Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Body‐size determinants of niche overlap and intraguild predation within a complex food web

Summary 1. Body-size may be an important feature of the structure of food webs. Detailed food web data are however scarce, particularly those including ontogenetic dietary shifts within species. We examined the predator guild in a well characterized food web, that of Broadstone Stream (UK), to assess the importance of body-size within and among species in relation to intraguild predation and niche overlap. 2. In agreement with recent food web theory, mutual predation and cannibalism were frequent and occurred in many pairwise permutations. This intraguild predation was strongly asymmetric, being determined by relative body-size within and among species, and seasonal ‘ontogenetic reversals’ in trophic status arose when generations overlapped. 3. Predator size determined dietary overlap, with ontogenetic shifts often outweighing taxonomic differences. Small predators had the narrowest diets, regardless of species, and were limited to feeding on a restricted subset of the total prey size-spectrum. Niche overlap decreased as pairwise differences in body-size increased among and within species. Overlap in diet also tracked seasonal changes in resource availability, being highest in summer, when prey were abundant and small, and declining progressively over time, as prey became scarcer and/or larger. The small predators also became more detritivorous as prey abundance declined and the larger prey species attained size-refugia. 4. The body-size constraints driving feeding relationships within the predator guild, in terms of both resource partitioning and intraguild predation, lend support to recent niche models of food web structure (Warren 1996; Williams & Martinez 2000). The highly interconnected food web of Broadstone Stream appeared to be structured by relatively simple rules, with seasonal and ontogenetic shifts in the size-spectrum accounting for most of the changes in predator diet and trophic position. Encounter rate in time (prey and predator mobility) and space (microhabitat use) and foraging mode also influenced prey vulnerability and niche overlap, but were secondary to the effect of body-size.
Comparative Effectiveness of Some Acaricides used to Control Varroa destructor (Mesostigmata: Varroidae) in Algeria

In this study the effectiveness of two synthetic (Bayvarol and Apivar) and two natural acaricides (Apiguard and ApiLife Var) against Varroa destructor were evaluated with use of infested colonies of Apis mellifera intermissa, housed in Langstroth standard hives. Each acaricide was tested in five hives, and one group of five hives was left untreated as the control. All acaricides significantly reduced the levels of varroa mite infestation on adult honeybees and worker brood, but the efficacy was higher for Apiguard (93–97 %) and ApiLife Var (94–98 %) compared to Bayvarol (85–90 %) and Apivar (82–88 %). Overall, the data indicated that essential oils like Apiguard and ApiLife Var can be recommended in the control of V. destructor, while synthetic varroacides like Bayvarol and Apivar should be minimized due to increased mite resistance for these products.
Fine Mapping and Candidate Gene Discovery of the Soybean Mosaic Virus Resistance Gene, Rsv4

Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) is a prevalent virus infecting soybean (Glycine max L. Merr) worldwide. The incorporation of Rsv4, conferring resistance to all currently known strains in the United States, can assist in creating durable virus resistance in soybean. Additionally, lines heterozygous at the Rsv4 locus often express a late susceptible phenotype, showing symptoms only in mid to late vegetative growth. In this study the whole‐genome shotgun sequence (WGS) of soybean was utilized for fine mapping and examining potential Rsv4 gene candidates in two populations. Six markers, designed from the WGS, were used to localize Rsv4 in the same, 1.3‐cM region in both mapping populations, a physical interval of less than 100 kb on chromosome 2. This region contained no sequences previously related to virus resistance, namely nucleotide binding site‐leucine rich repeat gene sequences or eukaryotic translation initiation factors. Instead, sequence analysis revealed several predicted transcription factors and unknown protein products. We conclude that Rsv4 likely belongs to a new class of resistance genes that interfere with viral infection and cell‐to‐cell movement, and delay vascular movement.
High Vancomycin MIC and Complicated Methicillin-Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia

We conducted a retrospective study of 99 patients with methicillin-suseptible Staphylococcus aureus catheter-related bacteremia in which vancomycin MIC was determined by Etest. High vancomycin MIC (>1.5 μg/mL) was the only independent risk factor for development of complicated bacteremia caused by methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (odds ratio 22.9, 95% confidence interval 6.7–78.1).
Evaluation of fall applied liquid swine manure with encapsulated nitrapyrin

Fall applied liquid swine (Sus scrofa domesticus) manure (LSM) can lead to economic and environmental concerns due to potentially enhanced NO3 loss. Objectives of this study were to evaluate LSM application timing and use of Instinct nitrification inhibitor, and compare to anhydrous ammonia (AA). Treatments were a no-N control, AA (without Instinct), and LSM with three Instinct rates applied each of 3 yr on October 1 (early fall) and November 1 (late fall). The effect of Instinct was inconsistent. Instinct increased soil NH4–N concentrations in fall (only early fall LSM application) and spring sampled LSM injection zones. However, in the late spring Instinct had no effect to minimal positive effect on soil
Global Practical Tracking Via Adaptive Output Feedback for Uncertain Nonlinear Systems Without Polynomial Constraint

This article investigates global practical output tracking via adaptive output feedback for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems. Remarkably, the control problem under investigation is in the context of unknown control directions and output feedback, which severely restricts the system nonlinearities. Nevertheless, the growth on the unknown system nonlinearities in this article is extended from polynomial (of output) to arbitrary function, and meanwhile no further a priori information is required on the reference signal to be tracked. Specifically, sufficiently smooth pseudosign and pseudo-dead-zone functions are introduced acting as substitutions of sign and dead-zone functions in the literature, respectively. Typically, based on the pseudo-dead-zone function, a delicate estimate on the unknown system nonlinearities is established and a novel Lyapunov function is proposed. This, together with the elegant system performance analysis, is quite critical to remove the polynomial constraint and overcome the technical obstacle stemming from the essential extension. Additionally owing to the two refined functions, the use of smooth domination/treatment is moderately avoided in control design that enables the established control strategy to be tighter and less conservative. It turns out that under the proposed adaptive output-feedback controller, all the closed-loop system states are globally bounded, while the system tracking error enters a prescribed $\boldsymbol {\lambda }$ neighborhood of the origin in finite time and remains inside thereafter. A simulation example illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
The diet of pelagic loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) off the Balearic archipelago (western Mediterranean): relevance of long-line baits

Gut content and stable isotope analyses were used to investigate the feeding habits of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) inhabiting the Balearic archipelago. Turtles caught in the pelagic realm (δ13C: -16.0±0.6‰ and δ15N: 8.5±0.9‰) and turtles caught on the continental shelf (δ13C: -16.7±0.6‰ and δ15N: 8.4±1.3‰) did not differ in their isotopic signatures, suggesting that their diets include the same prey types. A mixing model revealed that for the turtles here analysed, squid and the jellyfish Cotylorhiza tuberculata were the most relevant prey, although stomach contents analysis revealed that carnivorous jellyplankton, neuston, fish and other cephalopods were also consumed. Gut content analysis also indicated that most of the prey identified, including all fish and most cephalopods, were of pelagic origin. Thus, loggerhead sea turtles inhabiting central regions of the western Mediterranean appear to seldom exploit benthic prey, even while on the continental shelf.
Density of pheromone sources of the weaver ant Oecophylla longinoda affects oviposition behaviour and damage by mango fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae)

As damage by the fruit flies Bactrocera invadens and Ceratitis cosyra is significantly reduced in mango trees with weaver ants, but we rarely observed adult flies being captured, we investigated whether Oecophylla pheromones affect fruit fly oviposition behaviour. Mangoes were collected within 1 m and 1–3 m distance from ant nests, and from ant-free trees. Using both choice and no-choice tests, fruit flies were allowed to oviposit on fruits for 72 h in the absence of ants. Flies landed significantly more and spent more time on fruit from ant-free than from ant-colonized trees. The density of ant pheromone sources significantly affected the oviposition time and the number of fruit fly pupae collected per kg fruit under greenhouse conditions. However, field data did not show any difference in damage for fruit collected within 1 m and 1–3 m distance from ant nests, suggesting that physical or visual mechanisms complement the repellencey effect of ant pheromones against fruit flies.
Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer Patient Preferences for First-Line Treatment: A Discrete Choice Experiment

Background. There has been much innovation in the treatment of non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in recent years. In particular, use of immuno-oncology (IO) therapies has been growing. Methods. Patients with NSCLC in the United States were surveyed online using a discrete choice experiment to elicit first-line (1L) treatment preferences across six treatment attributes: survival, adverse events (AEs), mechanism of action (MOA), subsequent treatment options (STOs), genetic testing treatment delay, and out-of-pocket cost (OOPC). Preferences were estimated using a latent-class model. Preference shares were estimated for IO-IO, IO-chemo, and chemo-like regimens. Results. Of the 199 patients who completed the survey, 55% were male, 76% were white, 19% had not begun or were on 1L treatment, and the median age was 43 years. Based on a latent-class model with 3 preference classes, 53.0% of patients considered survival and OOPC alone and were less likely to choose an option with a higher OOPC and lower survival, 12.7% of patients were likely to choose the more expensive option, and for 34.3% of patients, survival, AE risk, and treatment delays all significantly influenced choices. MOA and STOs did not significantly influence treatment choices in any preference class. Approximately 53%, 27%, and 20% of patients preferred IO-IO-like, IO-chemo-like, and chemo-like regimens in 1L, respectively. Respondents were younger, more likely to be Caucasian, and more likely to speak English than the general NSCLC patient population. Conclusions. OOPC, effectiveness, treatment delays, and safety influenced NSCLC patients’ 1L treatment decisions, and most patients preferred an IO-IO followed by IO-chemo-like regimen in 1L. Cancer treatment decisions are complex and patient preferences are unique; therefore, patients’ treatment objectives should be discussed in shared treatment decision making.
Isozymes of the Isoetes riparia Complex, II. Ancestry and Relationships of Polyploids

Abstract Isoetes riparia is a complex tetraploid taxon of eastern North America that in its widest sense includes a diversity of morphotypes variously segregated, or included in a single polymorphic species. Although the diploid ancestry of I. riparia has been proposed as I. echinospora × engelmannii, it is uncertain whether this ancestry applies to all elements of the complex, here broadly defined to encompass three segregates of I. riparia and the recently described I. hyemalis (referred to informally as riparia, canadensis, saccharata and hyemalis). To help clarify relationships among these tetraploids, isozyme genotypes for 13 loci coding eight enzymes, were determined for 16 populations representing all four segregates. Duplicate gene expression, evidenced as fixed heterozygosity consistent with allopolyploidy, characterized the tetraploid genotypes of all taxa. Although exhibiting modest to no variation within populations, populations were highly differentiated, most showing a unique combination of alleles for their multilocus genotypes, with the exception of five genetically identical Canadian populations. Ancestry was evaluated through comparison to diploid genotypes previously reported. A quantitative approach was carried out to rank likelihoods for hypothetical ancestral combinations of diploids for each tetraploid population. The ancestry I. echinospora × engelmannii hypothesized for I. riparia was unequivocally supported for the six populations of the most northern segregate, canadensis. Diploid ancestries for the remaining 10 more southern populations were less certain, although the diploid I. mattaponi was implicated as a likely ancestor for most. Most likely ancestry for populations of riparia/saccharata was inferred as I. valida × mattaponi, and for hyemalis as I. mattaponi × flaccida. However, these hypotheses were only slightly more likely than other combinations. UPGMA analysis using Rogers' similarity resulted in three clusters corresponding to canadensis, riparia/saccharata, and hyemalis. However, the hyemalis cluster was weakly associated and was not supported by UPGMA using Nei's identity. These highly variable tetraploid genotypes suggest a complicated evolutionary history for the I. riparia complex that probably involved a combination of diverse ancestry, multiple origins, divergence, and gene silencing. Communicating Editor: Anita Cholewa
Growth and insect assays of Beauveria bassiana with neem to test their compatibility and synergism

Abstract Beauveria bassiana is being used as a biopesticide for many insect pests. Neem oil (azadirachtin) is an eco-safe popular botanical pesticide. A biopesticde with a neem compatible isolate of B. bassiana will enable their simultaneous use in pest management. A sample of 30 isolates of B. bassiana from culture collections was screened for compatibility with a commercial formulation of neem oil (Margoside®) at the field recommended dose (0.3%, v/v). Compatibility was tested in vitro through germination and growth assays. In all isolates, conidial germination was delayed but not significantly decreased by neem. In the growth assays, 23 isolates were found compatible with neem. In the neem sensitive isolates, growth was decreased but not totally inhibited. The effect of combined treatment with B. bassiana and neem in comparison to single treatments with either of them on Spodoptera litura Fabricius was tested in laboratory bioassays. The combined treatment was found to have synergistic effect on insect mortality when a B. bassiana isolate compatible with neem was used, while, with an isolate sensitive to neem, an antagonistic effect was observed.
Localization of Cysteine Protease, Cathepsin S, to the Surface of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells by Association with Integrin ανβ3

Smooth muscle cell (SMC) migration from the tunica media to the intima, a key event in neointimal formation, requires proteolytic degradation of elastin-rich extracellular matrix barriers. Although cathepsin S (Cat S) is overexpressed in atherosclerotic and neointimal lesions, its exact role in SMC behavior remains primarily unresolved. We examined the involvement of Cat S on SMC migration through an extracellular matrix barrier and its localization in SMCs. A selective Cat S inhibitor and the endogenous inhibitor cystatin C significantly attenuated SMC invasion across elastin gel. Western blotting and cell surface biotinylation analysis demonstrated localization of the 28-kd active form of Cat S on the SMC surface, consistent with its role in the proteolysis of subcellular matrices. Treatment with interferon-γ or interleukin-β1 significantly augmented the ability of SMC membranes to degrade elastin along with a significant increase in the level of active Cat S compared with controls. Immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy showed a punctuated pattern of Cat S clusters at the periphery of SMCs; further studies demonstrated partial co-localization of Cat S and integrin ανβ3 at the cell surfaces. These findings demonstrate that active Cat S co-localizes with integrin ανβ3 as a receptor on the SMC surface, playing an important role in the invasive behavior of SMCs.
Analysis of high yielding, early-planted soybean in Indiana.

A trend toward early planting of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ] in Indiana results in higher yield, but the limit to which a positive response to early planting occurs has not been evaluated. Our objective was to determine how early planting affects yield components and seed composition of indeterminate soybean planted in late March through early June in Indiana. Three cultivars (Pioneer brand 92M61, Becks brand 321NRR, and Becks brand 367NRR) were sown at six planting dates (late March through early June) in West Lafayette, IN, in 2006 and 2007. Across cultivars, yield in 2006 ranged between 4.24 to 4.43 Mg ha -1 at the planting dates from late March to mid-May, and decreased to 3.36 and 3.56 Mg ha -1 at later planting dates. In 2007, yield ranged from 4.21 to 4.44 Mg ha -1 for the 10 April, 30 April, and 9 May planting dates. Yield was reduced at the late March and early June plantings and ranged from 3.85 to 3.99 Mg ha -1 . Path analysis revealed that pods m -2 had the greatest impact on yield, but seed mass was also an important constituent. Mean oil concentration decreased approximately 12 g kg -1 as planting was delayed in both years. In 2006, average seed protein concentration varied by planting date. In 2007, mean protein concentration increased 14 g kg -1 as planting was delayed. Delaying planting until late May or early June altered seed composition slightly, but significantly reduced yield. Planting in April or early May is an effective management strategy to increase soybean yield in Indiana.
Insights into size, seasonality and biology of a nesting population of the Olive Ridley turtle in northern Australia

The Olive Ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), classed as endangered in Australia, is one of Australia’s least studied marine turtles and is little known in the south-east Asian region. This is the first detailed study of the nesting biology and ecology of L. olivacea in Australia or south-east Asia, which adds to the regional knowledge of the species and will aid management locally. Daytime surveys of nesting tracks at 14-day intervals in 2004 and irregular surveys in 2005 indicated that the nesting season extended from February to November with peak nesting in April and May. Daily track counts over a 14-day period in April 2004 during peak nesting showed that nesting abundance varied between nights and along the beach. Nightly numbers ranged from 2 to 59 turtles per night over the 10-km beach while, spatially, nesting densities (0.1–6.9 tracks km–1 night–1) varied between sectors. Nesting in this population was solitary, as opposed to the mass nesting behaviour of L. olivacea observed elsewhere in its range, such as in India, Mexico and Costa Rica. The size of nesting L. olivacea was normally distributed with a mean curved carapace length of 69.6 ± 2.3 (s.d.) cm (range = 65.0–75.2, n = 85). During the peak of the nesting season dingoes (Canis lupus dingo) were responsible for the highest egg mortality (over 14%), followed by varanids (Varanus spp., 4.5%) and humans (1.7%). Cyclone Ingrid caused significant egg loss in 2004. Saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) were a significant predator of adult nesting turtles.
Deadly Debt Crises: Covid-19 in Emerging Markets

Emerging markets have experienced large human and economic costs from COVID-19, and their tight fiscal space has limited the support extended to their citizens. We study the impact of an epidemic on economic and health outcomes by integrating epidemiological dynamics into a sovereign default model. The sovereign’s option to default tightens fiscal space and results in an epidemic with limited mitigation and depressed consumption. A quantitative analysis of our model accounts well for the dynamics of fatalities, social distancing, consumption, sovereign debt, and spreads in Latin America. We find that because of default risk, the welfare cost of the pandemic is about a third higher than it is in a version of the model with perfect financial markets. We study debt relief programs and find a compelling case for their implementation. These programs deliver large social gains, improving health and economic outcomes for the country at no cost to international lenders or financial institutions.
Speech Bandwidth Expansion For Speaker Recognition On Telephony Audio

Practical applications often require speaker recognition systems to work well for audio ﬁles of different sampling rates. However, the performance of speaker recognition systems degrades substantially under a mismatched audio sampling rate between the training and testing conditions. For example, wideband speaker recognition models trained on audio ﬁles with a 16kHz sampling rate perform poorly on telephony audio with an 8kHz sampling rate due to the missing higher frequency information. In this paper, we propose a Deep Neural Network (DNN) based system to estimate the speech spectrum in the frequencies above 4kHz for narrowband 8kHz telephony audio. We train the proposed system on speech datasets processed using various simulated telephony codecs. Additionally, we perform speaker recognition experiments by using the bandwidth expansion sys-tem as a preprocessor for speaker veriﬁcation using wideband models. The evaluation datasets used for speaker veriﬁcation are codec-degraded downsampled Voxceleb1 and SITW, and the NIST SRE 2010 10s-10s condition. We see a signiﬁcant improvement in the results compared to a simple upsampling with interpolation and low-pass ﬁltering. Additionally, these promising experiments show that the proposed bandwidth expansion system can be used successfully as a data augmentation for training speaker embedding systems.
Fixed‐time observer based adaptive neural network time‐varying formation tracking control for multi‐agent systems via minimal learning parameter approach

This study proposes a novel control scheme to investigate the time-varying formation tracking control problem for multi-agent systems with model uncertainties and the absence of leader's velocity measurements. For each agent, a novel fixed-time cascaded leader state observer (CLSO) without velocity measurements is first designed to reconstruct the states of the leader. Radial basis function neural networks (RBFNNs) are adopted to deal with the model uncertainties online. Taking the square of the norm of the NN weight vector as a newly developed adaptive parameter, a novel RBFNN-based adaptive control scheme with minimal learning-parameter approach and fixed-time CLSO is then constructed to tackle the time-varying formation tracking problem. The uniform ultimate boundedness property of the formation tracking error is guaranteed through Lyapunov stability analysis. Finally, two simulation scenario results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed formation tracking control scheme.