Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EVIDENCE FOR AN OUTCROSSING REPRODUCTIVE STRATEGY IN THE HERMAPHRODITIC HETEROBRANCH GASTROPOD VALVATA UTAHENSIS (VALVATIDAE), WITH NOTES ON THE GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION OF V. UTAHENSIS AND V. HUMERALIS

The hermaphroditic aquatic heterobranch Valvata utahensis is a federally endangered snail endemic to the Snake River corridor in southern Idaho, USA. Although an appreciable understanding of molluscan taxonomic diversity has been established within this ecosystem, little is currently known about the ecology and life history of many individual species (V. utahensis included). In this study, we used a combined analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear genetic variation within V. utahensis to infer the predominant mode of reproduction (selfing vs outcrossing) within natural populations of this species. Results of this analysis indicated that outcrossing is likely a common reproductive strategy. We discuss our results in the context of conservation and management efforts for this endangered species. Furthermore, in the course of performing our investigations, we frequently collected specimens that were tentatively identified as V. humeralis. Given that little genetic work has previously been performed within the genus Valvata, we compared genetic data from V. utahensis with data from V. humeralis to determine whether molecular data supported morphological evidence that these two taxa are distinct evolutionary entities. Results of our analyses clearly revealed strong patterns of genetic differentiation between these two taxa and confirmed the presence of two sympatric Valvata species within the Snake River system.
Ptau-Aβ42 ratio as a continuous trait for biomarker discovery for early stage Alzheimer’s disease in multiplex immunoassay panels of Cerebrospinal fluid

Background—Identification of the physiological changes that occur during the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) may provide critical insights for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of disease. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers are a rich source of information that reflect the brain proteome. Methods—We applied a novel approach to screen a panel of ~190 CSF analytes quantified by multiplex immunoassay and detected common associations in the KnightAlzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC;N=311) and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI;N=293) cohorts. CSF ptau181-Aβ42 ratio was used as a continuous trait, rather than case control status in these analyses. Results—We demonstrate the ptau181-Aβ42 ratio has more statistical power than traditional modeling approaches and that the levels of CSF Fatty Acid Binding Protein (H-FABP) and 12 other correlated analytes increase as the disease progresses. These results were validated using the traditional case control status model. Stratification of our dataset demonstrated that increases in these analytes occur very early in the disease course and were apparent even in non-demented individuals with AD pathology (low ptau181, low Aβ42) compared to pathology-negative elderly control subjects (low ptau181, high Aβ42). FABP-Aβ42 ratio demonstrates a similar hazard ratio for disease conversion to ptau181-Aβ42 even though the overlap in classification is incomplete suggesting that FABP contributes independent information as a predictor Conclusions—Our results clearly indicate that the approach presented here can be employed to correctly identify novel biomarkers for AD, and that CSF H-FABP levels start to increase at very early stages of the disease.
A study on the chemical constituents, antibacterial and antioxidant activities of Vangueria madgascariensis (Fruit)

Vangueria madagascariensis belongs to the family (Rubiaceae) is used as a herbal medicine against diabetes, gastrointestinal problems, malaria, pain, parasitic worms, and skin diseases. The aims of this study are to evaluate the phytochemical screening, antibacterial and antioxidant activities, Phytochemical screening was carried out by using three solvent (ethanol, ethyl acetate and n-hexane), two gram positive and two gram negative bacteria were tested and antioxidant properties were determined by measuring abilities to scavenge DPPH. The result of phytochemical cited that: there were present of (Cardiac glycosides, alkaloids, reducing compounds, saponins Tannin, Phenols, steroids and triterpens, flavonoids and coumarins. Antibacterial tests indicated that the ethanol, ethyl acetate and n-hexane extracts inhibited the growth of all microorganisms and most extracts showed same degree of antibacterial activity.
Recent advance in the support and technology used in enzyme immobilization

In the industrial biotechnology, the skill to prepare the immobilized enzyme with stability has proven to be one of the key steps in rendering an enzymatic process that is economically viable. Availability of the immobilized enzyme biocatalyst with improved activity and stability is also expected to reduce the expense of products. If properly designed, enzyme immobilization is also a very powerful tool to enhancing almost all enzyme properties, e.g., activity, stability, specificity and selectivity, reduction of inhibition. Due to the above advantages, enzyme immobilization has been a focus for biologists, chemists and enterprisers. This review is focused on advances over the last several years in enzyme immobilization. Several new type of carriers and technology have been implemented to improve traditional enzyme immobilization, which aimed to enhance enzyme loading, activity and stability to decrease the enzyme biocatalyst cost in industrial biotechnology. These include cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEAs), microwave-assistant immobilization, click chemistry technology, mesoporous support and single enzyme nanoparticle. In addition, with the growing attention paid to cascade enzymatic reaction and in vitro synthetic biology, it is possible that multi-enzyme co-immobilization would be one of the next goals in the future.
A Decision Support Method for Investment Preference Evaluation

: The method enables public companies classification into three Investment Preference categories Risky, Satisfactory and Excellent. The IP concept is introduced as a qualitative criterion assumed to estimate the probability of companies’ belonging to these categories. The method provides the necessary conditions for linear discriminant analysis application, performed by STATITICA  5.5.
Application of Artificial Neural Network to Satellite Images Classification

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) have become a popular tool in the analysis of remotely sensed data. Remotely sensed images are major sources of data and information that are used in various fields such as environmental studies, forest management, and urban change detection etc. Although significant progress has been made in image classification based upon neural networks, a number of issues remain to be resolved. This paper reviews remotely sensed data analysis with neural networks. First, we present an overview of the main concepts underlying ANNs, including the main architectures and learning algorithms. Then, the main tasks that involve ANNs in remote sensing are described. The limitations and crucial issues relating to the application of the neural network approach are discussed. A brief review of the implementation of ANNs in some of the most popular image processing software packages is presented. Finally, we discuss the application perspectives of neural networks in remote sensing image analysis. Remotely sensed images are major sources of data and information that are used in various fields such as environmental studies, forest management, and urban change detection etc. So far many efforts have been performed to extract information from remotely sensed images and various methods have been developed in this field. One of the main approaches is quantitative analysis (digital interpretation). Among digital techniques, classification is a common and powerful information extraction method, which is used in remote sensing. There are two techniques that are used for classification in pattern recognition such as Supervised Classification and Unsupervised Classification. In supervised learning technique the network knows about the target and it has to change accordingly to get the desired output corresponding to the presented input sample data. Most of the previous work has already been done on supervised classification. In this study we are going to present the classification of satellite images using Unsupervised classification method of ANN. [Dharmbeer Singh, Gaurav Sharma, Garima Bhardwaj. Application of Artificial Neural Network to Satellite Images Classification. Academia Arena, 2012;4(4):1-4] (ISSN 1553-992X). http://www.sciencepub. net. 1
Exploiting Channel-Aware Reputation System against Malicious Packet Dropping in WSNs

: Numerous WSNs are deployed in unattended and even unfriendly conditions to perform mission-basic assignments, for example, combat zone observation and country security checking. This paper takes a particular kind of DoS attack known as selective forwarding attack that can maliciously drop a subset of forwarding packets to degrade network performance and integrity. Though the changeable wireless channel in WSNs, the packet loss rate throughout the communication of sensor nodes may be high and vary from time to time. In this paper, we propose a channel-aware reputation system with adaptive detection threshold (CRS-A) to detect selective forwarding attacks in WSNs. The CRS-A classifies the data forwarding behaviours of sensor nodes, by supervising the packet loss and the estimated normal loss. Optimize the detection accuracy of CRS-A, using optimal threshold for forwarding assessment. Although ,an attack-tolerant data forwarding method is developed to participate with CRS-A for encouraging the forwarding cooperation of arbitrary nodes and increasing the data delivery ratio of the network. Contribution work is in this CRS-A system, providing the authentication of nodes in the multi-hop dynamic source routing in wireless sensor network. Another one is, saves the energy of sensor nodes within the detection of malicious node and forward data packet in mobile ad-hoc network. Commitment work is in this CRS-A framework, amass key pre-appropriation conspire usage, with the end goal that there is an exceptional key, called path key, to ensure information transmitted in the whole steering way. Another one is, saves the energy of sensor nodes within the detection of malicious node and forward data packet in mobile ad-hoc network.
Using Dynamic Modulus Test as a Tool to Determine Resistance of Asphalt Concrete to Moisture Damage

Modulus of asphalt concrete mixes has been considered among the most important properties measured for this material. Results from dynamic modulus (DM) testing provide the fundamental material properties used with the newly developed Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide. This study was conducted to evaluate potential of DM test in discriminating the behavior of poorly performing mixes from well-performing mixes in regard to moisture damage. Two different siliceous gravel aggregate sources were utilized to prepare asphalt concrete mixes. The specimens were first tested for dynamic modulus under dry conditions. They were subsequently exposed to vacuum saturation while submerged in water, followed by one freeze-thaw cycle with a total duration of 40 hours. These conditioned specimens were tested for dynamic modulus and then were placed under a second round of freeze-thaw conditioning. The specimens were tested again for dynamic modulus. This sequence of testing and conditioning was repeated three times. Testing was conducted at 25C and loading frequencies of 10, 5, 2, and 1 Hz. Testing results showed damaging effect on modulus of both kinds of tested specimens after experiencing cycles of freeze-thaw conditioning process. Furthermore, when assessing the resistance of the mixes to moisture damage, the results based on ratio of moduli did not match those from the tensile strength ratio (TSR). Dynamic modulus testing with repeated freeze-thaw cycles maybe a better predictor of moisture damage susceptibility than tensile strength ratio and its potential to do so could only be evaluated through field comparisons, which was not part of this study.
Energetic constraints and male mate-securing tactics in the damselfly Calopteryx splendens xanthostoma (Charpentier)

Males of the damselfly Calopteryx splendens xanthostoma (Charpentier) demonstrate territorial and non-territorial mate securing tactics. Non-territorial males obtain a territory in one of two ways: they either wait for a territory to become vacant, or they fight with and displace a territory holder. The estimated reproductive success of territorial males was a thousand times greater than that of non-territorial males, suggesting that males should fight hard to become, and remain, territorial. Our results show that the ability to win fights, and therefore be territorial, is dependent on energy reserves (fat). Energy reserves were correlated with the age of the individual. Young, pre-territorial, males had excess fat; territorial males that had gained their territory by fighting had intermediate fat reserves; older males that had been displaced from a territory had very low levels of fat. Previous studies of calopterygid territoriality have suggested that resident-intruder or other uncorrelated asymmetries are important in determining the outcome of a conflict. We provide an alternative explanation centring around Grafen’s (1987) ‘desperado’ effect and the energy constraint on a male’s ability to obtain a territory.
IT projects success factors: a literature review

Information Technology (IT) projects are enablers of organizational transformation and business growth. Despite the contribution of methodologies and frameworks for project management, the ratio of failed IT projects remains high; then, studying critical success factors of IT projects persist as an essential issue for researches and practitioners. This paper presents a systematic literature review focused on compiling and synthesizing project success factors in IT projects. The literature search was conducted using primary journal articles until 2017. All studies agree on the relevance of studying the critical success factors in IT projects given their particular characteristics. The results indicate there is no clear definition of project success concept; our review consolidates the IT success criteria into time, budget, project management, system quality, user satisfaction, and economic value. Also, there a vast and overlapped list of factors; so, this research proposes a structure that synthesizes the most referenced critical factors that have in common soft attributes as involvement, support, communication, and commitment. Findings reinforce the relevance of soft skills in IT project teams.
Review of Upper Limb Exoskeleton for Rehabilitation and Assistive Application

The unremitting trends of the elderly population have contributed to the aging society in many countries. In present, one-fifth of the population will be an elderly population which is more than the working-age population. Moreover, according to Ministry of Public Health of Thailand, the statistics showing that in 2025 Thailand is going into the aged society which elderly population will increase to 25% or about 14M people from 72M people by that year but in the other way lack therapist which is about 0.01% of the population affect the rehabilitation process. Therefore, the assistive device as the exoskeletons will be playing a crucial role as rehabilitation for people [1]-[3] and power-assistant [4]-[6], who have a problem with controlling their muscle. In the field of a factory or heavy workers, elder people, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients or others symptom, the power-assist exoskeleton will able the user to work more efficiently or able to do some activity in daily life such as in this research from K. Kazuo, et al. [7]. They develop an exoskeleton that helps to apply forces to the user’s motion in order to perform some action such as eating.
Optimization of Software Reuse in Agile Software Development (OSRAD)

Software reuse plays a major role in agile software development. In the modern changing world, software development faces lot of challenges and the speed of the software development need to be increased. Reusability of existing components will reduce the time, cost and improve the productivity. Reusability in Agile development process helps to avoid the repetition of same work. In this paper a measure is taken to reuse the existing component and parallel development of same component in multiple projects is implemented. Different role of the agile project development is analyzed and the developer developing same component works for multiple projects. Finally the role of full stack developer in agile software development is also analyzed.
Tagging and Mapping Scab Resistance Genes from R12740-7A Apple

ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS. Venturia inaequalis, RAPD markers, V r , V x , SSR, STS, Malus ABSTRACT. The genetic basis of resistance to apple scab (Venturia inaequalis (Cke.) Wint. ) in the Russian apple seedling R12740-7A (Malus Mill. sp.) was investigated. Segregation ratios obtained in crosses with susceptible cultivars suggested that at least two genes were involved, and three foliar resistance reactions (chlorotic, stellate necrotic, and pit type) were observed after inoculation. DNA markers were identified for both the stellate necrotic (Vr) and pit type (no locus designation, Vx suggested) resistance phenotypes. Comparison of resistance phenotypes with marker segregation demonstrated that only two major dominant genes were present in R12740-7A, one producing the stellate necrotic lesion and the other the pit-type lesion. The chlorotic lesion could be attributed to either unclear expression of the resistance phenotype or to susceptible genotypes not contracting the disease. These markers along with a previously published marker for Vf were used to analyze inheritance of resistance in a Vr x Vf cross in advanced breeding material. The markers identified successfully all susceptible progeny, as well as apparent escapes and individuals possessing both Vf and Vr. Thus, the markers should be useful in future screening of segregating progeny and in the pyramiding of scab resistance genes in new cultivars.
Growth and rapid early development of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis)

Abstract Body growth of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) was described from measurements of known-age live and dead individuals to gain insights into the nutritional needs and life-history strategies of this endangered species. Body lengths from 154 individuals revealed that calves more than doubled in size and attained three-fourths of asymptotic adult size by the time they had weaned at 12 months. Calves gained on average ∼1.7 cm and ∼34 kg per day while nursing during this extremely rapid growth phase. Mean predicted lengths and body mass were 4.2 m and 1.1 metric tons (mt) at birth, 10.3 m and 13.5 mt at weaning, and 13.6 m and 29.6 mt when fully grown. Growth of right whales was best described using a 2-phased Gompertz growth model and could not be fit using any of the single continuous growth models commonly used for other mammals. Rapid growth during dependency may minimize the risk of predation and maximize calf survival. Rapid calf growth also may maximize development of the mouth and baleen to optimize foraging efficiency of juveniles at the time of weaning, as well as improve reproductive fitness by reducing the age at which sexual maturity is attained. However, transferring the amount of energy needed to support the rapid postnatal growth of North Atlantic right whales may ultimately affect the intervals between pregnancies (>3 years) of mature females.
Habitat selection by, and carrying capacity for, the Critically Endangered black-faced lion tamarin Leontopithecus caissara (Primates: Callitrichidae)

Abstract The Critically Endangered black-faced lion tamarin Leontopithecus caissara has a restricted distribution consisting of small mainland and island populations each with distinct habitats in coastal south-eastern Brazil. The conservation action plan for the species recommends translocation to increase population size and promote genetic exchange among threatened isolated populations, measures that require an understanding of habitat and resource requirements. We investigated habitat selection by the black-faced lion tamarin, comparing habitats and examining frequency of use by two insular groups and two mainland groups. Using this understanding of habitat preferences we were able to refine current estimates of the carrying capacity (K) for this species. Habitats preferred by mainland groups were swamps and inundated areas and secondary forest. Submontane forest was avoided, as were hydromorphic lowland forest and urbanized areas. Island groups used mainly tall lowland forest and arboreal restinga (forest on sandy soil). The finding that L. caissara avoids montane forest sheds light on its restricted distribution to low elevation coastal plains. An estimate of K indicated c. 700 individuals, which could be increased to c. 1,500 with appropriate conservation management measures. Findings agree with the supposition that lion tamarins are typical of mature Atlantic forest, with little altitudinal variation but flexible in their use of successional stages. Future conservation management measures should account for differences in habitat use, selection and differences between island and mainland habitats.
Estimating time‐to‐gravid for a freshwater mussel, Utterbackia imbecillis (Unionidae), after temperature conditioning in the laboratory

The juvenile of Utterbackia imbecillis has recently become an important toxicity test organism. However, in temperate climates, gravid U. imbecillis are not readily available during many months of the year, especially if shoreline collection methods are used. This shortage of gravid mussels presents a logistical problem for use of juvenile U. imbecillis as toxicity test organisms. Therefore, this study was designed to test the feasibility of delaying and manipulating glochidial maturation in the laboratory through temperature control, because temperature changes seem to cue the maturation of glochidia in gravid mussels in the natural environment. The objectives of this study were to determine whether glochidial maturation can be stalled by holding adult mussels at cold temperatures, to determine if glochidial maturation could be cued by increasing water temperature at the time juveniles are needed for toxicity testing, and to predict the time required for cold‐stored mussels to become gravid (time‐to‐gravid). Results of this study suggest that glochidial maturation can be stalled by holding mussels at winter temperature. Furthermore, glochidial maturation can later be cued by increasing the water temperature. Additionally, a survival analysis method is suitable for estimating the time‐to‐gravid for cold‐stored mussels. These results should be useful for researchers requiring year‐round availability of U. imbecillis for toxicity testing.