Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biomarker responses in cyprinids of the middle stretch of the River Po, Italy

Fish belonging to three species of cyprinids, that is, barbel (Barbus plebejus), chub (Leuciscus cephalus), and Italian nase (Chondrostoma söetta), were collected from two sites of the River Po, located upstream and downstream from the confluence of one of its middle‐reach polluted tributaries, the River Lambro. The two groups of individuals caught for each species were analyzed and compared for several microsomal and cytosolic biochemical markers. The enzymatic activities assayed in fish liver included ethoxyresorufin O‐deethylase (EROD), aminopyrine‐N‐demethylase (APDM), uridine diphosphate glucuronyltransferase (UDPGT), glutathione S‐transferase (GST), glutathione reductase, and glutathione peroxidase. In addition, the contents of reduced glutathione and nonprotein thiols were measured. Despite some differences among species, all microsomal activities (EROD, APDM, UDPGT) were found to be significantly induced in fish living downstream the River Lambro. With the exception of a higher GST enzyme activity of barbel from the downstream reach, no significant modification was evident in any of the tested cytosolic biomarkers. Results showed that barbel and nase better discriminated the two reaches of the River Po. In general, the alterations observed in feral fish are consistent with the results found in previous studies conducted with rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) under both laboratory and field conditions in the same middle reach of the River Po. All of the data indicate that the downstream tract of the main river is exposed to the load of pollutants transported by the River Lambro, including known inducers such as polychlorinated biphenyls and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The latter were analyzed in sediments sampled at the two sites of fish collection, and the downstream sediment showed the highest concentrations of PAHs, although their levels are comparable to those present in moderately polluted locations. Regardless of the site of exposure, barbel seem to be characterized by more efficient antioxidant defenses. This observation could partly explain the lower prevalence of pathological lesions and parasites observed in this cyprinid in a previous study.
Fair-Aware Competitive Event Influence Maximization in Social Networks

With the emergence and rapid development of event-based social networks (EBSNs), the problem of how to maximize the number of participants for social events has been widely studied. Most previous studies on this problem focus on a single social event. However, in real-world scenarios, there are multiple social events and they may compete for influential users to maximize the number of participants since they may be held during the same time period and in acceptable geographic locations. To bridge this gap, in this paper, we propose to study a novel problem of Fair-Aware Competitive Event Influence Maximization (FCE-IM). This problem is how to select influential users for each social event on the premise of fairness to maximize the number of participants per event in the competitive scenario. To solve this problem, we first propose a propagation model, named E-LT, to describe the information propagation process in competitive situation in EBSNs. Then, we propose a Randomized Algorithm based on Cross Entropy method, named RACE. It can optimally assign node selection probability for each node and thus effectively approach to the maxima. We conduct extensive experiments using two real-world datasets and experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our algorithm.
Efeitos da inundação no crescimento, trocas gasosas e porosidade radicular da carnaúba (Copernicia prunifera (Mill.) H.E. Moore)

Carnauba, Copernicia prunifera (Mill.) H.E. Moore, is a common Brazilian palm from the Northeast region, which is usually found in saline and poorly drained soils. To evaluate the degree of tolerance to flooding, 4 month-old plants were grown in soil submerged by a 80mm water layer, for 60 days. During this period, shoot height was measured weekly. After 60 days of flooding, root intercellular air volume (porosity) was measured. Porosity was 25,3% on flooded plants and 21,8% on control plants. Photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration were measured in 10 month-old plants, during 35 days of flooding. After this period of flooding, internal CO2 and O2 concentrations were quantified on roots. Flooded plants had higher concentration of CO2, and lower concentration of O2, compared to control plants. While a reduction in photosynthesis and stomatal conductance occurred, shoot height improvement was not affected and no visible flooding symptoms were seen in carnauba shoots, indicating that this species displays tolerance to flooding, which is probably related to the high root porosity.
Floristic dynamics across a semi-arid volcanic chronosequence in northern Arizona

Abstract The San Francisco Volcanic Field is one of the dominant volcanic fields on the Colorado Plateau, and its four million-year volcanic history has created a dramatic substrate age gradient. Sites within Pinyon-Juniper woodlands of the volcanic field share similar climate, elevation, and geology yet display dramatically different chemical and structural soil characteristics. The relative degree of soil development associated with ecosystem age strongly influences both the spatial distribution and composition of the local flora. A multiple response permutation procedure indicated that two distinct floristic assemblages occur; one in substrates younger than 150,000 years and one in older substrates. Indicator species analysis revealed that shrubs dominated younger, coarser, poorly developed volcanic soils while grasses and perennial herbs dominated older, finer, more nutrient-rich soils. Younger substrates harbored a higher degree of endemism, and species richness was positively correlated with ecosystem age.
Yield per recruit and spawning stock biomass models for the management of four Mugilidae species in Mesolonghi-Aitoliko lagoon (W. Greece).

The fishery exploitation of the most of Mediterranean lagoonal systems is a common extensive culture, based on the seasonal fish migration from sea to the lagoon and the summer-to-winter offshore fish migration. The Mugilidae group of species represents more than 50% of the total fishery landings in the Mesolonghi-Aitoliko lagoon system. Spawning stock biomass and yield per recruit models were developed for the four Mugilidae species (Liza saliens, L. aurata, L. ramada and Mugil cephalus) to estimate their exploitation level. Growth parameters (asymptotic length, L∞ and growth rate, K, W-L relationships) and fecundity estimations were gathered from past surveys in the study area. Moreover, length frequencies data from four species caught from fish traps during 1992, 1994, 1998 and 2004 were also used. The results indicated that: (1) the exploitation of all species was occurred at first capture lengths that related to maximum yield per recruit, (2) for the most important fish species (L. aurata, L. ramada and M. cephalus) high values of exploitation rates (ranged from 0.66 to 0.87) was imposed and (3) the spawning stock of L. aurata and L. ramada were out of safe levels. At first view the results can be explained by the continuously decreasing landings of the exploited species in the Mesolonghi-Aitoliko lagoon during the last two decades. However, in the case of lagoon the models embodied both real and phenomenal total mortalities which could be explained an overestimate of total mortality in present study. Despite the above uncertainties a part of the above results could be attributed on a long-term effect of human actions (i.e. increasing of marine aquaculture) on coastal zone which modify the spatial fish distribution and increase fishing mortality in the sea species populations.
Variational Denoising Autoencoders and Least-Squares Policy Iteration for Statistical Dialogue Managers

The use of Reinforcement Learning (RL) approaches for dialogue policy optimization has been the new trend for dialogue management systems. Several methods have been proposed, which are trained on dialogue data to provide optimal system response. However, most of these approaches exhibit performance degradation in the presence of noise, poor scalability to other domains, as well as performance instabilities. To overcome these problems, we propose a novel approach based on the incremental, sample-efficient Least-Squares Policy Iteration (LSPI) algorithm, which is trained on compact, fixed-size dialogue state encodings, obtained from deep Variational Denoising Autoencoders (VDAE). The proposed scheme exhibits stable and noise-robust performance, which significantly outperforms the current state-of-the-art, even in mismatched noise environments.
Ixodes sigelos Keirans, Clifford & Corwin, 1976 (Acari: Ixodidae) in Argentina and southern Chile

Abstract Single nymphs of Ixodes sigelos Keirans, Clifford & Corwin, 1976 were collected in Region XI, Chile, on Akodon olivaceus (Waterhouse 1837) in Puerto Aysen (45º23´S 72º41´W), Oligoryzomys longicaudatus (Bennett 1832) in the vicinity of Lago General Carrera (46º26´S 72º00´W) and Akodon xanthorhinus (Waterhouse 1837) in Puerto Ibañez (46º17´S 71º56´W), as well as in Tucumán Province, Argentina, on Akodon spegazzinii Thomas, 1897, 3 km SW of Hualinchay (26º20´S 65º39´W). Akodon xanthorhinus and A. spegazzinii are new hosts for I. sigelos, and these are the first records of this tick from Argentina and southern Chile. The nymph of I. sigelos and nymphs of three other Neotropical Ixodes (I. neuquenensis Ringuelet, 1947, I. nuttalli Lahille, 1913, I. stilesi Neumann, 1911) bear anterior and posterior processes on palpal article I. However, I. sigelos is unique in possessing both a basis capituli that appears winged in dorsal aspect and a bifurcate posterior process on palpal article I. These collections greatly expand the known range of I. sigelos and underscore the importance of sigmodontine rodents as hosts of Neotropical ticks, especially immature stages.
Spatio-temporal genetic structure of the rodent Calomys venustus in linear, fragmented habitats

Studies about habitat fragmentation, in terms of how it affects gene flow and genetic variability, have traditionally been conducted on island-like systems in which the remaining habitats form patches embedded in a matrix. However, in agroecosystems, remaining habitats usually form linear strips along fence lines, roads, and water courses (“border” habitats). We used the rodent Calomys venustus, a species inhabiting borders in central Argentina agroecosystems, as a model to address how genetic variability is structured in linear habitats. A total of 359 rodents were captured seasonally from spring 2005 to winter 2006. Genetic variability at microsatellite loci was uniformly high, despite significant variation in population size during the sampling period. Genetic differentiation, spatial autocorrelation, and causal modeling analyses suggested that dispersion patterns in this species depend mainly on geographic distance, with unfavorable habitat like dirt roads and crop fields posing only weak (or no) resistance to dispersal. Small-scale spatial genetic structure was related to different space use patterns by females and males. Our results showed that, although greatly reduced in area, border habitats can support stable populations of species without loss of either variability or genetic connectivity.
Catalogue of the World Stizopina (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Opatrini)

Abstract. The catalogue of all known World genera and species of the subtribe Stizopina is presented; 21 genera, 95 species and subspecies are listed. The data of primary types and distributional maps for known species and subspecies are included. The type species are designated for the following genus-group names: Blacodes Mulsant et Rey, 1859 (Pedinus sulcatus Laporte de Castelnau, 1840) and Planodes Mulsant et Rey, 1859 (Planodes byrroides Mulsant et Rey, 1859). Incertae sedis taxa are listed separately.
Application of the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) to simulate near-native streamflow in the Upper Rio Grande Basin

The U.S. Geological Survey’s Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) is widely used to simulate the effects of climate, topography, land cover, and soils on landscape-level hydrologic response and streamflow. This study developed, calibrated, and assessed a PRMS model that simulates near-native or naturalized streamflow conditions in the Upper Rio Grande Basin. A PRMS model framework of 1,021 hydrologic response units was constructed for the basin. Subbasins within the larger Upper Rio Grande Basin range from snow-dominated northern basins to monsoon driven southern basins. The 1,021 hydrologic response units were grouped into 133 subareas within the basin, and solar radiation and potential evapotranspiration data were used to calibrate corresponding PRMS parameters in each subarea independently. Nine subbasins with streamgages distributed across the basin were identified as “near-native” subbasins, or those basins with low anthropogenic disturbance. Model parameters that affect streamflow were calibrated for the near-native subbasins, and the calibrated parameters were distributed to the remaining hydrologic response units on the basis of terrain, soil, and vegetation conditions linked to a distribution and weighting algorithm developed for this study. The parameter distribution method was validated in three of the nine near-native subbasins. Calibration results demonstrated that the PRMS model developed in this study with distributed model parameters for the entire Upper Rio Grande Basin was successful in applying local information to improve model performance over the National Hydrologic Model, and that the new model is appropriate to use to simulate near-native conditions throughout the basin. The result is a model that can simulate naturalized flow and other variables that affect the water budget (including soil moisture, evapotranspiration, recharge) at the daily time step for current and future climate conditions, and that can also be used in conjunction with other models developed for the basin.
Torque Ripples Minimization of Sensorless SynRM Drives for Low-Speed Operation Using Bi-HFSI Scheme

Torque smoothness is a strict requirement for synchronous reluctance motor (SynRM) industrial applications. The speed fluctuations induced by the high-frequency and low-frequency torque ripples deteriorate the drive performance. To suppress high-frequency torque ripples chronically omitted by conventional high-frequency signals injection methods at low-speed operation, this article proposes a bi-axes high-frequency signals injection (Bi-HFSI) scheme. A novel signal injection method is adopted, and the torque power spectrum can be broadened with discrete peaks effectively suppressed. In addition, aiming at decreasing low-frequency torque ripples, the Fourier iterative learning control algorithm that is effective in suppressing periodic disturbance is applied. It is combined with the Bi-HFSI scheme which mainly limits torque ripples at low frequencies including 1st, 2nd, and 6th harmonics. Theoretical analysis is presented, and the proposed method is verified by experiments on a 3-kW SynRM drive platform.
Field comparison of an LHPR net sampling system and an Optical Plankton Counter (OPC) in the Southern Ocean

A field comparison of an optical plankton counter (OPC) and a Longhurst-Hardy Plankton Recorder (LHPR) was undertaken around the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia during austral spring, 1997, to investigate the capacity of the OPC to accurately describe fine-scale plankton distributions. Initially, formalin-preserved developmental stages of representative zooplankton were passed through a benchtop OPC and a relationship established between maximum cross sectional area (CSA) of the plankton and the digital output value (DOV) of the OPC. The LHPR with an OPC attached to the net frame was then deployed at two stations representing contrasting plankton abundances. Outputs from two oblique hauls taken at a shelf station, and one at an oceanic station, were compared. Following corrections for volume swept by both instruments, and standardization of OPC particle and net plankton counts on the basis of sampler mouth area, the OPC was found to ‘overestimate' relative to the net by up to several orders of magnitude. However, following the correction for rate of flow though the OPC, and the application of a size threshold to the OPC data excluding the proportion of particles <0.25 mm2 CSA, based on the expected retention of plankton by the net there was a greatly improved and significant correlation. Overall there was no consistent over- or undersample by the OPC relative to the net, with mean OPC:net ratios being 1–1.8 for net plankton densities of up to 6000 ind. m–3. There was also a generally good agreement between the abundances of the rarer large biomass dominant calanoid copepods estimated by both samplers. An OPC overestimate of 2–3× relative to the net was seen on the ascent portion of the haul at the oceanic station, attributable to the presence of high abundances (estimated density ≥1600–4000 ind. l–1) of large centric diatoms which appeared to cause coincident counts. We conclude that with careful interpretation, OPC data can accurately describe small-scale plankton distributions in the Southern Ocean as well as order of magnitude changes.
Narratives from the Closet: Stories of LGBTQIAP+ Youth

Abstract:LGBTQIAP+ youth are living in unprecedented liminal spaces. While positive changes related to the acceptance and recognition of this community have occurred in the United States, youth who are questioning, coming out, and navigating their sexual journeys remain socially, emotionally, and in other ways vulnerable in their environments. Drawing from narratives of youth who live outside of the normative structures of sexuality, we weave a tapestry of stories to highlight the challenges and struggles, as well as the strengths and protective factors, of LGBTQIAP+ youth. We found cohesion in the themes that emerged from the narratives; yet, at the same time, we acknowledge that each queer youth's story has its own cultural specificity based on their lived experience in their particular environment. Finally, we offer suggestions for supporting the health and well-being of all young people in their varied environments, highlighting those that particularly provide space for questioning and coming out youth.
Tunicate feeding filters

This review discusses the structure and operation of the fine mesh ‘mucous’ feeding filters of tunicates. The function of the endostyle in producing the feeding filter and the different ways in which the filter is deployed are also described. The fine structure of the filter includes new data, and the ultrastructural dimensions of the filter mesh and filament thickness are tabulated for the different tunicate groups. Histochemical data suggest that a peptide core is surrounded by a mucopolysaccharide sheath, and endostyle gland cell histochemistry and ultrastructure indicates protein synthesis. The construction of the filter by the endostyle was first considered in ascidians, and has been updated by observations on the simpler endostyle in salps, where there is evidence that secretions of gland cells pass to the bases of a fence of cilia, there to fuse and pass off the ciliary tips as fine filaments composing the filter net. Although all filters that have been examined when deployed have a rectangular mesh, reasons are given for supposing that when formed in the endostyle they have a square mesh in which both longitudinal and transverse filaments are of similar thickness and that the transverse filaments are stretched as the filter is deployed, so becoming thinner. Finally, some ecological consequences of the filter parameters in the different tunicate groups are considered.
Investigation of LL-37-mediated siRNA transfection

RNA interference is not only an important tool for studying protein function; it also holds many promises for the treatment of a variety of diseases in which the function of unwanted proteins needs to be suppressed. For small interfering RNA (siRNA) to be used as a therapeutic agent, the biggest hurdle is to find the right delivery agent that is both nontoxic to the cells and efficient in delivery. Synthetic and natural peptides from a variety of organisms have been investigated for this purpose. However, there is still no agent or formulation that has been approved for siRNA delivery. Antimicrobial peptide LL-37 has been reported to deliver negatively charged cargo molecules like DNA into the mammalian cells. Since it is nontoxic and nonimmunogenic, and it has the ability to penetrate through mammalian cells in complex with negatively charged molecules, LL-37 peptide appears to make an ideal delivery agent for siRNA therapy. In this report, LL-37/siRNA complexes have been characterized and LL-37-mediated transfection has been investigated in vitro. The results show that the efficiency of delivery was dependent on the cell type, and for LL-37 to be used as a siRNA delivery agent, conditions have to be optimized for each target tissue type.
Effect of reproductive status and season on blood biochemical, hormonal and antioxidant changes in Egyptian buffaloes.

This work was carried out to study some hormonal, biochemical and antioxidant activities in relation to the reproductive status in buffalo during the hot and cold seasons. Genitalia of mature female buffaloes were collected during hot, (n=130) and cold season (n=190). Genitalia were classified according to their reproductive status into; cyclic, early pregnant and non-cyclic with smooth inactive ovaries. Samples of blood were collected and serum was isolated and stored at −20oC for hormonal and biochemical analysis. Progesterone and cortisol levels were determined using ELISA. Total protein, albumin, triglyceride, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, catalase, and LDH were measured spectrophotometrically. Results indicated that malondialdehyde (MDA), lactate dehydrogenase enzyme (LDH) and cortisol concentrations were significantly (P<0.05) higher in smooth inactive ovaries than in pregnant or cyclic buffalo. Whereas, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglyceride, total protein, progesterone (P4) levels, and albumin were significantly (P<0.05) higher in cyclic or pregnant than buffalo with smooth in-active ovaries. During the hot season, MDA, LDH, and cortisol levels were positively correlated (P<0.05) with ovarian inactivity. While, there was a negative correlation (P<0.05) with the concentration of P4 hormones, total protein, albumin, cholesterol, HDL CHO, triglyceride, SOD and catalase and ovarian inactivity in buffalo. Conclusion: reproductive status, hormonal and blood biochemical parameters are affected by seasons in Egyptian buffalo.