Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PRODUCTION OF FRUCTOOLIGOSACCHARIDES BY TWO NEW RECOMBINANT β-FRUCTOFURANOSIDASE ENZYMES FROM MEZCAL FERMENTING YEASTS

The gene Cap inv32 from Candida apicola and Tde inv32 from Torulaspora delbrueckii were identified as β-fructofuranosidase belonging to glycoside hydrolases family 32, with an opening reading frame of 1593 base pairs and 1743 base pairs, and a molecular weight of 59 kDa and 65 kDa, for Cap Inv32 and Tde Inv32 correspondingly. These enzymes contained the motif characteristics of the GH32 and showed an identity of 40 % (Cap Inv32) and 52.4 % (Tde Inv32) with an invertase of S. cerevisiae. The fructosyltransferase activity was tasted obtaining for Cap Inv32 the quantity of FOS 12.4 gL-1 and 9.03 gL-1 with 420 gL-1 and 700 gL-1, the production of FOS with Tde Inv32 was 14.61 gL-1 (420 gL-1) and 13.3 gL-1 (700 gL-1). Cap Inv32 and Tde Inv32 are β-fructofuranosidase with fructosyltransferase activity, with potential to industrial applications, focused in FOS production.
Acute Hepatotoxicity and Nephrotoxicity Study of Orally Administered Aqueous and Ethanolic Extracts of Carica papaya Seeds in Adult Wistar Rats

About 80% of the population in many third world countries rely on traditional medicine as the sole means of therapy against diseases. Carica papaya is a medicinal plant which has been proven to contain substances that and is being used for such purposes. This study was designed to evaluate the acute hepatotoxic and nephrotoxic effects of orally administered aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Carica papaya seed in adult Wistar rat in low and high doses. The OECD (2003) guideline for testing of chemicals was used for the acute oral toxicity study to determine LD50 and was found to be above 2000 mg/kg. The acute studies were done using five adult Wistar rats per group. Group one was the control, group two and three received 100 mg and 1000 mg/kg body weight of aqueous extract respectively while groups four and five received 100 mg and 1000 mg/kg body weight of ethanolic extract respectively. The animals were dosed for 5 days orally. The haematological indices for both extracts were within normal range and so also were the renal function test and liver function test. The histological studies of the liver kidneys and spleen did not reveal any pathologic changes when compared to the control group. In Conclusion it can be said that aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Carica papaya seed extract are not hepatotoxic and nephrotoxic to adult wistar rats in the tested doses and duration.
Investigation of PM 10 , PM 2 . 5 and PM 1 during Pollution Episodes : Fog and Diwali Festival

The present study focuses on the high loading of PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 mass during the episodic events i.e. Diwali and fog at the campus site of Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra. During Diwali the mass concentration for PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 were 2.8, 4.7 and 6.8 times higher than the mass observed during normal days due to burning of firecrackers. In addition, trace gas (O3, NO2 and CO) levels were also high during Diwali. During the fog event also high mass concentration of PM10, PM2.5 and PM1was observed probably due to less dispersion of pollutants as a consequence of low mixing height, low temperature and high relative humidity. On the basis of correlation analysis and HYSPLIT backward trajectories high mass concentration during the two pollution episodes may be mainly attributed to firecrackers during Diwali and anthropogenic activities and local meteorological condition during fog.
Resource intensification in pre-contact central California: a bioarchaeological perspective on diet and health patterns among hunter-gatherers from the lower Sacramento Valley and San Francisco Bay

In this study, I use bioarchaeological data derived from human burials to evaluate subsistence change in mid-to- late Holocene central California (circa 4950-200 B.P.). Previous investigations in the region have proposed two competing models to account for changes in subsistence patterns. The seasonal stress hypothesis argues that the increased reliance on acorns and small seeds during the late Holocene led to improved health status, since these resources could be stored and used as a 'buffer' against seasonal food shortages. In contrast, resource intensification models predict temporal declines in health during the late Holocene, as measured by a decline in dietary quality and health status, increased population crowding, and greater levels of sedentism. I test the hypothesis that health status, as measured by childhood stress and disease indicators, declined during the late Holocene in central California. I analyzed 511 human skeletons from ten archaeological sites in the Sacramento Valley and San Francisco Bay area to investigate temporal and spatial variability in diet and health. I analyzed a subset (n = 111) of this sample to evaluate prehistoric dietary patterns using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios. Indicators of health status show significant temporal and regional variation. In the Valley, tibial periosteal reactions, porotic hyperostosis, and enamel hypoplasias significantly increased through time, implying a decline in health status. In the Bay, health indicators show little temporal variability. However, inter-regional comparisons indicate a higher prevalence of stress and disease indicators among Bay Area skeletons than in the Valley skeletal series. The stable isotope data from human bone collagen and apatite also indicate significant inter- regional differences in prehistoric diets between the Bay and the Valley. In the Bay, diets shifted from high trophic level marine foods to a more terrestrially focused diet over time. In the Valley, there are no significant dietary trends observed in the data. Dental caries and antemortem tooth loss are significantly more prevalent in the Valley than in the Bay, and closely match the isotopic findings. The paleopathological findings provide support for late Holocene resource intensification models posited for the Valley, but not for the Bay Area.
Present Jurassic petroleum charge facing Paleozoic biodegraded oil: Geochemical challenges and potential upsides, Embla field, North Sea

The Embla field, located in the greater Ekofisk area of the Norwegian part of the southern North Sea, has been producing oil and gas since the early 1990s. The wells on the crest are the best and most continuous producers, whereas the wells on the flanks are only good producers over limited periods after pressure buildup. The reason for the poorer production from the flanks is reduced permeability caused by the presence of bitumen, a nonmovable biodegraded oil that fills the pore space. This oil is shown to be of Paleozoic age and is suggested to have charged the Embla field at the end of the Triassic. The structure was uplifted and eroded during the Jurassic, and the Paleozoic oil accumulation became biodegraded on the oil-water contact. The crest of the structure is believed to have been protected from biodegradation until the seal was eroded, which resulted in the escape of the oil and the biodegradation of the residual oil. Subsidence during the Cretaceous, the formation of a new seal, and the Upper Jurassic source rock intervals reaching oil window maturity resulted in the structure being recharged. Partly contradicting maturity estimates based on various biomarker ratios suggest that the analyzed oils represent different mixing ratios between the two oil generations. The change in light oil composition observed between the drill-stem tests sampled approximately 20 yr ago and the presently produced oil suggests that the Embla field currently is receiving Jurassic-sourced oil.
Effects of infliximab on markers of inflammation and bone turnover and associations with bone mineral density in patients with ankylosing spondylitis

Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between bone mineral density (BMD) and biomarkers of bone turnover and inflammation in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) treated with infliximab. Methods: Patients (n = 279) were randomly assigned (3:8) to receive placebo or 5 mg/kg infliximab every 6 weeks through week 96. At week 24, placebo-treated patients crossed over to infliximab 5 mg/kg. Starting at week 36, patients treated with infliximab received dose escalations to 7.5 mg/kg. Hip and spine BMD were measured (baseline, week 24, week 102) using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Sera were analysed (baseline, week 24, week 102) for levels of bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP), osteocalcin, C-terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX), interleukin-6 (IL-6), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and transforming growth factor-β. Results: Patients treated with infliximab showed significantly greater median increases in BMD of the spine (2.5%, p<0.001) and hip (0.5%, p = 0.033) at week 24 than those who received placebo (0.5% and 0.2% respectively). Baseline levels of IL-6, VEGF, osteocalcin, BAP and CTX were significantly correlated with increases in spinal BMD at weeks 24 and 102 in the infliximab group. In a multiple regression analysis, high baseline osteocalcin levels and early increases in BAP at week 2 were significantly associated with increases in BMD scores of the spine (week 102) and hip (weeks 24 and 102) in the infliximab group. Conclusions: Patients with AS who received infliximab showed significant increases in BMD scores over 2 years. While many significant correlations were observed between BMD scores of the hip and spine and biomarker levels, high baseline osteocalcin levels and early increases in BAP were consistently associated with increases in BMD scores.
A climatic control on reorganization of ocean circulation during the mid-Cenomanian event and Cenomanian-Turonian oceanic anoxic event (OAE 2): Nd isotope evidence

Although ocean circulation plays a vital role in the climate system, its response to major carbon-cycle perturbations during the mid-Cretaceous, including mid-Cenomanian event I (MCE I) and the Cenomanian-Turonian oceanic anoxic event (OAE 2), is poorly constrained. Here we present Nd isotope evidence for episodic increases in the influence of boreal seawater in the European epicontinental sea during MCE I. The start of this circulation reorganization lagged the onset of the δ13C positive excursion defining MCE I. This sequence of change is similar to that observed during OAE 2 in the same area, showing a consistent response of regional circulation to changes in the global carbon cycle. Brief intervals of invasion of boreal fauna to mid-latitude seas, two during MCE I and one during OAE 2 (Plenus cold event), all started after the influence of boreal seawater was enhanced, implying a slower biological response to climate cooling rather than passive transport of fauna by boreal waters. The lack of an Nd isotope positive excursion in our record across MCE I supports a volcanic origin for prominent increases in seawater Nd isotope values found in the European epicontinental sea and the tropical Atlantic during OAE 2. The observed tight circulation–carbon cycle coupling may help the upper ocean replenish nutrients from deep waters and/or volcanic sources, providing a critical feedback allowing continuation of MCE I and OAE 2 over long durations.
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

This paper starts by establishing a set of stylized facts about global banks with operations in the United States. First, we show evidence of selection into foreign markets: the parent banks of global conglomerates tend to be larger than national banks. Second, selection by size is related to the mode of foreign operations: foreign subsidiaries of global banks and their parents are systematically larger than foreign branches and their parents, in terms of deposits, loans, and overall assets. Third, the mode of foreign operations affects the response of global banks to shocks and how those shocks are transmitted across countries. To explain these facts, we develop a structural model of entry into global banking whose assumptions mimic the institutional details of the regulatory framework in the US. The model sheds light on the relationship between market access, capital flows, regulation, and entry, and can be used as a laboratory to perform counterfactual analysis on the effects of alternative regulatory policies.
Mapping paddy rice with multitemporal ALOS/PALSAR imagery in southeast China

Mapping rice cropping areas with optical remote sensing is often a challenge in tropical and subtropical regions because of frequent cloud cover and rainfall during the rice growing season. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a potential alternative for rice mapping because of its all-weather imaging capabilities. The recent Phased Array-type L-band SAR (PALSAR) sensor onboard the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) acquires multipolarization and multitemporal images that are highly suitable for rice mapping. In this pilot study, we demonstrate the feasibility of this sensor in mapping the rice planting area in Zhejiang Province, southeast China. High-resolution ALOS/PALSAR images were acquired at three rice growing stages (transplanting, tillering and heading) and were applied in a support vector machine (SVM) classifier to map rice and other land use surfaces. The results show that, based on the 1:10 000 land use/land cover (LULC) survey map, the rice fields can be mapped with a conditional Kappa value of 0.87 and at user's and producer's accuracies of 90% and 76%, respectively. The large commission error primarily came from confusion between rice and dryland crops or orchards because of their similar backscatter amplitudes in the rice growing season. The relatively high rice mapping accuracy in this study indicates that the new ALOS/PALSAR data could provide useful information in rice cropping management in subtropical regions such as southeast China.
Devonian bryozoan diversity, extinctions, and originations

Observed diversity of bryozoans within Devonian stages is not significantly different from range-through values for species because very few species have ranges longer than a single stage. Generic diversity differs significantly between observed stadial and stadial range-through values except for the diverse Givetian faunas. Among families, observed stadial and range-through comparisons differ significantly in the lower diversity Early and Late Devonian but are not significant in the taxonomically diverse Middle Devonian. The patterns of Devonian generic and familial diversity are apparently robust proxies for specific diversity. Givetian specific and generic extinctions, based on generated bootstrap distributions, are significantly higher than the other six Devonian stages even when modifications for different stage durations are considered. Based on present data, we conclude that a major change in Devonian diversity occurred between the Givetian and the Frasnian stages. Givetian specific and generic extinctions are not “smeared” with respect to adjacent stages and should qualify as a mass extinction among bryozoans pending more accurate data on bryozoan ranges and more precision in radiometric dating of Devonian stadial boundaries. Devonian bryozoan familial extinctions are not numerous and do not exhibit a significant number of extinctions for any stage. The Givetian extinction, which for the time being ranks as the largest bryozoan extinction in the Phanerozoic, is a global event with a marked local effect in the Hamilton-Tully fauna of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ontario. Givetian specific originations are significantly higher than bootstrap distributions for both raw data and data modified for stadial durations. A Givetian generic high in originations for raw data is not significant when modified for stadial durations and only Eifelian familial originations are significantly higher than bootstrapped distributions.
Distributional National Accounts: Methods and Estimates for the United States

This paper combines tax, survey, and national accounts data to estimate the distribution of national income in the United States since 1913. Our distributional national accounts capture 100% of national income, allowing us to compute growth rates for each quantile of the income distribution consistent with macroeconomic growth. We estimate the distribution of both pre-tax and post-tax income, making it possible to provide a comprehensive view of how government redistribution affects inequality. Average pre-tax national income per adult has increased 60% since 1980, but we find that it has stagnated for the bottom 50% of the distribution at about $16,000 a year. The pre-tax income of the middle class—adults between the median and the 90th percentile—has grown 40% since 1980, faster than what tax and survey data suggest, due in particular to the rise of tax-exempt fringe benefits. Income has boomed at the top: in 1980, top 1% adults earned on average 27 times more than bottom 50% adults, while they earn 81 times more today. The upsurge of top incomes was first a labor income phenomenon but has mostly been a capital income phenomenon since 2000. The government has offset only a small fraction of the increase in inequality. The reduction of the gender gap in earnings has mitigated the increase in inequality among adults. The share of women, however, falls steeply as one moves up the labor income distribution, and is only 11% in the top 0.1% today.
Influence of source radiation patterns on globally observed short-period magnitude estimates (mb)

We investigated the effect of the radiation pattern on station and network magnitude estimates (mb) by using centroid-moment-tensor (CMT) solutions published by the seismological group at Harvard University. The magnitude data used in this study were P amplitudes provided by the Prototype International Data Center (PIDC). When relating the station magnitude residuals to the calculated relative radiation factors, we found a small but clearly observable dependency. By compensating for this effect after inverting for station corrections and new event magnitudes, we found that the variance of the station magnitude residuals was reduced by about 2.6%. In parallel, we estimated a set of mean station corrections with and without corrections for the radiation pattern. Similarly, we recomputed the average network magnitudes (mb), which in some cases differed by up to 0.15 magnitude units from the uncorrected average network mb values. In conclusion, we found that the effect of the source radiation pattern on the amplitudes used for mb estimation on a global scale is relatively small compared to effects from other factors. Only about 24% of the predicted radiation pattern signal can be found in the observed data. However, when best possible mb values are needed (e.g., to investigate magnitude relations or station corrections for specific ray paths), compensating for the radiation pattern will help to reduce the scatter.
Investigation of the effects of tip-gap size on the tip-leakage flow in an axial-flow pump using LES

Computational analysis of the flows in an axial-flow pump at design flow rate using large eddy simulation were conducted for five different tip-gap sizes,with the aim to give a better understanding of the effects of the tip-gap size on the tip leakage flow structure. The feasibility of the adopted method in this study was validated by the good agreement between the predicted pump performance and the experimen-tal data. The results indicate that the head,shaft power and efficiency of the pump are decreased as the tip-gap size increases. The velocity of the tip-leakage flow in the tip-gap increased gradually along radial direction. The intensity of the dominant TLV and the angle between the TLV and the blade are found to augment as the tip-gap size increases. When the tip-gap size is larger than 1.0‰D2,the dominant tip-leak-age vortex extended to the pressure side of the neighboring blade. It is also found that the tip-separation vortex and several secondary TLVs were formed in the tip-gap region when the tip-gap size is more than 1.5‰D2,and the range of influence of the TLVs increased with increasing tip-gap size.
Managing Sierra Nevada Forests

The photos in this appendix may help identify some of the unique branching formations or bole characteristics in trees that can make a tree particularly valuable for wildlife, either for nesting, roosting, and use as hunting perches, or other uses. We have organized these following Bull et al.’s (1997)3 focus on five conditions: live trees with decay, hollows or brooms, snags, and logs. We’ve also included in these photos examples of understory areas with vertical diversity and hiding cover created by the retention of understory saplings, intermediate-sized trees, hardwoods, and brush.
Multi-temporal remote sensing land-cover change detection for biodiversity assessment in the Berg River catchment

Due to the intimate relationship that exists between land cover and biodiversity it is possible to draw inferences on the current state of the biodiversity of an area, assess the likely future pressures and plan accordingly based on an analysis of land-cover change. As a means of assessing the state of biodiversity in the Cape Floristic Region, two land-cover maps (1986/7 and 2007) were developed and demonstrated for the Berg River catchment in the Western Cape province of South Africa using multispectral Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data. The land-cover maps were produced to an accuracy of 85% using an object-orientated nearest neighbour supervised classification. The existing vegetation types of South Africa data set were superimposed on the newly classified remnants of natural vegetation to model changes in biodiversity. It was found that the area occupied by natural vegetation increased by more than 14%, suggesting an increase in biodiversity from 1986/7 to 2007. Considerable variation between vegetation types was, however, recorded. The land cover mapping, change analysis and biodiversity modelling methods employed by this study show that land-cover change analysis provides an ideal platform from which to initiate more intensive analyses of biodiversity change and conservation. Some limitations to the use of Landsat imagery for biodiversity monitoring are discussed.
Novel shearing apparatuses in confined flow for investigating recrystallization and fabric evolution processes in mono- and polycrystalline ice

Abstract The orientations of individual crystals within a polycrystalline aggregate subjected to stress have a strong influence on its bulk strain rate and flow behavior. The ability to include the effect of crystal fabric and recrystallization processes in an ice flow law, especially at the bottom of glaciers and ice sheets where temperature is close to the pressure-melting point, is important because the stratigraphy of the ice body may be affected and the paleoclimate reconstruction hampered. We present herein three newly developed deformation apparatuses offering the possibility, from single experiments, of investigating different finite strain stages and their corresponding c-axis fabric and grain texture patterns in various confined, shear flow configurations (simple shear, pure shear and compression/extension bending). The technical set-ups and major advantages compared to classical methods are explained, and results from experiments are discussed in order to illustrate the functioning and purposes of the methods. In all experiments, significant variations in the microstructural development have been observed that reflect the varying orientations of the anisotropy and its relationship to the stress pattern. In monocrystalline ice-bending experiments, the pre-existing c-axis fabric is shown to have a profound influence on the response to stress and possibly to the type of slip system activated.