Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FOOD SUPPLEMENTATION IN A TROPICAL MAINLAND ANOLE, NOROPS HUMILIS: DEMOGRAPHIC EFFECTS'

The concept of food limitation has played a key role in the theoretical framework of population and community ecology, especially for anoline lizards. A common hypothesis is that food is limited for island anoles but is relatively unlimited for mainland anoles. In this study I manipulated prey availability to investigate how food affects pop- ulation parameters for Norops humilis at a site in the Atlantic lowland wet forest of Costa Rica. Mark-recapture data were collected on control and experimental plots over a 9-mo pretest and a 7-mo test period during which 9910 observations were made on 1582 in- dividuals. Manipulation (increase) of food resulted in an approximate doubling of population density. Significant increases in the numbers of hatchlings, immigrants, and survivors resulted in increased numbers of juveniles. However, I observed no increase in the numbers ofjuveniles recruited to adulthood. Instead, losses ofjuveniles due to death and emigration were significantly increased. The juvenile population represented a "doomed surplus" that had little direct effect on increasing the size of the reproductive population in the presence of extra food. The density of adult males and females increased due to increased survival and immigration. Population density increased proportionally more for adult females than for males and for juveniles than for adults. Increased female population density resulted in a significant increase in the number of eggs laid. Loss (mortality plus emigration) of adults was not affected by supplemental feeding. As the increased number of juveniles did not increase the number of adults recruited from these juveniles, selection must have increased in severity on experimental plots. These effects of food on N. humilis demography suggest a conceptual model for cycles of abundance of this species and other predators of arthropods within the leaf litter of primary wet forest. The cyclic increase in arthropod food resources late in the dry season appears to be triggered by leaf drop of forest trees, which in turn triggers demographic responses in predators of leaf-litter arthropods, such as N. humilis.
Autonomous Evolution Robotic Systems for Underwater Surveillance and Inspection

The oil and gas industry has been focusing on enhancing safety, reliability, and reducing costs associated with subsea surveillance and inspections. Emerging robotic and sensing systems, as enabling technologies, are being adopted and adapted by ExxonMobil in various applications. This paper presents multiple use cases where ExxonMobil has utilized these systems to address the challenges within our operations, more specifically, miniature remotely operated vehicles (mini-ROVs) and shallow-water autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), along with the learnings from these applications and proposed future systems. Mini-ROVs equipped with optical and acoustic sensors are currently being used by ExxonMobil for the inspection of hulls, platforms, and mooring chains. After achieving favorable results with miniature systems that are remotely operated, there was a natural shift towards autonomy. Low-logistics shallow-water AUVs equipped with sidescan sonar, multibeam sonar, and optical cameras are now being utilized by ExxonMobil for pipeline inspections and environmental surveys. The successful experiences from both robotic systems have built a strong foundation for ExxonMobil as the industry's interest in subsea resident systems increases. Successful pilot tests by ExxonMobil conducted in the past couple of years have demonstrated that a large support vessel and extensive human intervention can be eliminated. The utilization of emerging robotic and sensing systems for subsea surveillance and inspections has proven to enhance safety and reduce cost by an order of magnitude when compared to conventional techniques.
Regionalization of outputs of two crop protection models using geostatistical tools and NOAA-AVHRR images

Crop protection forecasting models currently use meteorological data observed at stations to produce pest infection and development indices. The indices are then extrapolated to the regional level by assuming that the weather conditions at the stations are similar to those in neighbouring fields in the region, which is not necessarily the case. Hence, this has a significant impact on the quality of the recommendations and diagnoses based on computerized plant protection models. The regionalization of model outputs between the stations comprising the weather network, using geostatistical techniques such as cokriging in conjunction with satellite data, is a worthwhile approach for addressing this need. The objective of this study is to develop and apply a methodology for regionalization of infection indices produced by two crop protection models contained in the CIPRA (Computer Centre for Agricultural Pest Forecasting) system, using geostatistical tools and NOAA-AVHRR images. This approach will help enhance our crop pest management and forecasting capabilities while optimizing the use of pest control products in vegetable crops in Quebec. To achieve our objective, a cokriging method was applied to regionalize the model outputs using air temperature and relative humidity estimated from NOAA-AVHRR images. The results were then validated against a regionalization approach using ordinary kriging and two conventional interpolation techniques.
Clarifying Managerial Biases Using a Probabilistic Framework

Abstract A unifying probabilistic framework is developed to analyze and compare the impact of the psychological biases of overconfidence and underconfidence on managerial perceptions about the expected value, overall risk, downside risk, value-at-risk and expected shortfall of decision-making economic variables. The results depict that overconfident managers overestimate their expected values and underestimate downside risk, VaR and ES of decision-making variables. Underconfident managers, on the other hand, underestimate their expected values and overestimate downside risk, value-at-risk, and expected shortfall.
Nitrogen Loss and Denitrification as Studied in Relation to Reductions in Nitrogen Loading in a Shallow, Hypertrophic Lake (Lake Søbygård, Denmark)

A detailed mass balance on nitrogen was carried out in shallow and hypertrophic Lake Sobygard during 4.5 years before through 2.5 years after a 36 % reduction in nitrogen loading. Annual mean loss rate of nitrogen was 159–229 mg N m−2 d−1 before the loading reduction and 125 mg N m−2 d−1 after. In spite of a short hydraulic retention time (18–27 days) the proportion of nitrogen loading lost in the lake was high (38–53 %) and not affected by changes in loading. Calculated denitrification accounted for 86–93% of the loss rate, while 7–14% was permanently buried. Marked seasonal variations in the loss percentage were found during the season, ranging from 23 % in first quarter to 65 % in third quarter. The seasonal variation in the loss percentage of nitrogen showed a hysteresis like relationship to temperature, with a high percentage in fourth quarter. This suggests that the amount of available substrate, which mainly consists of sedimentated phytoplankton, accumulated during summer, is an important regulating factor. The ability of various published input-output models to predict the observed changes in in-lake nitrogen concentration in Lake Sobygard was tested. This study has further confirmed that small lakes with short retention and high nitrogen loading may significantly reduce the nitrogen loading of downstream aquatic environments.
Territory Characteristics of Cassin's Sparrows in Northwestern Oklahoma

Abstract We examined Cassin's sparrow (Aimophila cassinii) territory characteristics in shrub-grassland in northwestern Oklahoma during the 2008 breeding season. We estimated Cassin's sparrow territory area using territory mapping and song playback. Additionally, we determined vegetation cover, and aspect within territories and at nonterritorial sites, at both small scale (214 ha) and large scale (4856 ha). Mean territory size was 0.55 ha. Territories were 1.8 × more likely to be on north aspects than expected. Additionally, territories had greater shrub [sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia)] cover than the surrounding landscape.
Herbivory, time since introduction and the invasiveness of exotic plants

1 We tested the enemy release hypothesis for invasiveness using field surveys of herbivory on 39 exotic and 30 native plant species growing in natural areas near Ottawa, Canada, and found that exotics suffered less herbivory than natives. 2 For the 39 introduced species, we also tested relationships between herbivory, invasiveness and time since introduction to North America. Highly invasive plants had significantly less herbivory than plants ranked as less invasive. Recently arrived plants also tended to be more invasive; however, there was no relationship between time since introduction and herbivory. 3 Release from herbivory may be key to the success of highly aggressive invaders. Low herbivory may also indicate that a plant possesses potent defensive chemicals that are novel to North America, which may confer resistance to pathogens or enable allelopathy in addition to deterring herbivorous insects.
A Multi-Tier Streaming Analytics Model of 0-Day Ransomware Detection Using Machine Learning

Desktop and portable platform-based information systems become the most tempting target of crypto and locker ransomware attacks during the last decades. Hence, researchers have developed anti-ransomware tools to assist the Windows platform at thwarting ransomware attacks, protecting the information, preserving the users’ privacy, and securing the inter-related information systems through the Internet. Furthermore, they utilized machine learning to devote useful anti-ransomware tools that detect sophisticated versions. However, such anti-ransomware tools remain sub-optimal in efficacy, partial to analyzing ransomware traits, inactive to learn significant and imbalanced data streams, limited to attributing the versions’ ancestor families, and indecisive about fusing the multi-descent versions. In this paper, we propose a hybrid machine learner model, which is a multi-tiered streaming analytics model that classifies various ransomware versions of 14 families by learning 24 static and dynamic traits. The proposed model classifies ransomware versions to their ancestor families numerally and fuses those of multi-descent families statistically. Thus, it classifies ransomware versions among 40K corpora of ransomware, malware, and good-ware versions through both semi-realistic and realistic environments. The supremacy of this ransomware streaming analytics model among competitive anti-ransomware technologies is proven experimentally and justified critically with the average of 97% classification accuracy, 2.4% mistake rate, and 0.34% miss rate under comparative and realistic test.
The course of (comorbid) trauma-related, dissociative and personality disorders: two year follow up of the Friesland study cohort

ABSTRACT Background: There is substantial comorbidity between trauma-related disorders (TRDs), dissociative disorders (DDs) and personality disorders (PDs), especially in patients who report childhood trauma and emotional neglect. However, little is known about the course of these comorbid disorders, despite the fact that this could be of great clinical importance in guiding treatment. Objective: This study describes the two-year course of a cohort of patients with (comorbid) TRDs, DDs and PDs and aims to identify possible predictors of course. Possible gender differences will be described, as well as features of non-respondents. Method: Patients (N = 150) referred to either a trauma treatment program or a PD treatment program were assessed using five structured clinical interviews for diagnosing TRDs, DDs, PDs and trauma histories. Three self-report questionnaires were used to assess general psychopathology, dissociative symptoms and personality pathology in a more dimensional way. Data on demographics and received treatment were obtained using psychiatric records. We described the cohort after a two-year follow-up and used t-tests or chi-square to test possible differences between respondents and non-respondents and between women and men. We used regression analysis to identify possible course predictors. Results: A total of 85 (56.7%) of the original 150 patients participated in the follow-up measurement. Female respondents reported more sexual abuse than female non-respondents. Six patients (4.0%; all women) died because of suicide. Levels of psychopathology significantly declined during the follow-up period, but only among women. Gender was the only significant predictor of change. Conclusions: Comorbidity between TRDs, DDs and PDs was more the rule than the exception, pleading for a more dimensional and integrative view on pathology following childhood trauma and emotional neglect. Courses significantly differed between men and women, advocating more attention to gender in treatment and future research.
Research trends in quality management in years 2000-2019

Purpose: This study aims to demonstrate the suitability of text-mining toolset for the discovery of trends in quality management (QM) literature in 2000-2019. The hypothesis was formulated that as the field of study is mature, the most important trends are related to deepening and broadening of the knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: A novel approach to trend discovery was proposed. The computer-aided analysis of full-texts of papers led to increased reliability and level of detail of the achieved results and helped significantly reduce researchers’ bias. Overall, 4,833 papers from 8 journal dedicated to QM were analysed. Findings: Trends discovery led to the identification of 45 trends: 17 long-lasting trends, 4 declining trends, 11 emerging trends and 13 ephemeris trends. They were compared to the results of earlier studies. New trends and potential gaps were discussed. Practical implications: The results highlight the trends that gain or lose popularity, thus they can be used to focus studies, as well as find new subjects, which are not so popular yet. The knowledge about emerging trends is also important for those quality managers who strive for improvement of their efficiency. Originality/value: The research was designed to bypass the limitations of previous studies. The use of text mining methods and analysis of full texts of papers delivered more detailed and reliable data. Resignation from predefinition of classification criteria significantly reduced researchers’ bias and allowed the discovery of new trends, not identified in previous studies.
Resistance in Field Strains of the Parasitoid Anisopteromalus calandrae (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) and Its Host, Sitophilus oryzae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), to Malathion, Chlorpyrifos-methyl, and Pirimiphos-methyl

Abstract A glass vial bioassay was used to evaluate and compare the sensitivities of laboratory and field strains of the rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae (L.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and an associated parasitoid, Anisopteromalus calandrae (Howard) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) to three grain protectants, chiorpyrifos-methyl, pirimiphos-methyl, and malathion. The laboratory strain of A. calandrae was very sensitive to the three pesticides. Lethal dose ratios at the LD50 indicated that, relative to the laboratory strain of the host rice weevil, A. calandrae was 22.4-fold more sensitive to chiorpyrifos-methyl and about 8-fold more sensitive to both pinmiphos-metbyl and malathion. However, despite the sensitivity of the laboratory strain of this pteromalid to the pesticides, a field strain of A. calandrae collected near Bambeng, South Carolina in September 1992, survived doses of malathion of 172 μg/vial and was > 1240-fold resistant to malathion at the LD50, relative to the laboratory strain. This field strain of A. calandrae was about 90-fold more resistant to malathion than the field strain of its weevil host. Relative to the laboratory strain, the field strain of A. calandrae was also 5.1-fold resistant to chlorpyrifos-methyl and 7.3-fold resistant to pirimiphos-methyl. The field strain of S. oryzae (collected with the parasitoid) was only weakly resistant to the three grain protectants. A hypothesis for the development of naturally occurring pesticide resistance in the parasitoid A. calandrae and the lack of significant resistance in its associated weevil host is discussed in terms of a stored grain ecosystem.
Detection of Hop Latent Viroid (HLVd) Using Reverse Transcription and Polymerase Chain Reaction(RT-PCR)

A viroid-like RNA was detected in low molecular weight RNAs extracted from virus-free hops by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). It migrated considerably faster than hop stunt viroid in 5% PAGE containing 8M urea under a denaturing condition. A cDNA fragment was amplified from the low molecular weight RNAs containing the viroid-like RNA by reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using a pair of hop latent viroid (HLVd) specific primers. The amplified cDNA product of expected size was detected by agarose gel electrophoresis. The full-length cDNA of the viroid-like RNA in RT-PCR products was cloned and sequenced. The established nucleotide sequence of the inserted cDNA was completely identical to that previously reported for HLVd. The total nucleic acids were extracted from hops cultivated in Japan, and the presence of HLVd were examined by dot blot hybridization and RT-PCR. In a hop sample, HLVd was not detected by dot blot hybridization, but detected by RT-PCR. The result indicates that RT-PCR is potentially more sensitive than dot blot hybridization using a radioactive probe. HLVd was detected in all mother cultivars tested. However, the two virus-free clones obtained by meristem culture showed negative reaction in both dot blot hybridization and RT-PCR detection methods. It is also shown that HLVd probably can be eliminated by meristem culture as indicated in several plant viruses and viroids. (Received February 22, 1992)
Reduced swimming performance in delta smelt infected with Mycobacterium spp.

Delta smelt Hypomesus transpacificus infected with Mycobacterium spp. swam significantly more slowly (mean ±s.e., 24±5 ± 1·2 cm s −1) than uninfected fish (30·0 ± 1·7 cm s −1). Differences in swimming performance were not attributable to differences in fish size (Ls or wet mass), condition factor or laboratory holding duration. Similar proportions of non-fatigue-related swimming failure among the uninfected and infected fish indicated that mycobacteriosis did not affect the willingness of delta smelt to swim in the flume. Level of infection, measured for the dominant M. chelonae pathogen using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), did not affect critical swimming velocity.
Feeding of black cumin (Nigella sativa L.) and its effects on poultry production and health

SUMMARY Black cumin (Nigella sativa L.) is a perennial and autogamous plant belonging to Umbelliferae family, which grows in Central Asia and Europe. It is a medicinal plant, with seeds and oil used in treating several diseases and is employed in the human food industry. Reduction of blood sugar and anticancer effects are the main therapeutic properties of black cumin oil. Hypoglycaemia and hypocholesterolemia are two modern lifestyle diseases, and feeding of black cumin may be useful to solve these conditions. The available literature reports that the addition of black cumin seeds improved performance (at supplementation levels of 3-5% in diet) and influenced positively (at supplementation levels of 2-3% in diet) the intestinal microflora of broilers. Black cumin oil, administered up to 3% in the diet, reduced the number of thrombocytes and neutrophils and increased lymphocytes in broilers. Black cumin seeds may increase the content of unsaturated fatty acids and enhance the antioxidant properties of poultry meat (when fed up to 2% in diet). In laying hens, feeding black cumin oil at 1-2% in feed increased egg mass and improved egg quality, especially in the early production phase, and reduced gut E. coli count. Dietary supplementation with black cumin (2% as seeds or 0.5% as oil) in quail diets improved performance (growth and egg production) and reduced significantly the harmful bacteria in the gut. In this review, the recent findings on the effects of dietary black cumin on poultry performance, immune response, plasma constitutes, gut microbiota and enzyme activity are reviewed and discussed.
Self-deception as omission

ABSTRACT In this paper, I argue against three leading accounts of self-deception and propose a heretofore overlooked route to self-deception. The central problem with extant accounts is that they are unable to balance two crucial desiderata: (a) to make the dynamics of self-deception (e.g., the formation of self-deceptive beliefs) psychologically plausible, and (b) to capture self-deception as an intentional phenomenon for which the self-deceiver is responsible. I argue that the three leading views all fail on one or both counts. However, I claim that many or most cases of self-deception conform to a different model, which I call ‘self-deception as omission. ’ In these cases, the process of self-deceptive belief formation and the intentional act for which the self-deceiver is responsible come apart, allowing us to meet both desiderata. Self-deceptive beliefs are often formed by unconscious mechanisms closely analogous to “System 1” processes of dual-systems psychology, or by other mechanisms of motivated reasoning. The nascently self-deceptive subject then acquiesces in the comforting belief and commits an epistemic failure by allowing it to persist. If this is done for motivationally biased reasons – for example, preferring that the belief in question be true – then the subject is self-deceived and is blameworthy for her epistemic omission.
Financial winners and losers since the privatization of the English and Welsh water and sewerage industry: a profit decomposition approach

ABSTRACT Evaluating changes in profit, price and productivity over time can be of great importance for regulated water industries. We investigate the drivers of profit, price (capital, labour and other inputs) and productivity change (cost efficiency change, technical change and scale effect) and the recipients of productivity change (consumers, the business itself, employees and other resource suppliers) of the English and Welsh water and sewerage companies over the period of 1995–2016. The results indicate that the profit decreased over time due to the negative quantity effect, which offset the positive price effect. A further decomposition of the quantity effect illustrates the negative impact of the cost efficiency change and scale effect on profits. Moreover, the financial winners since the water companies’ privatization have been the employees and the suppliers of other inputs, whereas the customers of the water and sewerage services and the business itself have not benefited as much.
“HOW TO GET FROM HERE TO THERE?” – ALTERNATIVE KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION, MOBILIZATION, AND COUNTER-HEGEMONIC GLOBALIZATION

The organic crisis of hegemonic neoliberal globalization, manifested in aggravated uneven development condensed with ecological unsustainability, requires systemic transformation towards justice globalism. William Carroll’s distinguished 4-year research project integrates network analysis with qualitative interviewing to depict a rich picture of the contribution of counter-hegemonic knowledge production and mobilisation by transnational alternative policy groups (TAPGs) to such an emancipatory alternative future. Grounded in thorough data analysis, dialogue between neo-Gramscian methodology and the empirical makes this book an indispensable resource for proponents of global justice as it overcomes the disempowering voluntaristic localism and anti-statism that underlies much of both mainstream and critical approaches to “progressive” social transformation.