Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does avian species richness in natural patch mosaics follow the forest fragmentation paradigm?

As one approaches the north‐eastern limit of pinyon (Pinus spp.) juniper (Juniperus spp.) vegetation on the Colorado Plateau, USA, woodland patches become increasingly disjunct, grading into sagebrush (Artemisia spp.)‐dominated landscapes. Patterns of avian species richness in naturally heterogeneous forests may or may not respond to patch discontinuity in the same manner as bird assemblages in fragmented agricultural systems. We used observational data from naturally patchy woodlands and predictions derived from studies of human‐modified agricultural forests to estimate the effects of patch area, shape, isolation and distance to contiguous woodland on avian species richness. We predicted that patterns of species richness in naturally patchy juniper woodlands would differ from those observed in fragmented agricultural systems. Our objectives were to (1) estimate the effect of naturally occurring patch structure on avian species richness with respect to habitat affinity and migratory strategy and (2) assess the concordance of the effects to predictions from agricultural forest systems. We used the analogy between populations and communities to estimate species richness, where species are treated as individuals in the application of traditional capture–recapture theory. Information‐theoretic model selection showed that overall species richness was explained primarily by the species area relationship. There was some support for a model with greater complexity than the equilibrium theory of island biogeography where the isolation of large patches resulted in greater species richness. Species richness of woodland‐dwelling birds was best explained by the equilibrium hypothesis with partial landscape complementation by open‐country species in isolated patches. Species richness within specific migratory strategies showed concomitant increases and no shifts in species composition along the patch area gradient. Our results indicate that many patterns of species richness considered to be fragmentation effects may be general consequences of patch discontinuity and are ubiquitous in naturally heterogeneous systems. There was no evidence for the effects of patch shape and distance to contiguous woodland in juniper woodland, suggesting edge effects and dependence upon regional species pools are characteristics of fragmented agricultural systems. Natural patch mosaics may provide benchmarks for evaluating fragmentation effects and managing forests by mimicking natural landscape patterns.
A 175.2-mW 4-Stage OTA With Wide Load Range (400 pF–12 nF) Using Active Parallel Compensation

Multistage amplifiers are a reliable method of achieving high gain in systems where the voltage supply is low. The common practice is to prefer 3-stage amplifiers over 4-stage ones when a gain of < 120 dB is required, since the former are easier to compensate. In this article, we employ four stages to relax the constraints on each stage. An extension of the single-Miller-capacitor compensation and active-parallel compensation to a 4-stage operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) design in this work is capable of driving a capacitor range of 400 pF to 12 nF( $30\times $ ) by consuming a total power of about 175 mW and occupying only 0.007 mm2. This design achieved a unity-gain frequency (UGF) > 1.18 MGz and a phase margin (PM) of > 48° for all drivable load values. The proposed design, implemented in a standard CMOS 130-nm process, can drive a wide range of load capacitors without sacrificing any aspect of performance.
Association between ratio of γ-glutamyl transpeptidase to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and metabolic syndrome: a cross-sectional study

Background Metabolic risk factors including obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome (MS), and diabetes are associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). γ-Glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) are associated with insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, oxidative stress, and obesity. We investigated the associations between GGT/HDL-C ratio and prevalence of NAFLD in a Chinese population. Methods The study included 1,813 NAFLD (526 females, 1,287 males) and 4,513 non-NAFLD (3,077 females, 1,436 males) participants. The diagnosis of NAFLD was based on ultrasonography. Results Participants with NAFLD had higher GGT/HDL-C ratio, BMI, WC, TG, TC, and HOMA-IR, but lower HDL-C than participants without NAFLD. GGT/HDL-C ratio was significantly associated with prevalence of NAFLD. Specifically, for each 1 unit increase in GGT/HDL-C ratio, the prevalence of NAFLD will increase by 0.3%. As GGT/HDL-C ratio quartiles increased, prevalence of NAFLD/MS in Q4 (highest GGT/HDL-C ratio quartile) was 6.362/3.968 times higher than that in Q1 (lowest GGT/HDL-C ratio quartile). The AUC [0.799 (0.788–0.810)] for GGT/HDL-C ratio was significantly higher than those for GGT and HDL-C alone. Conclusions The present results suggest that GGT/HDL-C ratio can be used as a predictive factor for prevalence of NAFLD after adjustment for confounding variables.
Effects of Herbal Vitamin D3 and Phytase Supplementation to Broiler Feed on Performance, Bone Development and Serum Parameters of Broilers

A trial was conducted to assess the effects of phytase supplementation and substitute Vitamin D3 resource with Panbonis - a herbal vitamin D3 source- (PAN) on performance, some carcass characteristics, tibia and serum parameters of broiler chickens. For this purpose, 11200 one-day-old, mixed sex (5600 male, 5600 female) Ross-308 chicks were administered 7 different diets based on corn, soybean and wheat throughout the 41-day trial. Dietary treatments; control group as T1 (5000 IU vitamin D3), T2 (T1 + 500 FTU g-1 phytase), T3 (3000 IU vitamin D3 + 500 FTU g-1 phytase + 100 mg kg-1 PAN) and T4 (3000 IU vitamin D3 + 500 FTU g-1 phytase + 200 mg kg-1PAN) were prepared to contain recommended levels of Ca-P however T5, T6 and T7 were formulated from T2, T3 and T4, respectively, by reducing 18% of Ca and P concentrations. When overall results considered, there was no significant difference among treatments in terms of final live weight, mortality, weight gain, European Production Efficiency Factor (EPEF) and carcass parameters and mortality (P>0.05). While birds consuming diets containing phytase exhibited better FCR than control group without phytase (P<0.05), no additional improvement was obtained with PAN supplementation compared to other treatments without control group. Additionally partial replacement of PAN for synthetic form had no significant effect on tibia parameters and serum Ca, P levels even though serum Mg (in chicks fed sufficient Ca-P) and calcitriol were increased. These results indicate that PAN could replace some part of synthetic vitamin D3 without any adverse effect in broiler chickens. However, substitution rate of PAN in Ca and P deficient diets should be carefully studied more due to possible adverse effects on feed intake (12-41d) and weight gain (12-41d) as observed in the present study.
Rates of Milk Flow and Milking Times Resulting from Selection for Milk Yield

Abstract Responses to selection for milk yield for rates of milk flow and times for milking were studied using data from an experimental herd of Holsteins. In 1964, foundation cows were paired by sire and randomly split into two genetic groups, selection and control. Four highest bulls for Predicted Difference milk were mates for selection cows each year and replaced annually. Twenty bulls near breed average for milk in 1964 were mated continuously to control cows. Beginning in 1972, milk yield at 15-s intervals was recorded by using a stopwatch and milk meter. Lactations for 130 selection and 162 control cows were observed over 10 yr. Selection cows did not differ from controls during first lactation for rate of milk flow but took longer to milk until stripping. When adjustment was made for milk yield at the observed milking, pedigree groups did not differ for milking time until stripping. Data from all cows suggested that rates of milk flow were also greater for selection cows. First parity heritabilities were . 46 (peak rate), and . 68 (milking time until stripping). Genetic and phenotypic correlations of milk yield with rates of flow and milking times were positive.
Evaluation of the Non-Linear Effects of the Public Debt on the Economic Growth of the WAEMU

The aim of this article is to analyse the nature of the relationship between public debt and economic growth in the WAEMU. A standard growth model was specified and then estimated in quadratic form from the GMM (GMM). The results show a non-linear relationship between public debt and economic growth. Thus, public debt stimulates economic growth when it does not exceed the threshold of 15% of GDP. Robustness tests show that public debt is boosting the economic conditions of countries with sound macroeconomic policies and good institutional quality.
Rating changes and the impact on stock prices

Purpose – The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of changes in credit ratings on the long-term return of Brazilian firms. Design/methodology/approach – We conducted an event study to measure how stock prices in the Brazilian stock exchange (B3) react to rating upgrades and downgrades by Moody's and S&P. Findings – Our sample presents positive and significant returns measured by the BHAR for ratings downgrades and non-significant ones for upgrades. Our data also show the important role of the previous rating in explaining these results in a non-linear fashion. Originality/value – Our research makes an important contribution to the theory of market efficiency, analyzing the degree of information present in the announcements of credit ratings changes. We also present results for Brazilian companies, correcting gaps pointed out in previous methodologies.
The Effects of Sulphur Application on Yield, Sulphur Content and N/S-Ratio of Grasses for Silage at Six Sites in Finland

Abstract The effects of sulphur (S) fertilization on forage production, sulphur content and N/S ratio of perennial timothy-meadow-grass (Phleum pratens L.- Festuca pratensis Hudson) and cocksfoot-dominant (Dactylis glomerata L.) swards cropped for one to three years were measured under a silage-cutting regime at six sites in Finland. Soil sulphur status ranged from poor/adequate (fine sand) to good (organic soils). Plant growth responses to supplementary sulphur were small, inconsistent and statistically insignificant. The supplementary S-fertilization increased the sulphur content of forage and decreased N/S-ratios at all sites. However, even in low-S fertilized plots the average sulphur content was very seldomly less than 0.2% on a dry matter (DM) basis, which has been assumed to be an adequate concentration in several foreign studies. High N/S ratios (> 14) were rare. The sulphur content of DM depended more significantly on growth stage and grass species than on supplementary sulphur. According to the .
Factors constraining fruit set in Mandevilla pentlandiana (Apocynaceae)

The reproductive success ofMandevilla pentlandianawas studied to disclose its reproductive strategy, and to determine the links between nectar production, breeding system, fruit set and inflorescence size. The plant produces many inflorescences with a large number of flowers but initiates few fruits (9%). This vine is self-compatible but not autogamous. Given that no significant differences could be detected considering many traits (ripe and abortive fruit sets, fruit quality, and seedling survival) between the pollination treatments (self-, cross- and natural-), the low natural fruit set was not related to pollen limitation. Fruits were not distributed at random within inflorescences (earlier fruits had the highest probability of maturation) but there were no significant differences in fruit quality according to different fruit positions. Conversely, the time of fruit initiation influenced most of the fruit-traits. Many developing fruits were aborted (20%). An increase in the probability of abortion was detected when the whole inflorescence was hand pollinated. In addition, a positive correlation was detected between the abortions and the number of ripe fruits which developed before them. Looking at our data from an evolutionary perspective, we argue that a theoretical inflorescence size, corresponding to the intersection point between the mean values of fruit number and fruit set per inflorescence, can be assumed to indicate the optimum inflorescence size that maximizes equally both female and male functions. Comparison between the theoretical and the observed mean inflorescence size suggests, that forM. pentlandiana, pollen donation may be the primary evolutionary factor behind excess flowers.
Pollinator visits to floral colour phases of Fuchsia excorticata

Abstract Fuchsia excorticata is a gynodioecious tree (endemic to New Zealand) which is pollinated by honeyeater birds. Red, tubular flowers are common among bird-pollinated plants, and the tubular flowers of F. excorticata change colour from green to red. The purpose of the present study was to describe the timing of the colour change, dropping of the floral tube, and nectar production of F. excorticata and to determine how bellbirds (Anthornis melanura) and two introduced species of nectar robbers (Zosterops lateralis and Bombus sp.) respond to the different colour phases. Floral tubes fell off about 11 days after anthesis in both sexes, with colour change occurring on about Day-4 for female trees and on about Day-5 for hermaphrodite trees. Green-phase hermaphrodite flowers produced significantly more nectar/day than did green-phase female flowers, while red-phase flowers did not produce nectar in either sex. All three floral visitors studied preferentially visited green-phase flowers and virtually ignor.
Ulinastatin attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced cardiac dysfunction by inhibiting inflammation and regulating autophagy

Ulinastatin exerts protective effects against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cardiac dysfunction. Autophagy has been demonstrated to serve an important role in sepsis-induced cardiomyopathy; however, whether ulinastatin has an anti-autophagic effect in sepsis requires further investigation. The present study aimed to determine the protective effects of ulinastatin on cardiac dysfunction and its role in autophagy during sepsis. C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into a control, LPS and LPS + ulinastatin group, the survival status of the mice was observed every 6 h and the survival rate at each time point was calculated for 7 days. Furthermore, JC-1 dye and ELISAs were used to analyze the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and serum cardiac troponin I (cTnI) levels, respectively. Western blotting and ELISAs were used to measure the levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6. In addition, the cardiac ultrastructure and the number of autophagosomes formed were visualized using transmission electron microscopy, and the pathological changes in the myocardial tissues were analyzed using hematoxylin & eosin staining. Finally, the expression levels of autophagy-related proteins were analyzed using western blotting and immunofluorescence staining. The current study indicated that ulinastatin significantly improved the survival rate of septic mice. It was suggested that ulinastatin may protect against LPS-induced myocardium injury through its anti-inflammatory activity, as decreased cTnI levels, increased MMP and decreased expression levels of TNF-α and IL-6 were all observed following ulinastatin treatment. Furthermore, the number of autophagosomes formed, and the expression levels of microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 and Beclin 1 were significantly decreased following ulinastatin treatment. It was further observed that ulinastatin suppressed LPS-induced autophagosome formation, as indicated by the accumulation of sequestosome 1/p62, and the elimination of lysosome-associated membrane glycoprotein 1. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggested that ulinastatin treatment may improve survival and exert a protective effect over LPS-induced cardiac dysfunction. Furthermore, this protective effect may be associated with its anti-inflammatory and anti-autophagic activity.
Long‐Term Population Changes of Native and Introduced Birds in the Alaka‘i Swamp, Kaua‘i

Abstract: Within the last 30 years, five endemic bird species of the Alaka‘i Swamp, Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i, have likely gone extinct. We documented population trends of the remaining avifauna in this time period to identify a common pattern in the Hawaiian Islands: decline of native species and expansion of introduced species. We conducted bird surveys over 100 km2 of the Alaka‘i and Kōke‘e regions of Kaua‘i in March–April 2000 to estimate population size, distribution, and range limits of seven native and six introduced forest birds. We compared the results with four previous surveys conducted over the last 30 years. Five of the seven native species we studied have fared well, maintaining sizeable populations (>20,000 individuals) and unchanged or increasing numbers. The endemic ‘Akikiki (Oreomystis bairdi), however, declined from 6296 (SE ± 1374) to 1472 (SE ± 680) individuals and exhibited range contraction from 88 to 36 km2. The ‘I‘iwi (Vestiaria coccinea) also experienced a decline and contraction, though not as severe. Populations of several introduced forest birds are increasing, but all species, excluding the Japanese White‐eye (Zosterops japonicus), were at low numbers (<5,500 individuals in survey area). One introduced species, the Japanese Bush‐Warbler (Cettia diphone) recently invaded, whereas another, the Red‐billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea), has been extirpated. Two hurricanes in the past 20 years appear to have most strongly affected nectarivores and may have contributed to the decline or extinction of several other species. Overall, native bird populations on Kaua‘i have exhibited species‐specific responses to limiting factors. Although most native populations appear stable, the extant native avifauna is vulnerable as a result of limited distributions and the potential for widespread habitat degradation.
Calibrating the Rigged Lottery: Making All Tickets Reliable

Although sparse training has been successfully used in various resource-limited deep learning tasks to save memory, accelerate training, and reduce inference time, the reliability of the produced sparse models remains unexplored. Previous research has shown that deep neural networks tend to be over-confident, and we find that sparse training exacerbates this problem. Therefore, calibrating the sparse models is crucial for reliable prediction and decision-making. In this paper, we propose a new sparse training method to produce sparse models with improved confidence calibration. In contrast to previous research that uses only one mask to control the sparse topology, our method utilizes two masks, including a deterministic mask and a random mask. The former efficiently searches and activates important weights by exploiting the magnitude of weights and gradients. While the latter brings better exploration and finds more appropriate weight values by random updates. Theoretically, we prove our method can be viewed as a hierarchical variational approximation of a probabilistic deep Gaussian process. Extensive experiments on multiple datasets, model architectures, and sparsities show that our method reduces ECE values by up to 47.8\% and simultaneously maintains or even improves accuracy with only a slight increase in computation and storage burden.
Ability of the United States Air Force Family Needs Screener to Predict Child Maltreatment: A Prospective Study

Abstract In the current study, we examined the extent to which the United States Air Force Family Needs Screener (FNS)—a scale that purportedly measures risk for child maltreatment–predicted future child maltreatment in a group of 87,982 mothers. Mothers’ FNS total scores predicted future child maltreatment overall (i.e., any type of maltreatment) and for individual types of child maltreatment (i.e., child physical abuse, child emotional abuse, and child neglect). Further, results did not vary across Air Force installations. Beyond the standard dichotomous FNS classifications (Low-Needs and Low-Needs), the finding that as individual FNS total scores increased so did the likelihood of future child maltreatment suggests that mothers with the highest FNS scores—even among those deemed high needs—may warrant special attention.
Spatial dynamics of soil moisture and temperature in a black spruce boreal chronosequence

This study analyzed the spatial dependencies of soil moisture and temperature in a six-stand chronosequence of boreal black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) stands. Spatial variability of soil temperature (TSOIL) was evaluated twice during the growing season using four transects in each stand, employing a cyclic sampling design with measurements spaced 2–92 m apart. Soil moisture (θg) was measured on one occasion. A spherical model was used to analyze the geostatistical correlation structure; θg and TSOIL at the 7- and 21-year-old stands did not exhibit stable ranges or sills. The fits with stable ranges and sills modeled the spatial patterns in the older stands reasonably well, although unexplained variability was high. Calculated ranges varied from 3 to 150 m for these stands, lengths probably related to structural characteristics influential in local-scale energy transfer. Transect-to-transect variability was significant and typically 5%–15% of the mean for TSOIL and 10%–70% for θg. TSOIL and θg were.
Início da produção de frutos de cagaiteira (Eugenia dysenterica DC) implantada em Goiânia, Goiás

The cagaita tree is a native plant of the Cerrado and adapted to the conditions of this biome, having as main characteristics the ability of growing and surviving in nutrient-poor soils and under a rainfall pattern with a pronounced low precipitation period. This is a rustic, ornamental, and highly fire-resistant plant. Its fruits are edible raw and used in many different types of processed foods. However, little is known about how long this species takes to enter the reproductive phase. This study is intended to assess the initial fruiting of cagaita plants cultivated in the experimental area of the School of Agronomy of the Federal University of Goias, Goiânia, Brazil, between 2003 and 2008, when the cagaita plants were five to ten years old. For the experiment, fruits were collected from ten areas of the Southeast region of the State of Goias and planted in a randomized block design with one plant per plot in four blocks, at 6 m x 6 m spacing. The cagaita plants showed a great lack of uniformity to begin to fruit. In the fifth year after planted out, only 5.2% of the plants began to fruit and after ten years, this number increased to 55.7%. Among these plants, only 6.8% fruited during at least four years of observation. Only four plants entered the fruiting phase and remained so during the six years of observation. The number of fruits per plant is very low; only 3.4% of the plants produced more than 200 fruits in the tenth year. The study showed that the number of fruits tends to increase as the plant gets older.