Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor-γ Regulates Murine Pyruvate Carboxylase Gene Expression in Vivo and in Vitro*

Pyruvate carboxylase (PC) plays a crucial role in various metabolic pathways, including gluconeogenesis, lipogenesis, and glucose-induced insulin secretion. Here we showed for the first time that the PC gene is transcriptionally regulated by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) in vitro and in vivo in white and brown adipose tissue. PC mRNA and protein are markedly increased during differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells and HIB-1B, in parallel with the expression of the adipogenic transcription factors, CCAAT-enhancer binding protein α, PPARγ1, and PPARγ2. Tumor necrosis factor-α, a cytokine that blocks differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells, suppressed PC expression. Co-transfection studies in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes or HEK293T cells with a 2.3-kb promoter fragment of mouse PC gene linked to a luciferase reporter construct and with plasmids overexpressing retinoid X receptor α/PPARγ1 or retinoid X receptor α/PPARγ2 showed a 6-8-fold increase above the basal promoter activity. Furthermore, treatment of these transfected cells with the PPARγ agonist doubled the promoter activity. Mutation of the putative PPAR-response element-(-386/-374) of this 2.3-kb PC promoter fragment abolished the PPARγ response. Gel shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays demonstrated that endogenous PPARγ binds to this functional PPAR-response element of the PC promoter. Mice with targeted disruption of the PPARγ2 gene displayed ∼50-60% reduction of PC mRNA and protein in white adipose tissue. Similarly, in brown adipose tissue of PPARγ2-deficient mice subjected to cold exposure, PC mRNA was 40% lower than that of wild type mice. Impaired in vitro differentiation of white adipocytes of PPARγ2 knock-out mice was also associated with a marked reduction of PC mRNA. Our findings identified PC as a PPARγ-regulated gene and suggested a role for PPARγ regulating intermediary metabolism.
Effect of modified two-step sintering approaches on Potassium Tantalum Niobate-Barium Titanate (KTN-BT) ceramics and their dielectric and piezoelectric properties

The Potassium Tantalum Niobate-Barium Titanate (KTN-BT) solid solution system ceramics with the composition 0.02K(Ta0.5Nb0.5)O3? 0.98BaTiO3 were prepared by a two-step sintering mechanism, for different sintering durations. Crystalline and microstructure analyses of the prepared samples were performed. Dielectric and piezoelectric properties were also investigated. Moreover, apparent piezoelectric constant d33 was measured using the slope of strain vs. electric field curves for these ceramics. It was observed that the high values of density, electrical conductivity, relative dielectric permittivity (? r = 3615.983), piezoelectric coefficient (d33 = 315 pm/V) and remnant polarization (Pr = 9.53 ? C/cm2) were obtained for ceramics prepared through a new variation of the conventional two-step sintering method. Finally, the relationship between sintering mechanism, microstructure and piezoelectricity was discussed for the 0.02K(Ta0.5Nb0.5)O3? 0.98BaTiO3 ceramics.
Efeitos de diferentes concentrações de nitrogênio no crescimento de Aechmea blanchetiana (Baker) L.B. Sm. cultivada in vitro

Effects of nitrogen concentrations on the growth of Aechmea blanchetiana (Baker) L.B. Sm. cultured in vitro). This work aimed to study the influence of different nitrogen concentrations (7.5; 15; 30; 60 and 120 mM) on the growth of Aechmea blanchetiana plantlets cultivated in vitro. The results showed that 7.5 mM of nitrogen in a modified liquid culture Murashige & Skoog (MS) medium was the best concentration for increasing fresh and dry mass production.
Herding for Profits: Market Breadth and the Cross-Section of Global Equity Returns

Abstract This paper shows that market breadth, i.e. the difference between the average number of rising stocks and the average number of falling stocks within a portfolio, is a robust predictor of future stock returns on market and industry portfolios for 64 countries for the period between 1973 and 2018. We link the market breadth with herd behavior and show that high market breadth portfolios significantly outperform low market breadth portfolios, and that this effect is robust to effects such as size, style, volatility, skewness, momentum, and trend-following signals. In addition, the role of market breadth is particularly strong among markets characterized by high limits to arbitrage, following bullish periods, and in collectivistic societies, supporting behavioral explanations of the phenomenon. We also examine practical implications of the effect and our results indicate that the effect may be employed for equity allocation and market timing, although frequent portfolio rebalancing can lead to higher transaction costs that may affect profitability.
Childhood autism associated with neurological manifestations and corpus callosum hypoplasia: literature review and clinical cases

Aim. To consolidate literature data and to demonstrate rare hereditary neurogenetic syndromes with various neuropsychiatric manifestations and a corpus callosum (CC) structurally reduced in size.Material and methods. Full text data from scholarly journals were used for the review. Mental and neurological disorders were studied in two examined patients with neurogenetic syndromes. A brain MRI showed that it was accompanied with CC hypoplasia. We conducted comprehensive analysis of anamnestic data as well as medical genetic, neurological, psychopathological, pathopsychological, laboratory, and instrumental examinations.Results. The presented observations testified to a burdened obstetric history, dysfunctional ante-, intra-, and postnatal periods. The first patient with the Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome was diagnosed with atypical autism associated with severe mental retardation, lack of verbal means of communication, motor stereotypes, structural focal epilepsy, cerebral palsy (CP), severe systemic speech underdevelopment; the second patient with the Prader-Willi syndrome was diagnosed with organic autism associated with mild mental retardation, impaired social adaptation in combination with stereotyped actions, impaired visual-spatial coordination, and cerebral palsy. In the first case, MRI showed posterior CC hypoplasia; in the second case, MRI showed hypoplasia of the CC isthmus.Conclusion. The level of cognitive deficit was to some extent a value associated with the thickness of the posterior CC. Apparently, a higher degree of myelination of nerve fibers contributes to a higher rate of transmission of nerve impulses along nerve fibers stimulating neurons. The results can be considered preliminary; a larger study is needed.
Investigating individual trajectories in experiencing boredom in the language classroom: The case of 11 Polish students of English

Although boredom can be regarded as a ubiquitous emotion in most educational settings, including foreign and second language classrooms, and this condition can have a detrimental effect on the process of learning, it has to a large extent escaped the attention of second language acquisition researchers dealing with individual learner differences. The study reported in this article sought to fill this gap by investigating the trajectories of boredom exhibited in a practical English class by 11 Polish university students majoring in English. The data were collected by means of a background questionnaire, the Boredom in Practical English Language Classes Questionnaire (BPELC), and an in-class boredom questionnaire, including a self-report boredom grid, an open-ended query and an evaluation of the class based on a semantic differential scale. It was found that general proneness to experience boredom in practical English classes translated into distinct patterns of boredom in the class in question. At the same time, it turned out that the individual trajectories in experiencing boredom often deviated from the general patterns, being shaped by unpredictable constellations of individual and contextual factors.
Morphological and molecular characterisation of Abyssoanthus nankaiensis,, a new family, new genus and new species of deep-sea zoanthid (Anthozoa : Hexacorallia : Zoantharia) from a north-west Pacific methane cold seep

The order Zoantharia (= Zoanthiniaria, Zoanthidea) remains one of the most taxonomically neglected anthozoan groups, primarily owing to the difficulty of examining the internal morphology of sand-encrusted zoanthids, upon which classification has been largely based until very recently. Additionally, relatively few zoanthid species (all belonging to the genus Epizoanthus) have been properly described from the deep-sea. Numerous individuals of an uniden- tified sediment-encrusting zoanthid-like species were observed and sampled during a Shinkai 6500 deep-sea submersible dive at a methane cold seep (depth 3259 m) off Muroto at the Nankai Trough, Japan. Unlike previously described deep- sea zoanthids, Abyssoanthus nankaiensis, gen. et sp. nov. (Abyssoanthidae fam. nov.) was found to be non-colonial, free-living (non-commensal), and, uniquely, on mudstone in the vicinity of a methane cold seep. Morphologically, A. nankaiensis, gen. et sp. nov. is characterised by its relatively uniform polyp diameter from oral to aboral end with 19-22 mesenteries. Additionally, DNA (mitochondrial 16S rDNA and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase c subunit I DNA) sequences obtained from these samples also unambiguously place this specimen in a previously undescribed and new family within the order Zoantharia. This is the first reported zoanthid species from a methane cold seep or other so-called 'extreme' environment, and the first molecular characterisation of any such deep-sea zoanthid.
Chemical and Biological Responses of Marl Lakes to Eutrophication

Abstract Eutrophication remains one of the foremost environmental issues threatening the quality of surface waters yet comparatively little is known of the timing, magnitude and characteristics of nutrient-related changes in highly calcareous (marl) lakes. This review focuses on marl lake ecology and chemistry, their known responses to eutrophication, and also highlights questions that remain unanswered. In good condition, marl lakes support a diversity of macrophytes, especially Characeae and Potamogetonaceae, which can grow to considerable depth. High water transparency and low phosphorus and phytoplankton concentrations are facilitated by the coprecipitation of marl and phosphorus. Although large amounts of phosphorus can be thus removed, buffering against eutrophication, macrophyte communities can undergo significant change under rather low nutrient concentrations. Maximum colonisation depth declines and tolerant species replace sensitive species, with losses particularly among charophytes. Marl lakes are therefore ecologically highly sensitive. The effects of coprecipitation on long-term burial of phosphorus are contested. Several palaeolimnological studies have identified iron complexes as more important than calcite, as chemical conditions in the sediment may promote either calcite dissolution or calcite-bound phosphorus exchange, or possibly both. Some marl lakes have been shown to have phosphorus concentrations which, compared with other lake types, are higher than expected in winter and lower in summer. The phosphorus binding capacity of marl sediment has not to our knowledge been adequately researched. Marl precipitation may be inhibited by high phosphate or organic matter concentrations in the water, or when biological communities effecting precipitation (picoplankton, charophytes, epiphytes) are disturbed. Highly impacted marl lakes having low species diversity and lacking precipitation may be misidentified as eutrophic, high-alkalinity lakes. More studies addressing the interaction between external loading, phosphorus cycling and marl precipitation in relation to biological communities are required to assess to what extent marl lakes can buffer eutrophication, and what factors contribute to disturbed marl precipitation.
Online optimal and adaptive integral tracking control for varying discrete‐time systems using reinforcement learning

Conventional closed‐form solution to the optimal control problem using optimal control theory is only available under the assumption that there are known system dynamics/models described as differential equations. Without such models, reinforcement learning (RL) as a candidate technique has been successfully applied to iteratively solve the optimal control problem for unknown or varying systems. For the optimal tracking control problem, existing RL techniques in the literature assume either the use of a predetermined feedforward input for the tracking control, restrictive assumptions on the reference model dynamics, or discounted tracking costs. Furthermore, by using discounted tracking costs, zero steady‐state error cannot be guaranteed by the existing RL methods. This article therefore presents an optimal online RL tracking control framework for discrete‐time (DT) systems, which does not impose any restrictive assumptions of the existing methods and equally guarantees zero steady‐state tracking error. This is achieved by augmenting the original system dynamics with the integral of the error between the reference inputs and the tracked outputs for use in the online RL framework. It is further shown that the resulting value function for the DT linear quadratic tracker using the augmented formulation with integral control is also quadratic. This enables the development of Bellman equations, which use only the system measurements to solve the corresponding DT algebraic Riccati equation and obtain the optimal tracking control inputs online. Two RL strategies are thereafter proposed based on both the value function approximation and the Q‐learning along with bounds on excitation for the convergence of the parameter estimates. Simulation case studies show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Development of Environmental Health Competencies through Compulsory Education. A Polyhedral Approach Based on the SDGs

This paper focuses on the competencies in environmental health acquired by students during compulsory education. Questionnaires addressing environmental health problems were completed by 923 students of primary and secondary schools from five different Spanish regions. The results for five challenging situations related to hunger, consumerism, climate change, pollution in the cities and allergies are analysed according to the internal coherence of each sub-competency, i.e., addressing knowledge, skills and attitudes towards these topics. Our results show that problems related to air and water pollution were the most commonly described by the students. Focusing on competency achievement, the higher the educational level, the higher the score students obtained, especially regarding pollution and climate change, two problems that appear directly in the school curriculum. The complexity of the concept of environmental health matches with the necessary holistic perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals in a polyhedral approach including as many factors (facets) as necessary to complete the approach to this evolving concept.
Maximum Depth and Average Depth of Lakes

By considering data of maximum depth and average depth for 107 lakes, it is suggested that an 'elliptic sinusoid' closely approximates the average shape of lake beds. The elliptic sinusoid is defined as a geometric body whose base is an ellipse such that planes perpendicular to the base ellipse passing through the centre of the latter intersect the surface of the body along troughs of sine curves. The results are capable of practical application.
Significance of Skewness in Ectotherm Thermoregulation

synopsis. Body temperature distributions of ectotherms which are free to select any en? vironmental temperature throughout a wide range usually are negatively skewed, that is, a wider range of selected temperature falls below the median than above it. This negative skewness can be understood as the consequence of the regulation of a temperaturedependent rate process whose rate, as an exponential function of temperature, is main? tained within a normal curve of error. Analysis of frequency distributions of body temper? ature show that they can be characterized by the median and two additional parameters. One of these can be used to approximate the Q10 of the hypothetical rate process. Mathematical and graphical techniques for the description of body temperature distributions are developed, and are proposed as useful tools for comparative and experimental studies of body temperature regulation.
Increased productivity of rainfed lowland rice cropping systems of the Mekong region

Abstract. Rice in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia (the Mekong region) is grown mostly as a mono crop once a year in the wet season in the rainfed lowlands. Some lowland areas have access to irrigation water, and rice double cropping is practised while non-rice crops are grown in a limited area in the dry season after harvesting wet season rice. In all cases wet season rice is grown mostly for subsistence under rainfed with low input, and combined with low soil fertility and frequent occurrence of drought, the yield is generally low with a mean of 2.5 t/ha and the yield increase was slow in recent years. More recently demand for labour in the regional centres has caused labour shortages in the rural area and rice crops may not be managed in the traditional manner such as the practice of manually transplanting of rice seedlings. For the last two decades research efforts have been made to minimise the adverse effect of abiotic factors and to meet the changing nature of the socioeconomic environment, resulting in increased understanding of factors determining productivity of rainfed lowland rice and the cropping systems based on it. This review describes such achievements in five sections – water environment characterisation to quantify drought problems, soil environment and fertiliser management, direct seeding to develop technology to cope with the labour shortage, variety improvement for rainfed lowland rice in drought-prone environment, and crop intensification and diversification that shift practices from traditional subsistence agriculture to more market-oriented agriculture. Each section is concluded with issues for future research need. The last section of the paper describes future research challenges for the rainfed rice-based lowland cropping systems in the Mekong region and possible implication on rainfed lowland rice system on other regions.
Mortality Patterns in Mammals

Methods of obtaining life table data are outlined and the assumptions implicit in such treatment are defined. Most treatments assume a stationary are distribution, but published methods of testing the stationary nature of a single distribution are invalid. Samples from natural populations tend to be biased in the yound age classes and therefore, because it is least affected by bias, the mortality rate curve (qx) is the most efficient life table series for comparing the pattern of mortality with age in different populations. A life table and fecundity table are presented for females of the ungulate Hemitragus jemlahicus, based on a population sample that was first tested for bias. They give estimates of mean generation length as 5.4 yr, annual mortality rate as 0.25, and mean life expectancy at birth as 3.5 yr. The life table for Hemitragus is compared with those of Ovis aries, O. dalli, man, Rattus norvegicus, Micortus agrestis, and M. orcadensis to show that despite taxonomic and ecological differences the life table have common characteristics. This suggests the hypotheses that most mammalian species have life tables of a common form, and that the pattern of age—specific mortality within species assumes an approximately constant form irrespective of the proximate causes of mortality.
Medium-density fibreboards bonded with phenol-formaldehyde resin and calcium lignosulfonate as an eco-friendly additive

ABSTRACT The potential of addition of calcium lignosulfonate as an eco-friendly additive with a phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resin, at different ratios, to produce medium-density fibreboards (MDF) with acceptable properties, was investigated in this work. The fibreboards were fabricated in the laboratory with low PF resin percentage (3%, 4%, 5%), while the addition levels of calcium lignosulfonate varied from 5% to 15% (on the dry fibres). The physical and mechanical properties of the fibreboards were evaluated, and further statistically analysed in order to determine the optimal values of PF resin content and lignosulfonate addition for fulfilling the European standards. It was shown that at the low PF resin content (3%), addition of lignosulfonate should not exceed 10% to avoid deterioration in the mechanical properties. It was concluded that PF resin content of 3.5% can be recommended for the production of lignosulfonate-PF bonded MDF panels to comply with the EN standard requirements.
Evaluating Physiological and Growth Responses of Arundinaria Species to Inundation

Abstract Dense stands of Arundinaria species, or canebrakes, once were a dominant landscape feature along floodplains of the southeastern United States. However, human activities have reduced canebrakes to fragmented remnants representing <2% of their extent prior to European settlement. Canebrake restoration thus is a top priority for preserving and improving wetland biodiversity in the United States. Successful restoration requires an understanding of factors influencing establishment of the two most common United States Arundinaria species; therefore, this greenhouse study examined effects of inundation on A. gigantea and A. tecta. Both Arundinaria species were subjected to 0, 2, 4, or 6 weeks of inundation under long-day, warm temperature growing season conditions. Plant growth, mean net photosynthesis (Pn), and stomatal conductance (Gs) were measured on a weekly basis, and at the conclusion of the experiment, above- and belowground biomass were measured. We found significant correlations of Pn and Gs with duration of flooding and duration of post-inundation recovery, as well as a significant interaction among time, species, and flood duration, with both species responding similarly to flooded conditions. Once flooding was arrested, both Pn and Gs rates were higher in A. tecta than A. gigantea; the same was true for growth rates across the duration of the study. In conclusion, A. tecta appeared to be more flood tolerant than A. gigantea, reflecting habitats in which these species are known to occur. Future canebrake restoration projects may benefit from this information on differential flooding tolerance in selecting restoration sites or restoration species, based on hydrologic conditions.
Laboratory Evaluation of a Bioenergetics Model for Largemouth Bass at Two Temperatures and Feeding Levels

Abstract We evaluated a bioenergetics model for adult largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides at two temperatures (22°C and 27°C) and two feeding levels (ad libitum and 2% wet body mass) in the laboratory. Three statistical methods were used to assess agreement between predicted and observed growth and consumption during a 9-week period. Multivariate profile analysis indicated no significant deviations between predicted and observed mean body masses at the end of each week of the experiment; partitioning mean square error revealed that 87% of the variance was attributed to random variation rather than to systematic variation; and a reliablility index indicated agreement between predicted and observed masses within a factor of 1.03. Predicted cumulative food consumption during the 9-week period was 9.4% less than that observed. Model predictions of mean daily consumption rates closely tracked observed values when fish were not fed to excess, but the model did not perform as well under ad libitum feeding cond.