Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interparticle coulombic decay in coupled quantum dots: Enhanced energy transfer via bridge assisted mechanisms

Interparticle Coulombic Decay (ICD) is an eﬃcient energy transfer process between two weakly interacting systems. ICD was recently proposed as the underlying fundamental mechanism for technological purposes based on quantum dot nanostructures, such as wavelength-sensitive detectors. Via ICD, an excited donor quantum dot releases its excess energy by ionizing a neighbouring acceptor dot. Here, we demonstrate that the presence of a third (ICD inactive) quantum dot can serve as a bridge between the two dots, which is shown to result in an enhancement of the eﬃciency of the ICD-mediated energy transfer. Furthermore, our results show that this enhancement is found to be robust against the change of the characteristics of the bridge quantum dot and particularly the depth and size. On the other hand, its relative position with respect to the donor and acceptor dots is found to foster the ICD when it is located in between the two dots. Our ﬁndings provide new insights for the development of ICD-based nanostructure technologies and particularly for rational design of three coupled quantum dots. transfer mediated by the Interparticle Coulombic Decay (ICD) process between two quantum dots can be substantially enhanced in the presence of a third bridge dot. The eﬃciency of the process can thus be improved by more than a factor of 2. Furthermore, we have investigated the mechanisms leading to such increase and how the latter depends on the characteristics (depth, size and relative position) of the bridge species. It was found that the eﬃciency of the ICD is robust against the change of the depth and size of the inserting bridge dot. On the other hand, this eﬃciency was shown to be sensitive to the relative position of the bridge dot with respect to the donor and acceptor quantum dots. Our ﬁndings, therefore, oﬀer alternative routes to manipulate the ICD and ultimately design three coupled quantum dots. This work provides new insights into the energy transfer processes in nanostructures and should be useful for the development of quantum dot based technologies.
Homogenisation of birdsong along a natural–urban gradient in Argentina

One of the clearest examples of animal adaptation to urban habitats is the variation in their vocalisations driven by anthropogenic noise. A behavioural process that has received less attention in urban habitats is how anthropogenic barriers influence animal spacing behaviour and communication. I addressed the effects of the distribution of bird territories in urban habitats and the pattern of song differentiation over distance among neighbouring birds. I studied natural and suburban populations of the white-crowned sparrow Zonotrichia capensis in Argentina. This songbird dwells in gardens, but is here less abundant and more regularly spaced than in open woodlands. Neighbouring birds in garden suburbs sang songs that were more similar to each other than neighbouring birds in natural habitats. Song differentiation was greater within natural habitats than within suburbs at distance < 400 m. At larger distances differences among habitats were no longer significant. Neighbour songs were more homogeneous where territories were more regularly spaced, considering all habitats or urban ones only. Selection for individual recognition of neighbours through songs and greater male–male interactions could have enhanced acoustic differentiation in natural habitats. Conversely, weak territorial interactions in suburbs with abundant landmarks may have constrained song output, resulting in song homogenisation. This study points to differences in variability that may be more difficult to detect than differences in acoustic properties per se, and suggests that the effects of urbanisation on animal communication can be underestimated if inter-individual variation is not properly addressed.
Persistence despite omnivory : benthic communities and the discrepancy between theory and observation

Omnivory is omnipresent in natural communities. However, most theoretical models predict that omnivory should be rare, especially at high basal productivity. To address this incongruity, we consider as an example benthic food webs with omnivory. We present a mathematical analysis of simple benthic food webs in which a number of mechanisms promote persistence of omnivory. As a model system, we focus on the interaction between detritus, bacteria and deposit feeders that feed on both bacteria and detritus. Biomass patterns change with increasing basal productivity, triggering mechanisms that weaken the interactions between components of omnivorous interactions. Consequently, these mechanisms extend the range of organic input rates at which omnivorous interactions persist, and prevent exclusion, promoting omnivorous interactions in productive environments. These mechanisms give potential explanations for the high incidence of omnivory in benthic communities and shed insight on the persistence of omnivory in other communities.
Replication of the existence of three sensitivity groups in a sample of German adolescents

ABSTRACT Various theories suggest that human beings differ regarding their susceptibility to environmental stimuli, some of these theories have their origin in the field of developmental psychology. From an evolutionary perspective, it has been assumed that this susceptibility trait follows a normal distribution in the population, with a minority being particularly sensitive to environmental stimuli. However, empirical evidence on identifiable groups of differently sensitive adolescents is still scarce, and there is a lack of cultural comparison. Based on this reserach gap, the goal of the present study was to replicate existing studies investigating sensitivity groups in a sample of adolescents attending schools in Germany. A sample of 749 adolescents (45% female; Mage = 15.29, SDage = 1.45), coming from all three typical types of schools in Germany, participated in the study by completing a shortened and translated 10-item version of the original Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) scale. Results supported the existence of three sensitivity groups that differed significantly from each other on their respective mean HSP scores. At the same time, however, findings revealed evidence for a deviation from existing findings, as the low sensitive group was smaller, and the medium and high sensitivity groups were larger. Measurements and cultural aspects are discussed.
Tracking Fluctuations in Psychological States using Social Media Language: A Case Study of Weekly Emotion

Personality psychologists are increasingly documenting dynamic, within–person processes. Big data methodologies can augment this endeavour by allowing for the collection of naturalistic and personality–relevant digital traces from online environments. Whereas big data methods have primarily been used to catalogue static personality dimensions, here we present a case study in how they can be used to track dynamic fluctuations in psychological states. We apply a text–based, machine learning prediction model to Facebook status updates to compute weekly trajectories of emotional valence and arousal. We train this model on 2895 human–annotated Facebook statuses and apply the resulting model to 303 575 Facebook statuses posted by 640 US Facebook users who had previously self–reported their Big Five traits, yielding an average of 28 weekly estimates per user. We examine the correlations between model–predicted emotion and self–reported personality, providing a test of the robustness of these links when using weekly aggregated data, rather than momentary data as in prior work. We further present dynamic visualizations of weekly valence and arousal for every user, while making the final data set of 17 937 weeks openly available. We discuss the strengths and drawbacks of this method in the context of personality psychology's evolution into a dynamic science. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology
Relationship between bacteria and ciliate protozoa in the rumen of sheep fed on a purified diet

Summary Two sheep, with and without ciliate protozoa, were fed on a wood-pulp cellulose, corn starch, soya-bean protein diet and the microbiological and chemical characteristics of the rumen ingesta of both sheep were studied. The purified diet led to a simplified rumen flora enabling some deductions to be made about the interactions of the principal bacterial species and their interactions with the protozoa in relationship to the biochemical analysis of the rumen. Ammonia concentrations were similarly low in each animal. Total volatile fatty acid concentrations were higher in the faunated sheep though the proportion of propionic acid was highest in the unfaunated sheep. Cellulose digestion in the faunated rumen was about twice that in the unfaunated one. Total bacterial concentrations in the unfaunated rumen were over twice those in the faunated rumen, but the numbers of cellulolytic bacteria were higher in the latter while the numbers of amylolytic bacteria were higher in the unfaunated rumen. The principal species of bacteria differed in the two rumens.
β2 Subunit Propeptides Influence Cooperative Proteasome Assembly*

Vertebrate proteasomes are structurally heterogeneous, consisting of both “constitutive” (or “standard”) proteasomes and “immunoproteasomes. ” Constitutive proteasomes contain three ubiquitously expressed catalytic subunits, Delta (β1), Z (β2), and X (β5), whereas immunoproteasomes contain three interferon-γ-inducible catalytic subunits, LMP2 (β1i), MECL (β2i), and LMP7 (β5i). We recently have demonstrated that proteasome assembly is biased to promote immunoproteasome homogeneity when both types of catalytic subunits are expressed in the same cell. This cooperative assembly is due in part to differences between the LMP7 (β5i) and X (β5) propeptides. In the current study we demonstrate that differences between the MECL (β2i) and Z (β2) propeptides also influence cooperative assembly. Specifically, replacing the MECL propeptide with that of Z enables MECL incorporation into otherwise constitutive (Delta+/X+) proteasomes and facilitates X incorporation into otherwise immunoproteasomes (MECL+/LMP2+). We also show, using MECL−/− mice, that LMP2 incorporation does not require MECL, in contrast with previous suggestions that their incorporation is mutually codependent. These results enable us to refine our model for cooperative proteasome assembly by determining which combinations of inducible and constitutive subunits are favored over others, and we propose a mechanism for how propeptides mediate cooperative assembly.
Simultaneous overexpression of GH and STAT5b genes inhibits the STAT5 signalling pathway in tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) embryos.

In this study, we describe the use of a STAT5 responsive element (LHRE) reporter gene to monitor the activity of the growth hormone (GH) transduction pathway following expression of heterologous fish GH and rat STAT5b in tilapia embryos and fish fibroblast cells. Our results indicate that both GH and STAT5b are able to activate the LHRE at high levels when transferred separately, demonstrating the substantial level of conservation of the GH signal transduction pathways between fish and mammals. Unexpectedly, co-expression experiments show a strong inhibition of the GH-dependent activation, suggesting that simultaneous GH and STAT5b overexpression can counteract effects of GH expression in tilapia embryos.
Song rate correlates with paternal care and survival in willow tits : Advertisement of male quality ?

Dawn song in birds may advertise male quality in terms of parental care and/or survival. Males who sing most may also be the best parents, and eager singing may also reflect good chances of a male's or his mate's survival. These relationships were studied in the willow tit Parus montanus, a species with a simple and relatively non-variant song. Song output was expressed as the proportion of time a male spent singing at dawn. Later in the breeding season, two aspects of parental care, nest defence and feeding effort, were measured in the same males. High song output was associated with more intense nest defence behaviour (eager singers attacked the predator model more often and approached closer to it) and high nestling feeding effort. However, reproductive success was not associated with song output, although males with high song rates tended to be more likely to produce recruits. Males who survived to the next year had higher song intensity than males who did not survive, while female survival was not correlated with song output of her mate. The results suggest that dawn song in the willow tit advertises male quality. Some aspects of honest advertisement and female choice are discussed.
Responses of two contrasting saline‐alkaline grassland communities to nitrogen addition during early secondary succession

Question (1) How do secondary successional dynamics differ in high and low saline-alkaline grassland communities in semi-arid lands; and (2) does nitrogen (N) enrichment promote plant secondary succession towards a perennial community under saline-alkaline stress? Location Saline-alkaline grassland in northeast China. Methods We selected two early successional communities differing in soil saline-alkaline stress and floristic composition: one ‘high-stress community’ co-dominated by the annual grass Chloris virgata and the annual forbs Artemisia scoparia and Kochia sieversiana, and one ‘low-stress community’ dominated by the annual forb K. sieversiana. A complete randomized design experiment with five N addition levels was conducted in triplicate for four consecutive years (2008–2011). The vegetation variables (above-ground biomass of individual species, functional group, community level, community species richness) and soil characteristics (pH, electrical conductivity as a proxy for salinity) were investigated every year. Detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) was used to evaluate the successional trajectories. Results DCA revealed clear differences in species composition and successional trajectories between the two communities. There were few changes in the species composition of the high-stress community, with annual species dominating all the plots over the 4 yr. However, most of the low-stress communities developed from the annual-dominated stage to the perennial-dominated stage. N addition had no effect on the relative biomass of the perennial functional group in the two communities. Thus, N addition did not obviously promote plant succession towards a perennial community, even under low saline-alkaline stress. Species richness did not respond to N addition in the high-stress community, whereas species richness declined across the N addition gradient in the low-stress community. Conclusion Our results provided direct empirical evidence that high saline-alkaline stress limits plant community succession, and low saline-alkaline stress communities exhibit a succession direction from the annual-dominated stage to the perennial-dominated stage. Interestingly, replicates within the same treatment under low-stress conditions did not develop towards a similar community composition, indicating the importance of environment heterogeneity at a small spatial scale. N addition did not promote the expected perennial plant succession; however, N enrichment reduced plant diversity and enhanced above-ground biomass, suggesting that artificial N addition (e.g. N deposition) may have an important effect in our system.
Drought-induced changes in chlorophyll fluorescence, photosynthetic pigments, and thylakoid membrane proteins of Vigna radiata

The effects of drought on chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics of PSII, photosynthetic pigments, thylakoid membrane protein (D1), and proline content in different varieties of mung bean plants were studied. Drought stress inhibits PSII activity and induces alterations in D1 protein. We observed a greater decline in the effective quantum yield of PSII, electron transport rate, and saturating photosynthetically active photon flux density (PPFDsat) under drought stress in var. Anand than var. K-851 and var. RMG 268. This may possibly be due to either downregulation of photosynthesis or photoinhibition process. Withholding irrigation resulted in gradual diminution in total Chl content at Day 4 of stress. HPLC analysis revealed that the quantity of β-carotene in stressed plants was always higher reaching maxima at Day 4. Photoinactivation of PSII in var. Anand includes the loss of the D1 protein, probably from greater photosynthetic damage caused by drought stress than the other two varieties.
Energy density of marine pelagic fish eggs

Analysis of the literature on pelagic fish eggs enabled generalizations to be made of their energy densities, because the property of being buoyant in sea water appears to constrain the proximate composition of the eggs and thus to minimize interspecific variation. An energy density of 1.34 J μl -1 of total egg volume is derived for most species spawning eggs without visible oil globules. The energy density of eggs with oil globules is predicted by σ=1.34+40.61 x (J μl -1 ) where x is the fractional volume of the oil globule.
Biocide application for increasing storage periods and maintaining quality and chemical constituents of banana fruits

Banana fruits were treated with biocides formulated from essential oils of anise, coriander or black cumin seeds. Treated and non-treated fruits were stored at temperatures of 5, 10, 15 and 20°C. Samples were stored for periods of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 days. The collected samples in each interval were subjected to estimation of decay development and quality degree, in addition to the chemical constituents of starch, sugars, vitamin C of pulp and peel chlorophyll content. Results reveal that non-treated banana fruits decayed continuously by lapse of storage periods. However, this decay was significantly delayed by lowering the storage temperature. Soaking banana fruits in the tested biocides showed a positive potential for interrupting the decay in stored banana fruits and this promising impact was much more pronounced at lower storage temperature. Further, biocide treated banana fruits kept their good quality for longer storage periods compared to non-treated fruits, due to lower ripening rates which promisingly prolonged shelf-life. As the starch content gradually decreased during storage, the total sugar content increased. On the other hand, biocide application retarded the conversion of starch into simple sugars, especially at the low temperature rate. Additionally, the imposed treatments maintained vitamin C in banana pulp and lowered the decline in peel chlorophyll content.
Community Forestry: Sustainability and Equity Issues

Governments around the world are increasingly handing over the authority for the management of national forests to the local communities. By 2016, governments in 62 countries had given communities legal rights to manage 732 million hectares of national forest. This approach has been particularly widespread in South Asia. Nepal and India have the oldest and largest programs in the region: community forest user groups in Nepal managed 22 million hectares of national forest in 2016, while forest protection committees in India managed 17 million ha of national forest in 2011. The experience of Nepal and India in the 1980s and 1990s encouraged the development of community forestry programs in many other countries. Overall, community forestry programs have been highly successful at providing a wide range of economic and social benefits to the participating user groups. However, concerns have been raised about the ability of user groups to manage their community forests on a sustainable basis and share products in an equitable manner. This entry reviews the literature related to the sustainability and equity of forest management in community forests.
The contributions of forest structure and substrate to bryophyte diversity and abundance in mature coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest

Abstract Many aspects of forest structure are thought to contribute to the presence, abundance, and diversity of forest-floor bryophytes. To what extent easily measured characteristics of local environment (overstory structure or substrate availability) explain patterns of abundance and diversity remains unclear in most forest ecosystems. We explore these relationships in four mature, Douglas-fir dominated forests in southwestern Washington (U.S.A.). At each site, six 13-ha stands were sampled systematically (787 total plots) to capture variation in physical environment, forest overstory and understory vegetation, substrates, and forest-floor bryophytes. We compared bryophyte species composition, richness, and rank abundance among sites. We used multiple linear regression to model local cover and richness as functions of the physical environment, overstory and understory vegetation, and substrate availability. We compared the contributions of substrates to bryophyte abundance and richness and measured the strength and consistency of associations between individual species and particular substrates. Bryophyte composition differed significantly among sites, but patterns of richness and rank abundance were surprisingly similar, despite differences in stand structure and climate. Regression models explained only 18–23% of the variation in bryophyte cover or richness, likely due to weak relationships between vegetation structure and microclimate, disparity in the spatial scales of measurement, and temporal lags in bryophyte responses to structure. Most non-litter substrates (mineral soil, rock, fresh or decayed wood, stumps, shrub and tree bases) contributed minimally to available growing space, but disproportionately to species richness, particularly at the stand scale. Individual species were most often associated with decayed wood, although few species showed strong substrate specificity. In general, however, substrates contributed to ecological redundancy, with most species occupying multiple substrates and most substrates supporting a diversity of species.
Factors Affecting Host Plant Selection in Desert-Adapted Cactiphilic Drosophila

Three types of tests were conducted to determine the causal factors for the narrow larval niche breadth and the low amount of larval niche overlap observed among common species of Drosophila breeding in rotting cereus cacti in the Sonoran Desert. (1) Field test and observations show that host plant discrimination for feeding adults is very high but not absolute. (2) Substrate substitution experiments conducted individually with four species of cactiphilic Drosophila on six kinds of artificially rotted cacti show that every species except D. mojavensis reproduces bests on the cactus (or cacti) on which it is resident in nature. Even so D. mojavensis and D. arizonensis, both of which are polyphagic, emerge in large numbers from five kinds of cacti. (3) Laboratory competition tests with mixed species established in three cases that the resident species was unaffected, as compared with monoculture controls, while the alien species usually emerged in significantly fewer numbers. In two other competition situat.