Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatial isolation slows down directional plant functional group assembly in restored semi‐natural grasslands

Summary 1. Ecological restoration schemes often assume that after reinstating appropriate abiotic conditions, plant communities will assemble following a single predictable pathway towards a fixed target state. This idea has recently been challenged, with increasing evidence that plant community assembly can only be considered deterministic at the plant trait level, rather than at the species level, and that the assembly outcome is largely influenced by the spatial context of the restoration site. 2. We surveyed 147 vegetation plots across a chronosequence of 22 restored semi-natural grassland patches to quantify the effects of spatial isolation on both plant species and plant trait assembly. Trait level assembly was analysed using an emergent group approach, based on 28 functional plant traits. Additionally, we examined the effects of several dispersal-related plant traits on species recolonization capacities. 3. Whereas total plant species richness of the restoration patches did not change through space or through time, progressing assembly was found to consist of a sequential replacement of generalist species with specialist species, which was reflected by a directional assembly at the plant trait level. Grassland isolation was found to slow down community assembly at both the species and the trait level without changing the general direction of assembly. This slowdown became less pronounced with increasing time since restoration. 4. Spatial isolation of the restoration patches was found to act as a trait filter, independent of assembly age. We found a proportionally higher occurrence of species with light seeds and a high seed attachment potential in more isolated restoration patches, suggesting that colonization is more limited in isolated grasslands. 5. Synthesis and applications. We demonstrate that the assembly process, at both the species and the trait level, is influenced by the position of the restoration patch in the landscape. Monitoring schemes following ecological restoration should therefore include the spatial context of the system while using both a trait-based and a species-based plant community analysis. Successful restoration requires physically interconnecting grassland fragments and probably the introduction of seeds or seedlings of species with low dispersability.
Temperate and tropical algal-sea anemone symbioses

In this review, we seek to develop new insights about the nature of algal-sea anemone symbioses by comparing such associations in temperate and tropical seas. Temperate seas un- dergo pronounced seasonal cycles in irradiance, temperature, and nutrients, while high irradi- ance, high temperature, and low nutrients are seasonally far less variable in tropical seas. We compare the nature of symbiosis between sea anemones ( = actinians) and zooxanthellae (Sym- biodinium spp.) in both regions to test tropical paradigms against temperate examples and to identify directions for future research. Although fewer anemone species are symbiotic in tem- perate regions, they are locally dominant and ecologically important members of the benthic community compared to the tropics. Zooxanthella densities tend to be lower in temperate anemones, but data are limited to a few species in both temperate and tropical seas. Zooxanthella densities are far more stable over time in temperate anemones than in tropical anemones, suggesting that temperate symbioses are more resistant to fluctuations in environmental parameters such as irradiance and temper- ature. Light-saturated photosynthetic rates of temperate and tropical zooxanthellae are similar, but temperate anemone hosts receive severely reduced carbon supplies from zooxanthellae during winter months when light is reduced. Symbiont transmission modes and specificity do not show any trends among anemones in tropical vs. temperate seas. Our review indicates the need for the following: (1) Investigations of other temperate and tropical symbiotic anemone species to assess the generality of trends seen in a few "model" anemones. (2) Attention to the field ecology of temperate and tropical algal-anemone symbioses, for example, how symbioses function under seasonally variable environmental factors and how zooxanthellae persist at high densities in darkness and winter. The greater stability of zooxan- thella populations in temperate hosts may be useful to understanding tropical symbioses in which bleaching (loss of zooxanthellae) is of major concern. (3) Study of the evolutionary history of symbiosis in both temperate and tropical seas. Continued exploration of the phylo- genetic relationships between host anemones and zooxanthella strains may show how and why zooxanthellae differ in anemone hosts in both environments.
Estimating the influence of auxiliary tasks for multi-task learning of sequence tagging tasks

Multi-task learning (MTL) and transfer learning (TL) are techniques to overcome the issue of data scarcity when training state-of-the-art neural networks. However, finding beneficial auxiliary datasets for MTL or TL is a time- and resource-consuming trial-and-error approach. We propose new methods to automatically assess the similarity of sequence tagging datasets to identify beneficial auxiliary data for MTL or TL setups. Our methods can compute the similarity between any two sequence tagging datasets, they do not need to be annotated with the same tagset or multiple labels in parallel. Additionally, our methods take tokens and their labels into account, which is more robust than only using either of them as an information source, as conducted in prior work. We empirically show that our similarity measures correlate with the change in test score of neural networks that use the auxiliary dataset for MTL to increase the main task performance. We provide an efficient, open-source implementation.
ESSENTIAL OILS AS CONTROL AGENTS OF POSTAHARVEST ALTERNARIA AND PENICILLIUM ROTS ON TOMATO FRUITS

The antifungal activity of the essential oils of ajowan, fennel and caraway was evaluated in vitro and in vivo conditions against growth of Alternaria alternata (Fr.: Fr.) Keissler. and Penicillium digitatum Sacc. , two postharvest pathogens of tomato fruits. In vitro tests showed that ajowan and fennel oils exhibited the highest antifungal activity against A. alternata and P. digitatum, respectively. But caraway exhibited poor antifungal activity against two fungal species tested. Ajowan oil possessed the highest antifungal activity among tested oils in in vivo condition. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis of essential oils revealed that thymol (63%), trans-anethole (64%) and 2-caren-10-al (34%) were the main components of essential oils of ajowan, fennel and caraway, respectively. Therefore, essential oils may be used as an alternative for the synthetic chemicals for control of postharvest phytopathogenic fungi and for increasing the shelf life of plant products. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Because the plant essential oils have low mammalian toxicity, are biodegradable, multifunctional, nonpersistent in the environment and are cheap to produce, the possibility of developing essential oils for use in crop protection may be an attractive venture. This study demonstrates the potential of essential oils as antifungal preservatives for tomato fruits that are susceptible to postharvest decay caused by fungi. Examination of various concentrations of essential oils from ajowan (Carum copticum L.), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) and caraway (Carum carvi L.) on Penicillium digitatum and Alternaria alternata in this study showed promising prospects for the utilization of essential oils. In vivo experiments showed that essential oils used could reduce postharvest diseases on tomato fruits caused by P. digitatum and A. alternata. So, essential oils can be used as a potential source of sustainable eco-friendly botanical fungicides, after successful completion of wide-range trials.
Precommercial thinning of trembling aspen in northern Ontario: Part 1 – Growth responses

In Ontario, trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) utilization has increased over the past 20 years and this trend is expected to continue. With this increased demand, questions are being raised about stand conditions required for optimum growth. In 1979, a study was initiated across the commercial range of aspen in northern Ontario to determine the optimum precommercial thinning intensities for aspen tree and stand growth. Six pure aspen stands between the ages of five and 22 years were thinned to residual spacings of 2 × 2 m, 3 × 3 m, 4 × 4 m, and 5 × 5 m. Unthinned and thinned plots were measured at regular intervals for up to 17 years after treatment. Diameter increased significantly with residual tree spacing over the range of site conditions, geographic locations, and tree ages. Precommercial thinning resulted in significantly increased height in three of the stands, and height generally increased with increased residual spacing. Fifteen to 17 years after treatment, gross total volume (GTV) wa.
The Preparation and Nutritive Value of A.I.V. Silage for Dairy Cows

Summary The preparation by the A.I.V. method of two lots of alfalfa and one of soy bean silage, consisting respectively of 10, 17, and 11 tons, is described. The data show that the loss of nitrogen and of dry matter in the drainage juice amounted to 0.9 and 1.8 per cent respectively. There were marked changes in the distribution of nitrogen in the silage. Based on the total nitrogen, the water soluble nitrogen increased in the two lots of alfalfa silage from 31 to 45 per cent and from 15 to 40 per cent respectively, and from 20 to 35 per cent in the soy bean silage. Increases in amino nitrogen paralleled those of the water soluble nitrogen. Ammonia nitrogen also increased, but the absolute quantity was small. There was apparently no loss of carotene. Counts of the number of bacteria and determination of volatile acids and lactic acid showed that some fermentation took place in spite of the low pH of the silage. A double reversal feeding trial was conducted consisting of a six week fore-period, a seven week A.I.V. silage period, and a seven week after-period with ten dairy cows of various breeds in two groups of five each. No unusual changes were noted in milk production due to the feeding of A.I.V. silage. Spectroscopic analyses of the butterfat for carotene and vitamin A indicated a definite increase in these components with silage feeding. During the control period an average value of 4.2 micrograms of carotene per gram of butterfat was obtained and in the A.I.V. period the figure rose to 6.8. Vitamin A analyses showed an average value of 4.0 micrograms per gram of butterfat for the control period and a marked rise to 9.0 in the A.I.V. period. However, the values for carotene and vitamin A during the A.I.V. feeding were not as high as those previously found for pasture feeding. Increases in the carotene content of the blood plasma paralleled those in the butterfat. Balance studies on the carotene intake in the feed and output in the milk showed a corresponding increase in both of these factors with the inclusion of A.I.V. silage in the ration. Blood and urine analyses indicated that the high acid intake of the cows was neutralized by means which prevented any noticeable deleterious effects on the animals.
Developing a new approach to summarize Arabic text automatically using syntactic and semantic analysis

Due to the wide spread information and the diversity of its sources, there is a need to produce an accurate text summary with the least time and effort. This summary must preserve key information content and overall meaning of the original text. Text summarization is one of the most important applications of Natural Language Processing (NLP). The goal of automatic text summarization is to create summaries that are similar to human-created ones. However, in many cases, the readability of created summaries is not satisfactory, because the summaries do not consider the meaning of the words and do not cover all the semantically relevant aspects of data. In this paper we use syntactic and semantic analysis to propose an automatic system of Arabic texts summarization. This system is capable of understanding the meaning of information and retrieves only the relevant part. The effectiveness and evaluation of the proposed work are demonstrated under EASC corpus using Rouge measure. The generated summaries will be compared against those done by human and precedent researches.
Modeling of the radiation regime and photosynthesis of a finite canopy using the DART model. Influence of canopy architecture assumptions and border effects

The scope of this work was to investigate the impact of the border effects and the 3-D architecture of a fallow field on: 1) its bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF); 2) its PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) regime; and, to a lesser extent, 3) on its carbon assimilation. For this purpose, laboratory BRF measurements were conducted on a sample of a fallow field. Moreover, we modified a 3-D radiative transfer model in order to simulate the visible and near infrared BRF of finite and heterogeneous media. Several scene representations were used (finite and infinite scenes with/without 1-D or 3-D distribution of leaf area index [LAI]). Results showed that border effects and LAI distribution strongly affect the BRF, with variations as large as 40% depending on the scene representations and on the spectral domain. PAR profiles and instantaneous canopy carbon assimilation of an infinite scene (natural conditions) were also studied with the 3-D model. The results stressed that, in the case of a fallow field, the use of a simple LAI profile provides enough information to accurately simulate the effects of the architecture on the PAR regime and the carbon assimilation of a fallow field.
Executive Summary MARGINALIZED GROUPS IN PNPM-Rural1 AKATIGA – CENTER FOR SOCIAL ANALYSIS 1. About the report

1. About the report The Marginalized and Vulnerable Groups Study grew out of a concern that some marginalized segments were left out of the development process in the areas where Program Nasional Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Mandiri-Pedesaan (PNPM-Rural Rural)—a country-wide community driven development project in Indonesia–works. Previous studies on the Kecamatan Development Project (KDP), the predecessor of PNPM-Rural, as well as the baseline survey for PNPM-Rural indicates that decisionmaking within the project favors the majority and better-off as opposed to poorer villagers and those living in outlying areas (McLaughlin, Satu, & Hoppe, 2007). The poorer groups, which include female heads-of-households and heads-of-household with no primary education, have limited participation in the KDP/PNPM-Rural decision making process, as about 75 percent of the poor attending the meetings were passive participants (Gibson and Woolcock, 2005; Voss, 2008). Other studies have shown that despite the passive nature of participation, when compared to similar projects, KDP/PNPM-Rural was better in getting the poor involved (Agung and Hull, 2002). This study was undertaken to better understand the dynamics of participation, defined as “a process through which stakeholders influence and share control over development initiatives, decisions and resources which affect them”.
Will They Swim or Sink? Parental Perception of Water Safety Among Their Children

Introduction: The magnitude of drowning as one of the leading causes of death among children in Malaysia may have been underestimated. Little is known on the level of awareness on water safety among parents as it might be associated with appropriateness and adequacy of the supervision. This study aims to describe perceptions of water safety among parents of primary school children. Methods: A cross-sectional survey with 719 respondent conducted to obtain information on parents self-reported on their children’s water-involved activity and swimming ability, self-estimated ability to rescue their child and perceptions of the risk of drowning and water safety for their children. Results: The result revealed that about 21.6% of respondents did not perceive drowning as one of the unintentional injury leading causes of death among children. Parents reported that their children had experienced a neardrowning incident (16.1%), and only 12.2% of the child had attended a formal swimming lesson. Majority of the parents did not involve in any water safety program (98.7%), can’t swim (61.6%), not been certified in CPR (87.3%) and not confident (87.3%) to perform resuscitation (CPR). Respondents also perceived their children could swim (42.1%), and they felt confident when their child in the water (45.6%). There were statistical differences between parents who reported their child had a near-drowning experience with their perception of children’s swimming ability. Conclusion: An exploration of parent’s perception of water safety provided an overview of the need for promoting awareness on drowning risk and water safety education in this country.
Therapeutic Effects of Dyhidroartemisinin Piperaquine Versus Chloroquine for Uncomplicated Vivax Malaria in

Indonesian Ministry of Health has recommended Artemisinin based combination therapies (ACTs) including dihydroartemisinin piperaquine (DHP), as an antimalarial in Indonesia. However, chloroquine is still used as an antimalarial in some health services. The objective of the study was to compare the therapeutic effect of chloroquine (CQ) with DHP. This study was a quasi experimental study. Total subject was 51 people. Twenty five subjects received DHP and 26 subjects received CQ. Clinical and parasitological responses were observed for 42 days in both treatment groups. Success cumulative incidence of the DHP group was 0.76 with 95% CI 0.542-0.884 and the CQ group was 0.577 with 95% CI 0.368-0.739. Failure cumulative incidence of DHP group was 0.24 with 95% CI 0.116-0.458 and the CQ group was 0.423 with 95% CI 0.261-0.632. There was not any significant difference between CQ therapy response and DHP therapy response, p = 0.166 with RR 2.69 (95% CI 0.69-7.73). It is concluded that, the therapeutic effect of DHP is better than CQ although statistically not significant. It has been found therapeutic failure rate of over 10% and a cure rate of less than 90 % in the DHP and CQ group.
User Perceptions on the Use of Academic Information Systems for Decision Making Support in the Context of Tanzanian Higher Education.

The adoption of Information and Communication Technology in Tanzanian higher education institutions has led to the implementation of different but equivalent Academic Information Systems to support the management of different activities of students. However, these systems are not well used to support decision-making in those institutions. This study applied the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model to study the perceptions of decision makers on the use of academic information systems in their daily activities, especially in decision-making. A mixed methods approach was followed, whereby questionnaires and interviews were used for data collection. Regression analysis was done to test the research hypotheses, and the qualitative data were thematically analyzed. The results showed that performance expectancy and facilitating conditions predicted the behavioral intention to use the systems (p<0.05) while effort expectancy and social influence were statistically insignificant (p>0.05). It was also found that users like to use the system, but undesirable functionalities, lack of necessary data, poor support, and inadequate training undermine their will to use the systems for decision-making. The results obtained cast new light on various issues that hinder the use of academic information systems by decision makers, and point toward new measures to improve them in order to increase their adoption.
Growth and diarrhoeagenic enterotoxin formation by strains of Bacillus cereus in vitro in controlled fermentations and in situ in food products and a model food system

Growth and enterotoxin formation by diarrhoeagenic Bacillus cereus strain 1230-88 in vitro in controlled continuous and batch fermentations occurred over a wide range of conditions. Enterotoxin formation was not affected by growth rate (TD 2·3–13·8 h), but was influenced by the nature of the nitrogen source, and at extremes of pH. The presence of 0·1–1·0% glucose or starch did not enhance or suppress toxin formation in controlled pH continuous cultures. Enterotoxin was not formed under anaerobic conditions in the defined medium used. Mesophilic and psychrotrophic strains of B. cereus were able to grow and form toxin in situ in several different proprietary dairy dessert products and also in a starch-based custard-like model food system. Growth and toxin formation were suppressed in low pH non-dessert food products. Specific compositional modifications to the sucrose or starch concentration, the type of protein used, or the initial pH (range pH 6–8) of the model food did not prevent either growth or toxinogenesis occurring. Compositional manipulation was not effective in preventing in situ proliferation and enterotoxin formation byB. cereus in food products. Lowering the incubation temperature, however, effectively restricted growth of both mesophilic and psychrotrophic strains of B. cereus in both the model food system and the dairy dessert products examined.