Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Responses to varied light environments and propagation techniques of the federally endangered shrub, Lindera melissifolia (Lauraceae)

OF THE FEDERALLY ENDANGERED SHRUB, LINDERA MELISSIFOLIA (LAURACEAE) by KATHERINE MARIE ALERIC (Under the Direction of L. Katherine Kirkman) ABSTRACT Increasing vigor of existing populations and reintroduction of propagules will be necessary for persistence of the federally endangered shrub, Lindera melissifolia. The objectives of this study were to examine growth, morphology, and photosynthesis of plants under natural and controlled light regimes (19%, 42%, and 100% sunlight). Stem propagation, reintroduction, and seed germination were also investigated relative to re-establishment potential. Plants showed typical sun-shade morphological responses, and photosynthetic capacities (3-6 μmol CO2 ms) of a shade-tolerant species. Plants grown under 100% sunlight had reduced photosynthesis and plant biomass. Canopy conditions at irradiance levels below 42% sunlight appear to be adequate for maintaining plant growth. Low success with stem propagation indicates further investigations are needed. Young transplants into field conditions can tolerate some degree of flooding but cannot survive submergence, suggesting plants may require dry down periods for establishment. A high percentage of seed germination is possible in containers without scarification.
Piezoresistance in Defect-Engineered Silicon

The steady-state, space-charge-limited piezoresistance (PZR) of defect-engineered, silicon-on-insulator device layers containing silicon divacancy defects changes sign as a function of applied bias. Above a punch-through voltage ($V_t$) corresponding to the onset of a space-charge-limited hole current, the longitudinal $\langle 110 \rangle$ PZR $\pi$-coefficient is $\pi \approx 65 \times 10^{-11}$~Pa$^{-1}$, similar to the value obtained in charge-neutral, p-type silicon. Below $V_t$, the mechanical stress dependence of the Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination parameters, specifically the divacancy trap energy $E_T$ which is estimated to vary by $\approx 30$~$\mu$V/MPa, yields $\pi \approx -25 \times 10^{-11}$~Pa$^{-1}$. The combination of space-charge-limited transport and defect engineering which significantly reduces SRH recombination lifetimes makes this work directly relevant to discussions of giant or anomalous PZR at small strains in nano-silicon whose characteristic dimension is larger than a few nanometers. In this limit the reduced electrostatic dimensionality lowers $V_t$ and amplifies space-charge-limited currents and efficient SRH recombination occurs via surface defects. The results reinforce the growing evidence that in steady state, electro-mechanically active defects can result in anomalous, but not giant, PZR.
Landscape history confounds the ability of the NDVI to detect fine‐scale variation in grassland communities

The NDVI is a remotely sensed vegetation index that is frequently used in ecological studies. There is, however, a lack of studies that evaluate the ability of the NDVI to detect fine‐scale variation in grassland plant community composition and species richness. Ellenberg indicators characterize the environmental preferences of plant species—and community‐mean Ellenberg values have been used to explore the environmental drivers of community assembly. We used variation partitioning to test the ability of satellite‐based NDVI to explain community‐mean Ellenberg nutrient (mN) and moisture (mF) indices, and the richness of habitat‐specialist species in dry grasslands of different ages. The grasslands represent a gradient of decreasing soil nutrient status. If community composition is determined by the responses of individual species to the underlying environmental conditions and if, at the same time, community composition determines the optical characteristics of the vegetation canopy, then positive relationships between the NDVI and mN and mF are expected. Many grassland specialists are intolerant of nutrient‐rich soils. If specialist richness is negatively related to soil‐nutrient levels, then a negative association between the NDVI and specialist richness is expected. However, because grassland community composition is not only influenced by abiotic variables but also by other spatial and temporal drivers, we included spatial variables and grassland age in the statistical analyses. The NDVI explained the majority of the variation in mF, and also contributed to a substantial proportion of the variation in mN. However, variation in specialist richness and the lowest values of mN were explained by grassland age and spatial variables—but were poorly explained by the NDVI. Synthesis and applications. The NDVI showed a good ability to detect variation in plant community composition, and should provide a valuable tool for assessing fine‐scale environmental variation in grasslands or for monitoring changes in grassland habitat properties. However, because the concentration of grassland specialists not only depends on environmental variables but also on the age and spatial context of the grasslands, the NDVI is unlikely to allow the identification of grasslands with high numbers of specialist species.
Bioinformatic study to discover natural molecules with activity against COVID-19

Background: In 2020, the world has struggled to deal with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which started in 2019 in China and has spread throughout the globe, affecting at least 31,175,835 humans globally and claiming 962,634 lives reported till 22nd September, 2020 by the World Health Organization. The main causative agent for this disease is known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2). So far, there is no cure or proven therapeutics available till date. Therefore, we undertook this study to ﬁnd the most probable drug candidate through a bioinformatics study. Methods: Thus, we virtually screened the Zinc natural database using HTVS tool through molecular docking studies to analyze molecules recommended for the treatment of COVID-19. Results: Ramipril benzyl ester, propafenone dimer and Lariciresinol are three important drugs found from the present study due to their medicinal application which could be helpful in treating the disease. Stylopine, quillaic acid, cinobufagin, vitisinol C, segetalin A, scopolamine, 3-oxo glycyrrhetinic acid, conchinone B, lactimidomycin and cardinalins 4 are the other lead molecules that could be used as therapeutics against COVID-19 disease. Conclusions: The studied molecules could act as an effective inhibitory drug against COVID-19.
Analysis of zooplankton assemblages from man-made ditches in relation to current velocity

Abstract Because of the slow current velocity, man-made ditches may create distinct physical and ecological conditions that are suitable for the growth of zooplankton populations. However, the influence of drainage ditches on zooplankton communities has not been studied yet. This study aims to answer the following questions: i) Are man-made ditches a rich source of zooplankton? ii) What current velocity value leads to abundant zooplankton in man-made ditches? iii) Do zooplankton communities differ between man-made ditches and connected natural streams? In man-made drainage ditches with a water current lower than 0.1 m s-1, the abundance of zooplankton was greater than in the majority of streams. Sometimes this level of abundance was equivalent to the densities of zooplankton in lakes or dammed reservoirs. The presence of zooplankton in man-made ditches may be of great importance to the establishment of food webs, particularly during periods of high water levels or heavy rainfall, both of which may accelerate the water current, causing the dispersion of zooplankton along the ditches and into natural streams.
Spatial Monitoring of Pyrethroid Residues by RP-HPLC in Raw Bovine Milk in West Delta Region of Egypt

The massive implementation of pesticides in agronomy, public health series, manufacturing, and production can increase pesticides in the environment leading to tremendous effects on human health. Hence, the current study aimed to evaluate the concentration and frequency of pyrethroid residues in raw bovine milk sourced from local producers at West Delta of Egypt carefully chosen from three cities on High-Performance Liquid Chromatography system. A total of 200 of raw bovine milk samples (Alexandria 75, ElBehera 75, and Matrouh 50) were analyzed. The achieved results indicated that Cypermethrin, Cyhalothrin, and Deltamethrin residues were respectively screened at frequencies of 18.66%, 17.33%, and 14.66% in Alexandria, 21.33%, 17.33%, and 16% in ElBehera, and 44%, 28%, and 24 % in Matrouh. Cypermethrin was detected in a mean concentration level of 6.63, 5.98, and 10.74 in Alexandria, ElBehera, and Matrouh, respectively. However, Cyhalothrin and Deltamethrin had lower mean values of 4.66 and 2.45 in Alexandria, 5.14 and 3.05 in ElBehera, and finally 2.84 and 2.69 in Matrouh. There was no αCypermethrin in all the investigated samples while Cypermethrin was present with the highest mean concentration and frequency levels in Matrouh, compared to other cities. Concerning the compatibility of examined samples with maximum residue levels (MRLs) set by the European Commission and Codex regulation, indicated only 2.66%, 1.33%, and 0.00 % for Cyhalothrin, and 1.33%, 4%, and 2% for Deltamethrin examined samples in Alexandria, ElBehera, and Matrouh cities exceeded MRLs, respectively. As for Cypermethrin, its concentrations did not exceed MRLs. These results indicated a significant amount of these chemical pollutants in raw bovine milk offered by local producers in the West Delta of Egypt, which can threaten human life. Accordingly, continual assessment of pyrethroid residues in milk is of utmost importance to guarantee Egyptian consumers’ health.
Novel Density Poincaré Plot Based Machine Learning Method to Detect Atrial Fibrillation From Premature Atrial/Ventricular Contractions

Objective: Detection of Atrial fibrillation (AF) from premature atrial contraction (PAC) and premature ventricular contraction (PVC) is difficult as frequent occurrences of these ectopic beats can mimic the typical irregular patterns of AF. In this paper, we present a novel density Poincaré plot-based machine learning method to detect AF from PAC/PVCs using electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings. Methods: First, we propose the generation of this new density Poincaré plot which is derived from the difference of the heart rate (DHR) and provides the overlapping phase-space trajectory information of the DHR. Next, from this density Poincaré plot, several image processing domain-based approaches including statistical central moments, template correlation, Zernike moment, discrete wavelet transform and Hough transform features are used to extract suitable features. Subsequently, the infinite latent feature selection algorithm is implemented to rank the features. Finally, classification of AF vs. PAC/PVC is performed using K-Nearest Neighbor, Support vector machine (SVM) and Random Forest (RF) classifiers. Our method is developed and validated using a subset of Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC) III database containing 10 AF and 10 PAC/PVC subjects. Results- During the segment-wise 10-fold cross-validation, SVM achieved the best performance with 98.99% sensitivity, 95.18% specificity and 97.45% accuracy with the extracted features. In subject-wise scenario, RF achieved the highest accuracy of 91.93%. Moreover, we further validated the proposed method using two other databases: wearable armband ECG data and the Physionet AFPDB. 100% PAC detection accuracy was obtained for both databases without any further training. Conclusion: Our proposed density Poincaré plot-based method showed superior performance when compared with four existing algorithms; thus showing the efficacy of the extracted image domain-based features. Significance: From intensive care unit's ECG to wearable armband ECGs, the proposed method is shown to discriminate PAC/PVCs from AF with high accuracy.
Determination of destination competitiveness of the selected Mediterranean destinations by entropy based EDAS method

Bu calisma, Akdeniz canaginda yer alan ulkelerin destinasyon rekabetciliginin entropi temelli EDAS yontemiyle belirlenmesi ve rekabetciliklerinin degerlendirilmesi amaciyla yapilmistir. Bu baglamda, Dunya Ekonomik Forumu tarafindan iki yilda bir yayinlanan Seyahat ve Turizm Rekabetcilik Endeksi verileri kullanilmis; bu endekste yer alan dort ana gruba bagli olan 14 alt grup kriter olarak belirlenerek entropi yontemiyle bu kriterler agirliklandirilmis ve onem sirasina gore siralanmistir. Daha sonra Akdeniz canaginda yer alan ve en fazla turist ceken ilk 50 ulke arasinda yer alan 10 Akdeniz ulkesi (Fransa, Ispanya, Italya, Turkiye, Yunanistan, Hirvatistan, Misir, Fas, Portekiz, Tunus) agirliklandirilmis olan bu kriterlere bagli olarak EDAS yontemiyle incelenmis ve bu ulkelerin destinasyon rekabetcilikleri ortaya cikarilmistir. Arastirma sonuclarina gore Akdeniz canaginda yer alan ulkelerin rekabetcilikleri acisindan en onemli uc kriter seyahat ve turizmin onceliklendirilmesi, is ortami ve insan kaynagi ve is gucu piyasasidir. En rekabetci ilk uc ulke ise sirasiyla Fransa, Ispanya ve Italya olarak belirlenmistir.
Inhibition of Downy Brome (Bromus tectorum) Root Growth by a Phytotoxin from Pseudomonas fluorescens Strain D7

Field applications of the rhizobacterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens strain D7 (D7), have selectively suppressed downy brome in winter wheat test plots. A phytotoxin produced by D7 inhibits downy brome root growth. An assay system was developed for future investigations of the mechanism of action of this and other phytotoxins that inhibit root growth. A crude preparation of the phytotoxin, cell-free supernatant (CFS), had little activity on downy brome root elongation in a sand-petri plate system. CFS was very active in a hydroponic system, in which a 6% (v/v) concentration inhibited root elongation within 1.5 h. Inhibition of root elongation was reversible in this system. Root elongation of downy brome seedlings resumed within 3 h after removal from a 9-h incubation in 8% CFS. CFS from genetic variants of D7 did not substantially inhibit root growth and a semi-crystallized precipitation product from D7 CFS inhibited root growth similarly to D7 CFS, indicating that the phytotoxin present in the CFS was responsible for growth inhibition.
Genetic and phenotypic aspects of performance in farmed red deer

Concepta McManus D.Phil Linacre College Trinity Term 1991 Genetic and Phenotypic Aspects of the Performance of Farmed Red Deer This thesis examined genetic and phenotypic aspects of production of farmed Red deer in the UK. Heritabilities for weight traits tended to be moderate to high. Selection on weight at a given age will tend to lead to a correlated increase in weight and all ages and has implications for increased calving difficulty and higher maternal overheads. Animals of Wapiti and Eastern European parentage tended to have higher liveweights than those of British parentage pointing to their possible use as 'terminal' sires. Care is needed when selecting hinds to cross with these stags. Older dams were more likely to have a successful pregnancy and calve earlier. Calving traits tended to have low genetic variation. A central performance test was set up to improve across herd linkages. It is concluded that in future the test should start earlier and a lower limit on the weight of animals going on test should be set. The traits that were included in the economic breeding objective for Red deer included number of calves weaned, hind and offspring food consumption, stag calf and hind carcass weight and hind calf liveweight at 15 months. It was concluded that antler characteristics should be excluded from the breeding objective as they have no monetary value in the UK deer industry, but they may be included in selection criteria if they can be shown to improve the accuracy of breeding value prediction. Sources of variation in carcass traits and weight traits were investigated using linear body measurements and photographic techniques. Heights and girths were found to be the best predictors of weight traits. Weight was found to be the best predictor of carcass composition. Recommendations are made for future research. These include the setting up of cross breeding and selection experiments for more accurate parameter estimation and the heterotic effects of using Wapiti and animals of European parentage. Farmers are encouraged to use artificial insemination and the BDFA and MAFF are advised to set up a performance recording scheme.
Identification and functional analysis of new factors that mediate tramtrack's function during Drosophila tracheal system development

The Drosophila transcription factor Tramtrack (Ttk) is involved in a wide range of developmental decisions, ranging from early embryonic patterning to differentiation processes in organogenesis. Given the wide spectrum of functions and pleiotropic effects that hinder a comprehensive characterisation, many of the tissue specific functions of this transcription factor are only poorly understood. We recently discovered multiple roles of Ttk in the development of the tracheal system on the morphogenetic level. Here, we sought to identify some of the underlying genetic components that are responsible for the tracheal phenotypes of Ttk mutants. We therefore profiled gene expression changes after Ttk lossand gain-offunction in whole embryos and cell populations enriched for tracheal cells. The analysis of the transcriptomes revealed widespread changes in gene expression. Interestingly, one of the most prominent gene classes that showed significant opposing responses to lossand gain-of-function was annotated with functions in chitin metabolism, along with additional genes that are linked to cellular responses, which are impaired in ttk mutants. The expression changes of these genes were validated by quantitative real-time PCR and further functional analysis of these candidate genes and other genes also expected to control tracheal tube size revealed at least a partial explanation of Ttk’s role in tube size regulation. The computational analysis of our tissue-specific gene expression data highlighted the sensitivity of the approach and revealed an interesting set of novel putatively tracheal genes. Citation: Rotstein B, Molnar D, Adryan B, Llimargas M (2011) Tramtrack Is Genetically Upstream of Genes Controlling Tracheal Tube Size in Drosophila. PLoS ONE 6(12): e28985. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0028985 Editor: Christos Samakovlis, Stockholm University, Sweden Received July 28, 2011; Accepted November 17, 2011; Published December 22, 2011 Copyright: 2011 Rotstein et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: DM was supported by a scholarship from the German National Merit Foundation. BA is a Royal Society URF and acknowledges Wellcome Trust grant support (087522/Z/08/Z) that contributed to this project. BR is supported by funds from the Programme Consolider 2007(CSD2007-00008) project. ML acknowledges funds from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (BFU2009-09041/BMC, PIE200720I019), from Agaur (2009-SGR 1333) and from the Programme Consolider 2007(CSD2007-00008) project. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: adryan@sysbiol.cam. ac.uk (BA); mlcbmc@ibmb.csic. es (ML)
Two nematode species of the family Tobrilidae (Enoplida) De Coninck, 1965 from Lake Baikal, Russia

Two nematode species found in Lake Baikal, Gorevoi Utes (Russia) are presented. Eutobrilus mirandus sp. n. differs from all other species of the genus Eutobrilus by the markedly anterior position of the vulva (V=26–31%). The new species is similar to E. andrassyi Altherr, 1963 in body size and stoma structure but differs in the comparatively thicker body (males, a = 32–45 versus a = 60–75), shorter stoma (males, 26–27 µm long versus 35–40 µm long), longer spicules (48–53 µm versus 40 µm), and absence of crystalloids. A redescription and new illustrations of Paratrilobus delicatus (Shoshin, 1988) Andrássy, 2007, including a description of the previously unknown females, are also given.
Spatial Heterogeneity, Variable Rewards, Tag Loss, and Tagging Mortality Affect the Performance of Mark–Recapture Designs to Estimate Exploitation: an Example using Red Snapper in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

AbstractAccurate estimates of exploitation rate are essential to the management of exploited fisheries. Tagging studies are often used to estimate exploitation rates, but the performance of these approaches depends strongly on study design characteristics and the magnitude of assumption violations. We simulated a suite of candidate study designs for 1-year high-reward and variable-reward tagging studies, exploring a range of sample sizes (number of tagged fish), exploitation rates, tagging mortality rates, tag loss rates, proportions of double-tagged fish, and spatial variation in fish density, tag releases, and fishing effort. We calculated the uncertainty, biases, and reward costs of these candidate study designs to determine the most cost-effective approach to accurately estimate exploitation rate for Red Snapper Lutjanus campechanus in Alabama waters of the Gulf of Mexico. We also investigated how incorrectly assuming a 100% reporting rate would affect these study results. Our simulations demonstrated.
Tuning molecular motor transport through cytoskeletal filament network organization

The interaction of motor proteins with intracellular filaments is required for transport processes and force generation in cells. Within a cell, crosslinking proteins organize cytoskeletal filaments both temporally and spatially to create dynamic, and structurally diverse networks. The architecture of these networks changes both the mechanics as well as the transport dynamics; however, the effects on transport are less well understood. Here, we compare the transport dynamics of myosin II motor proteins moving on model cytoskeletal networks created by common crosslinking proteins. We observe that motor dynamics change predictably based on the microstructure of the underlying networks and discuss how this can be utilized by cells to achieve specific transport goals.
EVALUATION OF TEXTURAL PROPERTIES OF CORN BASED EXTRUDED PRODUCTS

A nutri-rich extruded product was made by using corn (variety: Hema: NAH-1137; Popcorn: Sugar baby), pigeonpea brokens and rice bran using twin screw extruder. The process was performed at different temperature levels (110, 120 and 130°C), feed composition (92:4:4, 94:3:3 and 96:2:2) and feed moisture (15, 17.5 and 20%) and at constant screw speed (350 rpm). The objectives of this study were to determine the possibility of application of agro-waste products such as pigeonpea brokens and rice bran for the production of snack food products and comparison of textural properties of extruded product prepared with two corn varieties i.e., Hema (NAH-1137) and Popcorn (Sugar baby). Response surface methodology and Box-Behnken experimental design was used to evaluate the significance of independent and interaction effects of the process variables. The independent variables had significant (p d < 0.05) effects on textural properties of corn extrudates. The optimized condition was found to be 127.66°C temperature, 18.96% feed moisture and 92:4:4 feed composition at constant screw speed of 350 rpm for Hema variety and 130°C temperature, 20% feed moisture and 92:4:4 feed composition at constant screw speed of 350 rpm for popcorn variety.