Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Forest Fragmentation and Bird Extinctions: San Antonio Eighty Years Later

We report on the extent of bird extinctions at San Antonio, a fragmented cloud forest site in the western Andes of Colombia, for which surveys dating back to 1911 and 1959 an available. In 1911, 128 forest bird species were present in San Antonio. Twenty-four species had disappeared by 1959, and since then 16 more species have gone locally extinct, for a total of 40 species or 31% of the original avifauna. We analyzed patterns of extinction in relation to geographic distribution and foraging guilds. We found that in this montane assemblage, being at the limits of the altitudinal distribution was the main correlate of extinction; 37% of the extinct species were at the upper limit of their altiudinal distribution. We also found that the most vulnerable guilds were the understory insectivores and the large canopy frugivores. Our study illustrates the extent of bird extinctions that are currently undocumented in the highly fragmented forests of the northern Andes, where the absence of baseline information on the fauna of unaltered forests is a limiting factor for the development of conservation and management plans. We stress the need to establish data bases and long-term monitoring projects for the Andean fauna.
Short-term performance of three underwater sampling techniques for assessing differences in the absolute abundances and in the inventories of the coastal fish communities of the Northeast Atlantic Ocean

Comparative works on sampling techniques allow selecting the best methods to study each target fish community. We analysed the structure of a coastal fish community in Galicia (north-western Spain) by comparing the following three techniques: diver-based underwater visual census (UVC), remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and remote underwater video (RUV). All techniques detected abundant and frequent taxa, but divers obtained more precise and complete inventories (80% of identified taxa) than did ROV (60%) and RUV (47%), were faster (only 1.4 days to achieve the estimated taxa list) than were ROV (2.0 days) and RUV (475.7 days), and were more reliable in estimating the abundances of highly mobile, less abundant, less frequent, cryptic and smaller fish. Conversely, RUV obtained the poorest estimates of abundances, and even though it obtained more replicates (136), there were more zeros (98%) than with divers (16 replicates, 64% zeros) and ROV (11 replicates, 75% zeros). Furthermore, the economic cost of the video system was triple the cost of the diving gear; consequently, we recommend using divers to study the coastal fish communities in the shallow waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. However, further research is necessary to explore the full capabilities of video techniques in long-term studies, in greater depths and in adverse weather conditions.
Phycobionts of Some Japanese Species of the Graphidaceae

Abstract Ninety-two specimens (of 26 species belonging to four genera) of the Graphidaceae were collected from various areas in Japan. Their phycobionts were isolated and studied taxonomically. The phycobionts were all identical and identified as Trentepohlia lagenifera, an alga that is widely distributed in Japan. It occurs freeliving on bark and stones under humid conditions. This alga forms zoosporangia abundantly in the field and in culture but not in the lichenized state.
For Motion Assistance Humans Prefer to Rely on a Robot Rather Than on an Unpredictable Human

Objective: The last decades have seen a surge of robots for physical training and work assistance. How to best control these interfaces is unknown, although arguably the interaction should be similar to human movement assistance. Methods: We compare the behaviour and assessment of subjects tracking a moving target with assistance from (i) trajectory guidance (as typically used in robots for physical training), (ii) a human partner, and (iii) the reactive robot partner of Takagi et al. Results: Trajectory guidance was recognised as robotic, while the robot partner was felt as human-like. However, trajectory guidance was preferred to assistance from a human partner, which was recognised as less predictable. The robot partner also was felt to be more predictable and helpful than a human partner, and was preferred. Conclusions: While subjects like to rely on predictable interaction, such as in trajectory guidance, the control reactivity of the robot partner is essential for perceiving an interaction as human-like.
EFFECTS OF GREEN FOXTAIL AND LAMB’S-QUARTERS INTERFERENCE IN FIELD CORN

Field experiments were conducted to study the effects of full season interference of various densities of green foxtail (Setaria viridis (L) Beauv. ) and lamb’s-quarters (Chenopodium album L.) on the yield of field corn. Green foxtail interference was studied at densities of 0, 29, 56, 89 and 129 plants/m2 in 1976 and 0, 20, 40, 62, 84 and 119 plants/m2 in 1977. Non-significant (P = 0.05) corn yield reductions were obtained at densities of 56 and 20 plants/m2 in 1976 and 1977, respectively. Increased green foxtail density reduced corn yields by 5.8–17.6% in 1976 and 5.6–16% in 1977. Lamb’s-quarters interference was tested at densities of 0, 46, 83, 112, 167 and 221 plants/m2 in 1976 and 0, 54, 109, 172, 208 and 277 plants/m2 in 1977. Corn yields were not reduced significantly at lamb’s-quarters densities of 46 and 109 plants/m2 in 1976 and 1977, respectively, compared to weed-free treatments. Yield reductions\ranged from 12.3–37.9% in 1976 and 6–58% in 1977. The competitive effects of green foxtail and lam.
A Study on the Effects of Crowdfunding Values on the Intention to Visit Local Festivals: Focusing on Mediating Effects of Perceived Risk and e-WOM

Information technology is recognized as an important means of expanding the sustainability of local festivals, but most research and practices only focus on existing information technologies such as websites and social network services. This study examines the potential of crowdfunding platforms to ensure the success of local festivals and assesses how emerging information technologies impact the sustainability of the tourism industry. This study proposed four values based on the value theory that is frequently applied in consumer research. We also applied inner innovativeness as a personal characteristic and examined the effects of economic, emotional, social, altruistic, and inner innovativeness regarding film festival crowdfunding on the intention to visit the film festival. We applied perceived risk and the intention to use electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) as mediating variables. As a result, emotional, social, and altruistic values were found to significantly affect the intention to visit film festivals by mediating perceived risk. In addition, the social value was found to have positive effects on the dependent variable through the intention to use e-WOM. The results show that crowdfunding platforms are considered an important tool for promoting the festival. It is also important to develop value in favor of the festival by increasing value through marketing strategies.
A molecular phylogenetic study of the Ephedra distachya / E. sinica complex in Eurasia

Abstract Kakiuchi N. , Mikage M. , Ickert-Bond S. , Maier-Stolte M. & Freitag H. : A molecular phylogenetic study of the Ephedra distachya / E. sinica complex in Eurasia. — Willdenowia 41: 203–215. December 2011. — Online ISSN 1868-6397; © 2011 BGBM Berlin-Dahlem. Stable URL: http://dx.doi. org/10.3372/wi.41. 41201 This study provides new information on phylogenetic relationships in the Ephedra distachya / E. sinica complex (Ephedraceae, gymnosperms) based on sequence variation and morphology-based delimitation of individual species. Altogether we have included 50 samples from this complex and closely related species with 39 samples sequenced for the first time. Our sampling scheme provides a much broader sampling both in respect of the number of species as well as the number of samples per species than has been accomplished in previous studies. Sequences for E. dahurica and E. pseudodistachya are given here for the first time. We sequenced the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer regions (nr ITS1+ITS2) as well as the chloroplast intergenic spacer between rnL and trnF (cp trnL-F), but only ITS1 was sufficiently informative for phylogeny reconstruction. Our data show, for the first time, (1) a well supported E. strobilacea / E. sarcocarpa / E. transitoria clade as sister to the “L” or “Asia 2” clade, furthermore (2) a distinct E. distachya clade, (3) a composite E. dahurica clade that also includes E. sinica and a fraction of E. intermedia, (4) a well supported E. regeliana clade and (5) an unresolved agglomeration of E. intermedia, E. przewalskii, E. lomatolepis and E. pseudodistachya. Most noteworthy is the support derived from the molecular data for (1) the separation of the hitherto doubtful E. pseudodistachya from E. distachya and E. dahurica and (2) the high degree of sequence similarity of E. sinica and E. dahurica. Based on morphological, molecular, ecological and biogeographical evidence, E. sinica is reduced to a subspecies of E. dahurica.
Chromosome characterization of Trichotnycterus spegazzini (Siluriformes, Trichomycteridae) from three hydrographic basins of the Northwest of Argentina

Abstract Cytogenetic studies involving conventional air drying techniques, Giemsa staining,constitutive heterochromatin analysis and silver staining were carried out on T. spegazzini from three hydrographic basins of the northwest of Argentina. In spite of colour and subtle morphological differencies the three populations showed the same karyologycal formulae, 54 biarmed chromosomes, 42 M and 12 SM pairs, NF = 108, with a very conspicuous first metacentric pair. The NORs were located at the terminal region on the short arm on a single submetacentric medium sized pair. The C banding analysis showed the presence of small blocks in pericentromeric position in an single metacentric large chromosome pair (3° o 4°). The species showed a conservative karyotype, with plesiomorphic condition for chromosome number and NOR bands.
Colonization and growth promotion characteristics of Enterobacter sp. and Herbaspirillum sp. on Brassica oleracea

Abstract We investigated the effects of inoculating a dicot plant, Brassica oleracea, with nitrogen-fixing endophytic bacteria isolated from monocots. The bacteria used were Enterobacter sp. strain 35 isolated from sugarcane and Herbaspirillum sp. strain B501 isolated from wild rice. Under glasshouse conditions, B. oleracea inoculated with strain 35 had a significantly greater fresh weight than uninoculated plants, and the fresh weight of plants inoculated with strain B501 tended to be higher than that of uninoculated plants. We conducted a laboratory-scale experiment to confirm the above results and to investigate the colonization and nitrogen-fixing abilities of these bacteria. Plants inoculated with Enterobacter sp. strain 35-1, a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-labeled strain derived from strain 35, had larger bacterial populations and greater acetylene reduction activity than those inoculated with Herbaspirillum sp. strain B501gfp1. Strain 35-1 colonized the intercellular spaces and the junctions of the lateral roots with the parent root. The results indicated that isolates from monocots can successfully colonize B. oleracea (a dicot) and promote plant growth.
Evaluation of Four Reanalysis Datasets against Radiosonde over Southwest Asia

Upper-air observational networks in Southwest Asia (SWA) are geographically sparse and reanalysis datasets (RDs) are a typical alternative. However, RDs can perform with varying degrees of quality and accuracy due to differences in assimilation schemes and input observations, among other factors. Geopotential height (gph), air temperature (tmp) and horizontal wind (U and V) modelled by the Japanese 55-year Reanalysis (JRA-55), the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis Interim (ERA-I), the ERA fifth-generation (ERA-5), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Modern Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA), are compared with radiosonde observations at three standard vertical levels (850, 500 and 300 hPa). Results showed that most RDs represent the general climatology, and ERA-5 tended to show the smallest agreements in most cases. RDs did not show consistent performance across seasons, variables, and pressure levels. RDs tended to conduct reasonable estimates over subregions with less complex topography. RDs showed better resampling performance at the upper and lower ends of sounding data distributions more frequently than around the means for most of the variables. This highlights the high potential usefulness of RDs in studying extremes over the region.
TNF‐α Protects Embryos Exposed to Developmental Toxicants

BACKGROUND: Tumor necrosis factor α (ΤNF‐α) has been implicated in mediating post‐implantation embryo loss or the embryonic maldevelopment induced by development toxicants or maternal metabolic imbalances. In order to clarify the role of TNF‐α further, a comparative study was performed in TNF‐α knockout and TNF‐α positive mice, exposed to a reference teratogen, cyclophosphamide (CP).
Enhanced degradation of algal lipids by benthic macrofaunal activity : Effect of Yoldia limatula

We used the protobranch bivalve, Yoldia limatula, in a series of incubation experiments to test whether activities of deposit-feeding macrofauna cause differences in lip degradation processes relative to controls lacking macrofauna. Uniformly 13 C-labeled algae ( 13 C > 98%) where used as a source of fresh planktonic lipids, easily distinguished from bulk sedimentary lipids by GC/MS. Variations in concentration of major lipid components ([16:1(ω7), 16:0 and 18:1(ω9)] fatty acids and phytol) were followed as a function of time in incubations with and without Yoldia. Results showed that Yoldia can signiticantly enhance the degradation of planktonic lipids in sediments. Net degradation rate constants of lipids such as fatty acids and phytol in surface sediments were linearly correlated with abundance of Yoldia (in the range 230-1160 animals/m 2 ). Yoldia altered the sediment and decomposition regime in several ways: (1) lipid-containing particles were ingested and then ejected into the oxic overlying water, with selective ingestion and digestion of different components; (2) particles were moved into subsurface regions by bioturbation; (3) sediment resuspension occurred, porosity increased, and dissolved oxygen and suboxic conditions penetrated deeper in the presence of Yoldia; (4) Yoldia grazed bacteria, influencing net degradation pathways of algal material, as indicated by higher accumulation of a bacteria-specific branched fatty acid and an intermediate C 16 alcohol in the absence of Yoldia than in presence of Yoldia when plankton material was introduced as a pulse; (5) the activities o' Yoldia enhanced solute exchange and altered the spatial and temporal patterns of redox reactions, as indicated by time-dependent depth distributions of Br (introduced tracer), ΣCO 2 and NH + 4 in the microcosms.
Autonomous Resource Slicing for Virtualized Vehicular Networks With D2D Communications Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning

Considering bandwidth-hungry and low latency requirement of vehicular communications applications, we propose a novel dynamic reinforcement learning-based slicing framework and optimization solutions for efficient resource provisioning in virtualized network for D2D-based vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. The aim is to balance resource utilization and quality of service (QoS) satisfaction levels for multiple slices. The slicing framework is designed as a three-stage layered framework. In the first stage, we propose dynamic deep reinforcement learning-based virtual resource allocation scheme to allocate distinct resources to slices. In the second stage, we aggregate the D2D resource portion of the slice resource for D2D-based V2V communication. In the third stage, due to the computational complexity and signaling overhead of the physical resource allocation, we transform the problem into a convex optimization problem and solve with an alternating direction method of multipliers-based distributed algorithm. Performance results are provided in terms of resource utilization, QoS satisfaction and throughput to show the benefit of integrating resource slices dedicated to supporting interslice D2D-based V2V communication in vehicular network.
Sme-arrhenius model for wsi of rice flour in a twin-screw extruder

ABSTRACT We have modeled a rice extrusion process focusing specifically on the starch gelatinization and water solubility index (WSI) as a function of extrusion system and process parameters. Using a twin-screw extruder, we examined in detail the effect of screw speed (350–580 rpm), barrel temperature, different screw configurations, and moisture content of rice flour on both extrusion system parameters (product temperature, specific mechanical energy [SME], and residence time distribution [RTD]) and extrudate characteristics (expansion, density, WSI, and water absorption index [WAI]). Changes in WSI were monitored to reveal a relationship between the reaction kinetics during extrusion and WSI. Reaction kinetics models were developed to predict WSI during extrusion. WSI followed a pseudo first-order reaction kinetics model. It became apparent that the rate constant is a function of both temperature and SME. We have developed an adaptation of the kinetic model based on the Arrhenius equation that shows bet.
Conservation of Vascular Epiphyte Diversity in Mexican Coffee Plantations

Abstract: Coffee plantations have replaced many lower‐montane forests in the Neotropics, and ongoing intensification is converting traditional polycultures with a variety of shade trees to plantations with no or monospecific shade trees. To evaluate the impact of coffee cultivation on epiphyte diversity, I surveyed vascular epiphytes on shade trees in nine different coffee plantations and compared records with those in four natural forests in central Veracruz, Mexico. Eighty‐nine species occurred in coffee plantations, and 104 species occurred in natural forests. The number of epiphytic species in traditional polycultures with old shade trees, mostly of the genus Inga, was similar to that in forests, but plantations with small trees and sparse shade hosted fewer epiphytes than those with large trees. Epiphyte communities were, however, more homogeneous in coffee plantations than in forests, possibly because of a drier microclimate and the lack of large and long‐lived trees. These results demonstrate the value of traditional polycultures for epiphyte diversity, show the importance of conserving large shade trees, and suggest that these coffee systems may not be suitable for all epiphytes.
Relative abundance distributions in plant communities: Effects of species richness and of spatial scale

Relative abundance distributions (RADs) are an important feature of community structure, but little is known of the factors affecting which type of RAD is observed in a particular community. We examined the influences of species richness and of spatial scale on the RAD of plant communities. The effect of species richness was examined by analysing simulated communities generated under the Broken stick model, the Sequential breakage model, and a randomized version of Niche pre-emption model. In all cases, when there were few species in the community the data only occasionally gave the best fit to the model that was used to generate it. With 40–65 species, a best fit was obtained for the correct model in about 75 % of cases, almost irrespective of the model. Effects of spatial scale were examined in data from four dune slacks and from two semi-arid grasslands, by analysing biomass values at a range of sample sizes. The model that best fitted the whole sample differed between the four slacks and between the slacks and the semi-arid grasslands. The change in which model of RAD fitted best, as sample size was reduced, varied between sites and between habitat types. At the smallest sample sizes, the Zipf-Mandelbrot model often fitted, and in the slack sites the Broken stick also, though neither fitted (in the vegetation examined) at larger spatial scales. It is concluded the RAD is affected by species richness and by spatial scale, in ways that currently do not enable simple prediction. RADs can theoretically give information on the processes such as resource partitioning, immigration and competition that have structured the community, but they are a blunt tool for this purpose.
Cross Connected Compact Switched-Capacitor Multilevel Inverter (C3-SCMLI) Topology With Reduced Switch Count

In this brief, a new cross-connected compact switched capacitor (C<sup>3</sup>SC) cell is introduced for multilevel inverter applications. The proposed CCS cell uses four switches and two diodes for interconnecting the input dc source and floating capacitors (FCs). A nine-level inverter is derived with the proposed C<sup>2</sup>SC cell requiring only ten switches and two FCs. The proposed C<sup>3</sup>SC cell-based MLI is self-balancing and has a voltage gain of two. All the switches of the proposed topology have a maximum blocking voltage within the input dc voltage (<italic>v</italic><inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{in}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) value. The operating principle is detailed, and a simple logic gate based gate pulse generation scheme is presented. Detailed simulations and experimental results obtained from an 850 W prototype with several test cases are presented to validate the operation of the proposed topology. Finally, a detailed comparative assessment is performed with other recent SCMLIs to demonstrate the merits and superiority of the proposed topology.
Status and applications of genomic resources for the gray, short-tailed opossum, Monodelphis domestica, an American marsupial model for comparative biology

Owing to its small size, favourable reproductive characteristics, and simple husbandry, the gray, short-tailed opossum, Monodelphis domestica, has become the most widely distributed and intensively utilised laboratory-bred research marsupial in the world today. This article provides an overview of the current state and future projections of genomic resources for this species and discusses the potential impact of this growing resource base on active research areas that use M. domestica as a model system. The resources discussed include: fully arrayed, bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries; an expanding linkage map; developing full-genome BAC-contig and chromosomal fluorescence in situ hybridisation maps; public websites providing access to the M. domestica whole-genome-shotgun sequence trace database and the whole-genome sequence assembly; and a new project underway to create an expressed-sequence database and microchip expression arrays for functional genomics applications. Major research areas discussed span a variety of genetic, evolutionary, physiologic, reproductive, developmental, and behavioural topics, including: comparative immunogenetics; genomic imprinting; reproductive biology; neurobiology; photobiology and carcinogenesis; genetics of lipoprotein metabolism; developmental and behavioural endocrinology; sexual differentiation and development; embryonic and fetal development; meiotic recombination; genome evolution; molecular evolution and phylogenetics; and more.