Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stimulation of H2O2 generation by calcium in brain mitochondria respiring on α‐glycerophosphate

It has been reported recently (Tretter et al., 2007 b) that in isolated guinea pig brain mitochondria supported by α‐glycerophosphate (α‐GP) reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced through the reverse electron transport (RET) in the respiratory chain and by α‐glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (α‐GPDH). We studied the effect of calcium on the generation of H2O2 as measured by the Amplex Red fluorescent assay in this model. H2O2 production in α‐GP‐supported mitochondria was increased significantly in the presence of 100, 250, and 500 nM Ca2+, respectively. In addition, Ca2+ enhanced the membrane potential, the rate of oxygen consumption, and the NAD(P)H autofluorescence in these mitochondria. Direct measurement of α‐GPDH activity showed that Ca2+ stimulated the enzyme by decreasing the Km for α‐GP. In those mitochondria where RET was eliminated by the Complex I inhibitor rotenone (2 μM) or due to depolarization by ADP (1 mM), the rate of H2O2 formation was smaller and the stimulation of H2O2 generation by Ca2+ was prevented partly, but the stimulatory effect of Ca2+ was still significant. These data indicate that in α‐GP‐supported mitochondria activation of α‐GPDH by Ca2+ leads to an accelerated RET‐mediated ROS generation as well as to a stimulated ROS production by α‐GPDH. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Predicting abundance from occupancy: a test for an aggregated insect assemblage

Summary 1 The ubiquitous, positive abundance‐occupancy relationship is of potential value to conservation and pest management because of the possibility of using it to predict species abundance from occupancy measures.2 He & Gaston (2000a) developed a model, and a parameterization method, for the prediction of abundance from occupancy based on the negative binomial distribution. There are to date few empirical tests of either the estimation method or model. Here we conduct such a test in a field‐based mesocosm experiment using a Drosophilidae assemblage associated with decaying fruit.3 With individual (and groups of) fruit as minimum mapping units, abundance estimates derived using the parameterization method of the He‐Gaston model differed significantly from measured values, and were least accurate for the most abundant species.4 Substitution of k‐values corrected for species density in the model did not improve abundance predictions significantly. However, substitution of k‐values calculated directly from the negative binomial distribution yielded highly accurate abundance predictions.5 Although the distribution of fly species did not deviate significantly from the negative binomial distribution, and the finest possible minimum mapping units were used (individual fruit), the parameterization method in the He‐Gaston model consistently underestimated the abundance of species in the assemblage because individuals were very highly aggregated within fruit.6 Because of its potential importance, this model and parameterization method require further exploration at fine scales, commonly represented by individual habitat units, for highly aggregated species. The incorporation of spatially explicit information may provide a means of improving abundance predictions in this regard.
Investigating the Forensic Applications of Global and Local Temporal Representations of Speech for Dialect Discrimination

Languages, dialects, and speakers can differ substantially in the temporal structure of speech. With the exception of only a handful of studies, the application of this information has been fairly limited in forensic speech research and casework. This may in part be due to existing differences in how to quantify temporal differences, as well as the limited research on the efficacy of such operationalisations for speaker discrimination. Standard operationalisations of temporal information have included measures reflecting global aspects of vowel or consonant duration alternations (e.g., Rhythm Metrics: RMs), as well as local measures of the change and acceleration of the cepstrum (e.g., delta and delta-delta coefficients in Automatic Speech or Speaker Recognition). This paper investigates the utility of these temporal measures for discriminating among four dialects of British English that contrast in region and language contact: Cambridge, Multicultural London, Leicester, and Punjabi-Leicester English. Using linear regression, log-likelihood model comparison and k-means clustering, we identified significant differences between dialects in all investigated RMs and substantially better performance of RMs in comparison to delta and delta-delta coefficients in dialect clustering. These findings suggest that temporal information in speech, and particularly global temporal information, is highly useful for dialect and speaker discrimination.
STATUS AND DIET OF THE OTTER LUTRA LUTRA IN NORTHERN IRELAND

Abstract:We assess the status and diet of otters in Northern Ireland in 2002. Signs of otter presence were noted at 65% of 441 sites surveyed. This figure suggests a decline in signs of otters since the 1980s. Highest occurrence of signs of otters was around lakes, with coastal sites having the lowest occurrence. Percentage occurrence of signs of otter varied considerably with respect to catchment. The highest levels were in Lough Melvin, County Fermanagh, and around the Foyle catchment, County Londonderry; fewest signs occurred along the Antrim coast. Signs of otter occurrence were higher in larger rivers and at unpolluted sites (68%) as compared to polluted sites (57%). Over 50% of otter spraints were composed of stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), salmonids and cyprinids, with stickleback constituting the most frequently occurring prey category. The frequency of occurrence of eels (Anguilla anguilla) in otter diet was found to be consistently higher in spraints collected from smaller streams across all land class groups. The frequency of occurrence of most prey items differed significantly with catchment with the exception of salmonids, which occurred consistently in spraints collected throughout all catchments in Northern Ireland. The current investigation confirms that otters remain widespread in Northern Ireland. However, otters may be feeding on less profitable prey items. Further investigations into the relationship between water quality, prey availability and prey selection are required to fully understand the factors affecting otter diet in Northern Ireland.
A comparative study in birds: call-type-independent species and individual recognition using four machine-learning methods and two acoustic features

Species- and individual-specific animal calls can be used in identification as verified in playback experiments and analyses of features extracted from these signals. The use of machine-learning methods and acoustic features borrowed from human speech recognition to identify animals at the species and individual level has increased recently. To date there have been few studies comparing the performances of these methods and features used for call-type-independent species and individual identification. We compared the performance of four machine-learning classifiers in the identification of ten passerine species, and individual identification for three passerines using two acoustic features. The methods did not require us to pre-categorize the component syllables in call-type-independent species and individual identification systems. The results of our experiment indicated that support vector machines (SVM) performed best generally, regardless of which acoustic feature was used, linear predictive coefficients (LPCs) increased the recognition accuracies of hidden Markov models (HMM) greatly, and the most appropriate classifiers for LPCs and Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) were HMM and SVM respectively. This study will assist researchers in selecting classifiers and features to use in future species and individual recognition studies.
Cyst-theca Relationships in Scrippsiella (Dinophyceae) and Related Orthoperidinioid Genera

Study of sediments from Loch Creran, a Scottish west coast sea-loch has yielded four new species of small calcareous dinoflagelläte cysts. Single cyst incubation techniques and culture studies have shown all these to be members of the genus Scrippsiella Balech ex Loeblich. Descriptions are given of both the motile stage and cyst of these new species, (S. crystallina, S. lachcrymosa, S. trifida). These are compared with descriptions of S. trochoidea and Pentapharsodinium dalei. The archeopyle of Scrippsiella is theropylic and is interpreted as representing the loss of 2'—4' and 1 — 3a paraplates, the operculum remaining attached to the cyst body by the first apical paraplate.
Learning from Digital Failures? The Effectiveness of Firms’ Divestiture and Management Turnover Responses to Data Breaches

We examine whether firms learn from digital technology failures in the form of data breach events, based on the effectiveness of their failure responses. We argue that firms experiencing such technological failures interpret them broadly as organizational problems, and undertake unrelated divestitures and top management turnover to achieve better standardization and to remove dysfunctional routines. We test our hypotheses on unrelated subsidiary divestitures and chief technology officer (CTO) turnovers undertaken by 8,760 publicly traded U.S. firms that were at risk of experiencing data breaches involving the loss of personally identifiable information during the period 2005–2016. We find that data breaches significantly increase the hazard of unrelated divestitures and CTO turnover, and that these failure responses are sensitive to firms’ aspiration-performance feedback. However, whereas unrelated divestitures reduce the reoccurrence of data breaches, CTO turnover has no significant effect. Our findings suggest a corrective role of unrelated divestitures for failure learning, and the symbolic nature of CTO turnover as a failure response. Our study unpacks failure learning that hitherto has been inferred from a firm’s own failure experience and industry-wide failures, and highlights the interplay between the digital and nondigital components of a firm in the understudied context of data breaches.
The Influence of Larval Supply and Settlement on the Population Structure of Barnacles

The abundance and distribution of settlers, recruits, and adults of the barnacle Semibalanus balanoides were monitored in the high, mid, and low intertidal zones at two adjacent, but physically and biologically different sites (A and B) on a rocky intertidal shore in Nova Scotia following a rare occurrence of ice scouring. Availability of planktonic cyprid larvae also was measured at site A. There was a strong concordance between cyprid availability and settler density over the main settlement period among intertidal heights, where each was inversely related to intertidal height. Differences in cyprid availability with intertidal height were related to immersion time as the larvae, in general, were uniformly distributed at the water—substratum interface. Settlement rate was strongly correlated with cyprid availability in the low intertidal zone at site A, where most settlement occurred. In all zones at both sites, recruit density at the end of the main settlement period was a positive function of settler density over this period: on average, 79% of the variation in recruit density was explained by settler density over the main settlement period. Adult density and total settler density also tended to be strongly related: 86% (mid zone at site A) and 73% (high zone at site B) of the variation in adult density was explained by total settler density, except where postrecruitment mortality (i.e., predation) was high (e.g., only 1% of the variation in adult density was explained by total settler density in the low zone at site A). Local hydrodynamics, which influences supply and distribution of planktonic larvae, may dictate the distribution of settlers and, ultimately, adults on this shore.
Studies on the phenology of Marchalina hellenica (gen.) (Hemiptera: coccoidea, margarodidae) in relation to honeydew flow

Summary Pine honey is produced widely in Greece and Turkey and represents almost 60–65% of the annual honey production in Greece. It is made from the honeydew eliminated by the scale insect Marchalina hellenica (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Margarodidae) when feeding on Pinus halepensis (allepo pine) and P. brutia (calabrian pine). M. hellenica has one generation a year, with the adult females appearing on trees at the end of March or in April, depending on temperatures in February and March. Female M. hellenica have three nymphal instars, but the adult females have no mouthparts and do not feed. There are three periods of honeydew production which can exploited by bees: in early spring, coinciding with the spring feeding period of the 3rd instar (which can last from 20 to 40 days depending on weather conditions), in August and September when the late 1st instar nymphs are feeding, and in October and November when the 2nd instars are feeding and which can last 15–30 days. Although honeydew appears in small quantities from the end of June, it does not become sufficient for exploitation until early autumn. The three periods of moult coincide with three periods of reduced honeydew production. In recent years the quantity of honeydew has become unreliable, causing concern to beekeepers. The reasons for this unreliability are unknown. The present paper presents almost three years of data on the phenology of M. hellenica, with observations on the production of honeydew at each stage of development.
Genetic Diversity and Interrelationship of Qualitative and Quantitative Traits in Sweet Potato

Understanding the nature and magnitude of genetic diversity and interrelationship among sweet potato genotypes for traits of economic importance is vital to effective crop improvement. Genetic variability, character association, path coefficient, and genetic diversity analysis for 17 qualitative and quantitative traits in 20 diverse sweet potato genotypes was undertaken. A wide range of genetic variation occurred for tuber yield per plant, carotene content, starch content, fresh weight of tubers per plant, and numbers of branch per plant. Fresh weight of tuber per plant had a positive phenotypic correlation with number of tubers per plant followed by days to maturity and vine internode length. Total carotene content had a positive significant association with vine length, number of leaves per plant, and number of branches per plant. Days to maturity had a positive phenotypic correlation with vine length, vine internode length, and number of leaves per plant. At the genotypic level the highest, positive, direct effect on fresh weight of tubers per plant was due to dry matter content and days to maturity followed by moisture content via numbers of tubers per plant and total sugar content. Cluster analysis divided genotypes into two main groups, indicating a genetic relationship among accessions. The genetic variability and traits relationship could provide new avenues to breed improved sweet potato.
Sistema Viçosa para o cultivo de tomateiro

O objetivo neste trabalho foi avaliar a eficiencia agronomica e economica do Sistema Vicosa para o cultivo de tomateiro mediante sua comparacao com sistemas tradicionalmente utilizados. Foram conduzidos dois experimentos, com tres repeticoes no delineamento em blocos ao acaso, de marco a janeiro de 2012, no campo experimental do Departamento de Fitotecnia da Universidade Federal de Vicosa, em Vicosa, MG. O Sistema Vicosa, constitui-se das seguintes praticas culturais: tutoramento inclinado, conducao das plantas com uma haste, raleamento de frutos, retirada de inflorescencias e de folhas baixeiras. Esse sistema, em quatro espacamentos (2 m entre linhas por 0,2; 0,3; 0,4 e 0,5 m entre plantas) foi comparado a quatro sistemas convencionais de plantio (Fitilho, Bambu 50, Bambu 60 e Cerca Cruzada). Avaliou-se a produtividade em cada classe de fruto (comercial, grande e medio) bem como os custos e a lucratividade. As medias foram submetidas a analise de variância e teste de Tukey a 5% de probabilidade. Nao foi observada diferenca significativa na producao total por planta, porem, no Sistema Vicosa em espacamento de 20 cm entre plantas, a producao por area foi superior aos demais. Alem disso, neste tratamento, obteve-se aumento de ate 222% na lucratividade, sendo este, o sistema mais indicado aos tomaticultores.
Effects of cold stress on immune function in the grey-sided vole, Clethrionomys rufocanus

ABSTRACT Effects of cold stress on immune function and energy demand were experimentally investigated in the grey-sided vole. Laboratory-born and wild voles were divided into two groups: one maintained at 5°C (low temperature) and the control at 23°C (room temperature). The voles exposed to low temperature showed a weaker immune response to the challenge antigen than the control voles. Food intake of the voles under low temperature increased in comparison with that of the control, and fat reserves reduced in the voles under low temperature. Kidney, heart and small intestine of the voles were hypertrophied by approximately 10–20% compared with the controls. These results can be interpreted as a trade-off between thermoregulation and immunity. These physiological reactions caused by low temperature may cause higher mortality of grey-sided voles during winter (the non-breeding season) in the field.
Development of a pheromone-based trapping system for Rhynchophorus palmarum (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

In tropical America, Rhynchophorus palmarum (L.) is a major pest of coconut, Cocos nucifera (L.), and oil palm, Elaeis guineensis Jacq. , through direct attack and as a vector of the red ring nematode, Bursaphelenchus cocophilus Baujard. We have developed an effective trap for this large weevil that employs the newly identified major component of the male-produced aggregation pheromone, 2-methyl-5(E)-hepten-4-ol (rhynchophorol). Trap design, color, placement, and pheromone release rate as well as type, quantity, and longevity of attractiveness of food additives were studied in a commercial oil palm plantation in Costa Rica. Insecticide-treated palm stem pieces baited with rhynchophorol were effective, but buckets or bags with rhynchophorol and insecticide treated sugarcane were the most effective traps. The latter captured 6 to 30 times more weevils than bucket traps containing rhynchophorol or treated sugarcane alone. Trap color did not influence capture rates. More weevils were captured in bucket traps placed at ground level than at 1.7 or 3.1 m. In bucket traps halved sugarcane stalk was significantly more effective than palm pieces, molasses on a sponge, or processed palm mesocarp. Insecticide-treated sugarcane was attractive for 2 wk.
Straying Patterns of Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) Stock from Southeast Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Fourteen coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) stocks of wild and hatchery origin were tagged from 1985 to 1988 in nine streams within a 150-km coastal section of Vancouver Island. Tag escapements to natal streams were estimated from fence counts, stream surveys, and mark–recapture operations. On average, adult (age 3+) strays accounted for ~4.7% of escapements, but for > 40% of the adult escapements in some cases. Adult straying rate, averaged across all years and stocks, was < 2%. Straying rates tended to be lower for hatchery fish and highest for stocks subjected to certain enhancement practices. Adult strays escaped to streams 2–159 km from their home stream (average 15.7 km); over 50% escaped to streams < 7 km from their stream of release. Straying rates of jacks (age 2+) in a given year and that of their adult siblings during the following year were not related. Genetic makeup, age-at-return, run timing, and exposure to nonnatal water sources during the rearing stage did influence homing. Changes in na.
Millionaire mobility and the sale of citizenship

ABSTRACT Why do wealthy people purchase citizenship in peripheral countries? This article investigates the demand for citizenship by investment programmes, which enable naturalisation based on a donation or financial investment. Extending research on long-distance naturalisation among the middle class and on residence by investment programmes, I examine the motives of the wealthy using citizenship by investment options. Based on over one hundred interviews with rich naturalisers and intermediaries in the citizenship industry, I find that mobility, both in the present and as a future hedge, is a strong driver, followed by business advantages. Often it is privileges in third countries – not the place granting the citizenship – that are sought. In contrast to middle-class strategic naturalisers, quality of life, education options, and job prospects were not important, though navigating geopolitical barriers and risks were. Many naturalisers were not compensating for the failures of their citizenship at birth, but manoeuvering within a world of state competition. Finally, some individuals inverted the citizenship hierarchy and downgraded from ‘first tier’ memberships when, after years of living abroad, their nationality became a liability. The conclusion elaborates on the duplex structure of intra-state and inter-state inequality that channels demand, and the implications for citizenship more broadly.
Dynamic Analysis, Circuit Design, and Synchronization of a Novel 6D Memristive Four-Wing Hyperchaotic System with Multiple Coexisting Attractors

In this work, a novel 6D four-wing hyperchaotic system with a line equilibrium based on a flux-controlled memristor model is proposed. The novel system is inspired from an existing 5D four-wing hyperchaotic system introduced by Zarei (2015). Fundamental properties of the novel system are discussed, and its complex behaviors are characterized using phase portraits, Lyapunov exponential spectrum, bifurcation diagram, and spectral entropy. When a suitable set of parameters are chosen, the system exhibits a rich repertoire of dynamic behaviors including double-period bifurcation of the quasiperiod, a single two-wing, and four-wing chaotic attractors. Further analysis of the novel system shows that the multiple coexisting attractors can be observed with different system parameter values and initial values. Moreover, the feasibility of the proposed mathematical model is also presented by using Multisim simulations based on an electronic analog of the model. Finally, the active control method is used to design the appropriate controller to realize the synchronization between the proposed 6D memristive hyperchaotic system and the 6D hyperchaotic Yang system with different structures. The Routh–Hurwitz criterion is used to prove the rationality of the controller, and the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed synchronization method are proved by numerical simulations.