Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What lies beneath? The pattern and abundance of the subterranean tuber bank of the invasive liana cat's claw creeper, Macfadyena unguis-cati (Bignoniaceae)

Cat’s claw creeper, Macfadyena unguis-cati (L.) Gentry (Bignoniaceae) is a major environmental weed of riparian areas, rainforest communities and remnant natural vegetation in coastal Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. In densely infested areas, it smothers standing vegetation, including large trees, and causes canopy collapse. Quantitative data on the ecology of this invasive vine are generally lacking. The present study examines the underground tuber traits of M. unguis-cati and explores their links with aboveground parameters at five infested sites spanning both riparian and inland vegetation. Tubers were abundant in terms of density (~1000 per m2), although small in size and low in level of interconnectivity. M. unguis-cati also exhibits multiple stems per plant. Of all traits screened, the link between stand (stem density) and tuber density was the most significant and yielded a promising bivariate relationship for the purposes of estimation, prediction and management of what lies beneath the soil surface of a given M. unguis-cati infestation site. The study also suggests that new recruitment is primarily from seeds, not from vegetative propagation as previously thought. The results highlight the need for future biological-control efforts to focus on introducing specialist seed- and pod-feeding insects to reduce seed-output.
The reproductive success of the dipper Cinclus cinclus in relation to the acidity of streams in south‐west Scotland

SUMMARY 1. The breeding success of dippers Cinclus cinclus was assessed in south-west Scotland over 3 years and related to the acidity of the streams along which they bred. 2. At sites of high acidity, clutch and brood sizes were significantly smaller than those at sites of lower acidity. 3. Egg weight and the incidence of second clutches increased significantly with pH, but there was no evidence to suggest an effect of acidity on hatching success. 4. The rate at which food was delivered to individual nestlings was significantly lower at acidic than non-acidic sites. Nestling weights and survival were lower at more acidic sites. 5. Reduced brood sizes, low nestling survival and the low incidence of second brooding attempts resulted in a significant reduction in total productivity (number of fledglings produced, per pair, per year) at acidic compared with non-acidic streams. 6. It is suggested that pH-related differences in the invertebrate fauna of streams result in low prey availability for dippers on acidic streams, leading to reduced productivity.
The Spanish electoral cycle of 2019: a tale of two countries

Abstract In 2019 alone, Spanish citizens went to the polls at least four times – two general elections, European elections, local elections and, for some, regional elections. Moreover, in the 2016–19 legislature, the country witnessed a successful vote of no confidence that replaced a Conservative prime minister with a Socialist one; experienced an important constitutional crisis over the 2017 referendum on Catalan independence; observed the emergence for the first time of a viable far-right party; and ended with the first coalition government in the modern democratic history. The November 2019 election, the last in this long electoral cycle, left a fragmented and polarized political landscape and a left-wing cabinet – PSOE and Podemos – that does not have a majority in the chamber. This article presents the background, the results of the different elections and discusses how and why Spanish politics experienced a radical transformation likely to have an impact in the next years.
Effect of foliar spraying of Pawnee wheat with urea solutions on yield, protein content and protein quality.

SypnosisA new approach to studying protein quality is suggested by the capability of the wheat plant to take up, translocate, and synthesize gluten protein from the urea nitrogen sprayed on the leaves. Data show the effect of time of spraying, number of sprayings, and concentration of urea on wheat yield, test weight, and protein content and quality.
Automatic Poetry Classification and Chronological Semantic Analysis

The correction, authentication, validation and identification of the original texts in Hafez’s poetry among 16 or so old versions of his Divan has been a challenge for scholars. The semantic analysis of poetry with modern Digital Humanities techniques is also challenging. Analyzing latent semantics is more challenging in poetry than in prose for evident reasons, such as conciseness, imaginary and metaphorical constructions. Hafez’s poetry is, on the one hand, cryptic and complex because of his era’s restricting social properties and censorship impediments, and on the other hand, sophisticated because of his encapsulation of high-calibre world-views, mystical and philosophical attributes, artistically knitted within majestic decorations. Our research is strongly influenced by and is a continuation of, Mahmoud Houman’s instrumental and essential chronological classification of ghazals by Hafez. Houman’s chronological classification method (Houman, 1938)1, which we have adopted here, provides guidance to choose the correct version of Hafez’s poem among multiple manuscripts. Houman’s semantic analysis of Hafez’s poetry is unique in that the central concept of his classification is based on intelligent scrutiny of meanings, careful observation the evolutionary psychology of Hafez through his remarkable body of work. Houman’s analysis has provided the annotated data for the classification algorithms we will develop to classify the poems. We pursue to understand Hafez through the Houman’s perspective. In addition, we asked a contemporary expert to annotate Hafez ghazals (Raad, 2019)2. The rationale behind our research is also to satisfy the need for more efficient means of scholarly research, and to bring literature and computer science together as much as possible. Our research will support semantic analysis, and help with the design and development of tools for poetry research. We have developed a digital corpus of Hafez’s ghazals and applied proper word forms and punctuation. We digitized and extended chronological criteria to guide the correction and validation of Hafez’s poetry. To our knowledge, no automatic chronological classification has been conducted for Hafez poetry. 1Prof. M. Houman’s book is available only in Persian. It is probably not available in the West. Please see Section 7.4 2Mr. Mehran Raad’s labels were collected specifically for this thesis, and they are not available as a separate publication. Please refer to Section 7.4.
Shape variation in presacral vertebrae of saltasaurine titanosaurs (Dinosauria, Sauropoda)

Titanosaurs were small- to giant-sized sauropods, highly derived and highly pneumatic. Using morphometric analyses, we studied differences in shape of the presacral vertebral centra in some of these sauropods, especially in saltasaurines, and compared asymmetry patterns in lateral pneumatic foramina (LPF) between these titanosaurs and avian and non-avian theropods. Geometric morphometric analyses showed that the cervical centra tend to be elongated and dorsoventrally short, with an elliptical LPF located in the middle of the centrum; dorsal centra tend to be short and higher than the cervical centra, with the LPF slightly displaced to the anterior region. Shape variation can be described as a result of the ordering of the vertebrae within both the cervical and dorsal sequences, and therefore these methods can be applied to predict the position of isolated vertebrae. A persistent pattern of asymmetry among LPF was observed when length–height indexes were plotted. The right LPF are usually larger than those on the left side in the cervical vertebrae (except in Saltasaurus loricatus) but variable in the dorsal vertebrae. We propose an explanation of this asymmetry based on the asymmetric arrangement of viscera and late development of the respiratory (and air sacs) system.
When Selling Becomes Viral: Disruptions in Debt Markets in the COVID-19 Crisis and the Fed’s Response

Abstract We document extreme disruption in debt markets during the COVID-19 crisis: a severe price crash accompanied by significant dislocations at the safer end of the credit spectrum. Investment-grade corporate bonds traded at a discount to credit default swaps; exchange-traded funds traded at a discount to net asset value, more so for safer bonds. The Federal Reserve’s announcement of corporate bond purchases caused these dislocations to disappear and prices to recover. These facts inform potential theories of the disruption. The best explanation is an acute liquidity need for specific bond investors, such as mutual funds, leading them to liquidate large positions.
Theory of Mind in Adolescence: Developmental Change and Gender Differences

The theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to understand mental states in others. The previous research has highlighted age- and language-dependent effects during childhood and provided inconsistent data regarding the role of gender. Notably, these variables were rarely studied simultaneously among adolescents. Accordingly, this short longitudinal study explored age and gender differences in advanced ToM among 233 13- and 16-year-old Polish adolescents. Controlling for language, results indicated that females outperformed males in advanced ToM measurement (Ambigous Stories task). No differences were revealed between younger and older adolescents over 18 months, although for the total sample, a small increase in the quality of ToM explanations was found. Implications for gender and developmentally sensitive measurements of advanced ToM are discussed.
A review of studies using the Japanese National Database of Health Insurance Claims and Specific Health Checkups

BACKGROUND Electronic health databases are increasingly used for research purposes. The Japanese National Database of Health Insurance Claims and Specific Health Checkups (NDB) is a large national administrative claims database. We reviewed published original articles that used the NDB. METHODS Studies published from January 2011 to June 2019 using the NDB were identified through PubMed and the academic product lists of the NDB, following the PRISMA guidelines. RESULTS 68 studies were included in our review (43 were in English and 25 were in Japanese). The first NDB study in English was published in 2015, which was 4 years after the NDB was released for research purposes. The average annual growth rate of the number of NDB stud‐ ies in English was 237% after the first publication of an NDB study in English. Descriptive studies were the most common study design (n = 42), and the Clinical Medicine was the most common research area (n = 18). The study strength most frequently mentioned by authors of the NDB studies was the large sample size. In terms of limitations, authors most frequently mentioned the lack of important data and validation studies. CONCLUSIONS Since its release, the NDB has increasingly attracted attention, and the number of studies using the NDB has grown rapidly. The large sample size and wide array of health care data in the NDB enabled researchers to conduct health service research in various research areas with several study designs. Finally, our review suggests to policy makers that administrative database should be constructed and managed with the environment which promote researchers access to the database and link it to other databases. Although the protection of respondents’ privacy should be carefully considered, higher accessibility and data linkage may maximize the potential of the administrative database and may enable researchers to produce more valuable health service researches for policy making in health care.
Microbial Biomass Dynamics Along a Trophic Gradient at the Atlantic Barrier Reef off Belize (Central America)

Recent findings indicate that heterotrophic bacteria and not phytoplankton are the most numerous biomass components even in the euphotic zone of oligotrophic, open oceans. In this study it was hypothesized that the microbial biomass components change within a few hundred meters as oligotrophic water flows across the reef and becomes enriched with nutrients. Along a trophic gradient, four stations at the Atlantic Barrier Reef off Belize (Central America) were sampled for microbial biomass components. Phytoplankton biomass (measured as chlorophyll a) ranged from the most oligotrophic station (St. 1) to the most eutrophic station (St. 4) from 6.9–415.5 μg CI“‘ (assuming a C:chl a ratio of 30): heterotrophic bacterial biomass increased 4-fold (from 10.1–46.4μg C 1-1), heterotrophic nanoflagellate (HNAN) biomass increased from 4.6-19ug C 1-1, and cyanobacteria from 0.9-4.5 μg C-1-1. Production estimates derived from seawater cultures revealed a 5-fold increase in bacterial production from the oligotrophic station (3.7 ug C 1-1 d-1) to the eutrophic St. 4 (17.8ug C-1-d1-1)- Cyanobacterial production rose from 1.1–3.5ug C-1–d-1 and HNAN production from 0.65-1.13 μg C-1-1 -d-1. While cyanobacteria contributed between 13 and 20% to the autotrophic plankton component in the oligotrophic waters, their contribution dropped to about 1 % at the eutrophic stations.
Fire and Grazing in the Tallgrass Prairie: Contingent Effects on Nitrogen Budgets

Fire and grazing occur together in many of the world's grasslands, but their effects on nutrient cycling have usually been studied as if they acted separately. We hypothesized that grazing by large herbivores results in conservation of nitrogen that would otherwise be lost from burned grasslands. We tested this hypothesis in a series of experiments on burned and unburned tallgrass prairie grazed by cattle. We manipulated grazing using enclosures and mowing. Combustion losses of N from ungrazed plots (1.8 g.m-2 yr-1) burned in the spring were double those from similarly burned, grazed plots (0.9 g m-2 yr-1). These losses represented about half of the preburn, aboveground stocks of N. The magnitude of N loss was proportional to the standing crop biomass available for combustion. Fire temperatures and energy release were reduced by grazing. We used mowing to simulate locally heavy grazing in patches. In the absence of burning, mowing patches increased the likelihood that a patch would be regrazed and caused persistent reductions in the residual biomass remaining in a patch at the end of the growing season. Mowing did not influence patch utilization or residual biomass when pastures were burned. Thus, the effects of fire on grassland N budgets were modified by grazing, and the effects of grazing on the patch structure of grasslands were modified by fire. We conclude that accurately predicting volatile losses of nutrients from grassland ecosystems resulting from biomass burning may depend on understanding effects of grazing.
Alzheimer β-Amyloid Homodimers Facilitate Aβ Fibrillization and the Generation of Conformational Antibodies*

We reported previously that stabilized β-amyloid peptide dimers were derived from mutant amyloid precursor protein with a single cysteine in the ectodomain juxtamembrane position. In vivo studies revealed that two forms of SDS-stable Aβ homodimers exist, species ending at Aβ40 and Aβ42. The phenomenon of the transformation of the initially deposited 42-residue β-amyloid peptide into the amyloid fibrils of Alzheimer`s disease plaques remains to be explained in physical terms, i.e. energetically and structurally. We therefore performed spectroscopic analyses revealing that engineered dimeric peptides ending at residue 42 displayed a much more pronounced β-structural transition than corresponding monomers. Specifically, the single chemically induced dimerization of Aβ peptides significantly increased the β-sheet content by a factor of 2. The C-terminal residues Ile-41 and Ala-42 of dimeric forms further increased the β-sheet content by roughly one-third. In contrast to Aβ42, the β-sheet content of the α- and γ-secretase-generated p3 fragments did not necessarily correlate with the tendency to form fibrils, although p3/17–42 had a pronounced thread forming character with fibril lengths of up to 2.5 μm. Electron microscopic images show that forms of p3/17–42 generated smaller granular particles than forms ending at residue 40. We discuss these findings in terms of Aβ1–42 dimers representing paranuclei, which self-aggregate into ribbon-like ordered fibrils by elongation. Based on Aβ42 dimer-specific titers of a polyclonal antiserum we propose that the Aβ homodimer represents a nidus for plaque formation and a well defined novel therapeutic target.
Professional Identities of English Literature Teachers in a South African Context

ABSTRACT This article aims to give insight into the professional identities of seven teachers who teach English literature to Grade 10-12 learners, in the North-West district of South Africa. The focus is on how these teachers’ experiences are shaped by larger determinants (social, historical, professional, etc.), and how their experiences might resonate within the larger context of South African education at the current moment. A qualitative approach was used in this study and a multiple case study methodology was adopted. This method allowed me to explore the data in specific contexts, in a small geographical area with a limited number of participants. The aim of this article is to show how teachers’ sense of their professional identities constitutes an important dimension of their work. This is in contradistinction to an over-emphasis on results that characterises so-called standards-based reforms and that threatens to reduce teachers to mere technicians.
A cytomorphological study in some taxa of the genus Salvia L. (Lamiaceae)

Abstract The taxa of the genus Salvia L. (Lamiaceae) used in this study were collected from their natural habitats in Turkey. In this paper, the number, size and morphology of somatic chromosomes of 22 Turkish taxa of Salvia, namely S. bracteata Banks & Sol. , S. fruticosa Mill. , S. huberi Hedge, S. hydrangea DC. ex Benth. , S. nemorosa L. and S. pomifera L. (2n = 14), S. adenocaulon P.H. Davis and S. aucheri Benth. subsp. canescens Boiss. & Heldr. , (2n = 18), S. argentea L. , S. frigida Boiss. , S. palestina Benth. , S. poculata Nábělek and S. verticillata L. subsp. verticillata (2n = 20), S. atropatana Bunge, S. cassia Sam. ex. Rech. f. , S. chrysophylla Stapf, S. cyanescens Boiss. & Balansa, S. indica L. and S. limbata C.A. Mey. (2n = 22), S. multicaulis Vahl (2n = 28), S. virgata Jacq. (2n = 32) and S. verbenaca L. (2n = 60) were investigated. Somatic chromosome numbers ranged from 2n = 14 to 2n = 60. The present results were compared with the previous cytological ones.
Intramuscular fatty acid composition of steers finished on oat pastures mixture with vetch or cornmeal supplementation

The effects of energetic supplementation and mixture vetch (Vica sativa L.) were studied to evaluate the intramuscular fatty acid profile of steers finished on oat (Avena sativa L.) pastures. Eighteen 21-month-old crossbred steers were evaluated. The experiment was carried out in three treatments and six repetitions: oat pasture (OA), oat pasture + vetch (OA + VET), and oat pasture + supplementation (OA + SUP). Supplementation comprised the addition of corn meal at a daily dose of 1% of the animals’ body weight. Steers receiving supplementation had higher lipid content in Longissimus lumborum than did those fed with OA + VET (1.25 vs 1.02%), whereas those fed with OA (1.15%) showed intermediate values. Conjugated linoleic acid levels were higher in steers fed OA (0.57%) and OA + SUP (0.59%), whereas the highest amount of omega-3 fatty acids was observed in animals fed OA + VET (3.32%). Pasture-finishing without supplementation resulted in a lower ratio of n-6:n-3 (3.14). Steers finished in oat mixture with vetch showed healthier intramuscular fat than did those finished with cornmeal supplementation; importantly, the higher the amount of PUFAs, the better n-6:n-3 ratio.
Benthic Invertebrate Responses to Size and Density Manipulations of the Common Mummichog, Fundulus Heteroclitus, in an Intertidal Salt Marsh

Most studies of the effects of predation on the organization and structure of prey communities have ignored predator population size structure and density. In the present investigation, we designed a series of field experiments to test the effects of these predator population properties on the intertidal benthic invertebrates of a salt marsh. The common mummichog, Fundulus hetero- clitus, was the primary predator in our experiments. Three size-classes of mummichogs (small, 40-50 mm Total Length (TL); medium, 50-69 mm TL; large, ? 70 mm TL) were maintained at each of three densities (1, 2, and 4 fish/M2) in 10-m2 enclosures on the salt marsh. Water-filled pits were included in each cage as low-tide refuges for the fish. Each fish treatment combination was replicated three times. In addition, there were three uncaged 10-m2 plots (open controls) and three caged plots from which Fundulus were excluded (closed controls). Three cylindrical core samples (0.005 M2) were extracted from the sediment to a depth of 10 cm in each of the 33 experimental plots 1, 4, and 10 mo after initiation of the experiment in June 1978. Densities of the small, surface-dwelling invertebrates which make up most of the benthic community (Manayunkia aestuarina, Streblospio benedicti, Lep- tochelia rapax, ostracods, hydrobiid snails, and Gemma gemma) were highest in enclosures contain- ing large fish, and lowest in closed controls and in enclosures containing small fish. Intermediate invertebrate densities occurred in enclosures containing medium-size mummichogs. The effects of fish size were enhanced at high fish densities (2-4 fish/M2), although fish density alone had little effect on invertebrate abundance. We considered several hypotheses that could explain the findings. Small epibenthic predators-disturbers like the grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, were commonly observed in the experimental enclosures. The gut contents of fish taken from the enclosures indicated that the shrimp were ingested only by medium and large size-classes of F. heteroclitus. We suggest that infaunal densities increased in response to the control of small epibenthic predator-disturbers (i.e., P. pugio) by the larger F. heteroclitus.
Macau gambling industry's quick V-shape rebound from 2014 to 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to summarize the factors that result in V-shape rebound of Macau gambling industry's from 2014 to 2019. Both internal and external factors are examined and discussed by representatives from academia, industry and government.Design/methodology/approachPractitioners from the gambling industry offered their cutting-edged analysis and viewpoints with observation and comments from scholars and government representatives in gambling domain.FindingsInternally, actions are taken by both the Macau government and Macau casino operators to rebrand Macau with nongambling elements and to adjust the strategies to attract more tourists from a wider range. Externally, global economic upturn and support from the China government also enhance Macau's quick rebound. A total of nine key factors are finally recognized.Originality/valueThis study provides answers and sense-making explanations to why Macau gambling industry can recover in such a short time after a big drop in Gross Gambling Revenue in 2014. This work reveals that Macau, by learning the lessons from the dramatic decline, conducts various self-rescue action plans which contribute to the quick V-shape rebound. This study is also a self-examination of Macau gambling industry from the firsthand perspectives of scholars, government representatives and casino management.