Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using machine learning models to predict the distribution of a cryptic marine species: the sperm whale

Implementation of effective conservation planning relies on a robust understanding of the spatio-temporal distribution of the target species. In the marine realm, this is even more challenging for species rarely seen at the sea surface due to their extreme diving behaviour like the sperm whales. Our study aims at (i) investigating the seasonal movements, (ii) predicting the potential distribution and (iii) assessing the diel vertical behaviour of this species in the Mascarene Archipelago in the Southwest Indian Ocean. Using 21 satellite tracks of sperm whales and 8 environmental predictors, 14 supervised machine learning algorithms were tested and compared to predict the whales’ potential distribution during the wet and dry season, separately. Fourteen of the whales remained in close proximity to Mauritius while a migratory pattern was evidenced with a synchronized departure for 8 females that headed towards Rodrigues Island. The best performing algorithm was the random forest, showing a strong affinity of the whales for Sea Surface Height during the wet season and for bottom temperature during the dry season. A more dispersed distribution was predicted during the wet season whereas a more restricted distribution to Mauritius and Reunion waters was found during the dry season, probably related to the breeding period. A diel pattern was observed in the diving behaviour, likely following the vertical migrations of squids. The results of our study fill a knowledge gap regarding seasonal movements and habitat affinities of this vulnerable species, for which aregional IUCN assessment are still missing in the Indian Ocean. Our findings also confirm the great potential of machine learning algorithms in conservation planning and provide highly reproductible tools to support dynamic ocean management.
Do the more flexible individuals rely more on causal cognition? Observation versus intervention in causal inference in great-tailed grackles (version 5 of this preprint has been peer reviewed and recommended by Peer Community In Ecology [https://doi.org/10.24072/pci.ecology.100076])

Behavioral flexibility, the ability to change behavior when circumstances change based on learning from previous experience, is thought to play an important role in a species’ ability to successfully adapt to new environments and expand its geographic range. It is alternatively or additionally possible that causal cognition, the ability to understand relationships beyond their statistical covariations, could play a significant role in rapid range expansions via the ability to learn faster: causal cognition could lead to making better predictions about outcomes through exerting more control over events. We aim to determine whether great-tailed grackles (Quiscalus mexicanus), a species that is rapidly expanding its geographic range, use causal inference and whether this ability relates to their behavioral flexibility (flexibility measured in these individuals by Logan et al. (2019): reversal learning of a color discrimination and solution switching on a puzzle box). Causal cognition was measured using a touchscreen where individuals learned about the relationships between a star, a tone, a clicking noise, and food. They were then tested on their expectations about which of these causes the food to become available. We found that eight grackles showed no evidence of making causal inferences when given the opportunity to intervene on observed events using a touchscreen apparatus, and that performance on the causal cognition task did not correlate with behavioral flexibility measures. This could indicate that our test was inadequate to assess causal cognition. Because of this, we are unable to speculate about the potential role of causal cognition in a species that is rapidly expanding its geographic range. We suggest further exploration of this hypothesis using larger sample sizes and multiple test paradigms.
Management Prospects for COVID-19: A Review

Although the number of active COVID-19 cases have been fallen in some countries, the threat of the pandemic is still impending in many parts of the world and the pace of recovery is still uncertain. SARS-CoV-2 outbreak has expanded very quickly since the beginning of 2020 and has now taken approximately a million lives all around the globe. Sadly, there is yet to be an approved treatment for COVID-19 as it may take a few years to establish a definitive treatment and a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. This study aims to review the preventive and curative measures currently under investigation for COVID-19 and the targeted pathogenic features of the SARS-CoV-2. To manage the clinical implications of COVID-19, and to alleviate SARS-CoV-2, the main focus is on supportive therapy, symptom control, antiviral drugs, and immunomodulation. Intense research activities for therapeutic interventions are in progress worldwide to evaluate the benefit of such drugs.
High thermal stability and sluggish crystallization kinetics of high-entropy bulk metallic glasses

Metallic glasses are metastable and their thermal stability is critical for practical applications, particularly at elevated temperatures. The conventional bulk metallic glasses (BMGs), though exhibiting high glass-forming ability (GFA), crystallize quickly when being heated to a temperature higher than their glass transition temperature. This problem may potentially be alleviated due to the recent developments of high-entropy (or multi-principle-element) bulk metallic glasses (HE-BMGs). In this work, we demonstrate that typical HE-BMGs, i.e., ZrTiHfCuNiBe and ZrTiCuNiBe, have higher kinetic stability, as compared with the benchmark glass Vitreoy1 (Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5) with a similar chemical composition. The measured activation energy for glass transition and crystallization of the HE-BMGs is nearly twice that of Vitreloy 1. Moreover, the sluggish crystallization region ΔTpl-pf, defined as the temperature span between the last exothermic crystallization peak temperature Tpl and the first crystal.
Analytical techniques for volatiles: A case study using intermediate (andesitic) glasses

Abstract Small-scale analyses of volatiles in minerals and glasses provide information on how volatiles influence high-temperature geologic processes and low-temperature alteration processes. Four techniques for determining the C-O-H volatile contents of andesitic glasses are compared: manometry, secondary ion mass spectrometry, micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and a technique where the H2O content is calculated using the difference between electron microprobe analysis totals and 100% sum. We present a method to determine the H content of a wide range of glass and mineral compositions using secondary ion mass spectrometry and a model for calibration factors. The extinction coefficients for H-O volatile contents in intermediate composition synthetic glasses are determined, and it is demonstrated that C-O speciation changes as total H2O content increases, with molecular CO2 decreasing, CO32- increasing, and carbonate peak splitting increasing. For glasses with low H2O content and oxy-substituted minerals, the methods of choice for volatile analysis are secondary ion mass spectrometry or micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.
A Cooperative Approach using Particle Swarm Optimization with Adaptive Behavior

– Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) has been widely used to solve real world optimization problems. Since the original PSO fails to maintain the diversity along the search process, some PSO variations have been proposed to overcome this limitation. The recently introduced Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization (APSO) presents faster convergence, while maintaing the population diversity, by including into the PSO algorithm the auto-adaptation of the parameters according to the current spatial distribution of the swarm. Besides, there are some PSO variations which incorporate a cooperative behavior, such as the Clan Particle Swarm Optimization (ClanPSO). In this paper, we propose to include the auto-adaptation ability solely in the Clans of the ClanPSO algorithm and compare its performance to previous approaches. We evaluated our proposal in six benchmark functions recently proposed in IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation 2010 . Our proposal obtained similar or better results in terms of ﬁtness when compared to the original ClanAPSO, but presents a lower computational cost. We obtained better results when compared to other cooperative approaches and the classical PSO approaches.
Newly acquired knowledge on the scientific issues related to climate change over the recent 100 years in China

The issue of the global climate change as well as the climate change in China is of increasingly great concern for various governments, scientific and technological communities and public. Among them, the climate change evidence, mechanism and attribution, climate change impact, as well as climate change prediction and projection have been studied intensively in China. The present paper will concisely review and assess contributions and achievement made by Chinese scientists from the international perspective, which include the following six aspects: (1) the characters tics of regional surface air temperature and tropospheric temperature in China have shown significant increasing trends. The warming rate of the surface temperature is about 1.2℃ per hundred year with its uncertainty ranging of 0.9–1.52℃. (2) The researches of water cycle have indicated that regional precipitation change has had no obvious trend at a hundred-year scale. However, the precipitation pattern has changed since 1970s with more precipitation in western China, whereas in eastern China the pattern of “drought in North and flood in South” has been observed. The annual surface humidity has taken on increasing trend. Both the small pan evaporation and potential evaporation have appeared decreasing trends. The annual runoff of most rivers in eastern China has shown decreasing trends, while that in western China has shown increasing trends. (3) It is indicated that the anthropogenic forcing has produced significant effect on the long-term variation of the East Asian monsoon. The intensity of the East Asian summer monsoon will become stronger and the monsoonal rain belt will migrate northward. (4) The sea level has been affected by the global warming. Since 1980, the rising rate of sea level in China is about 2.9 mm/a, being higher than that of the global mean. (5) The attribution of the climate change has suggested that the surface temperature variation for the last 100 years is the result of the superimposition between the global warming and the natural Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) or other oceanic phenomena. The fast warming rate and the intensity as well as the frequency of some extreme events (such as heat waves) in china are consistent with the global counterparts, mainly influenced by the increase of the green-house gases. (6) The model projections have stated that by the end of 21st century, the global surface temperature will possibly increase by 1.0–3.7℃. The increasing amplitude of surface temperature in China will be 1.3–5.0℃. The precipitation will increase by 5%–14% and the extreme events will more frequently occur.
ǰaqaʔ: A generalized exclamation operator in ʔayʔaǰuθəm

In this paper, we present a formal analysis of the common and yet not well- understood auxiliary ǰaqaʔ in ʔayʔaǰuθəm (a.k.a. Comox-Sliammon; Central Salish). Based on original fieldwork, we argue that speakers can use ǰaqaʔ not only to express wishes or worries, but also to signal the unexpectedness or predictableness of the denoted proposition. To account for this initially perplexing banquet of meanings, we propose — in the spirit of Grosz (2011, 2014) — that ǰaqaʔ functions as an exclamation operator (EX) that serves to express the speaker’s emotion towards the status of a proposition on a contextually salient scale. As predicted by this approach, the use of ǰaqaʔ can give rise to optatives, adversatives, polar exclamatives, and congruent exclamatives — a novel type of exclamative we discover in the process. A claim that emerges from the analysis is that Grosz’s EX operator, which is covert in German and English, may be realized overtly in other languages.
Impact of land use in areas of buffer zone around Cicuta’s Forest, Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Anthropic actions have caused the degradation of Brazilian soils, especially due to reduced forest cover. The objective of this work was to evaluate soil attributes in areas under different forms of land use, located in the buffer zone of the Relevant Ecological Interest Area (ARIE) Cicuta Forest, middle Paraiba do Sul Valley, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Eight plots (10m × 12.5m) were installed in three different forms of land use (degraded pasture area; reforestation area with native species; and a fragment of a forest area) for evaluation of chemical and biological parameters. Although the fragment of a forest area presents a greater homogeneity regarding the nitrogen, polyphenols, humidity, and pH parameters, which shows greater environmental stability in this area, the microbiological parameters showed that there is a low activity, which might be indicative of a degraded environment, probably due to the small size of the forest fragment present in the buffer zone of the Relevant Ecological Interest Area (ARIE) Cicuta Forest.
The role of fluoride complexes in REE geochemistry and the importance of 4f electrons; some examples in minerals

The stability constants of the REE fluoride complexes increase on decreasing the ionic radius, thereby apparently confirming that the geochemical behaviour of REEs (apart from the well known exceptions of Eu and Ce) should depend on the values of the ionic radii almost exclusively. However, for scandium and yttrium, which are usually considered together with the lanthanides, the complexes are markedly more stable than it would be expected according to the values of their ionic radius. In nature, a notable enrichment (or depletion) of Y with respect to lanthanides is indeed often linked to the presence of fluorides or of other complexing agents. Since the ionic radius of Dy is close to that of Y, a useful parameter to evidence such a phenomenon is the Y/Dy abundance ratio, which is subject to extensive variation in minerals, whereas it should remain constant if the chemical properties would depend on the ionic radius only. Besides examples of such a variation observed in the Alpine region, the formation of remarkably unusual Yb-rich minerals in fluorine-rich pegmatites observed in the Kola peninsula or in Colorado can be explained. For scandium, the presence of fluorides emphasizes its difference with respect to most elements, including the REEs.
Sustainable Development Goals and BRICS: In search of the contours of the post-COVID world economy

The global COVID-19 pandemic and an unexpected recession of a dangerous magnitude have provided strong reasons to look at the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from three points of view: the SDGs as a victim of the recession 2020; the SDGs as an opportunity for better coordination on the way out of recession; and the SDGs as an object of modernization for better adaptation to the realities on “the global ground”. The BRICS countries are, naturally, the primary group of interest for developing and implementing the SDGs on the global scale as a way of catching up. “Pandemic protocol” and additional indicators are proposed as an urgent update to several SDGs.
Voltage dependent anion channel: Interaction with lipid membranes

Evidence has accumulated that the voltage dependent anion channel (VDAC), located on the outer membrane of mitochondria, plays a central role in apoptosis. The involvement of VDAC oligomerization in apoptosis has been suggested in various studies. However, it still remains unknown how exactly VDAC supra-molecular assembly can be regulated in the membrane. Previous studies suggested the possible influence of various proteins on the formation of VDAC oligomers, but the important issue of the VDAC oligomeric state regulation by lipids has not been studied so far. Nevertheless, the effect of lipids on the oligomerization of several membrane proteins has been mentioned in the literature and in general, protein-lipid interactions are under extensive investigation. In the present work, I addressed the influence of lipids on VDAC oligomerization experimentally by reconstituting the fluorescently labelled VDAC in giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs)—a chemically well defined, cell-free minimal model system. Fluorescence crosscorrelation spectroscopy was performed to determine the oligomeric state of VDAC. I investigated the effect of important for apoptosis anionic lipids, phosphatidylglycerol and cardiolipin, on VDAC oligomerization. I demonstrated that phosphatidylglycerol significantly enhances VDAC oligomerization in the membrane, whereas cardiolipin disrupts VDAC oligomers. These results suggest that upor downregulation of these lipids in mitochondria during apoptosis can tune VDAC oligomerization in the membrane. Thus, this study sheds light on the role played by the above-mentioned lipids in the regulation of VDAC oligomerization during apoptosis and provides additional information on the molecular mechanisms of the programmed cell death. Another objective of this work was to investigate the partitioning of VDAC into liquid disordered or liquid ordered lipid phases. The existence of lipid domains or the lipid rafts in mitochondria and VDAC enrichment in these rafts is still under debate. Additionally, mitochondrial VDAC was recently found in the plasma membrane. The role of this VDAC is not known, however, it was shown to be located in caveolae (specialized lipid rafts) and play an important role in neuronal apotosis and Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, VDAC partitioning to the lipid rafts is an interesting question for investigation. The possibility to reconstitute VDAC into minimal model systems–GUVs with phase separation, allowed to reveal the preferential partitioning of VDAC into liquid disordered lipid domain, which suggests either non-raft localization of VDAC or the requirement of the other factors for the recruitment of VDAC into lipid rafts.
The First Report of Diversity Analyses of Skin Microbiome In Indonesian Leprosy Patient

BackgroundSkin microbiome is quiet diverse. There are several factors influencing the skin microbiome, such as skin diseases. However, the effects of leprosy on the skin microbiome remain unclear and there are only a few studies about skin microbiome on leprosy. The aim of this study was to investigate the alpha diversity of skin microbiome on lesional site of multibacillary (MB) leprosy patients who visited the top referral hospital in West Java Indonesia. Here in this study we characterize the skin microbiome in leprosy patient in compared to healthy individual by using next generation 16S rRNA sequencing. A total 18 skin swab samples were collected from 18 samples (14 leprosy patients, 4 healthy individuals). ResultsTaxonomic analysis of leprous skin lesions revealed main five phyla: Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Cyanobacteria. Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were overrepresented in leprosy patients, while Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Cyanobacteria were diminished in leprosy patients compared to healthy individuals. The main five genera in leprous skin lesions were Staphylococcus, Acinetobacter, Corynebacterium, Micrococcus, and Propionibacterium. Staphylococcus, Acinetobacter, and Micrococcus were enriched in leprosy patients, while Corynebacterium and Propionibacterium which have a protective role in normal skin, were diminished in leprosy patients when compared with healthy individuals. Twenty-five species were found in leprous skin lesions that were not typical in human skin and considered as potentially pathogenic. The alpha diversity analysis showed that leprous skin lesions is less diverse than that of the healthy skin microbiome.ConclusionAs a conclusion, the skin microbiome on lesional site of leprosy patient show alteration and less diverse compare to healthy individuals. This suggest that leprosy can affects skin microbiome profile or otherwise.
Fabrication and Characterization of Ni(BDC)(TED)0.5/Polysulfone Mixed Matrix Membrane

Mixed Matrix Membranes (MMMs) appear to be very potential materials to enable efficient gas permeation. MMMs consist of inorganic particle filler dispersed in a continuous polymeric matrix homogeneously. Among various type of filler materials, Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) have been discovered as the potential fillers to be used in fabrication of MMMs due to their high affinity with the polymer chains and high sorption capacity which is contributed by their high porosity properties. In this study, Ni(BDC)(TED) 0.5 , which is a type of MOFs was synthesized via solvothermal method at 120 °C for 48 hours and subsequently incorporated into polysulfone (Psf) matrix in order to fabricate MMMs. The loading of Ni(BDC)(TED) 0.5 in the MMMs was varied from 5 wt% to 20 wt% in order to study the effect of fillers on the properties as well as CO 2 gas permeation performance of the MMMs. The property of the samples were investigated by using characterization method of X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrometry. The synthesized Ni(BDC)(TED) 0.5 was well crystallized and possessed an irregular elongated shape. FESEM and XRD results showed that Ni(BDC)(TED) 0.5 was successfully incorporated into Psf polymer matrix. Lastly, gas permeation test was conducted to determine the CO 2 gas permeation. In this study, the CO 2 /CH 4 selectivity increased when the filler loading increased from 5 wt% to 10 wt%, and the optimum CO 2 /CH 4 selectivity of 11.75 was obtained with 10 wt% of Ni(BDC)(TED) 0.5 incorporated into the MMMs.
Black queen cell virus and Nosema ceranae coinfection in Africanized honey bees from southern Brazil

ABSTRACT: Bees are fundamental in several aspects, especially in relation to plant biodiversity and pollination. Recently, immense losses are being faced in the number of Brazilian colonies, mainly in southern states of the country, which has a strong beekeeping activity. There are indications that, among the reasons for the losses, pathogens that affect the health of bees may be involved. Among them, the microsporidium Nosema and the black queen cell virus (BQCV) stand out for their prevalence. In this study, 92 colonies of 17 apiaries from southern Brazil were evaluated for infection by Nosema ceranae, Nosema apis and BQCV. Nucleic acid extractions and cDNA synthesis were performed from adult bee samples, followed by Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and multiplex PCR. Eight BQCV positive samples were subjected to sequencing. The results showed that N. ceranae and BQCV are circulating in the Southern region of the country, which may be the reason for the loss of colonies. N. apis was not found. N. ceranae was found in 57.6% (53/92) of the colonies and BQCV in 32.6% (30/92). Co-infection was found in 25% (23/92) of the colonies studied, a factor that is suggested to be reducing the hosts’ longevity due to the synergistic action of the pathogens. The samples submitted to sequencing indicated similarity of 96.8 to 100% between them, in addition to strong similarity with sequences from Asia, United States, Germany and Peru. This study reports the circulation of N. ceranae and BQCV in apiaries in southern Brazil, in addition to being the first phylogenetic analysis of the Brazilian BQCV sequence.