Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
One-dimensional analyses of Rapoport's rule reviewed through meta-analysis

Aim To analyse quantitatively the extent to which several methodological, geographical and taxonomic variables affect the magnitude of the tendency for the latitudinal ranges of species to increase with latitude (the Rapoport effect). Location Global. Methods A meta-analysis of 49 published studies was used to evaluate the effect of several methodological and biological moderator variables on the magnitude of the pattern. Results The method used to depict the latitudinal variation in range sizes is a strong moderator variable that accounts for differences in the magnitude of the pattern. In contrast, the extent of the study or the use of areal or linear estimations of range sizes does not affect the magnitude of the pattern. The effect of geography is more consistent than the effect of taxonomy in accounting for differences in the magnitude of the pattern. The Rapoport effect is indeed strong in Eurasia and North America. Weaker or non-significant latitudinal trends are found at the global scale, and in Australia, South America and the New World. There are no significant differences in the magnitude of the pattern between different habitats, however, the overall pattern is weaker in oceans than in terrestrial regions of the world. Main conclusions The Rapoport effect is indeed strong in continental landmasses of the Northern Hemisphere. The magnitude of the effect is primarily affected by methodological and biogeographical factors. Ecological and spatial scale effects seem to be less important. We suggest that not all methodological approaches may be equally useful for analysing the pattern.
SOIL pH DECLINES AND ORGANIC CARBON INCREASES UNDER HAWKWEED (HIERACIUM PILOSELLA)

Summary: Changes in soil chemistry in relation to hawkweed (Hieracium pilosella) presence were determined at a site receiving less than 600 mm rainfall where hawkweed was colonising Pallic Soils (yellow-grey earths). pH was significantly lower (by 0.5 units) and organic carbon values were significantly higher (0.7% absolute, 40% relative) within hawkweed patches than in adjacent soil, but there was no significant difference in total nitrogen. These differences are attributed to the change from sparse vegetation dominated by ephemeral annual plant species to continuous vegetation dominated by a perennial.
Litter Characteristics and Pododermatitis Incidence in Broilers Fed a Sorghum-Based Diet

The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of footpad dermatitis and quality of broilers litter fed with sorghum grain and diets based in corn. It was used 544 male and female chicks, distributed in a completely randomized design with two treatments and eight replications. The chicken feed was formulated and produced from corn, soybean meal and sorghum grain. In the formulation were kept constant levels of energy and protein in accordance with the following treatments: A. Control (diet based on corn and soybean meal); B. Grain sorghum (Whole Sorghum + soybean meal). At 35 and 42 days were evaluated mineral matter (A %), calcium (Ca%), phosphorus (P%), pH and dry matter (DM %) of the poultry litter. To evaluate the footpad dermatitis were evaluated eight feet per treatment by visual analysis. At 35 and 42 days of age DM % MM (%), Ca (%) P (%) and pH of poultry litter no difference (p>0.05) was found between the treatments and the type of ingredient in the birds’ diet is not related (p>0.05) with the incidence of footpad dermatitis. The incidence of footpad dermatitis and the quality of the litter weren’t influenced by the type of the ingredient used in diet.
EFEITO DA CALAGEM SOBRE A PRODUTIVIDADE DE GRÃOS, ÓLEO E PROTEÍNA EM CULTIVARES PRECOCES DE SOJA

A study was carried out to evaluate the effects of liming on the yield of four early varieties of soybeans. The experiment was conducted on a Red Yellow Podzolic soil during three years, in which the last two years the residual effect of liming was studied. A split plot design was used, in which the main plots consisted of liming (0, 4, 8 and 12 t/ha) and the sub-plots the early varieties (IAC-13, IAS-5, BR-4 and BR-6). The results showed that independent of varieties, liming increased the soybean yield, decreased the oil content and increased the protein content. Concerning the average of three years, independent of liming levels, the variety BR-4 produced the greatest quantity of oil and protein (444 and 709 kg/ha). The ratio protein/oil was similar among the four cultivars studied.
Assessment of nutritional compounds and antinutritional factors in pea (Pisum sativum) seeds

This work was supported by the Spanish Comision Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnologia (ALI 97-0636 and AGL 2000-1609-C02-01) and forms part of the BSc degree requirements of I Blazquez and G Vicente and the PhD degree requirements of C Rodriguez.
Dry Matter Productivity of High Biomass Sugarcane in Upland and Paddy Fields in the Kanto Region of Japan

Eight high biomass sugarcane clones and two commercial sugarcane cultivars were planted in upland and paddy fields in Tsukuba in 2003-2005 to identify a new crop suitable for abandoned paddy fields in the Kanto region of Japan. The paddy field was flood irrigated until harvest in 2003 and 2004. In 2005, the paddy field was flood irrigated for one month after transplantation and then the water was drained to above ground level to maintain an ill-drained condition. The highest dry matter (DM) yield of the high biomass clones was over 40 Mg/ha in the upland field, and even in the ill-drained paddy field, all high biomass clones achieved almost 30 Mg/ha. Because DM yield of feed-use rice cultivars is reported to be around 20 Mg/ha, DM yield of high biomass clones grown in ill-drained conditions would exceed that of feed-use cultivars grown in a flooded condition. Average DM yield, stalk number and plant length of the high biomass clones grown in the ill-drained paddy field were better than those grown in the flood-irrigated condition. Although the average DM yield in the paddy field was lower than the upland field every year (P < 0.01), the average proportion (paddy/upland) of DM yield in 2005 when the paddy field was in the ill-drained condition was 0.79, whereas it was 0.59 in 2003 and 0.54 in 2004 when the paddy field was flood irrigated. The results suggest that sugarcane and high biomass clones can be grown in ill-drained paddy fields with good yields; however, cultivars with improved initial growth rates and winter survivability are necessary for the Kanto region.
Physiological Responses of Planting Frozen and Thawed Douglas-Fir Seedlings

We studied the short-term (7-day) physiological responses of planting thawed and frozen root plugs of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) seedlings in 2 separate experiments under cool-moist and warm-dry growing conditions, respectively. Our results showed that shoot water potential, root hydraulic conductance, net photosynthesis (A), and transpiration (E) were significantly lower in frozen seedlings compared with thawed seedlings under both growing conditions. Chlorophyll fluorescence values in frozen and thawed seedlings were similar throughout the measurement
TinyEVM: Off-Chain Smart Contracts on Low-Power IoT Devices

With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), billions of devices ranging from simple sensors to smart-phones will participate in billions of micropayments. However, current centralized solutions are unable to handle a massive number of micropayments from untrusted devices.Blockchains are promising technologies suitable for solving some of these challenges. Particularly, permissionless blockchains such as Ethereum and Bitcoin have drawn the attention of the research community. However, the increasingly large-scale deployments of blockchain reveal some of their scalability limitations. Prominent proposals to scale the payment system include off-chain protocols such as payment channels. However, the leading proposals assume powerful nodes with an always-on connection and frequent synchronization. These assumptions require in practice significant communication, memory, and computation capacity, whereas IoT devices face substantial constraints in these areas. Existing approaches also do not capture the logic and process of IoT, where applications need to process locally collected sensor data to allow for full use of IoT micro-payments.In this paper, we present TinyEVM, a novel system to generate and execute off-chain smart contracts based on sensor data. TinyEVM’s goal is to enable IoT devices to perform micro-payments and, at the same time, address the device constraints. We investigate the trade-offs of executing smart contracts on low-power IoT devices using TinyEVM. We test our system with 7,000 publicly verified smart contracts, where TinyEVM achieves to deploy 93% of them without any modification. Finally, we evaluate the execution of off-chain smart contracts in terms of run-time performance, energy, and memory requirements on IoT devices. Notably, we find that low-power devices can deploy a smart contract in 215 ms on average, and they can complete an off-chain payment in 584 ms on average.
Changes of dominant ground beetles in black pine forests with fire severity and successional age

Abstract This study analyzes the effect of fire on the composition and abundance of ground beetles in Pinus nigra forests. We used pitfall traps to sample beetles in burned P. nigra forests in Catalonia (Spain). Since fire dramatically alters forest structure and composition and beetles follow vegetation changes, we expected drastic changes in beetle composition and abundance immediately after fire. Because P. nigra forests do not recover after fire, we also expected beetles in burned and unburned areas to differ along a chronosequence. Beetle abundance per plot increased in canopy-fire–burned areas, but per plot species richness, diversity, and dominance were not affected by fire. Species composition varied depending on fire intensity. Some species were associated with canopy fire and low vegetation cover. Other species were associated with shrub cover and time since fire. Finally, some species were not dependent on fire or vegetation cover. Beetle abundance in burned areas was independent of time since fire. This lack of medium-term convergence between burned and unburned P. nigra forests agrees with our second hypothesis. Given the increase in fire frequency and size in submediterranean areas and the observed slow recovery of beetle species, a decline in beetle diversity at a regional scale is expected. Nomenclature: Bolós et al., 1990; Museo Nacional Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), 1997–2008.
Cloning and expressing PfMyb2, a Plasmodium falciparum DNA-binding protein

iii ABSTRACT The malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, is responsible for more than 3000 deaths in Africa per day. The complex lifecycle of the parasite in the human and mosquito hosts requires a tight control of gene regulation. This area of the parasite’s biology is not well understood but recent advances in the application of molecular techniques to P. falciparum and the publication of the parasite genome sequence have provided the means to gain insight into mechanisms of gene regulation in the parasite.The malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, is responsible for more than 3000 deaths in Africa per day. The complex lifecycle of the parasite in the human and mosquito hosts requires a tight control of gene regulation. This area of the parasite’s biology is not well understood but recent advances in the application of molecular techniques to P. falciparum and the publication of the parasite genome sequence have provided the means to gain insight into mechanisms of gene regulation in the parasite. PfMyb2 is annotated as a putative transcription factor. It contains two Myb-like DNA-binding domains which have been cloned and demonstrated to bind Myb regulatory elements in the promoters of two P. falciparum genes, therefore validating it as a DNA-binding protein (Meyersfeld, 2005). In this study the full length PfMyb2 gene was cloned into the pGEX-4T-2 expression vector and induced to express recombinant PfMyb2 protein fused to a glutathione-Stransferase (GST) tag in E. coli. This prokaryotic expression system produced mainly insoluble recombinant protein. The protein was extracted from the bacterial inclusion bodies, solubilised, refolded and purified using affinity chromatography. A 500ml culture yielded ~20-40ug purified PfMyb2-GST in total. Bioinformatic analysis revealed homologues of PfMyb2 in other Plasmodium species and an unusually high homology to the human CDC5 protein, a multifunctional protein involved in transcriptional regulation of the cell cycle as well as in pre-mRNA splicing. PfMyb2 and CDC5 both contain a REB1 domain, part of a yeast protein. This domain binds to DNA to enhance transcription factor binding and it may also remodel chromatin resulting in activation or silencing of promoters. Based on the high homology to CDC5, including the REB1 domain, it is speculated that PfMyb2 is a multifunctional protein that plays a role in transcription, chromatin remodelling and RNA processing in the parasite. The full length recombinant PfMyb2 produced in this study lays the foundation for future studies to validate these speculative functions.
Antibiogram studies and extended spectrum beta-lactamase activity profile of Salmonella-like species isolated from poultry soil of the University of Uyo, Nigeria

Aims: The contribution of beta-lactamase activity of various bacterial species to the increased antimicrobial resistance being experienced worldwide is very scanty in the literature. This study was undertaken to investigate the antibiotic resistance pattern (antibiogram) of Salmonella-like bacterial species against some antibiotics, and the role beta- lactamase assumably produced by the Salmonella-like species, played in producing resistance. Methodology and Results: The antimicrobial sensitivity test and the beta-lactamase test of the Salmonella-like species were carried out using the methods of Kirby Bauer sensitivity test and the Double Disk Synergy test respectively, following isolation and identification of the organisms from poultry soil. Results revealed that Salmonella-like species were most highly resistant to Nalidixic acid (20, 66.66%), followed by Tetracycline (19, 63.33%), Cotrimoxazole, Amoxicillin and Augmentin (18, 60%), while the least was Ofloxacin (8, 26.66%). Multiple resistance of 4 or more antibiotics among the isolates from the soil outside the broilers enclosure was observed, while there was a significant difference (P <0.05) between poultry soil and control soil. This implied that the antibiotics with the highest resistance were most often applied to the birds, the droppings of which contaminated the soil. The resistant pattern of the isolates from the control soil is lower than that from the poultry soil. Extended Spectrum Beta-lactamase activity was expressed by all the isolates against Cefotazime, while the least resistance was against mostly Cefotazime. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: It is concluded that there is a widespread Beta-lactamase activity causing antibiotic resistance by many species of bacteria as well as poultry Salmonella, thus exacerbating the global problem of antibiotic resistance and a serious health related implication for antibiotic use in poultry.
TESTING BAYESIAN ALGORITHMS TO DETECT GENETIC STRUCTURE IN TWO CLOSELY RELATED OAK TAXA

The aim of this study was to test the Bayesian algorithm implemented in the software STRUCTURE in order to detect the number of clusters, by using microsatellite data from four oak species. Several assignment models, with or without a priori grouping of individuals to species, were proposed. Better results were obtained by using the sampling location information and when only two taxa were analyzed. Particularly, pedunculate oak and sessile oak formed distinct clusters whatever the assignment model we use. By contrast, no separation between the two oaks from series Lanuginosae was observed. This can be explained, on one hand, by the small sampling size for Italian oak, or by the genetic similarities of the two pubescent oaks, namely Quercus pubescens and Q. virgiliana , on the other hand. Our findings support the hypothesis according which Italian oak is an intraspecific taxonomic unit of pubescent oak.
Variability in Salt Tolerance of Nine Spring Wheat Cultivars

The biotic approach to overcome salinity problems has recently received a considerable attention from many workers throughout the world. However the identification of existing crop varieties which have enhanced salt tolerance is clearly of considerable value for exploitation of saline soils for agriculture. Salt tolerance of the nine spring wheat cultivars Bounty, Jerico, LU 26S, Minaret, Sonora 64, Timmo, Toban 66, Tonic, and Wembley was assessed at germination, and at maturity using solution and sand culture techniques. No consistent correlation was found between tolerance assessed at these two growth stages in any of the cultivars except Wembley. The salt tolerant cultivar LU 26S had significantly higher germination percentage and germination rate than the other cultivars, but was intermediate in yield. By contrast cv. Tobari 66 had low germination percentage, intermediate germination rate, but had a higher yield than the other cultivars particularly at the highest salt level. The cv. Wembley had low values in all the characters studied and thus appeared to be very salt sensitive compared with the other cultivars. There was not any consistent relationship between yield characters and ionic content in these cultivars. A general selection criterion based upon whole plant performance for assessment of salt tolerance in wheat is proposed. Zusammenfassung Variabilitat der Salztoleranz von neun Som-merweizensorten Die Salztoleranz von neun Sommerweizensor-ten: Bounty, Jerico, LU 26S, Minaret, Sono-ra 64, Timmo, Tobari 66, Tonic and Wembley wurden bezuglich des Keimens und der Aus-reife untersucht. Bei den gepruften Sorten wa-ren mit Ausnahme von Wembley keine Bezie-hungen bezuglich der Salztoleranz fur diese beiden Entwicklungsphasen festzustellen. Die Sorte LU 26S wies hohere Keimprozente und Keimraten auf als andere Sorten, ergab aber nur einen mittleren Ertrag. Die Sorte Tobari 66 hatte niedrige Keimprozente, eine mittle-re Keimrate und hohere Ertrage als andere Sorten; dies gait insbesondere fur eine hohe Salzgehaltstufe. Die Sorte Wembley erschien dagegen sehr sensitiv in bezug auf die Salzver-traglichkeit in alien untersuchten Eigenschaf-ten. Es konnte kein konsistentes Verhaltnis zwischen den Ertragseigenschaften und dem Ionengehalt nachgewiesen werden.
Morphological and pathological variations in isolates of Alternaria brassicae causing leaf blight of rapeseed and mustard

Based on different morphological characteristics like colony growth, colour, spore size, spore septation and sporulation potential, all the 25 isolates of Alternaria brassicae were grouped into three broad groups viz. ab1, ab2 and ab3. isolates of group ab1 had whitish brown, appressed fast growing colonies with high sporulation. Isolates of group AB2 had white or whitish with brown margin, slightly fluffy medium growth with sparse to low sporulation. Isolates of group AB3 were greyish white, fluffy slow growing with moderate sporulation. Pathological behavior of representative isolates of A. brassicae (from each group) differed on twelve host cultivars of rapeseed and mustard. ab5 isolate appeared to be most virulent and ab4 isolate showed least virulence.
Effeciency of Various Supportive Treatments as A Cure for Anaemia in Cattle with Theileriosis

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficiency of various supportive treatments on the restoration of anaemia in theileriosis. A total of 20 cattle infected with theileriosis received intramuscularly a single dose of buparvaquone (2.5 mg/kg -1 bw) and were divided into 4 equal groups according to the different therapy options: whereas no supportive treatment was applied in group 1, administrations of vitamin B complex, antioxidant vitamins (A, D, E and C), minerals and trace elements were performed in groups 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Haematological parameters, serum concentrations of antioxidant vitamins, minerals and trace elements as well as serum glutathion peroxidase (GSH-Px) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were determined before treatment and 7 days after in infected animals and compared to control values from 10 healthy cattle. In the theileriosis affected cattle, remarkable decreases in haematocrit values, haemoglobinaemia and platelet counts were associated to decreased serum α- / γ-tocopherol, vitamin C, vitamin B 12 , Ca, Mg, Zn, Na, GSH-Px and SOD levels and to increased sideraemia. The iron concentrations remained elevated and some antioxidants (α- / γ-tocopherol and vitamin C concentrations and GSH-Px and SOD activities) decreased in all treated cattle. Haematocrit values, haemoglobinaemia and vitamin B 12 concentrations also remained depressed but maximal increases were recorded in cattle receiving vitamins B as supportive therapy (group 2). In parallel, platelet numeration was significantly restored in all groups, but specifically in group 2. On the other hand, the maximal increases in α-tocopherol and Zn concentrations recorded in groups 3 and 4, respectively, were not associated with cure of anaemia. These results show that the most efficient supportive therapy in the cure of anaemia during theileriosis was vitamin B administration.
PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF ALLIUM SATIVUM, CALOTROPIS PROCERA, ACACIA NILOTICA, AND MITRACARPUS SCABER MIXED HEXANE EXTRACTS

Plants remain the main sources of natural products for new therapies particularly in poor countries, because most of them are less cost, and can affect a wide range of infectious microorganisms, and another interesting reason is that, the herbal medicines have fewer adverse effects compared to the conventional ones. Therefore, plants are important sources of potentially useful substances for the development of new therapeutic agents. This work is aimed at evaluating the possibility of applying mixed hexane extracts of Allium sativum bulbs, Calotropis procera leaves, Acacia nilotica pods, and Mitracarpus scaber whole parts as antibacterial on some selected bacterial strains (Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsilla pneumoniae and Streptococcus pneumoniae). The efficacies of the mixed extracts were tested by using Agar well diffusion assay method and zones of growth inhibition were measured in millimetre (mm). Interestingly, the combination of the Four plants (synergetic effect) showed highest antimicrobial activity against the tested organisms (Staphylococcus aureus 6.5 ± 0.707; Klebsilla pneumoniae 12.5 ± 0.707; and Streptococcus pneumoniae 8.0 ± 1.414). Therefore, this study ascertained the value of these medicinal plants to be used as alternatives in the treatment of infections cause by the tested bacterial strains.
Genetic variability, character association and path coefficient analysis in faba bean

Present investigation was carried out involving seventy diverse germplasm lines of faba bean. Seed yield/plant showed highly significant and positive correlation with number of pods/plant, biological yield/plant, number of branches/plant, number of seeds/pod, 100-seed weight and harvest index. Path analysis identified biological yield/plant, harvest index, number of pods/plant, 100-seed weight, number of seeds/pod and plant height as important components having high order direct effects, while number of pods/plant, number of branches/plant, plant height and number of seeds/pod via biological yield/plant showed maximum indirect effect on seed yield.