Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aetokthonos hydrillicola gen. et sp. nov. : Epiphytic cyanobacteria on invasive aquatic plants implicated in Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy

Research into the taxonomy of a novel cyanobacterial epiphyte in locations where birds, most notably Bald eagle and American coots, are dying from a neurologic disease (Avian Vacuolar Myelinopathy—AVM) has been ongoing since 2001. Field investigations revealed that all sites where birds were dying had extensive invasive aquatic vegetation with dense colonies of an unknown cyanobacterial species growing on the underside of leaves. Morphological evaluation indicated that this was a true-branching, heterocystous taxon falling within the former order Stigonematales. However, 16S rRNA gene sequence demonstrated that it did not match closely with any described genus or species. More recent sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene and associated ITS region from additional true branching species resulted in a unique phylogenetic placement distant from the other clades of true-branching cyanobacteria. Light, epifluorescent, and transmission and scanning electron micrographs confirm the novel characteristics of this species, which is true-branching form with uniseriate basal filaments. It is encased within a firm sheath and has heterocytes both within the filaments and at the tips of the branches. The species is in a new genus of uncertain family assignment, and is herein named Aetokthonos hydrillicola gen. et sp. nov.
Self-interested behaviour as a social norm

Language can exert a strong influence on human behaviour. In experimental studies, it is for example well-known that the framing of an experiment or priming at the beginning of an experiment can alter participants' behaviour. However, few studies have been conducted to determine why framing or priming specific words can alter people's behaviour. Here, we show that the behaviour of participants in a game-theoretical experiment is driven mainly by social norms, and that participants' adherence to different social norms is influenced by the exposure to economic terminology. To explore how these terminology-driven changes impact behavior at the system level, we use established frameworks for modeling collective cooperative behaviour. We find that economic terminology induces a behavioural difference which is larger than that caused by financial incentives in the magnitude usually employed in experiments and simulation. These findings place an increased responsibility on scientists and science communicators, as scientific terminology is increasingly communicated to the general population.
Contextualized Translation of Automatically Segmented Speech

Direct speech-to-text translation (ST) models are usually trained on corpora segmented at sentence level, but at inference time they are commonly fed with audio split by a voice activity detector (VAD). Since VAD segmentation is not syntax-informed, the resulting segments do not necessarily correspond to well-formed sentences uttered by the speaker but, most likely, to fragments of one or more sentences. This segmentation mismatch degrades considerably the quality of ST models' output. So far, researchers have focused on improving audio segmentation towards producing sentence-like splits. In this paper, instead, we address the issue in the model, making it more robust to a different, potentially sub-optimal segmentation. To this aim, we train our models on randomly segmented data and compare two approaches: fine-tuning and adding the previous segment as context. We show that our context-aware solution is more robust to VAD-segmented input, outperforming a strong base model and the fine-tuning on different VAD segmentations of an English-German test set by up to 4.25 BLEU points.
Extreme-Value Statistics of Stochastic Transport Processes: Applications to Molecular Motors and Sports.

We derive exact expressions for the finite-time statistics of extrema (maximum and minimum) of the spatial displacement and the fluctuating entropy flow of biased random walks. Our approach captures key features of extreme events in molecular motor motion along linear filaments. Our results generalize the infimum law for entropy production and reveal a symmetry of the distribution of its maxima and minima. We also show that the relaxation spectrum of the full generating function, and hence of any moment, of the finite-time extrema distributions can be written in terms of the Mar{\v{c}}enko-Pastur distribution of random-matrix theory. Using this result, we obtain estimates for the extreme-value statistics of stochastic transport from the eigenvalue distributions of suitable Wishart and Laguerre random matrices. We confirm our results by numerical simulations of stochastic models of molecular motors and discuss as illustrative example our theory in the context of sports.
Screening and isolating quorum sensing inhibitor from bacteria

Expression of virulence factors in many pathogens requires that quorum sensing autoinducer (QSA) reaches a certain threshold concentration; therefore, QSAs play central roles in the regulation of many disease processes. Quorum sensing inhibitors (QSIs) can competitively inhibit the quorum sensing signal system, which provides a novel target to combat pathogens for the development of new drugs. In this report, we used two biosensor strains,
Pattern in root meristem development in angiosperms

Roots of angiosperms differ in the behaviour of their apical meristems, and this diversity has been studied through the patterns of differentiation in a range of families. Except for three families of the Nymphaeales, all dicotyledons derive the epidermis wholly or partially with the root cap. In closed meristems the inner cell layer of the cap complex forms the epidermis; in open meristems, where cortex and cap are intermittently of common origin, linkages between the epidermis and the cap predominate. Roots of most monocotyledons derive the epidermis as the outer layer of the cortex. Nymphaeaceae, Cabombaceae and Barclayaceae resemble monocotyledons in this respect, and this applies even in the species with open meristems, in which a cleft forms between the cap and the rest of the apex. This feature fits with the close relationship between the Nymphaeales and monocotyledons revealed by other data. But none of the other Magnoliidae with close links to Liliidae has this type of epidermis. The Nymphaeales are also almost unique among dicotyledons in having trichoblasts in a vertical pattern. This results from transverse divisions of epidermal cells giving two conspicuously different daughters. The smaller and most densely staining one later bears a root hair. This is the way trichoblasts develop in many monocotyledons. The only other dicotyledons found with trichoblasts in vertical patterns are in the Piperaceae, though their closed meristems derive the epidermis in the normal dicotyledon pattern. All other dicotyledons that bear trichoblasts develop them in radial patterns probably related to the radial disposition of cells across the cortex. This pattern is more widespread than was previously known, though it can occur only in roots with closed meristems. In plants of both subclasses with vertical patterns of trichoblasts, it is usually the proximal daughter of the initiating mitosis which becomes the trichoblast. But it is the distal daughter in Juncaceae, Restionaceae, Cyperaceae and Poaceae. Vertical patterns differ further as to whether the atrichoblast daughters divide after initiation, thus changing the alternation of trichoblasts and atrichoblasts along a file of epidermal cells. Monocotyledons and the Nymphaeaceae can produce trichoblasts in open or closed meristems. In some embryos and root primordia the epidermis becomes discrete from cortex and cap and remains so in the meristems. This has now been found in six aquatic genera of the Liliidae, but reports of it occurring elsewhere are probably due to misinterpretation of sections. Discrete epidermises differentiate into trichoblasts and atrichoblasts in Hydrocharitaceae, but not in Araceae or Lemnaceae.
Handbook of Research on Overcoming Digital Divides: Constructing an Equitable and Competitive Information Society

The Handbook of Research on Overcoming Digital Divides: Constructing an Equitable and Competitive Information Society presents a comprehensive, integrative, and global view of what has been called the digital divide. This reference offers policy makers, academicians, managers, and researchers a complete source to interactions, evolutions, and policies within the field.
Pragmatics and Non-Verbal Communication: Contents

The way we say the words we say helps us convey our intended meanings. Indeed, the tone of voice we use, the facial expressions and bodily gestures we adopt while we are talking, often add entirely new layers of meaning to those words. How the natural non-verbal properties of utterances interact with linguistic ones is a question that is often largely ignored. This book redresses the balance, providing a unique examination of non-verbal behaviours from a pragmatic perspective. It charts a point of contact between pragmatics, linguistics, philosophy, cognitive science, ethology and psychology, and provides the analytical basis to answer some important questions: How are non-verbal behaviours interpreted? What do they convey? How can they be best accommodated within a theory of utterance interpretation?
INFLUENCE OF AGE, WEIGHT AND GROWTH RATE ON BASAL LH, GROWTH HORMONE AND CORTISOL, AND ESTROGEN-INDUCED LH RELEASE IN PREPUBERTAL GILTS

Thirty-six Yorkshire × Landrace gilts were selected at 74 d of age and 32 kg body weight and assigned equally to one of six treatments. The first three treatments involved feeding gilts to achieve weights of 90 kg at 175 d, 90 kg at 195 d, or 70 kg at 175 d (treatments 1, 2 and 3, respectively). A further three groups of gilts were fed to achieve the same weights (90, 90 or 70 kg) 20 d younger than those above. Upon the achievement of their final weight the latter three groups of gilts were subjected to a feed restriction in order to achieve a zero net weight for 20 d until they achieved the required age (treatments 4, 5 and 6). At the achievement of the specified age-weight end point blood samples were taken from all gilts at 2-h intervals for 24 h (2400–2200 h) for the determination of plasma concentrations of luteinizing hormone (LH), growth hormone (GH) and Cortisol. Additionally, during a 4-h period on the same day (0800–1200 h) all gilts were sampled at 15-min intervals for determination of pulsatil.
Development of chromosome segment substitution lines derived from indica rice donor cultivars DV85 and ARC10313 in the genetic background of japonica cultivar Taichung 65.

We have developed two sets of chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSLs) of cultivated rice (Oryza sativa) carrying donor segments from indica cultivars DV85 and ARC10313. The lines in each set contain chromosomal segments that cover most of the donor genome in a uniform genetic background (ssp. japonica cv. Taichung 65). The starting materials were several recombinant inbred lines derived from the crosses Taichung 65 × DV85 and Taichung 65 × ARC10313. The CSSLs were generated by repeated backcrossing to Taichung 65 (pollen parent), with marker-assisted selection applied at several marker loci. The CSSLs of DV85 (TD-CSSLs) comprise 45 lines that cover 76.6% of the DV85 genome, and the CSSLs of ARC10313 (TA-CSSLs) comprise 44 lines that cover 74.4% of the ARC10313 genome. We investigated the genetic control of days-to-heading in both sets of CSSLs and demonstrated the genetic contribution of several chromosome regions. These CSSLs provide a valuable tool for rice germplasm enhancement, and we expect them to reveal the genetic basis of traits specific to the donor cultivars.
Regime shifts in demersal assemblages of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem: a comparative assessment

Using long-term survey data, changes in demersal faunal communities in the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem were analysed at community and population levels to provide a comparative overview of the occurrence and timing of regime shifts. For South Africa, the timing of a community-level shift observed in the early 1990s, and of a lesser shift observed in the mid-2000s, corresponded well with the results of other studies that showed environmental, community-level or population-level changes at similar times, suggesting that environmental forcing had played a role. Several population-level shifts were detected for Namibia; these and a regime shift in the overall community identified for this country corresponded well to the timing of severe environmental perturbations and an extensive regime shift in the pelagic ecosystem of this area. However, the interpretation of these shifts was confounded by changes in sampling gear; closer scrutiny of the types of species affected and the direction of shifts (increase/decrease) in relation to the timing and nature of sampling gear modifications, revealed that the observed shifts were potentially an artefact of gear changes. This highlighted the importance of accounting for changes in sampling protocols during the analysis and interpretation of long-term data. For Angola, a community level shift in the mid-2000s and population-level changes for a few species (mainly positive), could not have been influenced by gear changes which took place mainly before the onset of the time series under consideration. However, no clear environmental or anthropogenic changes that could have influenced these shifts were obvious.
Prey jitters; protean behaviour in grouped prey

There have been many descriptive accounts of so-called "protean" or unpredictable escape tactics in prey animals. It is assumed that predators will have difficulty targeting more protean prey either via the prey's escape trajectory and/or via enhancement of the confusion effect (reduced ability to track an individual target in a group of moving and phenotypically similar prey). However, to date no studies have examined whether protean movements decrease predation risk as predicted. In this paper we test, using humans as model predators, whether "protean" prey that have a higher variance in turning angle (and thus change direction abruptly, rather than move on a smoother trajectory) are more difficult to capture and whether this interacts with the confusion effect (previously found using the same model system). We found that protean prey were significantly more difficult to capture. However, protean behaviour did not enhance the confusion effect. We suggest that the primary purpose of protean movements may simply be to make it more difficult for a predator to chase and capture prey, increasing the likelihood predators will give up chase sooner, and that such protean behaviour need not be contingent on prey aggregation. Copyright 2011, Oxford University Press.
Resting metabolic rate of cyclists estimated by mathematical equations and obtained by indirect calorimetry

The resting metabolic rate (RMR) can be determined by indirect calorimetry (IC). However, the clinical estimation of this parameter has been done using mathematical equations, which were developed in studies involving non-athletes. Although some authors have indicated that such equations do not estimate correctly the RMR, they have been constantly used to estimate such parameter and to prescribe diets, including for athletes. The objective of this study was to compare the RMR determined by IC with the ones estimated using the equations proposed by Harris & Benedict (HB), Schofield, FAO/WHO/UNU and Henry & Rees (HR), in 15 male cyclists, aged 24.4±3.68 years, body mass index of 21.97±1.46 kg/m2 and VO2max of 70.00±5.32 mL(kg.min)-1. Student's t test (when data presented normal distribution) and Mann-Whitney (when data did not present normal distribution) were used to compare the RMR determined by IC and the ones estimated by the equations. Probability values below 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Pearson bivariate correlation coefficients were calculated to evaluate the relationship between RMR and fat free mass (FFM). It was verified that the RMR was significantly underestimated in 23.5%, 16.7%, 16.8% and 16.9%, respectively by the equations proposed by HR, FAO/WHO/UNU, Schofield and HB in comparison to RMR obtained by IC. RMR values were significantly correlated with FFM (r=0.551, p=0.03). These results confirm that the equations evaluated in this study are not appropriate to estimate the RMR of athletes. Such results can be explained by the fact that athletes have more FFM and possibly a greater β- adrenergic receptors response to the sympathetic nervous system, which in turn leads to RMR higher than in sedentary people. Therefore, we created an equation considering the FFM and age variables to better estimate athletes´ RMR. However, this equation should be validated in a study involving a greater number of cyclists before it can be clinically used.
On the skull of a pliosaur (Plesiosauria; Pliosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous (Early Turonian) of the North American Western Interior

Abstract A partial pliosaur skull reveals anatomical features poorly known for Plesiosauria. The specimen lacks recorded contextual information, however preservational character and nannofossil analysis (earliest Turonian) suggests origination from the upper Greenhorn Limestone. The vomers bifurcate near their posterior termination, and are overlapped by long, slender extensions of the anterior pterygoids. The latter character has only recently been noted and may be variously developed in many if not all plesiosaurs. Large foramina commonly referred to as the ‘internal nares’ are formed at the juncture of the palatines, vomers, and maxillae. Configuration of the palatal elements differs in several ways from the only well established pliosaurid taxon of the North American Cretaceous, Brachauchenius. Particular differences include a more visibly elongate and lanceolate shape of the vomers, palatines which do not project as far anteriorly (similarly for the ‘internal nares’), and a squared posterior termination of the palatines. A relatively elongate muzzle and homodont dentition differ from the shorter muzzles and caniniform teeth of Kronosaurus and Plesiopleurodon. The specimen is also not referable to the poorly founded taxon Polyptychodon. With no clearly similar material for reference, the specimen may expand the definition of Brachauchenius as currently known or could represent an undescribed taxon. Although perhaps not of taxonomic significance, the specimen is impressively large with an estimated total skull length of 1.75 m, the largest known for a North American plesiosaur.
Independent and interactive effects of Mg 2+ and Co 2+ on some kinetic parameters of rat kidney alkaline phosphatase

2+ alone. There was no synergism in the interactive effect of cobalt and magnesium ions on rat kidney ALP activity. The result may be of clinical and diagnostic importance in alkaline phosphatase assay procedure where cobalt ions may be employed as a better cofactor than magnesium ion used originally in the procedure. This will ensure sensitive detection of low ALP activity.
Effects of rainfall, moisture stress, and stocking rate on the persistence of white clover over 30 years

The effects of spring rainfall, critical levels of summer moisture stress, and sheep stocking rates on the persistence of white clover (Trifolium repens cv. Huia) have been evaluated in a 30-year experiment (1964-93) based on sown, well-fertilised pasture. Plant species presence was measured each year as basal cover using a vertical 10-pin frame. Hits at ground level from 800 points/plot were recorded in late September on duplicate plots, which were set-stocked at 3 rates (10, 20 reduced to 15, 30 reduced to 20 d.s.e./ha). A soil-water model based on rainfall and tank evaporation was calibrated against on-site soil water measurements (0-260 mm) and used to predict soil water (mm) for weekly time steps over 30 years. Smoothing of long-term rainfall data (SYSTAT, Lowess) showed an overall decline in warm-season rainfall (October-March), which was punctuated by above-average (1969-74) and average runs of years (1983-90). Flexible smoothing splines (SAS) were used to indicate patterns of yearly white clover presence. For all stocking treatments, there were significant declines in the presence of white clover over 3 decades. At the highest stocking rate, the recovery of white clover following the 1965 drought was poor. Late summer (January-March) moisture stress, defined as the number of weeks when soil water (0-260 mm) was <15 mm, was critical in determining white clover presence in the following spring (September). Rainfall received from October to December generally had a positive effect. These climate-based relationships reinforce the importance of stolon growth and survival as a regenerative strategy for white clover. However, over the 30 years, the species showed decreasing resilience post drought, which suggests a long-term failure of seed-based regeneration. Annual rates of soil nitrogen build-up ranged from 29 to 54 kg N/ha.year and were poorly related to white clover presence in the stocking treatments. Governing mechanisms, based on interactions between seasonal moisture stress, sheep stocking rate, interspecific plant competition, and seed pool dynamics, are proposed to explain the nature of long-term decline in white clover presence in well-fertilised, sown pastures in the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales.
Multifactorial nature of rotifer water layer preferences in an oligotrophic lake

Rotifer preference for the upper (0–2 m) or deeper layer (5–35 m) of the water column was assessed at midday and midnight in an oligotrophic mountain lake during summer, and related to temperature, food availability, presence of predators and exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR). Whereas Keratella cochlearis and Synchaeta pectinata showed a population maximum in the deeper layer during midday and in the upper layer during midnight, Asplanchna priodonta, Synchaeta kitina and Filinia terminalis always remained in the deeper layer. In contrast, Polyarthra dolichoptera and S. grandis were the only rotifer species that remained in the upper layer. Possession of mycosporine-like amino acids, a family of photoprotective compounds seemed to be an important strategy for occupying the upper layer. For other species, midday positioning in the deeper layer seemed to be related to UVR avoidance rather than to predation pressure, whereas the upward shift at night was species-dependent. Migrating species seemed favoured by higher temperatures in the upper layer, whereas non-migrating species seemed restricted by factors such as food supply. Our study indicates that rotifers exhibit different species-specific strategies for dealing with factors such as UVR exposure, temperature and food availability.
Dietary supplementation of butyrate in growing rabbits

Riassunto Integrazione alimentare con butirrato in conigli in accrescimento. L’effetto dell’inclusione di butirrato nella dieta è stato valutato in 220 conigli svezzati a 28 d e alimentati fino alla macellazione (70 d) con diete sperimentali contenenti 0, 0,5, 1,0 e 2,0 g/kg di butirrato sodico. L’integrazione con butirrato ha diminuito la digeribilità della sostanza secca (P<0,01) e ha tendenzialmente aumentato (P<0,10) l’accrescimento (48,5 vs. 50,0 g/d) e il consumo alimentare, ma non ha modificato l’attività fermentativa ciecale e le caratteristiche della mucosa intestinale a 42 d di età, né la qualità della carcassa e della carne alla macellazione. L’inclusione di butirrato ha rallentato la comparsa di una grave colibacillosi, ma non ha consentito di evitare il trattamento antibiotico, senza effetti significativi su mortalità e morbilità nell’intera prova. In conclusione, l’inclusione di butirrato non ha sostanzialmente influenzato le prestazioni produttive, la fisiologia digestiva, lo stato sanitario e la qualità della carne.