Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of time–depth recorders on maternal foraging and attendance behavior of Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella)

We evaluated the difference in average durations of foraging trips and nursing visits to shore between one group of female Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) carrying radio transmitters only and another group carrying time–depth recorders (TDRs) and radio transmitters during their first five postpartum foraging trip – nursing visit cycles. Data were collected from 105 different fur seals in five breeding seasons (1989 – 1990 to 1993 – 1994) on Seal Island, Antarctica. Average foraging-trip and nursing-visit durations were significantly greater for the seals carrying TDRs and radio transmitters than for seals carrying radio transmitters only (two-way ANOVA, year × instrument type; trip, P = 0.004; visit, P = 0.04). Historically, instrument-effect studies on marine animals have focused on smaller species and larger instrument to body size ratios. Because of small sample sizes (the number of instruments successfully deployed and retrieved) and the typically variable nature of data from TDRs, the sta.
Cross‐Point Arrays with Low‐Power ITO‐HfO2 Resistive Memory Cells Integrated on Vertical III‐V Nanowires

Vertical nanowires with cointegrated metal‐oxide‐semiconductor field‐effect‐transistor (MOSFET) selectors and nonvolatile resistive random access memory (RRAM) cells represent a promising candidate for fast, energy‐efficient, cross‐point memory cells. This paper explores indium‐tin‐oxide‐hafnium‐dioxide RRAM cells integrated onto arrays of indium‐arsenide (InAs) vertical nanowires with a resulting area of 0.06 µm2 per cell. For low current operation, an improved switching uniformity over the intrinsic self‐compliant behavior is demonstrated when using an external InAs nanowire MOSFET selector in series. The memory cells show consistent switching voltages below ±1 V and a switching cycle endurance of 106 is demonstrated. The developed fabrication scheme is fully compatible with low‐ON‐resistance vertical III‐V nanowire MOSFET selectors, where operational compatibility with the initial high‐field filament forming is established. Due to the small footprint of a vertical implementation, high density integration is achievable, and with a measured programming energy for 50 ns pulses at 0.49 pJ, the technology promises fast and ultralow power cross‐point memory arrays.
Cytoplasmic incompatibility in allopatric field populations of the small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus, in Japan

The small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus (Homoptera, Delphacidae), shows reproductive cytoplasmic incompatibility between laboratory‐cultured strains. Wild planthoppers were crossed for the purpose of examining the incompatibility principle in allopatric field populations. On the basis of the incompatibility recorded in field populations, Japanese planthopper populations were divided into two groups: one from the north‐eastern part and one from the western part of Japan. Crosses between the females of the former group and males of the latter gave infertile eggs, showing unidirectional incompatibility. A small number of eggs from incompatible pairs, however, developed normally.
Tree Species (Genera) Identification with GF-1 Time-Series in A Forested Landscape, Northeast China

Forests are the most important component of terrestrial ecosystem; the accurate mapping of tree species is helpful for the management of forestry resources. Moderate- and high-resolution multispectral images have been commonly utilized to identify regional tree species in forest ecosystem, but the accuracy of recognition is still unsatisfactory. To enhance the forest mapping accuracy, this study integrated the land surface phenological metrics and text features of forest canopy on tree species identification based on Gaofen-1 (GF-1) wide field of view (WFV) and time-series images (36 10-day NDVI data), conducted at a forested landscape in Harqin Banner, Northeast China in 2017. The dominant tree species include Pinus tabulaeformis, Larix gmelinii, Populus davidiana, Betula platyphylla, and Quercus mongolica in the study region. The result of forest mapping derived from a 10-day dataset was also compared with the outcome based upon a commonly utilized 30-day dataset in tree species identification. The results indicate that tree species identification accuracy is significantly (p < 0.05) improved with higher temporal resolution (10-day, 79.4%) of images than commonly used monthly data (30-day, 76.14%), and the accuracy can be further increased to 85.13% with a combination of the information derived from principal component analysis (PCA) transformation, phenological metrics (standing for the information of growing season) and texture features. The integration of higher dimensional NDVI data, vegetation growth dynamics and feature of canopy simultaneously will be beneficial to map tree species at the landscape scale.
Vernalization and Seeding Date Effects on Yield and Yield Components of White Lupin

Understanding the agronomic importance of planting date and cold temperatures during germination may lead to the development of better management strategies for spring-sown white lupin (Lupinus albus L.). We conducted two experiments to determine optimum planting dates for spring-sown white lupin and to determine the effect of vernalization on plant morphology, yield, and yield components. In experiment I, field plots were planted in 15-cm rows at five planting dates (14-d intervals) at Staples, MN, from 1985 through 1989 [. ]
OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION OF FOODS: MASS TRANSFER AND MODELING ASPECTS

Biological materials contain a variety of individual soluble components. When cellular biological materials are immersed in osmotic solution, multicomponent mass transfer occurs, which ultimately leads to the loss of water from the food, or osmotic dehydration. Mass transfer of food constituents during osmotic dehydration may cause changes in food quality in terms of nutritional value, texture, color, and taste. The aspects that are important for mass transfer modeling are the driving force and the physical properties of cell units and tissue matrix of cellular material. The complex cell wall structure of cellular material acts as a semipermeable membrane, resulting in two simultaneous and countercurrent flows in the biological tissue: water transfer out of material tissue and transfer of the solute from the osmotic solution into the cellular tissue. When the cells remain intact, the chemical potential of water is the main local driving force for mass transfer towards the free intercellular spaces. At the same time, volume changes in the cellular tissue occur throughout the process after immersion in osmotic solution. Diffusion, osmotic processes, flux interactions, and tissue shrinkage should all be taken into account for accurate description of the mass transfer phenomena during osmotic dehydration. The mass transfer process has been modeled based on the theories of Fickian diffusion, irreversible thermodynamics, multicomponent diffusion, and hydrodynamic flow. The use of vacuum or pulsed vacuum has an effect on mass transfer, which reveals the effect of material structure property on mass transfer. Evaluation of the long-term equilibrium and the distribution of the phases in the tissue provide a better understanding of the phenomena that control the mass transfer processes in osmotic dehydration. It is important to link microstructural investigations with the processing parameters during osmotic dehydration, and the compositional and mechanical characteristics of the tissues. Knowledge of the structural characteristics of the materials and the relationship between all components in the mass transfer process needs to be further understood.
Climate–Water–Ecosystem–Interactions: Insights from Four Continent’s Case Studies

The interaction of climate with aquatic ecosystems is a multidisciplinary field of research involving water quantity and quality issues and having strong socio-economic implications. This special issue hosts 10 studies undertaken in 7 countries of 4 continents: Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. The issue provides a wide spectrum of natural and artificial case-studies and covers a broad range of climatic conditions. Most of the studies adopted a modelling (50%) or a field (40%) approach and focused on water-quantity (60%), while the remaining were equally subdivided between water-quality and biogeochemistry. Forty percent of the papers directly face climate change. The diversity of approaches and case studies is the main aspect characterizing this special issue. Despite this high diversification, in relation to water-quantity related issues, we can identify the following messages: high attention to extreme meteorological events, drought in particular, even in regions once considered rich in water (e.g., northern Italy); fragility of agricultural and water supply systems in the face of extreme weather events, in particular in low-income countries (e.g., Madagascar); more attention to climate change compared to land cover/use change but importance of natural land cover to efficiently face the incoming climate change, in particular, in agriculture ecosystems. From a water quality biogeochemistry point of view, we can point out: sensitivity of lakes to climate change with the risk of biodiversity loss; need to reduce nutrient loads to mitigate eutrophication related problems, exacerbated by climate change; in particular, reduction of nitrogen loads from agriculture run-off, to reduce N2O emissions in large-shallow Chinese environments.
Analysis of Class 1 Integrons and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strains from Benin City, Nigeria

The presence of integrons and antibiotic resistance genes in the genome of Pseudomonas aeruginosa pose a serious problem in the treatment and control of infections caused by this pathogen in hospitals. This study was carried to analyse the presence of class 1 integrons and some antibiotic resistance genes on selected clinical and environmental strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A total of 120 strains were employed for this study.The strains were confirmed using molecular method and species-specific primers targeting the 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect the presence of class 1 integrons and resistance genes using appropriate primers and conditions. The strains were analysed for the presence of the following antibiotic resistance genes - aadA, blaPSE, blaAMPC, blaIMP and tetC encoding aminoglycosides, betalactamases, metallo-beta-lactamases (MBL) and tetracylines resistance respectively. On screening the isolates for the presence of class 1 integrons, 50/60 (83.3 %) clinical isolates and 46/60 (76.7 %) environmental isolates showed positive results (P > 0.05). In both clinical and environmental isolates, the highest occurring resistance genes were blaAMPC and tetC (encoding beta-lactamases and tetracylines respectively), while the least was observed in blaIMP (encoding metallo-beta-lactamases). In comparison, there was high significance difference (at P<0.01 significance level) in the resistance gene blaPSE between the clinical and environmental strains. The high prevalence of these resistance genes is a great threat in the treatment of Pseudomonas infections. Keywords: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Resistance genes, Integrons, Beta-lactamases.
Food Sources of Estuarine Invertebrates Analyzed Using 13C/12C Ratios

The complex nature of, and importance of detritus consumption in, estuarine food webs make analysis of specific pathways of carbon in estuaries very difficult. We have evaluated the use of the natural abundances of the stable carbon isotopes in estuarine flora and fauna as a qualitative indicator of food sources in a Georgia salt marsh estuary. The salt marsh ecosystem is particularly amenable to this technique because of the wide span of distinctive 13C/12C ratios of the dominant plants h13C of -12 to -26%o). Laboratory experiments showed negligible further fractionation of the characteristic 813C of marsh plants during microbial degradation of dead plant material, and during assimilation of ingested detritus by estuarine invertebrates. Invertebrates having a variety of feeding habits were collected in monospecific and mixed species stands of marsh plants. Marsh snails and insects had 613C values close to those of the associated vascular plants. Deposit-feeding crabs had isotope ratios biased away from the marsh plant 613C values, likely a result of feeding on benthic diatoms and out-of-stand foraging. Mud snails and filter-feeding bivalves showed 13C/12C ratios similar to those of benthic and pelagic algae. The 613C values of marsh fiddler crabs varied from - 12 to -24%o in various habitats having predominately C4 or C3 food source plants. Individuals collected from populations of 3 crab species in a Spartina alterniflora marsh had t3C/t2C ratios with a standard deviation of only about 1%o from the mean 613C. Stable carbon isotope ratio analysis appears to be a powerful tool in the evaluation of carbon pathways in estuarine food webs.
The surprising decline of international mediation in armed conflicts

We identify and investigate a fundamental puzzle in contemporary mediation of armed conflicts. Although the preparedness of international mediators has increased, the proportion of armed conflicts that receive mediation has not increased, but decreased. Using quantitative data on the occurrence of mediation between 1989 and 2013, our analysis suggests that this puzzling contradiction cannot be explained by conflicts being more fragmented, intractable or internationalized. Instead, we argue that the puzzling decline of mediation can be explained by a mismatch between supply and demand in the international mediation ‘market’. Although there are more mediators available, the rise in the number of conflicts involving Islamist armed actors, coupled with increased reliance on terror-listing, especially since 2001, has placed a growing number of conflicts beyond the reach of international mediators. Our findings challenge the conventional belief that the post-Cold War era is characterized by high mediation rates and point to the need to develop the practice of mediation to maintain its relevance in the contemporary conflict landscape.
Using stable isotopes to understand the feeding ecology of the Hokkaido brown bear (Ursus arctos) in Japan

Abstract Interactions between brown bears (Ursus arctos) and anadromous salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) constitute a unique energy pathway that facilitates nutrient cycling between marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Previous studies have documented variation in salmon consumption by brown bears; however, few have addressed potential anthropogenic factors influencing consumption. We assessed diet of brown bears on Hokkaido Island, Japan, using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes to determine the effect of demographic (age and sex) and environmental (developed and undeveloped area) factors on salmon consumption. We collected thigh bones from 190 harvested bears from 1996 to 2011 and samples of their major dietary foods from 2009 to 2011, and we then estimated the potential contributions of these foods to the diets of brown bears using a Bayesian mixing model. Brown bears consumed more herbs, fruits, and corn than terrestrial animals or salmon at the population level. However, the dietary contribution of salmon varied widely among bears; in some cases, it comprised >30% of the total diet. Salmon consumption also varied by bear age class, sex, and location. Low salmon consumption by adult females with cubs suggested avoidance of salmon-spawning areas to minimize risk to their cubs. Bears inhabiting undeveloped areas were more likely to consume salmon than those inhabiting developed areas, suggesting that human activities restrict brown bears' salmon consumption. The lower salmon intake of Hokkaido brown bears compared with Alaskan brown bears may be attributed in part to extensive human development on Hokkaido Island, including in-stream structures that preclude salmon migrations and agricultural crops that provide an alternative food subsidy.
Impact of Honeybee Pollination on Productivity and Quality of Broccoli Seed under Chitwan Condition

An experiment was conducted in 1999-2000 to study the impact of honeybees on seed production of broccoli under lower sub-tropical terai agro climatic conditions in Chitwan valley of Nepal, using randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications and four treatments- Apis cerana pollinated (Acp), Apis mellifera pollinated (Amp), Naturally pollinated (Np) and control (i.e. without insect pollinators). The broccoli cv Calabreses was transplanted on 16 plots at 60 cm x 50 cm spacing, with 24 plants per plot. The study indicated that both A. cerana and A. mellifera significantly increased the percent pollination (siliqua set). A. cerana pollination contributed in 480.11 and 24.21 percent increase in seed set per siliqua over control and Np, where as the percent increase in the seeds set per siliqua caused by A. mellifera pollination were 479.32 and 24.15 over control and Np, respectively. The highest seed yield was obtained from A. mellifera pollination ((425.880 g/plot) followed by A. cerana (417.500 g/plot) and naturally pollinated (332.75 g/plot). The control plot resulted the lowest seed yield (only 13.35 g/plot). Pollination by both bee species in caged plots increased the pod (siliqua) length significantly over control, but not over naturally pollinated plots. A. cerana (3.750 g) and A. mellifera (3.637 g) pollinated seeds had significantly higher seed weight (1000 seed weight) over naturally pollinated seeds (3.207 g). This study demonstrated that bee pollination could significantly improve in both the yield and the quality of seeds in broccoli in Chitwan conditions. Keywords: Apis cerana , Apis mellifera , foraging, Brassica oleracea var. italica , pollination J. Inst. Agric. Anim. Sci. 2003 24:85-89
Dynamical Evolution of Simulated Particles Ejected From Asteroid Bennu

In early 2019, the OSIRIS‐REx spacecraft discovered small particles being ejected from the surface of the near‐Earth asteroid Bennu.sww Although they were seen to be ejected at slow speeds, on the order of tens of cm/s, a number of particles were surprisingly seen to orbit for multiple revolutions and days, which requires a dynamical mechanism to quickly and substantially modify the orbit to prevent re‐impact upon their first periapse passage. This paper demonstrates that, based on simulations constrained by the conditions of the observed events, the combined effects of gravity, solar radiation pressure, and thermal radiation pressure from Bennu can produce many sustained orbits for ejected particles. Furthermore, the simulated populations exhibit two interesting phenomena that could play an important role in the geophysical evolution of bodies such as Bennu. First, small particles (<1 cm radius) are preferentially removed from the system, which could lead to a deficit of such particles on the surface. Second, re‐impacting particles preferentially land near or on the equatorial bulge of Bennu. Over time, this can lead to crater in‐filling and growth of the equatorial radius without requiring landslides.
Study Habits and Academic Achievement: A Case Study of Secondary School Science Students in the Jalingo Metropolis, Taraba State, Nigeria

The pattern of behaviour adopted by a student in his/her study is his/her study habits, which reveals his/her personality. Study habits serve as the vehicle of learning and may be seen as both means and ends to learning. This study, thus, investigated the study habits of secondary school science students in the Jalingo metropolis, Taraba State, Nigeria. The study which was guided by three research questions, employed a descriptive correlational research design. The sample of the study is made up of 199 students selected from 5 secondary schools through simple random sampling. Data for the study were generated through a questionnaire, tagged “Science Students’ Study Habit Questionnaire”. Descriptive statistics of frequency counts, mean, and product-moment coefficient of correlation were used for data analysis. The study revealed that the secondary school science students in the Jalingo metropolis have poor study habits and weak academic performance. The study also found a strong positive, high and significant correlation between study habits and academic performance of secondary school science students. It is thus recommended that teachers, parents, guardians and the school management should collaboratively guide students on how to develop good study habits.
Resonant damping and instability of propagating kink waves in flowing and twisted magnetic flux tubes

We study the propagation and stability of kink waves in a twisted magnetic tube with the flow. The flow velocity is assumed to be parallel to the magnetic field, and the magnetic field lines are straight outside the tube. The density is constant inside and outside of the tube, and it monotonically decreases from its value inside the tube to that outside in the transitional or boundary layer. The flow speed and magnetic twist monotonically decrease in the transitional layer from their values inside the tube to zero outside. Using the thin tube and thin boundary layer (TTTB) approximation, we derived the dispersion equation determining the dependence of the wave frequency and decrement/increment on the wavenumber. When the kink wave frequency coincides with the local Alfvén frequency at a resonant surface inside the transitional layer, the kink wave is subjected to either resonant damping or resonant instability. We study the properties of kink waves in a particular unperturbed state where there is no flow and magnetic twist in the transitional layer. It is shown that in a tube with flow, the kink waves can propagate without damping for particular values of the flow speed. Kink waves propagating in the flow direction either damp or propagate without damping. Waves propagating in the opposite direction can either propagate without damping, or damp, or become unstable. The theoretical results are applied to the problem of excitation of kink waves in spicules and filaments in the solar atmosphere.
Genetic parameters of an interspecific cross between S. lycopersicum L. and S. habrochaites Knapp & Spooner

T he main collection of allelic variants for breeding tomato ( Solanum Lycopersicum L.) is represented by its wild relatives, which evolved independently. It is important to study different sources of variation that are useful in breeding; therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate S. habrochaites Knapp & Spooner as a source of different alleles by estimating the average degree of dominance, heterosis with respect to the mid-parent,