Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Avian body masses from the cerrado region of central Brazil

Few comprehensive reports have been published on the body masses of birds from the cerrado region of Brazil (Fry 1970, Cavalcanti & Marini 1993). Other less detailed reports on bird masses from the cerrado region include Sick (1958) and Oniki (1980, 1990). Most literature on Brazilian bird masses are from Amazonian localities (see references in Cavalcanti & Marini 1993). As pointed out by Wilson (1975) and Karr et al. ( 1978), body masses are valuable in testing several ecological and evolutionary hypotheses. Here, we present the masses of 878 specimens of birds belonging to 103 species (Table 1), mistnetted or collected during field work in 11 10calities in the cerrado region of central Brazil between 1984 and 1994. The cerrado region is covered by a variety of vegetation types, ranging from grassland (campo) to dense savanna (cerradao) and gallery forests. More detailed description of cerrado vegetation can be found in Eiten (1972). Birds were mist-netted or collected in: (1) Distrito Federal, mostly at Fazenda Água Limpa (DF) (15 °57'S, 47°56'W), as well as several other sites; (2) Fazenda Salto e Ponte (SP), Prata (19 ° 12'S, 48 °08'W), (3) Fazenda Zebu Eco16gica
Reference values and influence of sex and age on hemogram and clinical biochemistry in protected and endangered Murinsulaner horses

ABsTRAcT The aim of this study was to establish the exact haematological and clinical biochemistry reference values for horses of the Murinsulaner breed, using the complete population in Croatia (n = 33) for the sampling. Haemoglobin concentrations (HB), red blood cell count (RBC), white blood cell count (WBC), packed cell volume (PCV), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), platelet count and differential white blood cell counts were determined. Clinical biochemistry included the activity of GGT, AST, ALT, CK, ALP, LDH and AMYL, concentrations of glucose (GLUC), total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), cholesterol (CHOL), triglycerides (TRI), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), urea (UREA), creatinine (CREA) and total bilirubin (TBIL). The animals were sorted into groups according to sex and age, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was preformed using the GLM procedure and Tukey’s studentized range test. The results of the two-way ANOVA showed a significantly higher mean for CREA in stallions, for ALB in old horses and CK in young horses. The two-way ANOVA showed significant differences in the means for HB, PCV, and globulins, CK, GLUC, ALB and CREA. The significantly higher means of HB, PCV, GLUC and CREA in the group of old stallions should be further investigated. The influence of age and sex is difficult to interpret due to the critically small population. The reference values for Murinsulaner horses are within ranges for other cold-blooded breeds except TP, Ca and UREA.
Preparation of polyurethane foams from hydroxytelechelic oligoisoprenes obtained by controlled degradation of natural rubber : study of their physico-mechanical, thermal, and acoustic properties

Les mousses de polyurethane constituent les materiaux polyurethane les plus largement etudies et utilises pour de nombreuses applications telles que l'ameublement, l'automobile, l'isolation thermique et phonique. Les composes hydroxyles couramment utilises pour la production des mousses de polyurethane sont des produits issus de la petrochimie (polyols a base de polyesters ou de polyethers). Ces produits ont le desavantage d'etre issus de sources non renouvelables pouvant provoquer des pollutions de l'environnement et risquant de se tarir a court terme. Le caoutchouc naturel constitue un materiau de base pour la synthese des polyurethanes particulierement interessant en tant que materiau issu d'une source renouvelable abondante, avec des proprietes mecaniques interessantes et une structure chimique facilement modifiable. Dans ce travail, un nouveau caoutchouc naturel hydroxytelechelique (HTNR) de fonctionnalite 2 a ete obtenu par l'intermediaire de reactions controlees d'epoxydation et de clivage du caoutchouc naturel, suivies d'une reduction selective des oligoisoprenes carbonyltelecheliques obtenus. Ces HTNR de differentes masses molaires (1000-3400 g mol-1), ont ete obtenus de facon reproductible et avec des rendements eleves. Des modifications chimiques de ces HTNR ont ete effectuees par epoxydation (10-35% EHTNR), hydrogenation et reactions d'ouverture des oxiranes. Les differentes microstructures de ces oligomeres ont ete caracterisees par FT-IR, RMN, SEC et MALDI-TOF MS. Leurs proprietes thermiques ont ete determinees par TGA et DSC. Des mousses de polyurethane ont ete preparee a partir d'HTNR et d'EHTNR de differentes masses molaires et de differents taux d'epoxydation en une etape. Les structures chimiques, les caracteristiques physiques des mousses, leurs proprietes mecaniques, thermiques et acoustiques ont ete determinees et comparee a celles des mousses de polyurethane analogues synthetisees a partir de polyols commerciaux. Les mousses de polyur‚thane a base d'HTNR ont une structure de cellules ouvertes de dimensions 0,38 a 0,47 mm. Les proprietes mecaniques varient selon les masses molaires des oligomeres hydroxytelecheliques : les mousses de polyurethane issues d'HTNR1000 presentent des forces d'elongation et de compression superieures a celles de leurs homologues commerciaux, mais l'elongation a la rupture est plus faible. Les mousses a base d'HTNR3400 presentent les meilleures proprietes elastiques. Pour la serie des mousses a base d'EHTNR, les forces d'elongation et de compression augmentent avec l'augmentation des taux d'epoxydation. Les memes resultats sont observes avec des quantites croissantes de butane-1,4-diol. Pour ce qui concerne les proprietes thermiques, les mousses de polyurethane a base d'HTNR presentent une meilleure flexibilite a basse temperature que leurs homologues a base de polyols commerciaux. De plus, elles presentent d'excellentes proprietes d'absorption acoustique.
Bayesian Generalized Sparse Symmetric Tensor-on-Vector Regression

Abstract Motivated by brain connectome datasets acquired using diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI), this article proposes a novel generalized Bayesian linear modeling framework with a symmetric tensor response and scalar predictors. The symmetric tensor coefficients corresponding to the scalar predictors are embedded with two features: low-rankness and group sparsity within the low-rank structure. Besides offering computational efficiency and parsimony, these two features enable identification of important “tensor nodes” and “tensor cells” significantly associated with the predictors, with characterization of uncertainty. The proposed framework is empirically investigated under various simulation settings and with a real brain connectome dataset. Theoretically, we establish that the posterior predictive density from the proposed model is “close” to the true data generating density, the closeness being measured by the Hellinger distance between these two densities, which scales at a rate very close to the finite dimensional optimal rate of , depending on how the number of tensor nodes grow with the sample size. The theoretical results with proofs are provided in the supplementary materials which are available online.
Adaptive Filter as Efficient Tool for Data Assimilation under Uncertainties

In this contribution, the problem of data assimilation as state estimation for dynamical systems under uncertainties is addressed. This emphasize is put on high-dimensional systems context. Major difficulties in the design of data assimilation algorithms is a concern for computational resources (computational power and memory) and uncertainties (system parameters, statistics of model, and observational errors). The idea of the adaptive filter will be given in detail to see how it is possible to overcome uncertainties as well as to explain the main principle and tools for implementation of the adaptive filter for complex dynamical systems. Simple numerical examples are given to illustrate the principal differences of the AF with the Kalman filter and other methods. The simulation results are presented to compare the performance of the adaptive filter with the Kalman filter.
Immunotoxicology of Pacific herring: Determination of reference ranges and their application to assessing exposure to the water-soluble fraction of crude oil

Declines in Pacific herring returning to spawn in Prince William Sound four years after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, and isolation of pathogens, raised concern that crude oil exposure might alter immunocompetence and increase disease susceptibility. While adverse effects of sublethal crude oil exposure on eggs, embryos and larvae of Pacific herring and median lethal concentrations for juveniles and adults were known, little information existed on immunological consequences of sublethal exposure in juvenile and adult herring. Therefore, a suite of assays from the 3-tiered immunotoxicological approach examined if sublethal water soluble fraction of oil (WSFO) exposure of juvenile and adult herring affects their hematology, plasma biochemistry and immunological status. Wide intraspecific variance of several variables was identified in control fish, which was largely attributable to age, size, and holding time prior to experiments, as well as duration of experiments. Additionally, skin lesions were associated with elevation of plasma lysozyme and hematocrit in juveniles, while hematocrit, leucocrit, spleen-somatic index (SSI) and plasma cortisol varied with gender in adults. A significant captivity effect was observed in control and WSF fish alike. In a series of experiments using a pulse 16 to 28 day exposure to WSFO (26 to 321 ppb total polyaromatic hydrocarbons range), few statistically significant (p<0.05) changes occurred consistently in Tier 1 and 2 variables in either age class. Comparison with the 95'h percentile estimation and inter-quartile reference ranges (derived from baseline and control herring) and the literature aided interpretation of statistical changes. Only plasma lysozyme, lactate and phagocytosis varied in association with WSFO exposure in both age classes, but changes were not concentration-related. Despite transitory changes in plasma biochemistry, lysozyme and phagocytosis, no single variable was a consistent predictor of WSFO exposure. Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus (VHSV) challenges, in conjunction with WSFO exposures, could not induce clinical disease. Mortality was not altered in adults and overall they were resilient to WSFO exposure, under the experimental conditions described. Juveniles exposed to WSFO and VHSV showed increased cumulative mortality. It is recommended that age, size and captivity time be considered important modifying factors in future studies of this nature. I dedicate my t h i s to my parents, Mayaret and Gordon Sanders. lie strength, courqe and lbve t h y demonstrated in t h face ohreat adversity motivated me to persevere throytrout t h compktion of my research and writing. "0, the turbulent waters of your imagination, the calm of happy memories"
Studies on Genetic Variability and Character Association in Linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) Genotypes

Linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) is one of the most important Rabi oilseed crop after rapeseed and mustard. It originated in Mediterranean and the southwest Asian regions (Vavilov, 1935). Linseed is an annual herbaceous self-pollinated crop. It belongs to the order Malpighiales, genus Linum and family Linaceae. It is the richest source of vegetarian Omega-3 fatty acid and good source of protein, dietary fiber, lignin, flaxfiber and essential micronutrients. Although India ranks third in the world, productivity is low as the crop is generally grown as rainfed and area under linseed cultivation is continuously declining in the country. In India it occupies an area of 0.32 mha with a International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 9 Number 7 (2020) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas. com
MOLECULAR BINDING MECHANISMS OF AQUEOUS Cd AND Pb TO SIDEROPHORES, BACTERIA AND MINERAL SURFACES

by Bhoopesh Mishra Recent studies have shown that diverse groups of bacteria adsorb metals to similar extents and uptake can be modeled using a universal adsorption model. In this study, XAFS has been used to resolve whether binding sites determined for single species systems are responsible for adsorption in more complex natural bacterial assemblages. Results obtained from a series of XAFS experiments on pure Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial strains and consortia of bacteria as a function of pH and Cd loading suggests that every bacterial strain has a complex physiology and they are all slightly different from each other. Nevertheless from the metal adsorption chemistry point of view, the main difference between them lies in the site ratio of three fundamental sites only carboxyl, phosphoryl and sulfide. Two completely different consortia of bacteria (obtained from natural river water, and soil system with severe organic contamination) were successfully modeled in the pH range 3.4 − 7.8 using the EXAFS models developed for single species systems. Resultsthus obtainedcan potentially have very highimpact on the modeling of the complex bacterial systems in realistic geological settings, leading tofurther refinement anddevelopment of robust remediation strategies for metal contamination at macroscopic level.
Engineering Properties of Ternary Cementless Blended Materials

This study combined three by-products to fully replace cement as cementless blended materials without the need for an alkali activator. The feasibility of the cementless materials was assessed in terms of workability, mechanical properties, permeability, and microscopic properties. An innovation cementless blended material is consisted of desulfurized gypsum, water-quenched blast-furnace slag, and co-fired fly ash, resulting in a ternary mixture. The results were shown to perform well in terms of compressive strength, absorption, and chloride ion penetration. Scanning electron microscopic micrographs revealed that desulfurized gypsum accelerated hardening and improved the compressive strength through the formation of C-S-H and C-A-S-H gels produced by Ca(OH)2, SiO2, and Al2O3. The improvements in permeability can be attributed to the coating of gypsum particles by hydration products. Overall, our results confirm the efficacy of combining 3% gypsum, 60% slag, and 37% fly ash as the cementless composites with excellent strength and permeability.
Trends of genetic parameters and stand volume productivity of selected clones of Eucalyptus pellita observed in clonal trials in Wonogiri, Central Java

Breeding program of Eucalyptus pellita has proceeded into advanced generationswith clonal development as best way to deliver greater genetic gain. Clonal test is a prerequisite for selecting and verifying the clones productivity before deployment. Following the breeding strategy, clonal trials of E. pellita were established in Wonogiri, CentralJava. The purposes of this study are to observe trends of genetic parameters and stand volume productivity of clones tested in clonal trials of E. pellita. The trials were laid out in two experimental designs: 1) nine clones, 16 replications, single tree-plot, spacing 3 x 2m;2) 4 clones, 2-4 replications, 16 squares tree-plot, spacing 3 x 2m. Each trial also contains control (i.eseedling material). Measurements were conducted five times from six monthsto 46 months age. Results showed that trends of growth increased along the measurements with nine tested clones performed better than control seedlings. The growths were significantly different among clones along the ages with clone repeatibility ranging from 0.49 to 0.98. Three selected clones namely clone 1,2 and 3on the basis of height growth and multiplication rates showed higher stand volume productivity compared to control and consistently increased on average of0.37 m3/ha at 6 months to 73.93 m3/ha at 46 months age.
Low Friction at the Nanoscale of Hydrogenated Fullerene-Like Carbon Films

Friction force microscopy experiments at the nanometer scale are applied to study low friction of hydrogenated fullerene-like carbon films. The measured friction coefficients indicate that lower hydrogen concentration during preparation is beneficial to enter the low friction regime, especially in combination with only methane as precursor. Furthermore, two regions are found with distinct friction coefficients and surface roughnesses related to different surface structures. One is rich in amorphous carbon and the other is rich in fullerene-like carbon, dispersed on the same surface. Transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy images verify this observation of the two separated structures, especially with the extracted fullerene-like structures in the wear debris from macro friction experiments. It is speculated that hydrogen may tend to impair the growth of fullerene-like carbon and is therefore detrimental for lubricity.
Transforming Pedagogical Practices Through Collaborative Work

This article reports on the first three phases (exploration, identification, and planning) of a collaborative action research study whose main objective was to transform the pedagogical practices of teachers of a Colombian school of foreign languages. A methodology of collaborative action research and techniques, such as direct observation, completion of a reflection journal, and surveys and interviews with teachers and students was employed. Findings showed that the participants managed to identify some of the major problems they faced within their pedagogical practices and to design and implement courses of action to overcome them. Upon completion, favorable perceptions about the impact of collaborative action research on the transformation of the participating English language teachers’ pedagogical practices could be evidenced.
Genetic diversity of Sterculia quadrifida in Kupang, Indonesia based on RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) markers

Abstract. Uslan, Pharmawat M. 2020. Genetic diversity of Sterculia quadrifida in Kupang, Indonesia based on RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) markers. Biodiversitas 21: 3407-3414. This study aims to determine the genetic diversity of Sterculia quadrifida R.Br. in Kupang based on RAPD markers. Samples of S. quadrifida were collected from the yard and community forest in Kupang City (Sub-districts of Oebobo, Kelapa Lima, Maulafa, and Alak) and mixed forest in the Kupang District (Sub-districts of Kupang Barat, Nekamese, Taebenu, and Fatuleu). DNA was isolated by the CTAB method and amplified by six RAPD primers (OPD-11, OPF-11, UBC-106, UBC-127, UBC-250, and OPB-04). The data were analyzed in the MVSP software using UPGMA method and Nei & Li similarity coefficient. Total of 131 DNA bands ranging from 250-1400 bp was obtained. Populations of S. quadrifida in Kupang were divided into two main clusters and 12 sub-clusters with. The highest genetic diversity was found in Kelapa Lima of 0.1050, while the lowest genetic diversity was found in S. quadrifida population in Fatuleu of 0.0305. The population of S. quadrifida in Kupang has high genetic diversity and also clustered based on their geographical distribution
Changes in phytic acid, polyphenol, free fatty acid content and calorific value in chickpea varieties during storage

The effect of storage periods on quality of chickpea seeds was studied in Biochemistry and Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Crop Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, MGCGVV Chitrakoot, Satna (M.P.). The experiment was laid out in completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications for each variety. The data presented here represent pooled mean of two years. All the sixteen chickpea genotypes were stored at room temperature in different storage materials viz. aluminium container box, polythene bag and cotton bag. The observations were recorded at 0 month or before storage, 6 month and 12 month storage periods. During storage study it was recorded that phytic acid, polyphenol and calorific value decreased with increasing storage time while free fatty acid content increased with increasing storage time. The maximum and the minimum loss of both phytic acid and polyphenol content were recorded in cotton bag and aluminium box, respectively during storage of chickpea seeds. The maximum increase of free fatty acid was recorded in aluminium box and minimum increase was observed in cotton bag during storage. The maximum reduction of calorific value was recorded in polythene bag and minimum reduction was observed in aluminium box during storage of chickpea. Antinutritional factors viz. phytate and polyphenols were found within permissible limit in all the tested chickpea varieties.
Using susceptibility claims to motivate behaviour change in IT security

ABSTRACT Organisations face growing IT security risks with substantial consequences for missteps in business continuity, data loss, reputational harm, and future competitive advantage. To improve precaution-taking among organisation members, leaders frequently turn to susceptibility claims embedded in security education, training, and awareness (SETA) initiatives to motivate change. However, prior studies have produced mixed empirical results concerning the role of susceptibility in motivating precaution-taking. To deepen theorising about using susceptibility claims to change behaviour, we argue that threat characteristics (overt versus furtive attacks) shape individuals’ attitudes of the threat, and these attitudes subsequently anchor how individuals respond to new claims about the threats. We introduce social judgement theory (SJT) to argue that when individuals participate in SETA initiatives, susceptibility claims that are too distant from individuals’ existing attitudes will be ignored, while claims that are more proximal are more likely to be accepted and result in behaviour change. Using a longitudinal field experiment, we found that susceptibility claims motivated precaution taking against phishing (overt attack) but did not against password cracking (furtive attack). These results support SJT predictions and imply latitudes of acceptability and rejection into which susceptibility claims are placed. Implications for researchers, organisation leaders, and SETA developers are discussed.
Empirical studies on the performance of banks: A systemic literature review for future research

This paper intends to review research on the performance of banks to identify gaps in the current body of knowledge to justify future research directions. We use a systematic literature review method and review 164 articles from refereed journals. Content analysis reveals that most of the studies are empirical focusing on two aspects i.e. financial performance and efficiency of banks. These studies consider the impact of particular events and contexts on performance and efficiency while testing research hypotheses. However, often there is a lack of a theoretical backing for these studies. We argue that the considered events and contexts affect the risk transformation process under the financial intermediation theory. The efficiency of banks reflects the risk transformation process and causes performance. On the other hand, traditional performance indicators were based on financial measures that do not reflect the components of the risk transformation process. A sound comprehensive risk-based composite measure is required to fill this gap.