Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phylogeography of the narrow‐headed vole Lasiopodomys (Stenocranius) gregalis (Cricetidae, Rodentia) inferred from mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences: an echo of Pleistocene prosperity

A species-wide phylogeographic study of the narrow-headed vole Lasiopodomys (Stenocranius) gregalis was performed using the mitochondrial (mt) cytochrome b gene. We examined 164 specimens from 50 localities throughout the species distribution range. Phylogeographic pattern clearly demonstrates the division into four major mtDNA lineages with further subdivision. The level of genetic differentiation between them was found to be extremely high even for the species level: about 6–11%. The most striking result of our study is extremely high mutation rate of cytb in L. gregalis. Our estimates suggested its value of 3.1 × 10−5 that is an order of magnitude higher than previous estimates for Microtus species. The mean estimated time of basal differentiation of the narrow-headed vole is about 0.8 Mya. This time estimate is congruent with the known paleontological record. The greatest mitochondrial diversity is found in Southern Siberia where all four lineages occur; therewith, three of them are distributed exclusively in that area. The lineage that is distributed in south-eastern Transbaikalia is the earliest derivate and exhibits the highest genetic divergence from all the others (11%). It is quite probable that with further research, this lineage will turn out to represent a cryptic species. Spatial patterns of genetic variation in populations of the narrow-headed vole within the largest mt lineage indicate the normal or stepping stone model of dispersal to the north and south-west from the Altay region in Middle Pleistocene. Both paleontological data and genetic diversity estimates suggest that this species was very successful during most of the Pleistocene, and we propose that climate humidification and wide advance of tree vegetation at the Pleistocene–Holocene boundary promoted range decrease and fragmentation for this typical member of tundra-steppe faunistic complex. However, we still observe high genetic diversity within isolated fragments of the range.
Trends in Life Expectancy in Romania between 1990 and 2018. A Territorial Analysis of Its Determinants

The present study proposes a multiscale analysis of the dynamics of life expectancy at birth in Romania from 1990 to 2018, starting from the hypothesis of its dependence on the level of economic development or the quality of the public health infrastructure. Information from official sources (National Institute of Statistics (INS), Eurostat) was processed using agglomerative hierarchical clustering, principal component analysis and multiple regression. The main part of the analysis is devoted to the evolution of this indicator by gender and residence area. The conclusions of this study converge towards certifying the existence of some strong correlations between the evolution of life expectancy at birth at the territorial level and the illustrative factors of the level of economic and social development or of the quality of the environment. The persistence or amplification of territorial disparities attests to the general process of regional polarization. The results of the study confirm the hypothesis of a significant correlation between the level of economic development and that of the quality of the public health infrastructure, expressed through the dynamics of life expectancy at birth.
Converting Hylocereus undatus (white dragon fruit) peel waste into a useful potential adsorbent for the removal of toxic Congo red dye

Dragon fruits are considered as exotic fruits and have recently gained popularity due to their health benefits in having high nutritional values and good antioxidant properties. The peels, being inedible, are discarded as wastes. In this study, white dragon fruit peel (WDFP) was utilized as a potential low-cost natural adsorbent for the removal of toxic Congo red (CR) dye. This is the first report on the use of WDFP as an adsorbent. Previous reports on white dragon fruit were based on utilizing its foliage. The WDFP-CR system achieved equilibrium within 3 h. WDFP, whose point of zero charges was determined to be at pH 5.02, exhibits good overall resilience to changes in both pH medium and ionic strength. Adsorption isotherm indicated the Temkin model to be the best fit followed by the Sips model with high maximum adsorption capacity (qmax) of 76.6 mg g–1 as compared to many other reported natural adsorbents. Adsorption process using 100 mg L–1 CR dye confirmed the pseudosecond-order kinetics with rate constant k2 of 1.87 g mmol–1 min–1. The Weber and Morris model indicated that intraparticle diffusion of CR into WDFP could be the rate-determining step. WDFP can be regenerated and was found to be reusable up to 4 consecutive cycles when using acid as the desorbing solvent.
Perceived organizational support and work engagement of employees with children with disabilities

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to investigate the role of organizational support, as it is evidenced by supervisor's support and coworkers' support, in the work engagement levels of employees who are parents of children with special needs and disabilities (SND). Design/methodology/approachThe authors employed a self-administered survey questionnaire in Singapore and collected 224 useable responses. They used moderated hierarchical regression analysis to assess the relationships among organizational support, employees' child disability severity and levels of work engagement.FindingsThe research results indicated that higher levels of supervisor's and coworkers' support have a positive impact on work engagement levels of employees with children with SND. In addition, the authors observed that supervisor's support and coworkers' support moderate the relationship between employee’s child's disability severity and work engagement levels.Research limitations/implicationsThe results contribute to the introduction of a discussion about supportive practices directed toward this diverse group of employees in Singapore. The research findings are country-specific.Practical implicationsThe authors propose that human resource management practitioners could craft policies that may trigger tangible and emotional support by supervisors and coworkers of employees with children with disabilities, depending on employees’ children's disability severity.Originality/valueThis research is the first empirical examination that measures the work engagement levels of employed parents of children with SND in Singapore, considering both organizational and family dimensions.
Growth patterns, diet composition and reproduction in the ten pounder, Elops lacerta from Ologe lagoon, Lagos, Nigeria.

Ten pounder, Elops lacerta, a member of the family Elopidae is a tropical and subtropical fish species. Growth patterns, food and feeding habits and reproduction of 317 specimens of E. lacerta were investigated in Ologe lagoon, Lagos, Nigeria. Diurnal and nocturnal fishing activities were carried out in the lagoon using cast and gill nets. The specimens examined ranged from 90375mm total length (TL) and weighed 4.7214g body weight (BW) respectively. Of the specimens 49.5% were juveniles, 36.3% fingerlings and 14.2% adults. Specimens were classified as unsex, males and females their growth exponential “b” values were allometric and 2.40, 2.27 and 2.27 respectively meaning the fish become lighter for its length as it grows. These values accounted for the robustness of the fish in Ologe. High correlation coefficient was observed in E. lacerta with r=0.76, 0.97, and 0.88 for unsex, male and female specimens respectively. 158 males and 64 females were caught giving 1male:0.41female sex ratio. This was significantly different (P>0.05) from the expected 1male:1female. Diet of the fish consisted of shrimps, plant materials and unidentified food mass. Presence of fish and shrimps in stomachs of the fish indicated its piscivorous and predatory tendency while plant materials connoted its herbivorous habit.
Location Extraction and Prediction Method Based on Floating Car Spatial-Temporal Trajectory

Predicting the next important location by mining the user’s historical spatial-temporal trajectory can be done for behavioral analysis and path planning. Since extracting the important location precisely is the premise of next location prediction, an enhanced location extraction algorithm is proposed to meet the requirements of dynamic trajectory via dynamic parameter estimation. To realize the estimation of parameters dynamically, the differences of floating car velocity in terms of spatial distribution and behavior in time distribution are considered in the location extraction algorithm. Then, an improved recurrent neural network (RNN) model is designed to mine the variation law of floating car trajectories to improve the accuracy of important location prediction under different conditions. Different from the traditional prediction model considering only the constraint of distance, the attention mechanism and semantic information are considered simultaneously by the proposed prediction model. Finally, the floating car trajectory of Beijing is selected for our experiments, and the results show that the proposed location extraction algorithm can meet the requirements of a dynamic environment and our model achieves high prediction accuracy.
Arm-site binding by λ-integrase: Solution structure and functional characterization of its amino-terminal domain

The integrase protein (Int) from bacteriophage λ catalyzes the insertion and excision of the viral genome into and out of Escherichia coli. It is a member of the λ-Int family of site-specific recombinases that catalyze a diverse array of DNA rearrangements in archaebacteria, eubacteria, and yeast and belongs to the subset of this family that possesses two autonomous DNA-binding domains. The heterobivalent properties of Int can be decomposed into a carboxyl-terminal domain that executes the DNA cleavage and ligation reactions and a smaller amino-terminal domain that binds to an array of conserved DNA sites within the phage arms, thereby arranging Int protomers within the higher-order recombinogenic complex. We have determined that residues Met-1 to Leu-64 of Int constitute the minimal arm-type DNA-binding domain (INT-DBD1–64) and solved the solution structure by using NMR. We show that the INT-DBD1–64 is a novel member of the growing family of three-stranded β-sheet DNA-binding proteins, because it supplements this motif with a disordered amino-terminal basic tail that is important for arm-site binding. A model of the arm-DNA-binding domain recognizing its cognate DNA site is proposed on the basis of similarities with the analogous domain of Tn916 Int and is discussed in relation to other features of the protein.
Sterilisation technology for disposable diapers waste using double jacket and centrifugal speed principles

Globally, disposable baby diapers demand continues to grow alongside with an increase in the birth rate and child (aged 0-3) population. On average, diapers consumption is around 6-8 pieces per baby, giving approximately 6,300 diapers for the next 2.5 years. Furthermore, each diaper contains 35% of organic and 65% of inorganic materials. The presences of inorganic materials pose a detrimental effect on environment as it needs around 500-800 year to breakdown or degrade. This study was aimed to enhance the valorisation of disposable baby diapers waste by implementing sterilisation technology. The technology was based on a double jacket and centrifugal speed principles, enabling to effectively and safely sterilise the diapers waste. The comparison with the conventional technology was carried out based on the following parameters: total number of E. coli, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), turbidity, pH, temperature, and operational cost analysis. The results indicated that the proposed sterilisation technology has superior performance than conventional sterilisation technology. The findings also confirmed that the sterilised diapers waste can be further reused for making other valuable products, such as eco-friendly handy craft or souvenirs. Economically, the implementation of the proposed technology can support the creation of green creative industries, particularly in Indonesia.
How to Account for the Human Motion to Improve Flood Risk Assessment in Urban Areas

Floods are critical disasters affecting urban areas and their users. Interactions with floodwater spreading and built environment features influence the users’ reaction to the emergency, especially during immediate disaster phases (i.e., evacuation). Recent studies tried to define simulation models to evaluate such exposure-related criticalities, assess individuals’ flood risk, and propose risk-mitigation strategies aimed at supporting the community’s proper response. Although they generally include safety issues (e.g., human body stability), such tools usually adopt a simplified approach to individuals’ motion representation in floodwaters, i.e., using input from non-specialized databases and models. This study provides general modelling approaches to estimate evacuation speed variations depending on individual’s excitement (walking, running), floodwaters depths and individuals’ features (age, gender, height, average speed on dry surfaces). The proposed models prefer a normalized evacuation speeds approach in respect of minimum motion constraint conditions to extend their applicability depending on the individuals’ characteristics. Speed data from previous experiments are organized using linear regression models. Results confirm how individuals’ speed reduces when depth and age increase. The most significant models are discussed to be implemented in evacuation simulation models to describe the evacuees’ motion in floodwaters with different confidence degree levels and then assess the community’s flood risk and risk-reduction strategies effectiveness.
Deep Matting for Cloud Detection in Remote Sensing Images

Cloud detection, as an important preprocessing operation for remote sensing (RS) image analysis, has received increasing attention in recent years. Most of the previous cloud detection methods consider the detection as a pixel-wise image classification problem (cloud versus background), which inevitably leads to a category-ambiguity when dealing with the detection of thin clouds. In this article, starting from the RS imaging mechanism on cloud images, we re-examine the cloud detection under a totally different point of view, i.e., to formulate cloud detection as a mixed energy separation between foreground and background images. This process can be further equivalently implemented under a deep learning-based image matting framework with a clear physical significance. More importantly, the proposed method is capable to deal with three different but related tasks, i.e., “cloud detection,” “cloud removal,” and “cloud cover assessment,” under a unified framework. The experimental results on the three satellite image data sets demonstrate the effectiveness of our method, especially for those hard but common examples in RS images, such as the thin and wispy cloud.
Characteristics and abundance of vertebrate-dispersed fruits in temperate wet sclerophyll forest in southeastern Australia

The diversity, abundance and display characteristics of plants producing fleshy fruits were recorded in wet sclerophyll forest near Melbourne, Victoria. Fruit characteristics and nutrient content were recorded for 14 species of fruits occurring in the forest and these characteristics compared with similar studies in north temperate and tropical regions. Plants producing fleshy fruits were confined to understorey layers and comprised 13.5% of the native vascular flora. Most species displayed fruits conspicuously by ripening brightly coloured fruits synchronously in large displays. Annual fruit production at three sites ranged from 6.98 to 37.01 kg/ha. Fruit mass, seed number and size were variable but the proportion of pulp per fruit remained remarkably consistent between species. Most fruit pulp contained high quantities of soluble carbohydrates and little lipid or protein. Fruits from wet sclerophyll forest did not differ from fruits from other geographic areas in eight characteristics measured. Although taxonomically distinct, the species in wet sclerophyll forest were not significantly different from other temperate fruits, suggesting that fruit characteristics are under the influence of factors other than phylogeny.
Aphid populations (Hemiptera: Aphidoidea) depend of mulching in watermelon production in the Mediterranean region of Croatia

Winged morphs of aphids were investigated under field conditions during 2008, 2010 and 2011 in the Mediterranean region of Croatia. Field experiments were conducted to record aphid diversity and compare polyethylene black mulch to straw mulch and bare soil in terms of their attractiveness to aphid species in a watermelon crop. Aphids were collected weekly using yellow water metal traps from May to July. During the study, 44 species in 31 genera were detected; 36 species in 24 genera were identified in 2008, 18 species in 15 genera were identified in 2010, and 34 species in 25 genera were identified in 2011. The overall seasonal percentage composition showed that Aphis fabae Scopoli and Myzus persicae (Sulzer) were consistently eudominant species, whereas Acyrtosiphon pisum (Harris) was consistently dominant. Cabbage aphid Brevicoryne brassicae (L.) was determined as the dominant species in 2008 and as eudominant species in 2011. Additionally, Macrosiphum rosae (L.) was twice recorded as the dominant species, whereas Aphis gossipii Glover was dominant once, and Phorodon humuli (Schrank) was eudominant once. Our study also demonstrated that mulching sporadically affected the abundance of individual species. The attractiveness of mulching for aphid species differed between the treatments. It was found that bare soil was attractive to A. pisum and M. rosae, black mulch was attractive to B. helichrysi and P. humuli, and straw mulch was attractive to four aphid species, of which two were eudominant, A. fabae and M. persicae. The presented species are mostly polyphagous, and their preference for certain mulches can be used in crop protection management.
Role of Gαq and phospholipase C‐β2 in human platelets activation by thrombin receptors PAR1 and PAR4: studies in human platelets deficient in Gαq and phospholipase C‐β2

Summary. Thrombin responses in human platelets are mediated by the protease‐activated receptors (PAR), PAR1 and PAR4. The signalling pathways mediating PAR activation have not been fully delineated for human platelets. We assessed cytoplasmic Ca2+ mobilization in response to activation with thrombin and PAR1 (SFLLRN) and PAR4 (GYPGKF) peptides in two patients whose platelets were deficient in two major signalling proteins, Gαq or phospholipase (PLC)‐β2. In normal platelets, thrombin induced a biphasic Ca2+ response with a rapid rise to a peak followed by a sustained elevation in Ca2+. The peak Ca2+ rise was impaired in both patients at lower thrombin concentrations. At higher concentrations, it was decreased in PLC‐β2‐deficient platelets; the sustained Ca2+ elevation observed in normal and Gαq‐deficient platelets was reduced in PLC‐β2‐deficient platelets. The response to SFLLRN was decreased in both patients at lower concentrations. The peak Ca2+ in response to GYPGKF was reduced in both patients; the sustained Ca2+ increase was markedly decreased in PLC‐β2‐deficient platelets. These studies provide evidence that, in human platelets, both Gαq and PLC‐β2 play a major role in responses to PAR1 and PAR4 activation, and that PLC‐β2 is required for the sustained Ca2+ rise upon thrombin activation.
Do the Elderly Need Wider Parking Spaces? Evidence from Experimental and Questionnaire Surveys

An excellent parking system can affect the willingness of the elderly to drive an automobile for travel and for participating in social activities. However, few studies have examined the requirement of width of current parking spaces for the elderly and which factors influenced the selection of wider or narrower parking space by older participants. Two studies have been carried out in order to fill gaps for these issues. The first one examined minimum width by having 130 individuals aged 60+ alight into parking spaces of different widths. The results showed that most older individuals needed wider-than-standard parking spaces. Some potential demographic factors were also examined by one-way analyses of variance. The second study was conducted to estimate the factors affecting selection of parking spaces that were wider or narrower than the standard. Based on analysis of data by a logistic regression model, the result presented that the selection was mainly affected by age, types of aids, driving experience, body mass index (BMI) and health condition. Finally, we propose a new concept of parking system, which will help older people with different needs to park safely and smoothly. These studies will promote the ability of governments to design more effective parking spaces to enhance freedom for older adults.
Photophysiological variability of microphytobenthic diatoms after growth in different types of culture conditions

R.M. Forster and V. Martin-Jézéquel. 2005. Photophysiological variability of microphytobenthic diatoms after growth in different types of culture conditions. Phycologia 44: 393–402. Microphytobenthic diatoms have great ecological importance in estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems, yet many aspects of their physiology have not been investigated under controlled conditions. This work describes patterns in growth rates and photosynthesis in different types of culture for several species of benthic diatom. Cells were grown as epipelic biofilms both in batch culture vessels and in a continuous culture system, and differences in growth and photosynthetic physiology were measured using optical techniques. Consistent differences were observed in the maximum photochemical efficiency of PS II, Fv/Fm between species of diatoms, with highest values recorded early in the development of a culture. The maximum biomass produced also varied greatly between species, with the densest biofilms being formed by Amphora coffeaeformis. Batch cultures of benthic diatoms showed only small changes in Fv/Fm, but large decreases in the maximum rate of photosynthetic electron transport during the first week of culture development because conditions within the biofilm became unfavourable. A flow-through culture chamber was developed in order to increase the supply of nutrients to the biofilm and prevent the build-up of oxygen. In this system, high growth rates and a high maximum rate of photosynthesis was observed for periods of up to 1 wk. The flow chamber system could therefore be used for producing suitable material for comparative photophysiological experiments.