Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sniffing out the stakes: hair-snares for wild cats in arid environments

Abstract Context. Wild cats (Felis spp.) are difficult to monitor because of their cryptic lifestyle and usually low numbers. Hair-snaring is a promising non-invasive method being used increasingly to estimate mammal populations. Aims. Our aim was to carry out pilot trials of a simple hair-snare designed to capture hair from wild cats in arid environments. Methods. Roughened wooden stakes were set at multiple sites on the crests of sand dunes and in swales in western Queensland, Australia, and in mostly sandy habitats of the Namib and Kalahari Deserts, Namibia. In Australia, stakes were sprayed with cat urine, extracts of catnip or valerian herbs as lures, or left untreated; in Namibia, alternate stakes were sprayed with a food lure of tuna emulsion oil. The stakes were checked for hair, usually daily, for 2–14 days, and the surrounding ground was inspected for tracks. Remote cameras also were used at some sites to confirm the identity of visitors to stakes. Key results. In Australia, feral cats (Felis catus) were attracted to, and left hairs on, stakes sprayed with cat urine six times more frequently than to unsprayed stakes irrespective of whether snares were on dune crests or in swales, and showed no response to catnip or valerian. Tracks and photos showed that cats, dingoes or wild dogs (Canis lupus ssp.) and foxes (Vulpes vulpes) also approached and sniffed the stakes. In Namibia, F. catus, F. lybica and F. nigripes left hair on stakes, with deposition rates two and a half-fold higher at stakes with the food lure than without it. At least five other species of predators visited the hair-snare sites. Conclusions. Simple wooden stakes provide a cheap and simple method of snaring hairs from wild cats, especially if used in conjunction with appropriate lures. Our results broadly support previous work, and extend the utility of the method to different Felis spp. in arid habitats. Implications. Further research is needed on snares to investigate the seasonal efficiency of different lures. If DNA also is to be extracted to identify individuals, more work is needed to confirm that snares yield hair of sufficient quality to allow this.
Pollen structure, tetrad cohesion and pollen-connecting threads in Pseuduvaria (Annonaceae)

The structure of the pollen of 42 species of Pseuduvaria (Annonaceae) is described. The pollen is consistently inaperturate, isopolar and radially symmetrical. Four basic patterns of exine sculpturing are identified: rugulate, verrucate, scabrate and psilate. The exine stratification of one representative species, P. macrocarpa , is shown to be entirely ectexinal. The ectexine consists of a discontinuous outer tectal layer, a columellar infratectal layer, and an inner lamellar foliated foot layer; the intine is very thin and fibrillar. The pollen is invariably released as acalymmate tetrads, in which the tectum is absent from the proximal walls. The individual pollen grains within the tetrads are connected by crosswall cohesion, involving both exine and intine; this form of cohesion has not hitherto been reported in the Annonaceae. In addition, pollen grains of neighbouring tetrads are connected in two different ways, viz. short exine connections and non-sporopollenin pollen-connecting threads. Neither of these cohesion mechanisms has previously been reported for the genus. The function of the various forms of cohesion between pollen grains and tetrads in Pseuduvaria is discussed as a mechanism to enhance the efficiency of pollination by enabling the fertilization of multiple ovules following a single pollinator visit. © 2003 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2003, 143 , 69 - 78.
Protein structural changes during preparation and storage of surimi

: The changes in protein structure associated with the preparation and frozen storage of surimi were investigated. Raw surimi was prepared by repeatedly washing Alaska pollock flesh with chilled water. The product was either slowly frozen or underwent rapid freezing using liquid air; in either case it was then subjected to frozen storage at -20 °C for 24 mo. Fourier transform infrared/attenuated total reflectance (FTIR/ATR) spectroscopy showed that during preparation of surimi, the a-helix content increased with increased number of washing cycles. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) revealed a shift in the thermal transition of actin to a higher temperature during surimi preparation. Electrophoresis, FTIR/ATR spectroscopy, and DSC results revealed a loss of myofibrillar proteins from surimi after 3 washing cycles, suggesting that 3 washing cycles were adequate to prepare surimi. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) showed relatively minor changes in protein subunit structure with some loss of the myosin light chains (MLC); myosin heavy chain (MHC), actin, and tropomyosin were found to be relatively stable. Native-PAGE showed no major changes in surimi after 24 mo storage at -20 °C. FTIR/ ATR spectroscopy indicated a significant decrease in a-helix relative to p-sheet structure in surimi after 2 y of storage at -20 °C. The loss of α-helical content was more significant in slowly frozen surimi compared with rapid-frozen surimi samples. DSC results revealed a shift in the thermal transition of actin to lower temperatures during frozen storage of surimi.
Secondary succession of mixed plantations established to rehabilitate abandoned pasture in the Peruvian Amazon

Secondary succession or facilitation processes carried out at sites established for rehabilitating abandoned pastures and degraded forests (prurmas) are instrumental in their return to original forest status. An understanding of these secondary succession processes contributes to the rehabilitation of degraded forest ecosystems and to the livelihoods of local communities, and aids in conserving biodiversity. We studied secondary succession in mixed species plantations that were established to rehabilitate abandoned land. The initial vegetation in these abandoned pastures and croplands was grassland composed of three dominant species: Rottboellia exaltata, Imperata brasiliensis, and Brachyaria decumbens. After tree planting and weeding had been carried out, the site was first invaded by R. exaltata and Baccharis floribunda. These two species, which depend solely on sexual and not vegetative reproduction, facilitated secondary succession and elevated species diversity by enabling subsequent invasion by several species. By contrast, B. decumbens, I. brasiliensis, and Hyparrhenia rufa depend mainly on vegetative reproduction involving rhizomes and tillers, and subsequent invasion by other species was relatively less in stand types dominated by these three species. We found that further adequate rehabilitation techniques were necessary for the respective vegetation types.
Natural history and description of Oncothrips kinchega, a new species of gall-inducing thrips with soldiers (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae)

A new species of gall-inducing thrips, Oncothrips kinchega sp. n. , is described and its biology on the host plant Acacia carneorum was investigated. Our study showed that a single foundress initiates a gall. Her first-laid eggs develop into soldiers (mean number of soldiers ± SE = 28 ± 15, 40% males, with no evidence for protogyny or protandry). The soldiers, along with the foundress, produce the (subsequent) dispersing generation (mean number of dispersers ± SE = 187 ± 10, 37% males with no evidence for protogyny or protandry). The brood development-pattern of O. kinchega is similar to that found in the complex of forms currently referred to as Oncothrips habrus Mound and Oncothrips waterhousei Mound & Crespi and is different from that of Oncothrips morrisi Mound, Crespi & Kranz, a species with soldiers but a non-social development pattern. However, O. kinchega shares several life history characteristics with O. morrisi, and appears intermediate in brood size between O. morrisi and the remainder of the gall-inducers. The possible evolutionary significance of these observations is discussed.
Evaluation of genetic diversity in cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp gentotypes using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD)

Random amplified polymorphic DNA markers were used to evaluate the genetic diversity in a representative population of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) from different ecogeographical regions of India. 30 primers could generate a total of 120 RAPD fragments, of which 109 bands (90%) were polymorphic. The polymorphism was scored and used in band sharing analysis to identify genetic relationship. Cluster analysis based on Jaccard’s coefficient using UPGMA grouped all the 30 genotypes into three groups at a similarity coefficient 25. Similarity indices ranged from 0.463 to 0.784. The highest similarity coefficient was observed between genotypes TPTC-24 and TPTC-22 indicating the less divergence between them and the lowest was observed between genotypes HC-3-8 and CPD-108 indicating more divergence. Distinct phenotypes identified using RAPD markers could be potential sources of germplasm for cowpea improvement in breeding program.
Description of an experimental set up for the culture of benthic foraminifera in controlled pH conditions

Acidification of the oceans is one of the consequences of ongoing increasing atmospheric CO 2 concentrations. The effects on organisms that build their shells of calcium carbonate are not sufficiently studied and might be detrimental. Simulating ocean acidification scenarios in the laboratory is a reasonable way to study their response to decreased pH and carbonate ion concentrations. In this study we describe in detail an experimental system to carry out ocean acidification experiments with non-symbiotic benthic foraminifera. We test the performance of the designed experimental set up by running a long-term experiment (90 days) using a potentially suitable benthic foraminiferal species for culturing
BIG DATA ANALYTICS IN HEART DISEASES PREDICTION

The healthcare data can be employed to develop a health prediction system that can improve in heart disease prevention. Big data on health care, including patient records, clinical notes, diagnosis, parents and family past ailments, hospitals, and scan results can aid in the phase of disease identification and prediction. The emerging machine learning method offers an important framework for forecasting cardiac diseases. An advanced Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier was used by the program to conduct parameter tuning to improve classification accuracy and performance. The proposed work aims to develop a real-time prediction system for health issues based on big medical data processing on the cloud. In the proposed scalable system, the medical parameters are sent to Apache Spark to extract the attributes from the data and to apply the proposed machine learning algorithm aiming to predict the healthcare risks and send them as alerts and recommendations to the users and the healthcare providers as well. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of applying machine learning algorithms using electronic health records. The proposed work aimed to provide an effective recommendation system using streaming medical data, historical data on the user profile, and knowledge database to provide users with the best recommendations and alerts in real-time according to the sensors measurements. The proposed system of prediction could offer high accuracy in comparison with literature work with the predictability of 90.6 for heart disease. The methodology of this research is applying parameterization for parameters on SVM to make the possibility of prediction is higher using the most effective features.
Anti-tumor and Anti-oxidative Activity of Rosmarinus officinalis in 7, 12 Dimethyl Benz(a) Anthracene Induced Skin Carcinogenesis in Mice

The present investigation was undertaken to explore the antitumor-promoting activity of R.officinalis on 2-stage skin carcinogenesis, induced by a single topical application of 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene and promoted by repeated treatment of croton oil for 16 weeks in Swiss albino mice. Oral administration of R.officinalis leaves extract, during the peri-and post-initiation stage induced by 7,12dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA), reduced the tumor burden to 2.6 (positive control value: 5.16); cumulative number of papillomas to 13 (positive control value: 62) and percent incidence of mice bearing papillomas to 41.66 %, (positive control value: 100%). A significant (p<0.001) decreased was observed in Lipid peroxidation level by the administration of ROE. Reduced glutathione (GSH) and total proteins was found to be significantly elevated in liver and skin (p < 0.001) of mice in ROE treated group. Skin and liver of R.officinalis treated group animals showed a significant enhancement in antioxidant enzymes like superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Catalase, when compared with the carcinogen treated control. These studies indicate that R.officinalis could reduce the chemical induced tumor and oxidative stress during skin carcinogenesis.
Cultural Methods for Aflatoxin Detection

Aflatoxins present important food safely problems in both developed and developing countries. Contamination is monitored in developed countries using enzyme‐linked immunusorbent assay (ELISA)‐ and high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)‐based assays, both of which may be too expensive for routine use in many developing countries. There is a need for inexpensive alternative approaches to detect aflatoxins in lots of foods and feeds. Reviewed here are culture‐based methods that determine if a sample is contaminated with aflatoxigenic fungi. These approaches include 1) blue fluorescence of aflatoxin B1, particularly when enhanced by including β‐cyclodextrin in the culture medium, 2) yellow pigment production, and 3) color change on exposure to ammonium hydroxide vapor. The presence of aflatoxin B1 can be detected by its blue fluorescence, which is enhanced when the toxin complexes with the hydrophobic pocket of β‐cyclodextrin. The yellow pigment and ammonium hydroxide vapor tests are based on the production of yellow anthraquinone biosynthetic intermediates in the aflatoxin pathway. These compounds act as pH indicator dyes, which are more visible when they have turned red at alkaline pH. Because these tests are based on two different mechanisms, it has been possible to combine them into a single test. In a study of 517 A. flavus isolates from the Mississippi Delta, the combined assay reduced false positives for aflatoxigenicity to 0%, and false negatives to 7%. The increased predictive power of the combined cultural assay may enable its use for inexpensively identifying potential aflatoxin contamination in feeds and foods.
The domestication of the native grasses Danthonia richardsonii Cashmore and Danthonia linkii Kunth for agricultural use. I. Selecting for inflorescence seed yield

Ecotypes of the native grasses Danthonia richardsonii Cashmore and Danthonia linkii Kunth (wallaby grasses) were collected, mostly in northern New South Wales, in 1985-86. All the D. richardsonii plants were 2n = 48 and all the D. linkii plants were 2n = 24. These were grown as spaced plants (1 x l m grid) in a parent nursery at the Agricultural Research Centre, Tamworth, and assessed for seed yield per inflorescence and traits related to seed retention within and between four successive generations. The aim of the study was to identify individual seed retaining plants over these generations. Selection of individual plants within generations was based mainly on seed yield per inflorescence as well as inflorescence shape as an indicator of seed retention. From approximately 1750 parent plants, 144 D. richardsonii and 19 D. linkii accessions remained in the fourth generation selections. Of these seven D. richardsonii and three D. linkii plants were identified as having high inflorescence seed yield. Over the four ge nerations, mean inflorescence seed yield (g per five inflorescences) increased from 0.31 to 0.42 g for D. richardsonii and from 0.12 to 0.39 g for D. linkii. Mean seed yields for selected lines in the fourth generation were 0.80 g for the seven D. richardsonii selections and 0.59 g for the three D. linkii plants. Selection resulted in an increase in glume width and the number of days to first flower in both species. Mean inflorescence length and width varied little over the four generations. Between successive generations (parent, G2, G3 and G4) 10, 5 and 6 D. linkii plants had inflorescence seed yields higher than the mean, compared with 42, 46 and 35 G4 D. richardsonii plants. However, only 17 of the D. richardsonii and three of the D. linkii plants had inflorescence seed yields greater than the mean in all generations. Autumn inflorescence seed yields in the third and fourth generations were also used as additional selection criteria for selecting seven D. richardsonii plants for further evaluation and possible commercial release.
Larval ecology and morphology in fossil gastropods

The shell of marine gastropods conserves and reflects early ontogeny, including embryonic and larval stages, to a high degree when compared with other marine invertebrates. Planktotrophic larval development is indicated by a small embryonic shell (size is also related to systematic placement) with little yolk followed by a multiwhorled shell formed by a free‐swimming veliger larva. Basal gastropod clades (e.g. Vetigastropoda) lack planktotrophic larval development. The great majority of Late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic ‘derived’ marine gastropods (Neritimorpha, Caenogastropoda and Heterobranchia) with known protoconch had planktotrophic larval development. Dimensions of internal moulds of protoconchs suggest that planktotrophic larval development was largely absent in the Cambrian and evolved at the Cambrian–Ordovician transition, mainly due to increasing benthic predation. The evolution of planktotrophic larval development offered advantages and opportunities such as more effective dispersal, enhanced gene flow between populations and prevention of inbreeding. Early gastropod larval shells were openly coiled and weakly sculptured. During the Mid‐ and Late Palaeozoic, modern tightly coiled larval shells (commonly with strong sculpture) evolved due to increasing predation pressure in the plankton. The presence of numerous Late Palaeozoic and Triassic gastropod species with planktotrophic larval development suggests sufficient primary production although direct evidence for phytoplankton is scarce in this period. Contrary to previous suggestions, it seems unlikely that the end‐Permian mass extinction selected against species with planktotrophic larval development. The molluscan classes with highest species diversity (Gastropoda and Bivalvia) are those which may have planktotrophic larval development. Extremely high diversity in such groups as Caenogastropoda or eulamellibranch bivalves is the result of high phylogenetic activity and is associated with the presence of planktotrophic veliger larvae in many members of these groups, although causality has not been shown yet. A new gastropod species and genus, Anachronistella peterwagneri, is described from the Late Triassic Cassian Formation; it is the first known Triassic gastropod with an openly coiled larval shell.
Effects of within-patch habitat structure and variation on fish assemblage characteristics in the Bernecei stream, Hungary

– Over a 3-year period we examined variability in physical habitat structure and species richness, abundance and assemblage composition of fishes in 13 habitat patches in the Bernecei stream, Hungary. Principal component analysis of habitat structure data from patches elucidated a riffle-run-pool habitat gradient across patches. Temporal habitat variability increased significantly from riffle to pool patches. Fish assemblage characteristics displayed relatively continuous change over the habitat gradient and were relatively stable within patches. Assemblage structure properties (e.g., species richness) displayed different responses to the habitat gradient and to within-patch habitat variability. In general, pool patches had more diverse assemblages and greater within-patch assemblage variability than riffle patches. However, within-patch dynamics were largely determined by the population dynamics of a habitat generalist (i.e., minnow). Broad scale environmental variability (i.e., a catastrophic 100-year flood) also appeared to affect within-patch fish assemblage characteristics. Our results demonstrate that fish assemblage structure is influenced by physical variability (i.e., both floods and spatio-temporal habitat variability) within the Bernecei stream. Resumen 1. Durante tres anos, examinamos la variabilidad en la estructura del habitat fisico y en la riqueza de especies, abundancia y composicion del ensamblaje de peces en 13 parches del rio Bernecei (Hungria). Un analisis de componentes principales de los datos de estructura de habitat de los parches revelo un gradiente corriente-tabla-poza entre los parches. La variabilidad temporal del habitat incremento significativamente desde los parches de corriente a los parches de pozas. 2. Las caracteristicas de los ensamblajes mostraron cambios relativamente continuos sobre el gradiente de habitat y fueron relativamente estables dentro del mismo parche. Las propiedades de la estructura del ensamblaje (i.e., riqueza de especies, etc.) mostraron respuestas diferentes al gradiente de habitat y a la variabilidad de habitat dentro del parche. En general los parches de pozas tuvieron ensamblajes mas diversos y mayor variabilidad del ensamblaje dentro del parche que los parches de corrientes. Sin embargo, las dinamicas dentro del parche estuvieron esencialmente determinadas por la dinamica de la poblacion de un generalista de habitat (i.e., Phoxinus phoxinus). 3. Variabilidad ambiental a gran escala (i.e., la riada mas catastrofica que se puede producir una vez en cien anos) tambien parecio afectar a las caracteristicas del ensamblaje dentro de un parche. 4. Nuestros resultados demuestran que la estructura de los ensamblajes de peces esta influenciada por la variabilidad fisica (i.e., tanto riadas como variabilidad de habitat espacio-temporal) en el rio Bernecei.
Characterization and identification of soft rot bacterial pathogens in Bangladeshi Potatoes

We reported the characterization and identification of pathogenic bacterial strains causing soft rot in potato tuber in Bangladesh under storage conditions. Identification of bacterial pathogens in tuber is important to take appropriate disease control measures and to develope resistant plants through classical breeding or genetic engineering. A total of 92 bacterial strains were extracted from the soft rotted potato and 26 of them were found to produce soft rot on potato slices under control environment. Out of 26 soft rot causing bacterial strains, 12 were found to be aggressively virulent and were selected for characterization and identification by physiological and biochemical testing schemes. Out of the 12 virulent strains, 8 isolates designated as P-01, P-04, P-11, P-48, P-111, P-134, P-138, and P-169 were identified as Erwinia subsp. carotovora and 4 isolates labeled as P-28, P-128, P-142, and P-179 were identified as Erwinia chrysanthemi.