposes two strategies for improving transgene expression and transformation efficiency. The first is to explore exogenous promoter/enhancer combinations to direct expression of either the transgene itself, or the transposase required for insertion of the transgene into the genome. An extension of this strategy is to investigate the use of a powerful viral transactivating protein and its cognate enhancer to further increase expression of these targets. The second strategy involves the identification of an endogenous boundary element for use in insulating transgenes and their associated regulatory elements. This would mitigate the inappropriate expression or silencing of many transgenes inserted into “unfavorable” genomic environments as a
Calvo vs Menu Cost: A Micro-Macro Approach to Discriminate Among Models for Policy Analysis

We propose a new methodology to discriminate among models that uses both micro and macro moments to discipline model choice. The key insight lies in using macro moments conditional on micro moments to discipline the response of the main variable of interest following a key policy shock. Some of the micro moments may be sufficient statistics. In an application to discriminate among leading price-setting models, Calvo and menu cost, we show that both Calvo and menu cost models match key micro price moments. However, only Calvo replicates the irrelevance of kurtosis for monetary non-neutrality following a monetary policy shock. Our menu cost model can match the irrelevance of kurtosis, but at the cost of missing key micro price moments. JEL classification: E13, E31, E32
Taxonomic studies on Zingiber (Zingiberaceae) in China I: Zingiber kerrii and the synonymy of Z. menghaiense and Z. stipitatum

A general introduction to Zingiber is provided, along with an outline of the materials and methods used in this paper and which are to be used in our subsequent taxonomic studies on Zingiber in China. Based on an investigation of the protologues, and on comparisons of both the type specimens and living materials collected from the type localities and their immediate vicinities, Zingiber stipitatum S.Q. Tong and Z. menghaiense S.Q. Tong are here reduced to synonymy under Z. kerrii Craib. A previous lectotypification of Zingiber kerrii is discussed and amended. The existence of mixed collections among the isotypes of Zingiber stipitatum is highlighted and a proposal to exclude the vegetative parts belonging to Z. neotruncatum from the type material is made. A description and a colour plate of Zingiber kerrii based on a collection from China are provided.
Occupational human capital and earnings losses of displacedworkers: does the degree of similarity between pre- and postdisplacement

Zusammenfassung In dieser Arbeit werden die Auswirkungen akkumulierten Humankapitals, insbesondere beruflichen Humankapitals, auf die Einkommensverluste freigesetzter Arbeitskräfte untersucht. Abweichend zu den meisten früheren Studien zu Arbeitsplatzverlusten nutzt diese Arbeit die durchgängige Messgröße der Übertragbarkeit beruflicher Kenntnisse, um die Ähnlichkeit von Beschäftigungen vor und nach dem Arbeitsplatzverlust von wiederbeschäftigten freigesetzten Arbeitskräften zu messen. Unter Nutzung der Displaced Worker Survey (DWS) der Jahre 2004, 2006, 2008 und 2010 ist die wichtigste Erkenntnis dieser Arbeit, dass Einkommensverluste nach einem Arbeitsplatzverlust eine starke Korrelation mit dem Ähnlichkeitsgrad zwischen den Beschäftigungen vor und nach dem Arbeitsplatzverlust aufweisen. Freigesetzte Arbeitskräfte, die Beschäftigungen finden, die ihren früheren Beschäftigungen ähneln, haben geringere Einkommensverluste als diejenigen, die weniger ähnliche Beschäftigungen finden. Diese Beziehung ist insofern nicht linear, als eine höhere Übertragbarkeit von Kenntnissen die Einkommensverluste bei steigender Übertragbarkeit von beruflichen Kenntnissen in sinkendem Maße reduziert. Die weitere Analyse zeigt außerdem die positive Beziehung zwischen Einkommen vor dem Arbeitsplatzverlust und dem Grad der beruflichen Ähnlichkeit.
Who Is Next: Patient Prioritization Under Emergency Department Blocking

In “Who Is Next: Patient Prioritization Under Emergency Department Blocking,” Li, Sun, and Hong study how physicians and nurses choose the next patient for treatment in hospital emergency departments (EDs). Using data from a tertiary hospital in Alberta, Canada, they conduct an empirical investigation and find that both clinical factors and resource constraints are considered in patient-prioritization decisions. In particular, discharged patients are prioritized when ED beds are increasingly occupied by boarding patients so as to avoid further blocking the ED. A stylized model is developed to explain the rationale behind the prioritization behavior. Using a simulation study, they show such behavior can improve ED operations by reducing the average patient waiting time and length of stay without adding extra capacity, which results in significant cost savings for hospitals.
Managerial Ownership and Dividend Policy of Non-Financial Companies Listed on Indonesian Stock Exchange

This study aims at examining the influence of managerial ownership on the dividend policy of non-financial companies listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange during the period of 2002–2018. Employing a descriptive and verificative method, this study uses purposive sampling of 128 companies for a 17-year period, with 2,025 units of observational data. The statistical analysis of multiple data panel regression shows that managerial ownership is negatively related and is significant to dividend policy. Similarly, firm size and profitability are positively related and are significant to dividend policy. On the other hand, leverage shows a negative and significant relation to dividend policy. The implication of this finding theoretically accepts the agency theory, which states that dividends can be used to minimise agency cost.
Clinical features and treatment of 140 cases of Marjolin's ulcer at a major burn center in southwest China

Marjolin's ulcer is a type of malignant tumor that occurs in scar tissue. The present study aimed to summarize and analyze the aetiology, clinical characteristics, treatment methods, metastasis and prognosis of this disease. A total of 140 cases of Marjolin's ulcer encountered at the Institute of Burn Research, Southwest Hospital (Chongqing, China) between January 2013 and December 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic data, clinical characteristics, occurrence of bone invasion and lymph node metastasis, as well as treatment and prognosis were statistically analyzed. Among the 140 patients, the initial injury or primary disease occurred at 1–75 years of age, while Marjolin's ulcer occurred at 15–85 years of age (mean, 53.3±1.2 years). The mean latency period was 28.8±1.7 years. The most common initial injury of the patients was flame burns, followed by skin masses, trauma, skin ulcerations caused by repeated scratching/friction, and scalding. The age at onset of initial injury or disease in patients had a significantly negative correlation with the latency period (P<0.01). The most common lesion locations were the lower limbs (42.1%), followed by the head, face and neck (34.5%). Of the 140 patients, 46 cases (32.9%) had bone invasion, 33 cases (23.6%) had lymph node enlargement and only 5 cases (3.6%) had lymph node metastasis. The skull was the bone that was most susceptible to Marjolin's ulcer invasion. The prevalence of bone invasion in patients with head, face and neck lesions was significantly higher than that in patients with lesions in other locations (P<0.01). The surgical methods applied were skin grafting, local flap repair, amputation and island flap repair. In the 65 cases who underwent follow-up, recurrence mainly occurred within 1 year after surgery. In conclusion, Marjolin's ulcer mainly occurred in males and was a scar carcinoma after a flame burn in most cases. Autologous skin grafting and local skin flap repair were the major repair methods. The peak period of recurrence was within one year after surgery and patients should receive regular follow-ups.
Pattern Classification Using NNTree: Design and Application for Biological Dataset

Recent advancement and wide use of high-throughput technologies for biological research are producing enormous size of biological datasets distributed worldwide. Pattern classification techniques and machine learning methods provide useful tools for knowledge discovery in this field. The goal of this paper is to present the design and application of a neural network tree (NNTree) based pattern classifier to mine biological datasets. An NNTree is a hybrid-learning model with the overall structure being a decision tree (DT), and each non-terminal node containing a neural network (NN). Demon-strating its success in splice-junction and gene identification problems provides the effectiveness of this approach. Extensive experimental results establish that the proposed classifier produces more accurate classifier than that have previously been obtained for a range of different sequence lengths; thereby indicating a cost-effective alternative in splice-junction and protein coding region identification problem
Structure of water mite taxocoenoses in two northwestern Argentinean subtropical sub-catchments

Abstract Hydrachnidia water mites were examined in eight streams with similar chemistry from two sub-catchments that did not differ with respect to precipitation predictability (P>0.05). This study describes the structure of this taxonomic segment of the invertebrate community as species diversity, relative abundance, and composition. Twenty-two water mite species were found in this study. Following rarefaction to sub-samples of 170 individuals, expected richness for these eight subtropical streams was lower (E<16) than found for a tropical stream (E=23). Species composition and the log-normal distribution of species were similar in the two subcatchments. However, richness and diversity show significant differences between the two sub-catchments (P<0.05). The results suggest that similar seasonal rainfall pattern (contingency>65%) does not guarantee similar patterns of diversity and richness in neighboring sub-catchments.
BIOLOGY OF THE CALIFORNIA SEA-MUSSEL (MYTILUS CALIFORNIANUS). III. ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS AND RATE OF GROWTH

This study offers additional evidence as to the complexity of the environmental conditions found along the shores of the ocean and which affect so profoundly the lives of the organisms residing there. Variations in the growth rates will obviously depend upon the interaction of several of these conditions, not the least important of which are the temperature and the character and abundance of the food supply.Furthermore these environmental conditions are constantly changing, due in part to the continual motion of the water. At the locality where the foregoing observations were made, there are not only the variable currents caused by wind and tidal changes, but there is also a drift along the coast at a rate averaging four to five miles per day. Consequently the water in which the mussels are living and the conditions associated therewith may differ not only from month to month but also from day to day and even from hour to hour. In one week there may be ten to fifty times as much phytoplankton in the water.
Effect of Lanthanum on the Flavonoids in the Soybean Seeding Under Ultraviolet-B Stress:II Effect on Content of Flavonoids

Effect of La (Ⅲ) on the composition of flavonoid in the soybean seedlings under elevated ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B, 280~320 nm) was studied by liquid chromatography. The purpose was to explain the mechanism of alleviating damage of UV-B radiation stress to soybean seedling by flavonoid and La (Ⅲ). UV-B radiation doses of 0.15 W·cm-2 and 0.45 W·cm-2 were used. The results showed that La (Ⅲ) (20 mg·L-1) could increase the content of flavonoid in soybean seedlings, but could not change flavonoid composition. UV-B radiation could also increase the content of flavonoid, but the mechanism differed from La (Ⅲ) treatment. The flavonoid content in soybean seedlings did not change at low dose of UV-B (0.15 W·cm-2), but its composition was modified at high dose (0.45 W·cm-2) and more types of flavonoid were synthesized. The flavonoid content in La+UV-B treatment group was similar with the corresponding UV-B group, but increased more than the latter in the corresponding periods. Therefore, La (Ⅲ) could increase the flavonoid content in soybean seedlings, and then alleviate the damage of UV-B to soybean seedling. However, the flavonoid content could not represent completely the plant ability of resistance to UV-B radiation, the composition of flavonoid also played an important role in the plant resistance to UV-B radiation.