Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Single large or several small? Population fragmentation in the captive management of endangered species

Captive populations of endangered species are typically maintained effectively as single random-mating populations by translocating individuals between institutions. Genetic, disease, and cost considerations, however, suggest that this may not be the optimal management strategy. Genetic theory predicts that a pooled population derived from several small isolated populations will have greater genetic diversity, less inbreeding, and less genetic adaptation to captivity than a single large population of equivalent total size, provided there are no population extinctions. These predictions were tested using populations of Drosophila with effective size comparisons of 50 vs. 2 × 25; 100 vs. 2 × 50 vs. 4 × 25, and 500 vs. 2 × 250 vs. 4 × 100 + 2 × 50 vs. 8 × 25 + 6 × 50. Populations were maintained at the indicated sizes as separate pedigreed populations for 50 generations. The several small treatments were subsequently pooled and maintained for eight to 10 generations prior to determination of fitness and evolutionary potential. Several small populations (pooled), when compared to single large populations of equivalent total size, were found to have lower average inbreeding coefficients, significantly higher reproductive fitness under competitive conditions, similar fitness under benign captive conditions, higher genetic diversity, and equivalent evolutionary potential. Trends favored the several small (pooled) populations in all comparisons at population sizes of 50 and 100. We recommend that endangered species in captivity be maintained as several small populations, with occasional exchange of genetic material. This has genetic benefits over current management both in captivity and especially for reintroductions, as well as reducing translocation costs and risks of disease transfer. Zoo Biol 17:467–480, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Expression of the C4 Me1 Gene from Flaveria bidentis Requires an Interaction between 5 and 3 Sequences

The efficient functioning of C4 photosynthesis requires the strict compartmentation of a suite of enzymes in either mesophyll or bundle sheath cells. To determine the mechanism controlling bundle sheath cell-specific expression of the NADP-malic enzyme, we made a set of chimeric constructs using the 5’ and 3’ regions of the F/ayeria bidentis Mel gene fused to the P-glucuronidase gusA reporter gene. The pattern of GUS activity in stably transformed F. bidentis plants was analyzed by histochemical and cell separation techniques. We conclude that the 5‘ region of Mel determines bundle sheath specificity, whereas the 3’ region contains an apparent enhancer-like element that confers highleve1 expression in leaves. The interaction of 5‘ and 3’ sequences was dependent on factors that are present in the C4 plant but not found in tobacco.
Tree population responses to hurricane disturbance: syndromes in a south-eastern USA old-growth forest

Summary 1 We assessed the responses of tree populations in an old-growth Southern mixedhardwood forest in northern Florida to hurricane disturbance. The most recent, Hurricane Kate (1985), damaged 41% and killed 7% of the overstorey trees, eliminated 8% of the basal area, and increased the area in canopy gaps from 31% to 62%. 2 We focused on changes in recruitment, growth and mortality of trees of the 10 most abundant tree species (> 93% of the basal area). We analysed data from 7149 trees ≥ 2 cm d.b. h. , recorded in periodic censuses of a 4.5-ha plot over the period spanning 7 years before and 7 years after the disturbance. 3 After Hurricane Kate, recruitment into the ≥ 2 cm d.b. h. class increased sixfold, and rates of growth and survival increased for saplings and understorey trees, but decreased for overstorey trees. 4 We classified the tree populations into four previously defined syndromes of response to disturbance according to observed mortality, recruitment and growth patterns. Pinus glabra exhibited the Resilient syndrome, with high tree mortality but massive recruitment after the hurricane. Two subcanopy species ( Carpinus caroliniana and Ostrya virginiana ) and three canopy species ( Liquidambar styraciflua , Quercus michauxii and Q. nigra ), exhibited the Usurper syndrome, showing low tree damage, some release of understorey trees and saplings, and substantial recruitment. Ilex opaca (subcanopy), and Fagus grandifolia and Nyssa sylvatica (canopy), exhibited the Resistant syndrome, characterized by low tree damage and little increase in recruitment. The main canopy dominant, Magnolia grandifolia , exhibited the Susceptible syndrome; it had large reductions in growth and survival and no detectable release of understorey individuals. 5 Short-term persistence was not compromised by Hurricane Kate in any of the 10 tree populations because the majority of trees were resistant to hurricane damage. The long-term persistence of populations exhibiting the Resistant syndrome appeared to be independent of hurricane disturbance. Long-term persistence appeared to depend on periodic hurricanes (or equivalent large-scale disturbances) for Resilient and Usurper syndromes, but might become compromised by recurrent hurricanes for the Susceptible syndrome.
The applications of probiotics in poultry production

The use of antibiotics in poultry feed as a growth promoter has been restricted in many countries around the world. Consequently, there is a growing interest in finding viable alternatives for growth enhancement and disease prevention in the poultry sector. Probiotics are considered alternative feed additives to antibiotics and can be defined as microbial food supplements which beneficially affect the host by improving its intestinal microbial balance. In this review, the special characteristics of probiotics and their mechanisms of action have been described. Probiotics enhance the growth and production of poultry birds, protect the host against pathogens, enhance the immune system, improve bone strength and fight parasitism. In the following paragraphs the available literature on the uses of probiotics in poultry production is reviewed.
Patterns of Snake Predation at Songbird Nests in Missouri and Texas

Abstract Snakes are frequent predators of eggs and nestlings, but general patterns of snake predation at bird nests are not well known. We reviewed 84 video observations of snakes visiting nests of four songbird species in Texas and Missouri to identify patterns of predatory behavior. Eastern Ratsnakes (Elaphe obsoleta) were the most common species, and coachwhips, racers, kingsnakes, and a garter snake also were recorded. Snakes almost always removed all nest contents during a single visit but sometimes force-fledged nestlings that were old enough to escape. During many visits late in the nestling period, snakes pinned their prey in the nest while feeding, thereby preventing many of the young from escaping. Snakes spent an average of 13 min and 23 sec at each nest (1 min and 52 sec before striking), and the duration of nocturnal visits exceeded the duration of diurnal visits. Snakes sometimes returned to empty nests after they caused failure but only after nestlings were depredated. Visits by Texas Ratsnakes (Elaphe obsoleta lindheimeri) were mostly nocturnal, whereas visits by Black Ratsnakes (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta), coachwhips, racers, and kingsnakes were diurnal. Snake predation increased as the nesting cycle progressed with the highest rate occurring in the last few days of the nestling period. Increased predation at the end of the nestling period suggests that avian activity (i.e., feeding visits, nest defense, and nestling movement) contributes to the foraging success of snakes at our sites.
Conservation of the vaquita Phocoena sinus

The vaquita Phocoena sinus is a small porpoise that is endemic to the northern Gulf of California, Mexico. It is the most critically endangered marine small cetacean in the world. The most precise estimate of global abundance based on a 1997 survey is 567 (95% CI 177- 1073). 2. Vaquitas mainly live north of 30 ° 45 ' N and west of 114 ° 20 ' W. Their 'core area' consists of about 2235 km 2 centred around Rocas Consag, 40 km east of San Felipe, Baja California. Genetic analyses and population simulations suggest that the vaquita has always been rare, and that its extreme loss of genomic variability occurred over evolutionary time rather than being caused by human activities. 3. Gill nets for fish and shrimp cause very high rates of by-catch (entanglement) of vaquitas. Estimates of bycatch rates are from 1993-94 and refer to one of three main fishing ports: 84 per year (95% CI 14-155) using only data collected by observers and 39 per year (95% CI 14-93) using combined data from observers and interviews with fishermen. Boats from other ports may experience similar rates, and the total is probably well above what would be
Traffic Control Via Platoons of Intelligent Vehicles for Saving Fuel Consumption in Freeway Systems

In this letter a coupled PDE-ODE model describing the interaction between the bulk traffic flow and a platoon of connected vehicles is adopted to develop a control action aiming at reducing the fuel consumption of the overall traffic flow. The platoon is modeled as a capacity restriction acting on the surrounding traffic. The trajectory of the initial and final points of the platoon are optimized by means of a model predictive control strategy, acting on the speeds of the front-end and back-end of the platoon, thus resulting in controlling both the speed and the length of the platoon. The approach is assessed in simulations.
Comparison of oxygen consumption in drosophilid flies from different climates

Oxygen consumption at rest was studied in drosophilid species from cool‐temperate, warm‐temperate and subtropical regions to assess whether adaptations to different climates are associated with changes in metabolic rates. In experiments at 23°C using 8‐day‐old males of 28 species, body mass was revealed to be a significant predictor of oxygen consumption. No significant relation was detected between mass‐adjusted oxygen consumption and latitudinal distribution or thermal tolerance by either conventional regression analysis or a phylogenetically based method. The effect of temperature on oxygen consumption was studied with experiments at 15, 18, 23 and 28°C using 8‐ and 24‐day‐old males of four species of each of the montium species subgroup and the subgenus Drosophila. In these experiments, it was confirmed that temperature was a significant predictor of mass‐adjusted oxygen consumption. In both lineages, mass‐adjusted oxygen consumption was not higher in cool‐temperate species than in subtropical species. Thus, adaptations to colder climates are not associated with elevation of metabolic rates in these drosophilid species. The results of the present study also indicate that oxygen consumption is not related to the capacity to walk quickly.
Eastern Baltic cod (Gadus morhua callarias) stock dynamics: extending the analytical assessment back to the mid-1940s

The status of the eastern Baltic cod (Gadus morhua callarias) stock has been assessed annually by ICES since 1966. To understand better the causes of stock fluctuations and to evaluate human impact on the stock relative to natural variability, longer timeseries than currently available are needed. To achieve this, data back to the mid-1940s were compiled to extend the analytical assessment. Estimates are provided of stock development and its exploitation for a 20-year period before the start of the current assessment. The quality of the data and the credibility of the historical estimates are discussed. Considerable fluctuations in cod biomass and recruitment in the pre-assessment years were identified. Stock size was estimated to be relatively low after the Second World War, then increased during the first half of the 1950s, but did not reach the high levels of abundance subsequently observed in the early 1980s, and then declined towards the mid-1960s. Fishing mortality was low after the Second World War but increased rapidly in the second half of the 1950s, reaching the high levels observed since the 1980s.
The effect of gut processing on the quality of mistletoe seed dispersal

Disperser effectiveness is the contribution that a disperser makes to the future reproduction of a plant (Schupp 1993), and it has two components: quality and quantity of dispersal. Quantity of dispersal is a function of the number of visits that a disperser makes to a fruiting plant and the number of seeds that are dispersed during each visit. Quality of dispersal is a function of the treatment that a seed receives from its disperser and the site that the seed is finally deposited in. The quality of seed dispersal of the mistletoe Phragmanthera dschallensis (Engl.) M.G. Gilbert (Loranthaceae) by frugivorous birds was examined in this study.
Indução de resistência à podridão-parda em pêssegos pelo uso de eliciadores em pós-colheita

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of acibenzolar-S-methyl and harpin protein elicitors, applied in post-harvest, in systemic resistance induction to brown-rot, on peaches. A completely randomized design was utilized, with four replicates, in a split plot scheme - injured or noninjured peaches -, and treatments were constituted of : acibenzolar-S-methyl (50 mg of a.i. L-1), two commercial products with harpin protein (80 mg of a.i. L-1); and control (distilled water). Peaches were sprayed individually with 1 mL of aqueous solution containing the treatments and, after 12 hours, the inoculation of Monilinia fructicola was carried out (0.2 mL of spore suspension with 105 spores mL-1, in each side of the fruit). Sixty hours past inoculation, the size of lesions, esporulation and percentage of control were evaluated. The contents of total protein, total phenol, total and reducing sugar, besides activity of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), were determined. The elicitors induce resistance to M. fructicola, with reduction in fungal development. Elicitor's increased the evaluated biochemical parameters and the activity of PAL, which was related to the size reduction of lesions in peaches. The elicitors could be used in integrated management of brown-rot, in post-harvest applications.
Real-time drip infusion monitoring through a computer vision system

Intravenous (IV) infusion is one of the most common therapies in hospitalized patients. Monitoring the flow rate of the fluid that is being administered to the patient is therefore very important for his safety, considering that both over-infusion and under-infusion can cause serious health problems. In this document, a novel method for monitoring the flow rate in IV infusions is presented, that is based on deep learning computer vision techniques. Basically, the drip chamber is filmed with a camera and object detection is used to count drops. The proposed method is therefore less invasive than other ones developed for this purpose. Experimental results show that it can produce an accurate real-time estimate of the instantaneous flow rate of the drip. For these reasons, the proposed method can be effectively adopted to implement monitoring and control systems for health facilities.
Deep Learning Based Channel Estimation for MIMO Systems With Received SNR Feedback

Channel estimation with received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) feedback is promising and effective for practical wireless multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. In this paper, we investigate the channel estimation problem for the MIMO system with received SNR feedback, of which goal is to estimate the MIMO channel coefficients at a transmitter based on the received SNR feedback information from a receiver in the sense of minimizing the mean square error (MSE) of the channel estimation. For analysis, we consider two very common and widely adopted scenarios of fading: (i) quasi-static block fading and (ii) time-varying fading. In both fading scenarios, it is generally challenging to analytically tackle the channel estimation problem due to its nonlinearity and nonconvexity. To intelligently and effectively address this issue, deep learning is exploited in this paper. First, in the quasi-static block fading scenario, we propose a novel learning scheme for joint channel estimation and pilot signal design by constructing a deep autoencoder via a convolutional neural network (CNN). Also, in the time-varying fading scenario, a novel channel estimation scheme is developed by connecting a recurrent neural network (RNN) to a CNN. Moreover, in both fading scenarios, we present new and effective ways to train the proposed schemes using generative adversarial networks (GANs) to address the practical issue of a limited number of actual channel samples (i.e., real-world data) required for training. Through extensive numerical simulations, we demonstrate effectiveness and superior performance of the proposed schemes.
A quantitative analysis of muscular co-activation on EMG signals in spastic patients treated with Botulinum toxin

Spasticity is a common pathology after brain lesions consisting in an incorrect synergic contraction of agonist-antagonist muscles. Nowadays, there are more treatments, yet recently a new therapy was introduced: the injections of botulinum toxin in the spastic muscles. This work is a pilot study aiming to analyse quantitatively these co-activations before and after the treatment. Data were acquired performing gait analysis in the laboratory of Salerno’s hospital. Spatial temporal parameters, kinematic information and electromyography signals were obtained. Two patients were analysed and a Matlab application was implemented to calculate a co-activation index and the time of co-activation of some muscular couples. The comparison between the results before and after the treatment describes a positive prognosis with improvements in spatial temporal parameters and kinematic for both patients. Both the co-activation index and the times of co-activations decreased after the treatment. This pilot study shows that patients treated with BTX have a positive prognosis with a quantitative improving.
Evolutionary correlation between male substances and female remating frequency in a seed beetle

An evolutionary correlation between the effects of male seminal substances that reduce female sexual receptivity and female remating frequency was found among strains of the adzuki bean beetle, Callosobruchus chinensis. Variation in female remating frequency had been also previously documented in this species, together with the identification in males of low- and highmolecular weight substances that exhibited quick- and slow-acting effects on female sexual receptivity. Here, we examined the differences in the effects of both substances on female sexual receptivity between strains with high and low remating frequencies. We found that the female response to the quick-acting substances differed. Moreover, not only female response to the slow-acting substances but also the male effect of these substances differed between strains. In remating experiments, a difference in female response to mating was found, but no difference was found in the effect of males between strains. Thus, male sexual receptivityinhibiting substances are one of the reasons for the difference in female remating frequency between the 2 strains. Next, the relationship between the effect of male substances on female sexual receptivity and female remating frequency was examined among multiple strains. Correlations between the effect of mating and male substances were found for both molecular weight classes of male substances. These results suggest that both female response to male substances and the effect of male receptivityinhibiting substances reflect variations in female remating frequency among strains. Key words: coevolution, female choice, female remating, receptivity-inhibiting substance, seminal fluids, sperm competition. [Behav Ecol]
Detección de antígenos de Dirofilaria immitis en caninos del Área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá

Resumen Con el fin de determinar la presencia o ausencia de antigenos del nematodo Dirofilaria immitis en caninos del Valle de Aburra mayores de un ano, se muestrearon 300 perros mediante la tecnica de inmunocromatografia de flujo lateral. 285 muestras cumplieron los criterios de inclusion y exclusion; de estas, una fue positiva a Dirofilaria immitis . Se correlacionaron las variables de edad, sexo, tipo de alojamiento, desparasitacion en los ultimos tres meses, historial de viajes y funcion zootecnica. No se encontro diferencia estadistica significativa (p > 0.05) entre la positividad a la dirofilariosis y cualquiera de las variables estudiadas. La frecuencia del parasito Dirofilaria immitis en el area Metropolitana del Valle de Aburra fue del 0.35%, concluyendose que esta enfermedad no es endemica en el area de estudio. Palabras clave: diagnostico, dirofilariosis, nematodo, parasito, vector. Summary Our goal was to determine the presence or absence of the nematode Dirofilaria immitis in over-one-year old dogs of the Metropolitan area of the Aburra Valley. 300 dogs were tested with an inmunochromatography lateral flow kit. 285 samples fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria, finding only one dog positive. It was concluded that this disease is not endemic in the studied area. Key words: diagnosis, dirofilariosis, nematode, parasite, vector.
BIOLOGY OF PSETTODES ERUMEI (SCHNEIDER, 1801) AND PSEUDORHOMBUS ARSIUS (HAMILTON, 1822) FROM THE NORTHERN ARABIAN SEA

The flatfishes (Pleuronectiformes) are represented by four families and 28 spedes along Sind and Makran coasts (northern Arabian Sea). Psetlodes erumei and Pseudorhombus arsius contribute major portion of the flatfishes caught from these coasts. The two spedes are distributed in coastal waters, shelf area and off shore waters. P. arsius migrates into aedcs and estuaries. The analysis of length and weight relationship showed isometric growth in both spedes. Studies on food contents revealed higher percentage of invertebrate in juvenile fishes and as fishes grow they change over to fish as major food. Dial difference in feeding habit is also noted in two spedes. Spawning seems to occur from March to May, before onset of monsoon in P. erumei and after monsoon, September - November in P. arsius
Effect of pH on Survival Rate of Listeria monocytogenes in Sewage from Meat Processing Plant

The aim of the present paper was to evaluate the survival rate of Listeria monocytogenes in meat processing industry sewage, depending on the pH under laboratory conditions. In the present experiment we determined the time of survival of listeria bacilli in three kinds of sewage: crude, alkalized and acidified. The present research shows that Listeria monocytogenes survived longest in crude sewage where, as calculated with the use of regression analysis, theoretical time of survival was defined as 38 days, while in the alkalized sewage and acidified sewage the time was 33 and 25 days, respectively. Besides, the present experiment also investigated the potential of listeria bacilli survival in sewage under strongly acidic and alkaline conditions.