Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of three techniques for estimating the forage intake of lactating dairy cows on pasture 1

Quantifying DMI is necessary for estimation of nutrient consumption by ruminants, but it is inherently difficult on grazed pastures and even more so when supplements are fed. Our objectives were to compare three methods of estimating forage DMI (inference from animal performance, evaluation from fecal output using a pulse-dose marker, and estimation from herbage disappearance methods) and to identify the most useful approach or combination of approaches for estimating pasture intake by lactating dairy cows. During three continuous 28-d periods in the winter season, Holstein cows (Bos taurus; n = 32) grazed a cool-season grass or a cool-season grass-clover mixture at two stocking rates (SR; 5 vs. 2.5 cows/ha) and were fed two rates of concentrate supplementation (CS; 1 kg of concentrate [as-fed] per 2.5 or 3.5 kg of milk produced). Animal response data used in computations for the animal performance method were obtained from the latter 14 d of each period. For the pulse-dose marker method, chromium-mordanted fiber was used. Pasture sampling to
The ecology of nutrition: Managing soil organic matter to supply soil nutrients, increase soil biotic activity and increase crop nutritive value

The increasing consumer interest in high quality foods – especially fruits and vegetables with high antioxidant phytochemicals – has led to interest in determining the effects of cropping system practices on phytochemicals over the last decade. Appropriate fertility management is critical to optimize agricultural production, both for yield and crop nutritive value, and minimize losses to the environment. In organic production systems, fertility management generally relies on soil microbial processes to decompose organic matter. To better understand the dynamics of mulch decomposition and the resulting effects on soil fertility and crop yield, a three-year randomized strip-plot experiment was implemented on the Montana State University Horticulture Research Farm. Two mulch inputs with varying carbon to nitrogen ratio (C:N), decomposition rates and microbial responses were contrasted with two non-mulched treatments, urea N fertilizer and a notreatment control. Spinach biomass, yield, total phenolics and antioxidant capacity were measured as plant response variables to changes in soil fertility and biology due to the different inputs over three years. Water-extractable organic matter (WEOM), available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), carbon (C) respiration, N mineralization, soil enzyme activity, microbial biomass and mycorrhizal infectivity potential were measured to assess soil fertility and biology. The hay mulch treatment increased nutrient availability and soil biological responses, and produced high spinach yields. The straw mulched treatment had a delayed effect on N availability and lower spinach yields initially, but in subsequent years both yield and biological parameters increased in the straw mulched treatments. Both mulch treatments produced cumulative spinach yields comparable to or exceeding the Nfertilizer plots. Only slight differences in total phenolic concentration and antioxidant capacity were measured among treatments indicating that other factors likely influence spinach phytochemicals more strongly than SOM. Measuring biological responses can be a sensitive measure of soil function and an important addition to farm management to better estimate how different management practices will affect soil processes, yields and the environment.
Effect of future CO2 and temperature regimes on phytoplankton community composition, biomass and photosynthetic rates in the western English Channel

CO2 storage in the oceans is strongly affected by biological processes. Production of organic matter through phytoplankton photosynthesis drives CO2 sequestration, which feeds back to atmospheric CO2 and global climate. The ongoing increase in atmospheric CO2 and temperature is strongly associated with changes in ocean chemistry and increasing seawater temperatures. To investigate these impacts on coastal phytoplankton under conditions predicted for the year 2100 (pCO2 elevated to 800 µatm and +4 °C temperature), three factorial experiments were conducted with natural communities sampled from the western English Channel (WEC). Elevated pCO2 increased phytoplankton biomass by up to 20-fold while elevated temperature resulted in an increase of up to 14-fold. Light-saturated photosynthetic carbon fixation rates increased > 6-fold under elevated pCO2 while an increase of up to 3-fold resulted from elevated temperature. The combined effects of elevated pCO2 and temperature reduced biomass in late summer and had no effects on biomass in the autumn with no significant effects on photosynthetic carbon fixation rates in either season. Individual treatments of elevated pCO2 and temperature resulted in near mono-specific communities: diatoms in late summer and nanophytoplankton in autumn. Combined effects of both factors resulted in the most diverse phytoplankton communities and promoted increased dinoflagellate and Synechococcus biomass at the expense of diatoms and nanophytoplankton. Elevated pCO2 alone promoted dominance of the harmful algal bloom (HAB) species, Phaeocystis in spring and autumn, while the combination of elevated pCO2 and temperature promoted biomass of the HAB species, Prorocentrum minimum in autumn. The results indicate that experimental simulations of year 2100 pCO2 and temperature may significantly modify phytoplankton community structure with a positive feedback on atmospheric CO2 in late summer and no change on feedback in autumn. In either scenario, no increase in phytoplankton productivity during a period of changes in bulk carbonate chemistry resulting from ongoing anthropogenic carbon uptake, may be expected to negatively influence carbon biogeochemistry in the WEC.
Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring for Endoscopic Endonasal Approaches to the Skull Base: A Technical Guide

Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring during endoscopic, endonasal approaches to the skull base is both feasible and safe. Numerous reports have recently emerged from the literature evaluating the efficacy of different neuromonitoring tests during endonasal procedures, making them relatively well-studied. The authors report on a comprehensive, multimodality approach to monitoring the functional integrity of at risk nervous system structures, including the cerebral cortex, brainstem, cranial nerves, corticospinal tract, corticobulbar tract, and the thalamocortical somatosensory system during endonasal surgery of the skull base. The modalities employed include electroencephalography, somatosensory evoked potentials, free-running and electrically triggered electromyography, transcranial electric motor evoked potentials, and auditory evoked potentials. Methodological considerations as well as benefits and limitations are discussed. The authors argue that, while individual modalities have their limitations, multimodality neuromonitoring provides a real-time, comprehensive assessment of nervous system function and allows for safer, more aggressive management of skull base tumors via the endonasal route.
F-FDG PET Imaging: Investigation of the Most robust and Reproducible Candidates

PET radiomics can reveal a lot of clinical information but with many technical and physical variables to be tackled. The aim of this study was to find out the most reproducible and robust PET radiomics that can be used as benchmark for future clinical studies. Materials and Methods: Two phantom datasets were retrieved from the large Cancer Imaging Archive repository (NIH, USA) and employed for further radiomics feature extraction (i.e. 108 features) and analysis including calculation of coefficient of variation (CV) and percent deviation. Further testing was carried out to investigate effect of sphere size and contrast level as well as imaging scanner on feature reproducibility. Feature correlation with tumor TNM stage was also performed using Spearman correlation and Kendall tau statistical tests. Principle component analysis was used to reduce the large feature number to principle components using the eigen vector and eigen value. Results: The (CV) and percent deviation revealed 56 features out of 108 that have less than or equal to 10% variability. When features were compared in terms of high and low image contrast, there was 46 features that showed less sensitivity to different concentrations. Inter-scanner variability testing has reduced the number of features to 36 out of the 46 features. Analysis of PCA results showed that 4 components can account for 90.3%, namely, SUV max, inverse difference moment normalized; size zone non-uniformity normalized, and short run low gray level emphasis. When correlating the 108 features with patient status, two features only showed significant correlation with tumor stage namely maximal correlation coefficient and flatness. Egyptian J. Nucl. Med., Vol. 21, No. 2, December 2020 81 Conclusions: The 108 features were reduced to a lower percentage of features while maintaining large percentage of data variance and feature reproducibility. The combination of texture feature of robust technical qualifications to those of clinical value would finally improve the clinical decision model.
ROLE OF AUTOMATED MINERAL ANALYSIS IN THE CHARACTERISATION OF MINING-RELATED CONTAMINATED LAND

A wide range of geochemical techniques can be applied during the site investigation of areas of metal contaminated land. Geochemical techniques alone are a valid approach in areas where the likely contaminant streams are aqueous or liquid chemical phases introduced as a result of human activity. However, in areas contaminated by historic metal mining, particulate contaminants may contribute significantly to the overall metal budget (e.g. Göktepe, 2005). The potential for the release of contaminants from these particulate wastes will depend on their mineralogy and the chemistry of the weathering environment they are exposed to (e.g. Isaure et al., 2005). Bulk geochemical analyses will provide data on the total concentration of possible contaminant elements present, but will not provide sufficient data to assess the likely stability or bioavailability of those contaminants. In such cases mineralogical and petrographical data are also required. Mineral phases present within a metal mining contaminated soil or sediment might include grains of the original ore or gangue minerals, man-made secondary materials such as slags, and also secondary diagenetic phases formed as a result of alteration of the original waste materials or precipitated from metal-rich fluids (e.g. AMD). However, providing statistically robust mineralogical data for such soils and sediments may be problematic. In this paper mineralogical data collected using automated scanning electron microscopy with linked energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDS) using QEMSCAN technology, is presented for sediment samples collected from the Hayle Estuary, Cornwall, UK. The Hayle Estuary was extensively contaminated by waste from predominantly copper and tin mining, and subsequent mineral processing (e.g. Rollinson et al., 2007). This study shows how automated mineralogy can provide robust data sets that can be used to evaluate mineral stability and potential bioavailability.
Hand-axes from beneath Glacial Till at Welton-le-Wold, Lincolnshire and the Distribution of Palaeoliths in Britain

It is so rare for Palaeolithic artifacts to be found unequivocably stratified beneath glacial till, that the recent report by Alabaster and Straw (1976) of such an occurrence in Lincolnshire warrants some comments. Three hand-axes (fig. 1) were found between 1969 and 1973 in the quarry of Stephen Toulson and Son Ltd at Welton-le-Wold (TF 282884, 5 km west of Louth). They were found in association with fragmentary faunal remains of elephant, deer, horse and possibly Irish Giant Deer (see appendix by Boylan, in Alabaster and Straw 1976). Both artifacts and fauna came from a narrow zone in the Upper Division of the Welton Gravels underlying some 13 m of glacial till. This Upper Division, comprising silts, sands and flint gravels, is considered to have been deposited by periglacial aeolian and niveofluvial processes, whereas the Lower Division contains more water-bedded sands. The conclusion of the investigators was that as the animals represented could not have lived under the severe environmental conditions that prevailed during the accumulation of this Upper Division of the gravel, they had presumably been derived from an earlier temperate, interglacial deposit. The relative concentration of animal remains, the finding of two conjoinable elephant molars and the fairly fresh state of the artifacts suggests that they had not travelled far before coming to rest in the gravel. No sediment was traced in the quarry area which could have been a likely source.
Shear wave splitting and subcontinental mantle deformation

splitting observations are interpreted in terms of the strain-induced lattice preferred orientation of mantle minerals, especially olivine. We consider three hypotheses concerning the origin of the continental anlsotropy: (1) strain associated with absolute plate motion, as in the oceanic upper mantle, (2) crustal stress, and (3) the past and present internal deformation of the subcontinental upper mantle by tectonic episodes. It is found that the last hypothesis is the most successful, namely that the most recent significant episode of internal deformation appears to be the best predictor of q. For stable continental regions, this is interpreted as "fossil" anisotropy, whereas for presently active regions, such as Alaska, the anisotropy reflects present-day tectonic activity. In the stable portion of North America there is a good correlation between delay time and lithospheric thickness; this is consistent with the anisotropy being localized in the subcontinental lithosphere and suggests that intrinsic anisotropy is approximately constant. The acceptance of this hypothesis has several implications for subcontinental mantle deformation. First, it argues for coherent deformation of the continental lithosphere (crust and mantle) during orogenies. This implies that the anisotropic portion of the lithosphere was present since the deformational episode and rules out the addition of undeformed material to this layer by subsequent "underplating" or conductive growth of the thermal boundary layer. One of the most important issues in the study of orogenies is the need to reconcile the formation of thickened lithosphere with the paradoxically high mantle temperatures often associated with orogenic episodes. Most efforts to date have focussed on modes of deformation whereby the cold lithospheric mantle is removed (by convective instability or delamination) and replaced by warm asthenosphere. These models, however, are incompatible with the evidence for preserved coherent lithospheric deformation; rather, the deformed mantle appears to have been heated in place. We suggest that the elevated mantle temperatures may be due to the strain heating accompanying the deformation.
Phytoplankton photocompensation from space‐based fluorescence measurements

Recent satellite‐derived observations linked global scale phytoplankton fluorescence variability with iron stress and hinted at photophysiological responses associated with changing light levels. These photocompensation reactions, the sum of photoacclimation and photoadaptation, were examined with climatological data for the Gulf of Maine. Significant seasonal variability was observed in the fluorescence quantum yield that was unrelated to patterns of biomass. Up to 89% of the variability in the fluorescence quantum yield was explained by a physiology‐based photocompensation model. Spatial variability in seasonal patterns was associated with differing hydrodynamic regimes. This variability in the quantum yield demonstrates that satellite‐based fluorescence is inappropriate for phytoplankton biomass determinations. More importantly, the work presented here provides the modeling foundation for fluorescence‐based investigations of temporal and spatial variability in phytoplankton physiology associated with growth irradiance. These space‐based physiological observations have the potential to decrease uncertainties in future ocean color derived primary productivity estimates.
Biogeomorphology and contingent ecosystem engineering in karst landscapes

While karst is not biogenic in the same sense as, say, coral reefs or peat bogs, and carbonate dissolution can occur abiotically, formation of karst landscapes would not occur in the absence of the biosphere. Seven levels of biogeomorphic biotic-abiotic interactions are identified, from indirect impacts to landforms as extended phenotypes. Karst is generally near the biogenic end of that spectrum, featuring reciprocal interactions and mutual adjustments between biota and landforms and interrelated geomorphological and ecological processes. Karst biogeomorphology may also involve niche construction. In many cases biogeomorphic ecosystem engineering in karst is contingent, in the sense that the engineer organisms may have no, or different, biogeomorphic impacts in non-karst environments. Several examples of contingent ecosystem engineering in karst are given, including biogeomorphic effects of chinkapin oak. Abiotic geomorphic features exist on Earth, but consideration of landform types lying between the biotic-abiotic extremes would likely yield broadly similar conclusions to those about karst. However, it is also clear that we know very little about niche construction and coevolution in karst biogeomorphology, and whether karst or any specific karst features can be considered an extended (composite) phenotype is still an open question. Thus far, most work on biogeomorphology and ecosystem engineering has focused on what might be called obligate engineers—organisms whose engineering effects are at least inevitable, if not necessary to their survival. However, in some cases contingent ecosystem engineers have substantial geomorphic impacts.
Assessing effectiveness of reintroduction of the flightless Aldabra rail on Picard Island, Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles

SUMMARY The global range of the Aldabra white-throated rail Dryolimnas cuvieri aldabranus, the last surviving flightless bird in the Indian Ocean, was restricted to only three islands of Aldabra Atoll in 1998. It was extirpated on the islands of Grand Terre (before the late 1800s) and Picard (soon after 1910), mainly due to the introduction of feral cats by early settlers. In 1999, following the eradication of cats from Picard, 18 Aldabra rails were successfully reintroduced. After the reintroduction, population growth of the Aldabra rail on Picard was predicted to continue to approximately 1,000 pairs by 2010. In this paper, we report on the long-term effectiveness of the reintroduction by updating the Aldabra rail population estimate on Picard 12 years after the translocation and one year after the predicted maximum was expected to be reached. We confirm the predicted carrying capacity on Picard has been reached and probably exceeded; report a reliable survey method for the Aldabra rail, which can be applied to other terrestrial bird species; and recommend subsequent monitoring and conservation management strategies for the Aldabra rail and potentially other species of rail.
The stomatopod Crustacea of Guam

Thirty-two species of stomatopod crustaceans are reported from Guam and 2 additional species from the Northern Marianas. Twenty-seven are recorded for the first time from the region. Three new species, Chorisquilla kroppi, Mortensenenus paulay and Parvisquilla dominguez are described. Manningia zehntneri Manning 1974, Pullosquilla malayensis (Manning 1968), Haptosquilla tanensis (Fukuda 1911a), and Hoplosquilla said Erdmann & Manning 1998, previously known only from their respective type localities, are reported for the first time since they were first described.
Organic farming in the small holder farming sector of Zimbabwe.

Some 20 % (n=246) organic farmers in Juru communal area were interviewed to establish socioeconomic background, crops grown, problems encountered and the perceived advantages in organic farming. Farming was the main source of income to 86 % of the organic farmers. Only 57 % considered organic farming as a cheap strategy, while 50 % and 43 % respectively saw it as inconvenient and disease-free technique respectively. Problems highlighted included animal manure shortage, slow organic matter decomposition and high labour requirements. Those implementing organic farming can use the results to formulate strategies that can improve on adoption of organic agriculture in the smallholder-farming sector.
Impact of shade and cocoa plant densities on soil organic carbon sequestration rates in a cocoa growing soil of Ghana

Cropping systems have influence on the conservation of soil organic matter. Soil samples were taken from a long term experiment that was designed to study the impact of shade and cocoa plant densities on cocoa yields. The impact of the treatments on soil organic carbon sequestration rates and the gains or losses of soil organic carbon under the treatments with reference to adjacent undisturbed bush were assessed. The experiment was sited at the Bunso substation of the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana on Rhodi-lixic ferralsol with annual precipitation of about 1500 mm. The shade was provided by forest trees of 18 trees ha -1 and no shade, while the cocoa densities were 1111, 1428 and 1667 trees ha -1 . Shade effects on organic carbon pools within the top soil (0-30 cm) under cocoa were not significant (p=0.05). Cocoa plant densities per unit area influenced the soil organic carbon pools. The soil organic carbon pools were significantly lower (p=0.05) in the closely planted farms than in the widely spaced farms. There were no soil organic carbon sequestration in the highest cocoa plant density of 1667 trees ha -1 but 250 and 190 kg soil organic carbon ha -1 yr -1 in the top soil (0-15 cm) were sequestered in the soils under cocoa with density of 1111 trees ha -1 for shaded and unshaded farms respectively. Irrespective of the shade conditions, the net gains of carbon in the soils were higher in farms with lower cocoa plant density. The results suggest that cocoa planted at low plant density under shade stores more carbon per unit area of soil than an equivalent area of cocoa planted at high density without shade. It is concluded that cocoa farming could be an effective means to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions in cocoa growing countries. Key words: Soil organic carbon, sequestration rates, cocoa plant density, shade.