Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SPIDER COMMUNITY ON THE HORSE-CHESTNUT AESCULUS HIPPOCASTANUM L. - PRELIMINARY RESULTS

It is known that invasive species Cameraria ohridella L. is a dangerous pest of horse-chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum L. , and great efforts have been put in all European areas, containing horse-chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum stands, into finding effective control measures against C. ohridella. Araneae species are important and effective predators to control Lepidoptera pests. Therefore it is necessary to study perspective spider species to reduce C. ohridella population density. Preliminary studies of the spider community have been carried out in Latvia (Riga and Jelgava regions) on horse-chestnut trees in the streets of Salaspils in 2010, 2012 and Jelgava in 2012. The spiders were captured using methods of branch beating and manual collection. A total of 15 spider species were identified to species level. Twelve genera from 12 families (Theridiidae, Dictynidae, Thomisidae, Philodromidae, Linyphidae, Tetragnathidae, Araneidae, Clubionidae, Corinnidae, Anyphaenidae, Liocranidae, Salticidae) were represented in the herbaceous layer of horse-chestnut trees. The majority of spider specimens found in 2010 were from families Philodromidae (29.49%), Linyphiidae (19.36%), Theridiidae (15.67%) and Araneidae (16.13%). The total abundance of spider specimens in these families in 2012 was also quite similar.
Antioxidant properties and cytotoxicity evaluation of methanolic extract of dried and fresh rhizomes of Tulbaghia violacea

The rhizomes of Tulbaghia violacea Harv. used in Eastern Cape of South Africa for the treatment of heart diseases and several human ailments was investigated for antioxidant activity. The phytochemical content and toxicity of the fresh and dried rhizomes was also evaluated. Antioxidant activity was determined by spectrophotometric methods such as 2, 2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydrogen peroxide and lipid peroxidation scavenging activities and ferric reducing power assay. Toxicity evaluation was carried out using brine shrimps cytotoxicity test. Results obtained indicated that methanolic extract of the fresh rhizomes contained higher concentration of flavonoid, flavonol, phenolics, tannin and proanthocyanidin than dried sample. Antioxidant studies revealed that the two extracts exhibited potent antioxidant activities in concentration dependent manner. The fresh extract had higher radicals scavenging activity than the dried extract with 50% inhibition of DPPH, hydrogen peroxide and lipid peroxidation at a concentration of 35.0 ± 0.12, 19.3 ± 0.11 and 17.9 ± 0.15 µg/ml, respectively. The dried extract demonstrates lower ferric reducing ability with an absorbance of 0.61 when compared with fresh extract (0.79), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) (1.80) and rutin (1.20) standard at 50 µg/ml. The fresh and dried methanolic extracts of the plant exhibited high degree of cytotoxic activity with IC 50 values of 18.18 and 19.24 µg/ml, respectively. The results obtained in this present study indicated that the rhizome of T. violacea may serve as potential source of natural antioxidant, antimicrobial and anticancer agents.
Editor's choice: Disease dynamics in marine metapopulations: modelling infectious diseases on coral reefs

Summary 1 Coral reefs are experiencing devastating mortality due, in part, to emerging disease. Despite this growing problem, the long-term consequences of infectious disease in marine ecosystems remain poorly understood, and the application of epidemiological models to marine disease systems represents a research priority for managing resources in the world's oceans. 2 Metapopulation models may provide a framework for modelling coral population dynamics at the regional scale, and we use this approach to investigate the effects of infectious disease. The model presented here incorporates a susceptible-infected or ‘S-I’ disease into a system of patchily distributed, dynamic coral hosts, and highlights some basic differences that set many marine disease systems apart from their terrestrial counterparts. 3 The model predicts several possible long-term outcomes of disease introduction, and suggests that the consequences of disease may vary considerably among different pathogens and regions. Due to the long time-scales for coral dynamics, epizootics are expected to be prolonged with recovery slow at the regional scale. 4 Our model results show how infectious disease can substantially alter host metapopulation dynamics, with some non-linear relationships which are likely to affect the response of these systems to management and environmental change. For example, higher rates of coral colonization can have variable consequences for host population occupancy (i.e. coral cover) when infectious disease is considered, and chronic diseases with long-lived pathogens pose the highest risks for regional coral extinction. 5 Synthesis and applications. We present a tractable epidemiological model within a metapopulation framework and compare the model output with empirical data for a white plague type II (WPII) outbreak among coral of the upper Florida Keys. We conclude that this model fits well with the spatial and temporal patterns of WPII over a decade. Despite terrestrial–marine differences, many patterns derived from our model are consistent with epidemiological principles. Thus, the careful application of these principles within the context of marine management may be a promising research frontier. Although we focus on coral disease, the methods and results may apply to other marine metapopulations.
Évaluation du traitement par pilocarpine chez des patients porteurs d’un syndrome sec en utilisant l’échographie-doppler pulsé : une étude pilote (Echopilo)

Evaluer le changement echographique de l’echo-structure et de la vascularisation des glandes salivaires (GS) chez des patients atteints de syndrome sec traites par pilocarpine. Methodes : les patients avec syndrome sec ont ete inclus prospectivement. L’echo-structure et la vascularisation des GS ont ete evaluees en utilisant le mode B et le Doppler pulse (USPD). La vascularisation des GS a ete mesuree en utilisant l'indice de resistance (IR) avant et apres stimulation par le jus de citron. L’echo-structure (mesure de la longueur glandulaire en cm², grading en mode B des glandes parotides et sous-mandibulaires) a ete evaluee a l’inclusion (M0), puis apres 3 mois de traitement par pilocarpine (M3). Une consultation dentaire a ete effectuee a M0 et M3 pour evaluer les changements du debit salivaire non stimule (DNS), debit salivaire stimule (DSS), indice gingival modifie (Lobene), indice de plaque (Silness), indice de saignement, profondeur de poche et pH. Resultats : 19 patients ont ete inclus mais seulement 11 ont recu un traitement par pilocarpine pendant 3 mois, 6 ont arrete la pilocarpine en raison d'effets secondaires et 2 ont ete exclus pour d'autres causes. Parmi les 11 patients ayant complete le suivi de 3 mois, 5 avaient un syndrome de Sjogren primitif selon les criteres de classification ACR/EULAR. Comme attendu, des differences statistiques ont ete trouvees concernant le DSS (p = 0,018) et le DNS (p = 0,027) entre M0 et M3. Mais il n'y avait aucun changement statistique a la fois de l’echo-structure et de la vascularisation des glandes. L'evaluation dentaire n'a pas ete modifiee entre M0 et M3. Conclusion : La pilocarpine a ameliore les mesures du DSS et du DNS dans le syndrome sec, mais pas de tendance suggerant une modification du grade US, de l'USPD et de l'evaluation dentaire n’a ete observee.
Influence of Specific Field Training on Speed and Agility Among Soccer Players

The purpose of the study was to find out the influence of specific field training on speed and agility among soccer players. To achieve the purpose of this study, 20 male soccer players were randomly selected as subjects from the M.D.T Hindu College, Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu, India. Their age were ranged from 18 to 22 years. The selected participants were randomly divided into two groups such as Group ‘I’ underwent specific field training (n=10) and Group ‘II’ acted as control group (n=10). group ‘A’ underwent specific field training for three alternative days and one session per day and each session lasted for an hour for six week. Control group was not exposed to any specific training but they were participated in regular activities. The data on speed and agility were collected by administering by 30m dash and 4x10 m shuttle run (seconds). The pre and post tests data were collected on selected criterion variables prior and immediately after the training programme. The pre and post-test scores were statistically examined by the dependent ‘t’-test and Analysis of Co-Variance (ANCOVA) for each and every selected variables separately. It was concluded that the specific field training group had shown significantly improved on speed and agility. However the control group had not shown any significant improvement on any of the selected variables.
Statural growth in known‐age African elephants (Loxodonta africana)

The shoulder heights of 224 females and 170 males, and hindfoot length of 236 female and 217 male known-age African elephants (Loxodonta africana) were measured, and growth curves constructed for each measure of size. A linear relationship between foot length and shoulder height was confirmed in simultaneous measures of 97 males and 110 females. Growth curves demonstrated the typical sexual dimorphism in both foot length and shoulder height, with males growing more rapidly than females from birth onwards. The size dimorphism in foot length and shoulder height becomes marked by the age of 10 years, with males on average being 60–70 cm taller than females at 65 years. This size dimorphism is produced through faster growth which continues for longer than does that of females. The variance in growth rates is slightly greater for females than for males. It is proposed that female growth after puberty is affected by a trade-off between growth and reproduction, while males who deviate markedly from typical patterns of growth may be subject either to mortality or energetic constraints limiting their potential variance.
Diet of Snowy Owls Wintering in West-Central Montana, with Comparisons to Other North American Studies

ABSTRACT During an irruption of Snowy Owls (Bubo scandiaca) into western Montana in the winter of 2005–2006, we collected dietary data from 42 to 48 owls from three sites. We recorded 5400 prey from 1313 pellets, pellet fragments, and prey remains. Voles represented >90% of the prey from each site. Montane voles (Microtus montanus) dominated at two sites and meadow voles (M. pennsylvanicus) dominated at the third site. Few other prey species were eaten. Food-niche breadth was 1.14, 1.41, 1.92, and dietary evenness was 0.377, 0.398, 0.584 for the three Montana sites. We compared these data to those from six other North American studies reporting 1208 prey items collectively. A random sample of 100 pellets yielded a mean dry mass of 19 g, and a mean length × width of 82 mm × 30 mm, and the number of prey per pellet averaged 5 (SD ± 2). Mean body mass of voles eaten by the owls was 30 g. During the following winter (2006–2007), only three Snowy Owls were found in the same study areas.
Seasonally Dynamic Habitat Use by Spotted (Clemmys guttata) and Blanding's Turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) in Maine

Abstract We used radio-telemetry to investigate the seasonal dynamics of wetland use by Spotted Turtles (Clemmys guttata) and Blanding's Turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) in southern Maine. Habitat use was examined in a temporally segregated manner, comparing wetland use among seasonally discrete activity periods. Distinct seasonal movement patterns were detected and logistic regression revealed significant differences in wetland characteristics across seasons for both species. Spotted Turtles exhibited a positive association with wetlands hosting abundant Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) egg masses in spring, and a negative association with forested wetlands from spring through late summer. Blanding's Turtles were closely associated with forested wetlands in spring, wetlands with abundant Wood Frog egg masses and good sun exposure in early summer, and deep-water wetlands in late summer and fall. The seasonal differences in habitat use found in this study highlight the complex and dynamic landscape required to sustain these rare turtles. Spotted and Blanding's Turtles' diverse habitat requirements require frequent terrestrial movements, exposing them to threats for which mitigation requires understanding spatial and temporal shifts in habitats use.
Decapod and isopod crustaceans from the west coast of Southern Africa, including seamounts Vema and Tripp

Seven species of isopods (including Stenetrium vemae sp. nov. and Jaeropsis monsmarinus sp. nov.) and nineteen species of decapods (including Pseudodromia cacuminis sp. nov. and Macropodia cirripilus sp. nov.) are recorded from seamounts Vema and Tripp, and the Luderitz area. Zoogeographically, the isopods show strong affinities with the South African fauna, while the decapods include mainly South African and west African forms, with single IndoPacific and Austral species.
DEVELOPING INSTRUCTIONAL MEDIA MOBILE LEARNING BASED ANDROID TO IMPROVE LEARNING OUTCOMES

This research aims to develop instructional media which is tested its feasibility and piloted in learning activities. The instructional media is developed using online builder Appypie with DCE developed-model. The product assessment is conducted by material expert, media expert and testing in a small and big group.The instrument of collected data is conducted by interviewing, questionnaire and test. The results of this research are: The instructional media product, mobile learning based android, has been using online builde Appypie, instructional media is feasible to apply after obtaining assessment result from material and media expert and users, The learning outcomes increases significantly between students with and without using instructional media. In summary, developed instructional media is feasible to app;y in a learning activity.
BOARD STRUCTURE, AUDIT COMMITTEE AND EARNINGS MANAGEMENT OF DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN NIGERIA

There is an increasing demand in the quality of earnings as this has become a key challenge for banks since the witness of financial scandals around the world. The financial scandals were blamed on pervasiveness of earnings manipulations by managers. Thus, this study examines the effect of board structure and audit committee on earnings management of listed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria. Chang, Shen and Fang (2008) model was used to proxy earnings management, while women director, foreign director, board ownership, board size, board composition and audit committee represents board structure. Data were obtained from the annual reports and accounts of the 14 listed banks between 2006 and 2016. The study adopted Ordinary Least Square regression. The findings revealed that, women director and board size have significant negative effect on earnings management, while board ownership and audit committee were found to have significant but positive effect on earnings management of the banks. However, foreign director and board composition did not exert any significant effect on earnings management. The study recommends amongst others that the number of women director and board size be improved upon by the management, while percentage of shares held by directors and audit committee be reduced as this will ensure credibility and reliance in financial reports.
Network Alignment In Heterogeneous Social Networks

Network Alignment In Heterogeneous Social Networks by Priyanka Kasbekar Online Social Networks (OSN) have numerous applications and an ever growing user base. This has led to users being a part of multiple social networks at the same time. Identifying a similar user from one social network on another social network will give information about a user’s behavior on different platforms. It further helps in community detection and link prediction tasks. The process of identifying or aligning users in multiple networks is called Network Alignment. More the information we have about the nodes / users better the results of Network Alignment. Unlike other related work in this field that use features like location, timestamp, bag of words, our proposed solution to the Network Alignment problem primarily uses information that is easily available which is the topology of the given network. We look to improve the alignment results by using more information on users like username and profile image features. Experiments are performed to compare the proposed solution in both unsupervised and supervised setting.
Protein Kinase Cζ Activation Mediates Glucagon-Like Peptide-1–Induced Pancreatic β-Cell Proliferation

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), an insulinotropic and glucoincretin hormone, is a potentially important therapeutic agent in the treatment of diabetes. We previously provided evidence that GLP-1 induces pancreatic β-cell growth nonadditively with glucose in a phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI-3K)–dependent manner. In the present study, we investigated the downstream effectors of PI-3K to determine the precise signal transduction pathways that mediate the action of GLP-1 on β-cell proliferation. GLP-1 increased extracellular signal-related kinase 1/2, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and protein kinase B activities nonadditively with glucose in pancreatic β(INS 832/13) cells. GLP-1 also caused nuclear translocation of the atypical protein kinase C (aPKC) ζ isoform in INS as well as in dissociated normal rat β-cells as shown by immunolocalization and Western immunoblotting analysis. Tritiated thymidine incorporation measurements showed that the p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580 suppressed GLP-1–induced β-cell proliferation. Further investigation was performed using isoform-specific pseudosubstrates of classical (α, β, and γ) or ζ aPKC isoforms. The PKCζ pseudosubstrate suppressed the proliferative action of GLP-1, whereas the inhibitor of classical PKC isoforms had no effect. Overexpression of a kinase-dead PKCζ acting as a dominant negative protein suppressed GLP-1–induced proliferation. In addition, ectopic expression of a constitutively active PKCζ mutant stimulated tritiated thymidine incorporation to the same extent as GLP-1, and the glucoincretin had no growth-promoting action under this condition. The data indicate that GLP-1–induced activation of PKCζ is implicated in the β-cell proliferative signal of the insulinotropic hormone. The results are consistent with a model in which GLP-1–induced PI-3K activation results in PKCζ translocation to the nucleus, which may play a role in the pleiotropic effects (DNA synthesis, metabolic enzymes, and insulin gene expression) of the glucoincretin.
The role of previous social experience on risk-taking and leadership in three-spined sticklebacks

The emergence of leaders and followers is a key factor in facilitating group cohesion in animals. Individual group members have been shown to respond strongly to each other’s behavior and thereby affect the emergence and maintenance of these social roles. However, it is not known to what extent previous social experience might still affect individual’s leading and following tendencies in later social interactions. Here, by pairing three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) with 2 different consecutive partners, we show a carryover effect of a previous partner’s personality on the behavior of focal individuals when paired with a new partner. This carryover effect depended on the relative boldness of the focal individual. Relatively bold but not shy fish spent less time out of cover and led their current partner less if they had previously been paired with a bolder partner. By contrast, following behavior was mainly influenced by the personality of the current partner. Overall, the behavior of relatively bold fish was more consistent across the stages, whereas shy fish changed their behavior more strongly depending on the current context. These findings emphasize how the history of previous social interactions can play a role in the emergence and maintenance of social roles within groups, providing an additional route for individual differences to affect collective behavior.
The Effect of Multiple Recesses on Listening Effort: A Preliminary Study

Purpose: This study investigates the relation between a multiple-recess intervention and change in listening effort in early elementary-aged students at the beginning and end of the school day. Method: Kindergarten and first-grade (n = 167) students participating in a larger study, the LiiNKTM project, completed a dual task paradigm designed to measure listening effort via reaction time in the morning and afternoon of a school day. Students attended either an intervention school, participating in four 15-minute recess periods during the school day, or a control school, participating in one 15-minute recess period, usually at the end of the day. Change in reaction time from morning to afternoon was compared across groups. Results: Children in the intervention schools, on average, demonstrated decreased listening effort in the afternoon, as measured by the secondary task, whereas children in the control schools demonstrated increased listening effort. Differences between groups were not the result of between-district differences and did not change from the fall to the spring semester. Conclusion: Preliminary evidence indicates that unstructured play, in the form of multiple recesses during the day, may decrease listening effort in elementary-aged children with normal hearing. Future work should consider how a decrease in listening effort could lead to increased academic learning, particularly in the afternoon.
복분자딸기의 성숙 단계별 생리활성 비교

Total polyphenolic compounds, DPPH radical scavenging activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD), vitamin A, C, E, flavonoid and anthocyanin of Rubus coreanus Miquel during maturation were investigated to expand the utilization of Rubus coreanus Miquel as functional food material. Physiological activities of unripened, middle-ripened and ripened fruit of Rubus coreanus Miquel were examined. The ripened fruit included higher contents of total polyphenolic compound compared with those of the other sample groups, unripened and middle-ripened fruit. SOD of unripened, middle-ripened and ripened fruit were 59.15, 80.05 and 95.03%, respectively. Scavenging concentration (SC 50 ) of unripened and middle-ripened fruit for 0.4 mM DPPH (1,1-diphenyl 2-picryl hydrazyl) was 2.3 ㎎/mL by weight, but only 1.6 ㎎/mL for ripened fruit. The vitamin A content of the Rubus coreanus Miquel was found to be lower as the fruit ripened; however, vitamin E showed the reverse pattern. In addition Rubus coreanus Miquel is a fruit which has a high vitamin C content regardless of maturity. The flavonoid contents of Rubus coreanus Miquel were in order of ripened fruit (49 ㎛/㎎)＞middle-ripened fruit (16.4 ㎛/㎎)＞unripened fruit (15.4 ㎛/㎎). Also, the contents of anthocyanin in ripened fruit were 394.50 ㎛/㎎, which were higher than those of middle-ripened (12.43 ㎛/㎎) and unripened fruit (7.89 ㎛/㎎).
University of Birmingham Improvement of microstrip patch antenna and bandwidth at 60ghz and x bands for wireless applications

— A method has been proposed to simultaneously enhance the gain (14dB), bandwidth (BW) (12.84% of the operating central frequency) and efficiency (94%) of a microstrip patch antenna. The antennas have been designed based on the patch size improvement technique to improve the fabrication tolerance. The designed prototypes have been fabricated by conventional low cost Printed Circuit Board (PCB) etching method and tested at X-band (8-12GHz) and 60GHz band (57-66GHz) frequencies. Antennas’ overall performance is maintained across their operating frequency range. The tested antennas for 60GHz band convince the requirements for multi-gigabits/s data rate Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) applications recommended by IEEE 802.11ad and IEEE 802.15. 3c standards. In all cases the simulation and the measured results are in good agreement.