Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pollination ecosystem services to onion hybrid seed crops in South Africa

Insect pollination contributes in various degrees toward the production of a variety of agricultural crops that ensure diversity and nutritional value in the human diet. Although managed honeybees Apis mellifera L. are still the most economically valuable pollinators of monoculture crops cultivated globally, wild pollinator communities can contribute substantially toward crop pollination through pollination ecosystem services sourced from neighbouring natural habitats. Pollination ecosystem services are thus valuable and can motivate for the protection of natural ecosystems hosting diverse insect pollinator communities. F1 onion hybrid seed production is entirely dependent on high insect pollinator activity to ensure cross pollination, seed set and profitable seed yields. Data was collected on 18 onion hybrid seed crops grown in the semi‐arid Klein Karoo and southern Karoo regions of the Western Cape, South Africa. These two main production regions are located within the Succulent Karoo biome, recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot of especially high plant diversity. It is also habitat to the indigenous Cape honeybee Apis mellifera capensis Esch. Sites selected varied in the percentages of available natural habitat and managed honeybee hives stocking density. Diverse anthophile assemblages were sampled with pan traps within all the onion fields, regardless of the percentage of available natural habitat near the crop. Crop management practices significantly affected the diversity of anthophile species caught within onion fields, although less than 20% of this diversity was observed actually visiting onion flowers. The honeybee managed and wild was by far the most important pollinator because of its high visitation frequency and regular substantial onion pollen loads carried on their bodies. Honeybee visitation significantly increased onion hybrid seed yield, while anthophile diversity and non‐Apis visitation had no effect on seed yield. Neither managed hive density, nor percentage natural habitat were important in determining honeybee visitation or seed yield. Total annual rainfall was the only significant factor determining honeybee visitation. Secondary factors caused by rainfall variability, such as wild flower abundance or soil moisture, may have significantly affected honeybee visitation. In addition, the positive correlation between honeybee visitation and the diversity of hand‐sampled insects from onion flowers; indicate that either or both onion varietal attractiveness and/or pollinator population size may have had significant effects on overall insect visitation. Honeybees showed marked discrimination between hybrid onion parental lines and preferred to forage on one or the other during single foraging trips. Hybrid onion parents differed significantly in nectar characteristics and onion flower scent which would encourage selective foraging through floral constancy. Interspecies interactions were insignificant in causing Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za
Mean Landslide geometries inferred from a global database of earthquake - and non earthquake - triggered landslides

Ranging in size from very small to tremendous, landslides often cause loss of life and damage to infrastructure, property and the environment. They are triggered by a variety and combinations of causes among which the role of water and seismic shaking have the most serious consequences. In this regard, seismic wave amplification due to topography as well as to the impedance contrast between the landslide mass and its underlying bedrock are of particular interest. Therefore, high resolution reconstruction of the lateral confinement of the landslide mass and the exact measurement of the mechanical properties are a necessity. A global chronological database was created to study and compare 2D and 3D geometries of landslides, i.e. of landslides properly sliding on a rupture surface. It contains 277 seismically and non-seismically induced landslides whose rupture masses were measured in all available details allowing for statistical analyses of their shapes and to create numerical models thereupon based. Detailed studies reveal that values of distinct geometrical parameters have different statistical behaviors. As for dimension related parameters, occurrence frequencies follow decreasing exponential distributions and mean values progressively increase with landslide magnitude. In contrast, occurrence frequencies of shape-related parameters follow normal distributions and mean values are constant throughout different landslide magnitudes. Dimensions and shapes of landslides are thus to be regarded in a precise and distinctive manner when analyzing seismically induced slope displacements.
Implications of successful biological control of bridal creeper (Asparagus asparagoides (L.) Druce) in south-west Australia

The assessment of environmental weed control programs must encompass more than measurements of weed density reduction. Measurements are also needed on the vegetation that replaces the target weed. Bridal creeper (Asparagus asparagoides (L.) Druce) has invaded a variety of habitats across southern Australia. The only viable option for widespread control is the use of biological control agents. We report that the biocontrol agent, the bridal creeper rust (Puccinia myrsiphylli (Thuem.) Wint. ), is having a significant impact on bridal creeper in south-west (SW) Australia. However, following the biological control of bridal creeper, with a reduction in bridal creeper cover from 49.9% (± 4.4 SE) to 10.2% (± 2.7 SE), there has been little change in both native and exotic plant cover. Although there was a reduction in cover of bridal creeper, it may take many years for the belowground tuberous mats of this weed to be exhausted. Another major barrier to restoring invaded areas is the invasion or increase in density of other exotic species. A more holistic approach is needed in conjunction with the successful biological control of bridal creeper. This would involve targeting all undesirable exotic species while encouraging native species recovery. It should also include the identification of sites with high conservation value, where biological control should be used in conjunction with other restoration techniques.
Less is More: Understanding Word-level Textual Adversarial Attack via n-gram Frequency Descend

Word-level textual adversarial attacks have achieved striking performance in fooling natural language processing models. However, the fundamental questions of why these attacks are effective, and the intrinsic properties of the adversarial examples (AEs), are still not well understood. This work attempts to interpret textual attacks through the lens of $n$-gram frequency. Specifically, it is revealed that existing word-level attacks exhibit a strong tendency toward generation of examples with $n$-gram frequency descend ($n$-FD). Intuitively, this finding suggests a natural way to improve model robustness by training the model on the $n$-FD examples. To verify this idea, we devise a model-agnostic and gradient-free AE generation approach that relies solely on the $n$-gram frequency information, and further integrate it into the recently proposed convex hull framework for adversarial training. Surprisingly, the resultant method performs quite similarly to the original gradient-based method in terms of model robustness. These findings provide a human-understandable perspective for interpreting word-level textual adversarial attacks, and a new direction to improve model robustness.
Strongly geodesic preinvexity and strongly invariant η-monotonicity on Riemannian manifolds and its application

This paper introduces the concepts of strongly geodesic preinvexity, strongly $\eta$-invexity of order $m$, and strongly invariant $\eta$-monotonicity of order $m$ on Riemannian manifolds. Additionally, it discusses an important characterization of these functions under a condition, known as $\text{{\bf Condition C}}^{\dagger}$, defined by Barani \cite{Poury1}. The paper provides various non-trivial examples to support these definitions. Furthermore, it presents a significant characterization of strict $\eta$-minimizers (or $\eta$-minimizers) of order $m$ for multi-objective optimization problems and a solution to the vector variational-like inequality problem.
Stellar Populations in the Central 0.5 pc of Our Galaxy. III. The Dynamical Substructures

We measure the 3D kinematic structures of the young stars within the central 0.5 pc of our Galactic Center using the 10 m telescopes of the W. M. Keck Observatory over a time span of 25 yr. Using high-precision measurements of positions on the sky and proper motions and radial velocities from new observations and the literature, we constrain the orbital parameters for each young star. Our results show two statistically significant substructures: a clockwise stellar disk with 18 candidate stars, as has been proposed before, but with an improved disk membership; and a second, almost edge-on plane of 10 candidate stars oriented east–west on the sky that includes at least one IRS 13 star. We estimate the eccentricity distribution of each substructure and find that the clockwise disk has 〈e〉 = 0.39 and the edge-on plane has 〈e〉 = 0.68. We also perform simulations of each disk/plane with incompleteness and spatially variable extinction to search for asymmetry. Our results show that the clockwise stellar disk is consistent with a uniform azimuthal distribution within the disk. The edge-on plane has an asymmetry that cannot be explained by variable extinction or incompleteness in the field. The orientation, asymmetric stellar distribution, and high eccentricity of the edge-on plane members suggest that this structure may be a stream associated with the IRS 13 group. The complex dynamical structure of the young nuclear cluster indicates that the star formation process involved complex gas structures and dynamics and is inconsistent with a single massive gaseous disk.
Effect of surfactants on honey bee survival.

The toxicity of surfactants applied topically and orally to honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) was determined by laboratory bioassays. Eleven surfactants (Citowett®, Pulse®, Boost®, Codacide oil®, Contact®, Raingard®, Peptoil®, Sunspray®, Ethokem®, Multifilm® and Uptake®) were applied topically to anoxiated bees. Anoxiating bees and spraying them with water had no significant effect on their survival. Four surfactants (Citowett®, Pulse®, Boost® and Ethokem®) were toxic when applied topically. Ethokem® and Boost® also showed oral toxicity. Field trials are necessary to assess the actual impact of surfactants. As some surfactants were demonstrated to be toxic to bees in laboratory trials, which suggests they may be toxic when used in the field, they should go through the agrichemical registration process and honey bee warning labels should be included where appropriate.
Nematicidal effects of the entomopathogenic bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis in soil

Summary Nematicidal effects of five strains of the entomopathogenic bacterium B. thuringiensis were studied in vitro against nematodes extracted from a soddy-podzolic soil and in situ in the soil planted with barley. Nematicidal activity varied among the strains and was associated with either the culture fluid of the bacteria, the cell sediments or the autoclaved cultures. This suggests different nematicidal factors are produced. In in vitro tests the bacterium caused up to 80% nematode mortality by days 2–4. It was found that, in addition to the known thermo-stable β-exotoxin, B. thuringiensis can produce thermo-labile factor(s) with nematicidal activity. When barley seeds or soil were treated with living cultures B. thuringiensis , bacterial spores germinated and vegetative cells migrated to the root zone and colonised the root surface of the plants. Irrespective of the treatment types, application of B. thuringiensis reduced a multiplication of nematodes by 1.5 to 3 times as compared to the control. No specific nematicidal activity was found towards separate trophic groups of the nematodes. The application of B. thuringiensis reduced root length and root biomass of the barley plants.
Wolf, Canis lupus , Pup Mortality: Interspecific Predation or Non-Parental Infanticide?

A breeding male Gray Wolf, Canis lupus , equipped with a GPS collar was documented going to the den site of another Gray Wolf pack. This trip was coincident with an attack on the den of the other pack and the occurrence of a dead and partially consumed Gray Wolf pup at the same location. We present two possible explanations - interspecific predation and non-parental infanticide - to account for this observation. Because the Gray Wolf with the GPS collar and his mate were first-time breeders and were attempting to establish a territory space of their own, we speculate that, based on the available evidence, this observation most likely represents a case of non-parental infanticide that fits the predictions of the resource competition hypothesis.
Prevalence of listeria species in environment and milk samples

The previous notion that infection by pathogenic Listeria (listeriosis) is not an important health problem in India starts to be revised now, mainly due to changing habits of the production, distribution and storage of food, favoring the multiplication and spread of cold–tolerant bacteria like Listeria. Despite this altering scenario, data on the prevalence of Listeria on the Indian subcontinent are still rather sporadic. We investigated the occurrence of Listeria species in environmental and raw milk samples from Mysore city (moderately hot, semi–arid climate). Environmental samples included cow dung from cowshed, grazing pasture and soil samples from vegetable–cultivation land. Cold enrichment was used to recover Listeria species from raw cow milk (from individual animals) (n=130), cow dung (collected from individual animals) (n=130) and soil (n=100) samples. 10 g sample in case of cowdung and soil and 10mL in case of milk were transferred to 90 mL BHI broth and incubated at 4oC for two weeks. Aliquots from the enriched broth were streaked on Oxford and PALCAM plates, at weekly intervals. Listeria isolates were subjected to phenotypic and genotypic characterization. Phenotypic characterization included standard biochemical tests such as catalase test, motility at 25 °C and 37 °C, acid production from the canonical panel of carbohydrates, nitrate reduction, esculin hydrolysis, methyl red and Voges Proskauer reaction. Genus– and species–specific primers were used for PCR differentiation of the isolates. L. ivanovii was isolated from 1% of the soil samples, L. seeligeri from 0.76% of the cowdung samples and L. innocua from 0.76% of the raw milk samples tested. Strategies to reduce the incidence of Listeria in environment and milk samples should be implemented.
Productive and haematological performance of growing pullets fed fermented sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) fruit peel meal based diets.

*Corresponding Address: Oyewole BO benjowole@yahoo.com The 12-week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the productive and haematological performance of growing pullets fed diets in which fermented sweet orange fruit peel meal (SOFPM) substituted maize at 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% in the experimental diets coded 24F0 (control), 24F10, 24F20, and 24F30 respectively. One hundred and twenty growing pullets were assigned to the diets in a completely randomized design, with each treatment comprising of 3 replicates of 10 birds per replicate. Treatment effect on feed intake was not significant and varied from 64.85g to 65.53g/bird at between 8 to 20 weeks of age. Weight gain was depressed linearly with increase in SOFPM, it varied from 7.60g to 5.65g at between 8 to 20 weeks of age. FCR significantly worsened from 8.54 to 10.86 as the substitution level of maize with SOFPM increased. Final body weight of birds was depressed with percent increase of SOFPM. PCV, Hb and RBC values, though within reference ranges for healthy birds, were depressed as maize substitution increased. Observed WBC, MCV, MCH and MCHC values of the treatment groups were statistically similar to the control. The economic implication of feeding fermented SOFPM indicated that feed cost/ 25kg and feed cost/bird significantly reduced linearly from N1992.75 to N1721.50 and N436.17 to N407.19, respectively. Feed cost/kg gain was not significantly affected by diet; however, it increased from N684.45 to N804.54 with inclusion of SOFPM. Poultry farmers may substitute dietary maize with SOFPM fermented for 24 hours in growing pullet diets at not more than 10% for optimum performance.
Performance of layer birds supplemented with herbal antistress product ayucee and synthetic vitamin C under physiological heat stress.

Heat stress exerts high deteriorating impact on the poultry industry which could be ameliorated by dietary incorporation of synthetic vitamin C. Certain herbs either alone or in combination thereof are also a rich source of ascorbic acid in natural form. Thus, a 12-week experiment was conducted to determine the effects of high temperature and relative humidity on production performance in layer chickens supplemented with herbal antistress product and synthetic vitamin C. A total of 90 layer birds of 55 weeks age were divided in 3 equal groups (T0, T1 and T2) of 30 birds in each. They were exposed to a heat stress of daily temperature 39±8°C, and temperature humidity index (THI) of 81.33±1.20. To curb the losses incurred due to heat stress, birds in group T1 and T2 were treated respectively with synthetic vitamin C @ 100 g/tonne and herbal premix Ayucee containing natural Vitamin C and bioflavonoids @ 100 g/tonne of feed on daily basis for a period of seven weeks. Group T0 was not treated by any supplementation and kept as control. High ambient temperature and relative humidity resulted in high serum cortisol level (mg/L) (3.47±0.20 to 3.64±0.15) in all groups. It was significantly optimized and lowered down in both the treated groups. A significant difference existed between the initial and after treatment values in both the treatment groups while serum cortisol level was on a continuous rise in untreated T0 control group. Treatment with herbal Ayucee premix and synthetic vitamin C successfully optimized the increased ALT and AST levels and total protein, albumin and globulin in treated birds. Better growth and performance in terms of higher body weight, egg production % and egg weight was resulted from dietary incorporation of antistressor product containing vitamin C. Thus considering the cost benefit ratio herbal natural product Ayucee premix can replace synthetic vitamin C.
Histological and Morphometric Study of Regressive Changes in the Mammary Glands of Pigs during Regression

The work deals with the histological and morphometric description of regressive changes in the mammary glands of swine after lactation. Samples of mammary glands of thoracic, abdominal and pubic udders were taken soon after they were killed. Samples were processed by histological and histochemical methods and evaluated by subjective and quantitative morphometrical methods. It was found that post-lactation increases the relative volume of connective stroma up to 75.10 ± 14.76 % of collagen in the tissue falls to 74.13 ± 14.87 % and the loose connective tissue, which was part of glandular parenchyma lobules accounts for only 0.97 ± 2.13%. Adipose tissue is 18.93 ± 14.93% of the udders volume. Relative of glandular parenchyma fell to 5.97 ± 4.95% and mainly consists of a interlobular and lobar ducts and atrophic alveoli. Epithelium is generally in the mammary glands 4.22 ± 3.56% and lumen 1.75 ±1.81%. 1 cm 3 of tissue in the mammary glands located 190745.52 tubuloalveolar structures. Alveoli reach an average size of 36.80 ± 11.57 μm. It was found relative volume of the walls (epithelium) and cavities (lumen) of each alveolus, the amount of epithelial cells and the nucleocytoplasmic ratio. The individual building components mammary glands were calculated correlation relations.
Proteomics as a tool for the characterisation of nosocomial pathogens

The aim of the present investigation was to develop and assess the potential of various proteomic approaches for the characterisation of two major nosocomial pathogens, S. aureus and C. difficile and to further investigate the intraspecies diversity of C. difficile using a genotypic approach. The surface-associated proteins of S. aureus and intracellular stable ribosomal proteins of C. difficile were analysed by MALDI-TOF-MS and the resulting spectra interrogated using two databases viz. MMU (Waters®) and SARAMIS™ (AnagnosTec) respectively. A total of 134 clinical S. aureus isolates were tested using the MMU database and the MicrobeLynx™ software. All were successfully identified with minor contamination errors that corroborated with 16S rRNA sequencing. By contrast, C. difficile isolates were only partially identified (to the genus level) using the MMU database and protocol. Changes in the matrix solution and use of the new database (SARAMIS™) resulted in the correct identification of all C. difficile isolates and, detailed ultra-structural studies indicated that intracellular proteins were the new diagnostic biomarkers.
Sublethal Toxicity of Microcystis and Microcystin- LR in Fish

The occurrence of blooms of toxic cyanobacteria in freshwater environments is a global ecological and public health concern. Species of Microcystis are of particular importance because blooms occur in many freshwater environments throughout the world and microcystin toxin concentrations can exceed World Health Organization advisory levels. While microcystin has been associated with fish kills, sublethal effects of chronic exposure at environmentally relevant concentrations are relatively unknown. The objective of this research was to evaluate toxicity of microcystin and Microcystis in fish during all life history stages. We evaluated global gene expression response in larval zebrafish (Danio rerio), and a sub-set of biomarker genes indicative of microcystin exposure were identified. In addition, vitellogenin genes were highly up-regulated in zebrafish exposed to Microcystis but not the microcystin toxin, indicating potential endocrine disrupting effects of Microcystis blooms. Effects on reproduction were evaluated in adult zebrafish exposed to Microcystis. There was a significant decrease in the percentage of adults that spawned, however fecundity and larval survival were not affected. Laboratory mesocosm experiments with channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) were also conducted to determine the importance of dietary and aqueous exposure in microcystin bioaccumulation and assess histopathological lesions. Tissue toxin concentrations and histopathological lesions were also evaluated in channel catfish collected from Lake Erie and Waterville Reservoir, North Carolina to monitor fish living in environments affected by Microcystis blooms and relate responses to those observed in laboratory exposures.