Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ammonia emission from aviary housing systems for laying hens : inventory, characteristics and solutions

The development and practical application of welfare friendly aviary housing systems for laying hens, that generally emit more ammonia per hen than battery cage housing systems, would conflict with the Dutch policy to substantially reduce the total emission of ammonia from animal husbandry. This thesis describes the knowledge assessed by research on the ammonia emission levels of various types of aviary houses for laying hens (the inventory), the processes and factors involved in the kinetics of this ammonia emission (the characteristics) and the development of technical solutions which will lower the emission (the solutions). Housing systems for laying hens are described as and classified into battery cages and alternative systems . The waste resulting from the fresh droppings in these two types of housing systems for laying hens are classified as slurry , dry manure or litter . The degradation of nitrogenous components and the volatilisation of ammonia to the air are influenced by the manure composition, the process conditions and the local climate above the manure. Levels of emission from housing systems for laying hens vary strongly due to influencing factors that are related to the housing type , the animal , the climatisation or the management . The distribution of droppings over the two sources of emission in aviary houses, being the manure on the belts and the litter on the floor, was investigated under experimental circumstances. The effects of manure and litter handling and litter composition, and the effect of the physical parameters of the air on the emission of ammonia were quantified. The physical and chemical relationships of the volatilisation of ammonia from litter of various commercial aviary houses and the degradation of organic material in litter to ammonia were verified and demonstrated the great impact of the dry matter content of litter on the emission. A litter drying system in a Tiered Wire Floor aviary housing system was developed and the effect it had on the composition of litter and the emission of ammonia was investigated. With the knowledge acquired about the physical relationships of water evaporation from litter and the water input load to the litter through fresh droppings, it is possible to control the ammonia emission from the litter by influencing its dry matter content.
Thermal Plasticity and Performance Adaptations in Gadid Muscle: Consequences for Activity and Lifestyle

Much previous research has demonstrated the plasticity of myoglobin concentrations in both cardiac and skeletal myocytes in response to hypoxia and training. No study has yet looked at the effect of thermal acclimation on myoglobin in fish. Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) from two different populations, i.e. the North Sea and the North East Arctic, were acclimated to 10 and 4 °C. Both the myoglobin mRNA and myoglobin protein in cod hearts increased significantly by up to 3.7 and 2.3 fold respectively as a result of acclimation to 4 °C. These increments were largest in the Arctic population, which in earlier studies have been shown to possess cold compensated metabolic demands at low temperatures. These metabolic demands associated with higher mitochondrial capacities may have driven the increase in cardiac myoglobin concentrations, in order to support diffusive oxygen supply. At the same time the increase in myoglobin levels may serve further functions during cold acclimation, for example, protection of the cell against reactive oxygen species, and scavenging nitric oxide, thereby contributing to the regulation of mitochondrial volume density. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproductive biology of five native plant species from the Monte Desert of Argentina

Research into plant breeding systems enables the evaluation of whether seed production depends on pollination agents and gene flow mechanisms within and among populations. This aids, in turn, the estimation of the appropriate population sizes needed to maintain both genetic and species' diversity. Little is known about plant reproductive biology in the Monte Desert (Patagonia, Argentina), a habitat threatened by desertification as a result of human impact. The mating systems, flowering phenologies and pollinator networks were studied in five representative plant species of the Monte Desert. The mating systems studied ranged from anemophilous pollen dispersion in the dioecious Atriplex lampa, to a gradient of dependence on pollinators, from the less dependent (facultative self-compatible) Gutierrezia solbrigii and two Larrea spp. (L. divaricata and L. cuneifolia) to the most dependent Grindelia chiloensis (self-incompatible). Flowering phenology was restricted to spring and coincided with pollinator abundance. Solitary bees were the main pollinator group, but beetles, flies and butterflies were also important. The four insect-pollinated species were moderately generalist, but they maintained their own pollinator assemblage. Coleopterans depended more on Grindelia chiloensis and dipterans on Gutierrezia solbrigii. Lepidopterans frequently visited Gutierrezia solbrigii and Larrea divaricata, whereas hymenopterans visited both Larrea spp. more frequently. The studied plant species are ecologically important, not only as resources for a wide range of pollinator species but also for other insects. The Monte Desert is a very disturbance-sensitive environment and, as these plant species hardly show vegetative regeneration, sexual reproduction is essential for their survival. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 161, 190–201.
Genetic characterization of Rhodococcus rhodochrous ATCC BAA-870 with emphasis on nitrile hydrolysing enzymes

Abstract Rhodococcus rhodochrous ATCC BAA-870 (BAA-870) had previously been isolated on selective media for enrichment of nitrile hydrolysing bacteria. The organism was found to have a wide substrate range, with activity against aliphatics, aromatics, and aryl aliphatics, and enantioselectivity towards beta substituted nitriles and beta amino nitriles, compounds that have potential applications in the pharmaceutical industry. This makes R. rhodochrous ATCC BAA-870 potentially a versatile biocatalyst for the synthesis of a broad range of compounds with amide and carboxylic acid groups that can be derived from structurally related nitrile precursors. The selectivity of biocatalysts allows for high product yields and better atom economy than nonselective chemical methods of performing this reaction, such as acid or base hydrolysis. In order to apply BAA-870 as a nitrile biocatalyst and to mine the organism for biotechnological uses, the genome was sequenced using Solexa technology and an Illumina Genome Analyzer. The Solexa sequencing output data was analysed using the Solexa Data Analysis Pipeline and a total of 5,643,967 reads, 36-bp in length, were obtained providing 4,273,289 unique sequences. The genome sequence data was assembled using the software Edena, Velvet, and Staden. The best assembly data set was then annotated automatically using dCAS and BASys. Further matepaired sequencing, contracted to the company BaseClear® BV in Leiden, the Netherlands, was performed in order to improve the completeness of the data. The scaffolded Illumina and mate-paired sequences were further assembled and annotated using BASys. BAA-870 has a GC content of 65% and contains 6997 predicted protein-coding sequences (CDS). Of this, 54% encodes previously identified proteins of unknown function. The completed 5.83 Mb genome (with a sequencing coverage of 135 X) was submitted to the NCBI Genome data bank with accession number PRJNA78009. The genome sequence of R. rhodochrous ATCC BAA-870 is the seventh rhodococcal genome to be submitted to the NCBI and the first R. rhodochrous subtype to be sequenced. An analysis of the genome for nitrileU ni ve rs ity of C ap e To w n
Prehistoric and fossil rhinoceroses from the Malay Archipelago and India

Introduction 1 Terminology of the upper teeth of rhinoceros 3 On the recent occurrence of Rhinoceros sondaicus Desmarest in Sumatra . 6 On the distinguishing dental characters of Dicerorhinus sumatrensis (Fischer) and Rhinoceros sondaicus Desmarest 9 Dicerorhinus sumatrensis (Fischer) 12 Rhinoceros or Dicerorhinus spec 29 Rhinoceros sondaicus Desmarest 34 Rhinoceros unicornis L 81 Rhinoceros kendengindicus Dubois 84 "Aceratherium" boschi Von Koenigswald 107 Rhinoceros spec 108 Rhinoсеrоs karnuliensis Lydekker 112 Aceratherium perimense Falconer et Cautley 114 Literature 117 Tables I-VIII 123 Explanation of the plates 135 . toutes mes determinations d'especes ont ete faites sur les os eux-memes, ou sur de bonnes figures ; il s'en faut au contraire beaucoup que j'aie observe par moi-meme tous les lieux ou ces os ont ete decouverts. CUVIER, G. , Discours sur les revolutions de la surface du globe, 3rd ed., 1825, p. 114/115. INTRODUCTION The present paper contains descriptions of the subfossil remains of rhi-
Plankton biodiversity around the Salento Peninsula (South East Italy): an integrated water/sediment approach

The microplankton community was studied at 9 sites (29 sampling stations) along the Salento Peninsula (SE Italy). Integrated samplings from both the water column (to collect active stages), and sediments (to collect resting stages), were carried out. More than 400 taxa were recognised in total. As for phytoplankton, 64 taxa were new records from the area. In particular, 16 of them were found only as resting stages in the sediments. A harbour, a coastal lake, and a submerged cave were investigated to understand the role of confined or sheltered environments in the accumulation of resting stages. The harbour and the lake were found to be biodiversity reservoirs, due to the abundance of resting stages in their sediments. Only few species were found both in the water column, as plankton, and in the sediments, as resting stages. Furthermore, the most abundant species in the water column were not equally dominant as resting stages in the sediments. This suggests that species other than those observed in the plankton during the present work (i.e., those found as dominant among resting stages in the sediments) dominated the plankton in the past. Furthermore, they could dominate the future plankton, with multiannual cycles, starting from sediment reservoirs. The search for resting stages in the sediment, thus, is useful to discover temporarily rare species, because species persist in the sediments as resting stages for longer periods than those spent as active stages in the plankton.
Synergistic Effect of Electrolytes and Ascorbic Acid on Performance and Physiological Response of Broiler Birds in Hot Humid Tropics

The study was aimed at determining the synergy of electrolytes (ammonium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, calcium chloride) and ascorbic acid water supplementation on performance and selected physiological response of broiler birds reared during hot period (March-April) in Ibadan, South West Nigeria. Two hundred and forty, one-day old Arbor Acre broiler chickens were randomly allotted to eight treatments: Treatment 1(control- without any supplementation), Treatment 2 (0.5% ammonium chloride), Treatment 3 (0.5% sodium bicarbonate), Treatment 4 (0.5% calcium chloride), Treatment 5 (300ppm ascorbic acid), Treatment 6 (0.5% ammonium chloride + 300ppm ascorbic acid), Treatment 7 (0.5% sodium bicarbonate + 300ppm ascorbic acid), Treatment 8 (0.5% calcium chloride + 300ppm Ascorbic acid). Each treatment was in triplicate of 10 birds each. The design of the experiment was a completely randomized design. Feed intake (FI), weight gain (WG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were similar (p>0.05) among treatments. Significant (p>0.05) variations were observed in the relative weights of lung, gizzard and intestine among treatments. Rectal temperature ranging from 41.89 to 41.98 oC and respiratory rate of 64.93 to 75.43 breath/minute across treatments were not significantly different (p>0.05). Mortality (%) was significantly higher (p < 0.05) for birds on T1 (20.0), T7 (13.3) and T2 (13.3) with the lowest value recorded for birds on T4 (3.3) while birds on treatments 3, 5, 6 and 8 each recorded 10% mortality. Combination of electrolytes and ascorbic acid did not confer any beneficial effect compared to when any of the electrolytes or ascorbic acid was used solely.
CD19-targeting CAR T Cells for Treatment of B Cell Malignancies : From Bench to Bedside

B-cell malignancies upregulate the B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) family inhibitors of the intrinsic apoptosis pathway, making them therapy resistant. However, small-molecule inhibitors of Bcl-2 family members such as ABT-737 restore a functional apoptosis pathway in cancer cells, and its oral analog ABT-263 (Navitoclax) has entered clinical trials. Gene engineered chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells also show promise in B-cell malignancy, and as they induce apoptosis via the extrinsic pathway, we hypothesized that small-molecule inhibitors of the Bcl-2 family may potentiate the efficacy of CAR T cells by engaging both apoptosis pathways. CAR T cells targeting CD19 were generated from healthy donors as well as from pre-B-ALL (precursor-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia) patients and tested together with ABT-737 to evaluate apoptosis induction in five B-cell tumor cell lines. The CAR T cells were effective even if the cell lines exhibited different apoptosis resistance profiles, as shown by analyzing the expression of apoptosis inhibitors by PCR and western blot. When combining T-cell and ABT-737 therapy simultaneously, or with ABT-737 as a presensitizer, tumor cell apoptosis was significantly increased. In conclusion, the apoptosis inducer ABT-737 enhanced the efficacy of CAR T cells and could be an interesting drug candidate to potentiate T-cell therapy.
Corporate Greening of Canadian Manufacturers: A Partial Least Square Analysis

Abstract Many manufacturing companies are increasingly investing in green supply chain management. However, surprisingly little attention has been dedicated to the consideration of whether and how stakeholder pressure affects greening of the supply chain with consequent financial performance and competitive advantage outcomes. Thus, this study establishes a research model to investigate the interaction of these constructs and to reveal the role of green production and green supply chain management in the relationships. Data were collected through a cross-industry survey from 94 manufacturing companies in Canada. The data were analyzed using the Partial Least Square based Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach to test the hypothesized model. The findings provide managers with a new insight on the effects of stakeholder pressures on the adoption of green product design/processes, the greening of the supply chain, and the managerial commitment required for manufacturers to gain increased wealth and sustainable competitiveness.
Fatty and amino acids composition of selected wild edible mushrooms of Bunyoro Sub-region, Uganda

For thousands of years, mushrooms have long been used for their health promoting properties. The aim of this study was to determine the fatty acids and amino acids contents in priority wild mushrooms: Termitomyces microcarpus, Termitomyces sp. (Bunyanaka), Termitomyces globulus, Termitomyces eurrhizus and Polyporus tenuiculus widely consumed in Bunyoro Sub-region, Uganda. The study revealed seventeen amino acids using pre-column derivatization with a phenylisothiocyanate followed by HPLC-UV-vis, and tryptophan using spectrophotometry. Fatty acids were determined by gas chromatography and detected by a flame ion detector. The essential amino acids ranged from 23.6% P. tenuiculus to 59.0% T. microcarpus of the total amino acids. Termitomyces sp. (Bunyanaka) and T. globulus were the most nutritious species based on essential amino acid indices. Generally, glutamic acid was high followed by phenylalanine, histidine, tryptophan and lysine concentrations, whereas threonine, valine, methionine, leucine, cysteine, arginine and tyrosine contents were either low or absent. T. eurrhizus and T. globulus were limited in leucine and valine, T. microcarpus in leucine and Termitomyces sp. (Bunyanaka) in isoleucine and valine. Unsaturated fatty acids predominated over saturated ones. Termitomyces sp. (Bunyanaka) and T. globulus had poor fatty acid profiles, rich in monounsaturated fatty acids (nervonic and eruic acids), had low PUFA:MUFA ratio and a PUFA+MUFA:SFA ratio greater than two. Docosahexaenoic (DHA) and a trans-fatty acid, elaidic were also identified in these mushroom species. This represents the first report on the occurrence of DHA in mushrooms. T. microcarpus had a fairly good profile, high in palmitoleic, e-linolenic, a- linolenic, palmitic and oleic acids. Stearic DHA, linoleic and eicosapentaenic acids were detected in small quantities. The odd carbon number fatty acids (heptadecanoic, heneicosanoic and cis-10-heptadecanoic) were also identified. These results serve as a basis to encourage the local communities to exploit the nutritive potentials of these mushrooms in order to reduce the burden of nutritional deficiencies. Key words : Amino acids, fatty acids, mushrooms
Desynapsis and FDR 2n-megaspore formation in diploid potato; potentials and limitations for breeding and for the induction of diplosporic apomixis.

A simple enzyme squash technique that enables detailed studies of meiosis in potato ovules has been developed. Fixation of ovules in iron-propionic-ethanol followed by enzymatic maceration and squashing in acetocarmine yielded numerous well preserved megasporocytes with nicely spread chromosomes. Resolution was sufficient, allowing detailed analysis of chromosome pairing and chiasma formation and readily permitting distinction between normal and desynaptic mutant plants. Whereas the use of previously developed ovule squash techniques has been restricted to cytogenetic analyses of plant species with relatively large megasporocytes and large chromosomes, the present technique is potentially more useful for analyses of species with small megasporocytes and small chromosomes. Information on meiotic chromosome pairing and chiasma formation in angiosperms is largely based on analyses of microsporocytes. The relative paucity of cytogenetic information on megasporocyte meiosis may be attributed to the following: (t) microsporocytes are produced in much larger quantities than megasporocytes and (ii) the technical difficulties of preparing and analyzing megasporocytes. Preparation and analysis of megasporocyte meiotic specimens by conventional embedding-sectioning techniques is laborious, and cytogenetic analyses are complicated because three-dimensional structures are often distributed over several sections, thus requiring reconstruction of the full image. Recently developed staining-clearing (Stelly et al. 1984) and clearing (Herr 1971, Jongedijk 1987) techniques facilitate preparation of intact ovules but fail to yield specimens amenable to detailed analyses of karyotype, chromosome pairing, or chiasma formation. Most ovule squash techniques developed to date basically consist of hydrochloric acid maceration and staining with Feulgen (Hillary 1940), acetocarmine (Bradley 1948, D'Cruz and Reddy 1967), acetic-lacmoid (Haque 1954) or acetic-orcein stains (Darlington and La Cour 1966). Though they have successfully been applied to study early megagametophyte development in a variety of plant species, their use for detailed observations on chromosome pairing and chiasma formation in megasporogenesis has been restricted to a limited number of plant species with« large megasporocytes and large chromosomes (Darlington and La Cour 1966, Sharma and Sharma 1972). Improved squash techniques applicable to species with small chromosomes would thus be desirable. A favorable cytological effect of enzymatic maceration was first noted by Emsweller and Stuart ( 1944), who used 1 % clarase to improve the spreading of chromosomes in microsporocyte squashes of tetraploidized Lilium longiflorum. Enzymatic maceration has since been used to enable
Population genetic structure, phylogeography, and demographic history of Platycrater arguta (Hydrangeaceae) endemic to East China and South Japan, inferred from chloroplast DNA sequence variation.

Platycrater arguta (Hydrangeaceae) is a small deciduous shrub of the Sino-Japanese floristic region, where it occurs in montane sites mostly covered with warm-temperate deciduous forest. This sole representative of its genus contains two varieties disjunctly distributed between East China (var. sinensis) and South Japan (var. arguta). To illuminate the biogeographic and demographic history of this rare species, we conducted a survey of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) sequence variation (trnD-trnE, trnH-psbA) within and among twelve populations (four from China, eight from Japan, 129 individuals in total) representing the overall distributional range of the species. Based on a total of 19 haplotypes identified, P. arguta was found to harbor surprisingly high levels of haplotype and nucleotide diversity (h T = 0.882; π T = 0.00475), possibly associated with its long evolutionary history. Spatial analysis of molecular variance found two regional phylogroups, corresponding to var. sinensis and var. arguta, and supported by genealogical (unrooted network) analysis of haplotypes. Using a coalescent-based model of 'divergence by isolation with migration', the likely vicariant origin of these varieties was dated to the mid-Pleistocene (ca. 0.89 mya). Very similar haplotype mismatch distributions indicate that var. sinensis and var. arguta underwent past demographic growth almost simultaneously (dated to ca. 0.43 and 0.45 mya, respectively), suggesting climate-induced expansion. However, var. sinensis likely experienced a mere demographic expansion in a narrowly circumscribed mountain range, while var. arguta underwent a spatial northward expansion that might have consisted of a series of bottlenecks, leading to genetically impoverished populations that most likely derived from initial population(s) in southern Kyushu. Our results endorse the recognition of two 'evolutionarily significant units' within P. arguta, corresponding to var. sinensis from East China and var. arguta from South Japan.