Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Kinship and its consequences in the cooperatively breeding southern pied babbler Turdoides bicolor

Cooperative breeding occurs when more than two individuals help to raise offspring that are not their own, and has been the focus of empirical and theoretical research for over forty years. Of central importance to this work are the fitness costs and benefits of helping, and the factors limiting the reproduction of helpers. To understand these, the genetic relationship between individuals must be known. In this thesis, I use genetic and observational data to explore kinship between individuals in groups of wild Southern Pied Babblers Turdoides bicolor. Nine polymorphic microsatellite loci were used to genotype 321 individuals and, following parentage analysis, a pedigree was constructed. I used this information first to characterize the breeding system and show that it is almost completely monogamous, and successful subordinate reproduction is rare. Individuals in the group are generally closely related to one another, resulting in groups that are separate genetic entities. Although subordinates rarely successfully breed, many groups contain potential breeding partners for subordinates due to the relatively common immigration of dominants. Next, I show that inbreeding is very rare: individuals avoid sexual behaviour with known relatives, and subordinates inherit dominant breeding positions within groups only when the prospective partner is unrelated. Thus inbreeding avoidance is an important constraint on subordinate reproduction. Sex-biased dispersal does not function as an inbreeding avoidance mechanism; rather, recognition of those individuals known from the natal group (associative learning) appears to drive inbreeding avoidance. I then explore reproductive conflict within groups. Subordinates show interest in breeding only when there is a suitable unrelated potential breeding partner in the group. Physical condition does not affect whether potentially competitive subordinates show interest in breeding, although female subordinates were less likely to engage in competition when they were closely related to the dominant female. Female subordinates that are potential competitors impose a cost on dominants through delays in the onset of the breeding season, likely by way of the destruction of the dominant female’s eggs. Dominants of both sexes respond to subordinate competition for reproduction by increased aggression during the fertile period. Finally, I show that changes in relatedness between donors and recipients of help do not affect the amount of food that is given to chicks, thus providing no support for indirect kin-selected benefits as a primary cause of helping behaviour in this species. Un ive rsi ty of Ca pe To wn
Knowledge, Attitude and Awareness to Dental Caries Among Indian Children and Adolescents: A Case-Control Study

Objective: To assess paternal education, parental occupation, family income, level of knowledge and to determine the attitude and awareness of cases and controls in relation to dental caries and its risk factors in 6-18 years old respondents. Material and Methods: A case-control study was carried out in the outpatient Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry. A total of 800 subjects, 400 each in case and control group were enrolled. The cases were subjects in designated age group with dental caries while controls were subjects without dental caries but matched with the cases on three confounding factors – age, sex, and religion. Multivariate logistic regression was used, with a significance level set at 5%. Results: Paternal education [illiterate (p=0.002), high school (p=0.005), intermediate (p=0.001), graduate (p=0.002)], family income per month [2000 INR (30 USD) (p=0.016); 5000-10,000 INR (75USD -145 USD) (p=0.035)], attitude of short visit duration to dentist (p<0.001), knowledge about sweets causing dental caries (p<0.001), awareness about symptoms of dental caries (p<0.001) and need of lifestyle change (p<0.001) were significantly associated with dental caries. Conclusion: The present research showed that in cases, knowledge was higher as compared to controls whereas contrasting results were observed with attitude and awareness. These results necessitate an urgent need of national programme integrated with primary health care under school health and community outreach programmes, so as to encourage the population to adopt and as well as sustain dental health promoting lifestyles and practices and help in reducing the disease burden.
Effect of orange peel essential oil and thermotolerance acquisition on oxidative stress parameters of liver, heart and spleen in heat stressed Japanese quails.

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of orange peel essential oil intake by feed and thermotolerance acquisition by early age treatments on antioxidant status of liver, heart and spleen in Japanese quails which subjected to acute heat stress. 168 seven-day-old quail chicks were randomly assigned to six groups as the control; thermal conditioning and fasting for 24 h fed with basal feed or 300 ppm orange peel essential oil added feed. Acute heat stress at marketing age was affected antioxidant systems of selected organs. Orange peel essential oil supplementation decreased Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels while no effect was observed on enzyme activities. Fasting and thermal conditioning at early age negatively affected the antioxidant status of selected organs. Orange peel essential oil may prevent tissues from lipid peroxidation and can be used as a natural antioxidant supplement in heat stress.
Selecting indicator species habitat description and sustainable land utilization: a case study in a Mediterranean delta.

In this study, we have used an innovative method instead of the classical methods to understand whether species could be utilized as indicators for habitat description. The targeted insect groups, which have been found to have more likelihood to contain indicator species, were chosen among the species spending most of their life cycles in the soil surface layer in Cukurova river delta in the Adana province in southern Turkey. The experiments were conducted in both 2003 and 2004. The insect species, caught by pitfall traps, which were set up in five different biotopes, were tested using the Indicator Species Analysis to find out whether they have indicator values for habitat description. There are been seven insect species found that have statistical significance as indicator species for a habitat description. © 2010 Friends Science Publishers
Two-channel model based adaptive schlieren detection algorithm for BOS system

: A schlieren detection algorithm is proposed for the ground-to-air background oriented schlieren (BOS) system to achieve high-speed airplane shock waves visualization. The proposed method consists of three steps. Firstly, image registration is incorporated for reducing errors caused by the camera motion. Then, the background subtraction dual-model single Gaussian model (BS-DSGM) is proposed to build a precise background model. The BS-DSGM could prevent the background model from being contaminated by the shock waves. Finally, the two-dimensional orthogonal discrete wavelet transformation is used to extract schlieren information and averaging schlieren data. Experimental results show our proposed algorithm is able to detect the aircraft in- ﬂ ight and to extract the schlieren information. The precision of schlieren detection algorithm is 0.96. Three image quality evaluation indices are chosen for quantitative analysis of the shock waves visualization. The white Gaussian noise is added in the frames to validate the robustness of the proposed algorithm. Moreover, we adopt two times and four times down sampling to simulate different imaging distances for revealing how the imaging distance affects the schlieren information in the BOS system.
The dynamics of the globular cluster M22 (NGC 6656)

Abstract We have used the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations to measure proper motion of the globular cluster NGC 6656 (M22) with respect to the background bulge stars and its internal velocity dispersion profile. Based on the proper motion of the clusters, its space velocity and orbit are also calculated. The central velocity dispersion in radial and tangential components of the internal motion of cluster stars is 16.99 km s−1. We derive the mass-to-light ratio M/LV∼3.3 ± 0.2 which is relatively higher than the previous works.
Genetic Variants of a 1-Antitrypsin

antitrypsin (￻ 1-AT) is a 52 kDa sialoglycoprotein. The function of ￻ 1-antitrypsin is to protect the lower res- piratory tract of lungs from proteolytic degradation by neutrophil elastase. Severe genetic deficiency of ￻ 1-AT is associ- ated with early onset emphysema and liver diseases. ￻ 1-AT also exhibits anti-inflammatory activities independent of its protease inhibitor function. There are over 90 genetic variants of human ￻ 1-antitrypsin. These variants occur due to amino acid substitution / deletion which results in charge differences. Based on charge differences these variants have been iden- tified by isoelectric focusing. The two most common deficiency variants are S and Z. The S variant migrates anodal to Z variant. The Z variant migrates most cathodal in isoelectric focusing, hence named Z. In Z variant, the ￻ -sheet A under- goes expansion , therefore it can easily accepts the reactive site loop of a second ￻ 1-AT molecule and consequently form polymers of ￻ 1-AT. These polymers of ￻ 1-AT aggregate in the hepatocytes and show liver and lungs diseases. Contrary to this, the S variant of ￻ 1-AT is not associated with any significant clinical disease because the conformation of the inhibitor is not altered significantly. The Z related pathologies could be treated by liver transplantation, augmentation therapy, gene therapy, peptide therapy and chemical chaperone therapy. In addition to common deficiency variants, there are several rare deficiency variants of ￻ 1-AT like Siiyama , Mmalton , Mprocida, Mheerlen, Mmineral springs, Mnichinan, Pduarte, Wbethesda Zaugsberg, and Zbristol. In Siiyama , Mmalton , Mnichinan and Zaugsberg, the ￻ -sheet A is present in an open state therefore these variants readily undergo polymerization and consequently show aggregation in the hepatocytes. In Mprocida, Mheerlen, Mmineral springs, Pduarte and Wbethesda the conformation is altered significantly therefore these variants become conformationally less stable and thereby undergo intracellular proteolysis. These rare genetic vari- ants show lungs and / or liver disease. There are several null variants of ￻ 1-AT that are not detected either at the stage of transcription or translation. The examples of some of the null variants are QOcardiff, QOhong kong, QOgranite falls, QObellingham, QOmattawa, QObolton, and QOludwigshafen. The molecular basis of deficiency of these variants also form the theme of this review.
Antimicrobial susceptibility and proposed microbiological cut-off values of lactobacilli by phenotypic determination

This article summarizes published and unpublished data of antibiotic resistances in strains (n = 675) of fourteen Lactobacillus species. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined against antibiotics representing different classes, namely ampicillin (penicillins), tetracycline (tetracyclines), gentamicin and streptomycin (aminoglycosides), and erythromycin and clindamycin (macrolide-lincosamide-and streptogramin B group, MLSB). The Lactobacillus species under study included the L. delbrueckii group (n = 218), L. plantarum (n = 121), L. sakei (n = 83), L. rhamnosus (n = 75), L. paracasei (n = 66, including one L. casei), L. reuteri (n = 56) and L. fermentum (n = 56). The strains were of human, animal and food origin. The MICs were determined with microdilution and/or Etest methods using LSM (Lactic acid bacteria susceptibility test medium) agar and broth. In general, the results obtained with the microdilution method were one or two dilution steps higher than with the E-test. Accordingly, tentative microbiological cut-off values are given separately according to the method and species used. A vast majority of the strains were phenotypically susceptible to ampicillin and erythromycin, whereas many species showed a wide range of MICs for tetracycline. A broad range in distribution of MICs was also observed with aminoglycosides and clindamycin, especially in L. plantarum.
Logic-based artificial intelligence in systems for monitoring the enforcing traffic regulations

The paper touches upon the issues of monitoring and assessment of driver’s actions during driving. Its key idea is to prove that currently there are all necessary conditions to develop control systems of traffic regulations based on artificial intelligence with logical reasoning. The article gives a detailed analysis of advanced driver-assistance systems from the world’s leading companies and pays attention to the advantages and disadvantages of such solutions. As an engineering approach to solving the identified problems, it is proposed to use Mivar expert system. The purpose of this decision is to monitor the enforcing traffic regulations and inform the driver about violations. The article proposes the concept of practical implementation of Mivar system included in the driver assistance system. We conclude that Mivar approach provides excellent opportunities for creating the control system for monitoring the enforcing traffic regulations. The proposed solution can be used for reducing the number of accidents caused by drivers.
Growth of intermediate mass black holes in first star clusters

Abstract We study runaway stellar collisions in primordial star clusters and formation of intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs). Using cosmological simulations, we identify eight atomic-cooling halos in which the star clusters form. We follow stellar and dark matter (DM) dynamics for 3Myr using hybrid N-body simulations. We find that the runaway stellar collisions occur in all star clusters and IMBHs with masses ∼400–1900M⊙ form. Performing additional N-body simulations, we explore evolutions of the IMBHs in the star clusters for 15 Myr. The IMBH masses grow via stellar tidal disruption events (TDEs) to ∼700–2500 M⊙. The TDE rates are ∼0.3–1.3 Myr−1. DM motions affect the star cluster evolutions and reduce the TDE rates. The IMBHs may subsequently grow to SMBHs by gas supply through galaxy mergers or large-scale gas inflows, or they may remain within or around the clusters.
Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on decrease of symptoms of depression, rumination and emotion regulation in pregnant women

Aim: The purpose of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of Mindedness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on reducing the symptoms of depression, rumination, and emotion regulation in pregnant women. Method: A quasi-experimental design with pre-test, post-test and a one month followup with control group was used. The statistical population included 500 pregnant women referred to health centers in the town of Ghorveh in Sanandaj province in Iran who were one to six months pregnant. Through available sampling method, 263 women who met the inclusion criteria were selected and out if these, 30 participants were randomly assigned to two groups of MBCT or control. Research tools were Beck’s (1996) Depression InventoryII, Rumination Response Scale (Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross & John, 2003) and the MBCT program which was adapted from Segal, Williams, & Teasdale (2018) and Dimidjian, Goodman, Felder, Gallop, Brown, & Beck (2016). This was administered to the experimental group during eight weekly, 90-minute sessions and collected data was analyzed using mixed model repeated measures analysis of variance. Results: Findings showed that MBCT had a significant effect on improving depression symptoms (F= 55.06, P= 0.001), rumination (F= 25.88, P= 0.001), and emotion regulation subscales including cognitive reappraisal (F= 9.27, P= 0.02), and suppression (F= 4.69, P= 0.036), and treatment gains were maintained at follow-up. Conclusion: This method can be used as a low-cost and effective treatment for the treatment of emotional disorders and improving the psychological status of pregnant women.
Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in binary rich star clusters

Abstract Three-body interactions of stellar-mass binaries with intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) in nuclei of globular clusters may produce specific features that may serve as an independent indicator of existence of the IMBHs. By means of direct N-body integrations we follow the dynamical evolution of globular clusters of moderate extension and mass with 50% binary population over a time span of ≍ 0.8 Gyr and compare the cases with and without the primordial binaries as well as with and without the IMBH. We show that (i) presence of the IMBH leads to rapid formation of a density cusp regardless of the initial binary fraction, (ii) binary rich clusters with the IMBH produce high velocity escapers at a rate of ≍ 0.1 Myr−1 and (iii) clusters hosting an IMBH together with high number of binaries form a denser halo of marginally unbound stars than clusters that lack either the IMBH or the binary population.
Propaganda as a weapon and a tool of totalitarian power: The image of the concept in the common discourse of the war and occupation years 1939–1945

Propaganda as a weapon and a tool of totalitarian power: The image of the concept in the common discourse of the war and occupation years 1939–1945The author of the article describes the ways of conceptualizing Nazi totalitarian propaganda during the Second World War 1939–1945 in occupied Poland. This totalitarian discourse created many defense mechanisms on the level of colloquial knowledge, humor directed against the occupant, and was the object of counter-propaganda activities conducted by Polish underground organizations. This article describes a fragment of the “anti-totalitarian discourse” that emerges from the diaries and journals of the period described.
The human β‐globin locus control region

The human β-globin gene locus is the subject of intense study, and over the past two decades a wealth of information has accumulated on how tissue-specific and stage-specific expression of its genes is achieved. The data are extensive and it would be difficult, if not impossible, to formulate a comprehensive model integrating every aspect of what is currently known. In this review, we introduce the fundamental characteristics of globin locus regulation as well as questions on which much of the current research is predicated. We then outline a hypothesis that encompasses more recent results, focusing on the modification of higher-order chromatin structure and recruitment of transcription complexes to the globin locus. The essence of this hypothesis is that the locus control region (LCR) is a genetic entity highly accessible to and capable of recruiting, with great efficiency, chromatin-modifying, coactivator, and transcription complexes. These complexes are used to establish accessible chromatin domains, allowing basal factors to be loaded on to specific globin gene promoters in a developmental stage-specific manner. We conceptually divide this process into four steps: (a) generation of a highly accessible LCR holocomplex; (b)␣recruitment of transcription and chromatin-modifying complexes to the LCR; (c) establishment of chromatin domains permissive for transcription; (d) transfer of transcription complexes to globin gene promoters.
Reproductive strategies and colony relatedness in the invasive ponerine ant Pachycondyla chinensis (Emery)

ii DEDICATION . v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . vi TABLE OF CONTENTS . vii LIST OF TABLES . x LIST OF FIGURES . xv INTRODUCTION . 1 CHAPTER ONE LITERATURE REVIEW.5 Invasion of the Southern Atlantic United States . 5 Description and Nomenclature . 6 Biology and Life History . 12 Medical Importance . 16 Reproduction in Ancestral State Ants . 17 CHAPTER TWO VERIFICATION OF THE UTILITY OF FOUR MICROSATELLITE LOCI FOUND IN THE PONERINE ANT PACHYCONDYLA CHINENSIS (EMERY) (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) . 2
Epigenetic Determinants of CD8+ T Cell Exhaustion

T cell exhaustion describes an acquired dysfunction common in settings of chronic viral infection. Despite clinical efforts to rescue exhaustion, the fundamental mechanisms specifying this state, and the potential for reprogramming exhausted T cells, remain poorly understood. Since the epigenome can govern cell state, we profiled accessible chromatin in exhausted CD8+ T cells. Exhausted cells acquired a state-specific landscape of enhancers that profoundly differed from functional memory. Comparison of mouse cells to those isolated from HCV and HIV infection identified a conserved epigenetic program of exhaustion. Critically, CD8+ tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) also shared epigenetic and transcriptional features with chronic viral infection, suggesting that T cell exhaustion is a fundamental adaptation to settings of chronic stimulation. Having established that exhausted T cells acquire distinct regulatory regions, we then asked whether that epigenetic state is fixed or plastic following resolution of chronic infection. Longitudinal analysis of HCV-specific CD8+ T cells after curative therapy showed that canonical features of exhaustion, including super-enhancers near key transcription factors, were fixed and did not resolve long-term. Furthermore, anti-PD-1 therapy, which is thought to reinvigorate exhausted TILs by blocking inhibitory signaling, could not reverse the exhausted epigenetic profile. T cell exhaustion is therefore a stable epigenetic state that is not rescued by common treatment modalities. We then sought new strategies to modulate T cell exhaustion. First, we used Cas9mediated genome editing of an exhaustion-specific enhancer to show its requirement for
FLEXPUB: Developing a Strategy for Flexible and Innovative e-Services

Developing innovative and flexible public e-services, capable of adapting to the citizens’ changing needs, has become crucial for public administrations. To help them with these challenges, the FLEXPUB research project aims at developing a federal Strategy for the implementation of flexible and innovative geographical public e-services. In order to develop this Strategy, a baseline measurement of the existing federal administrations’ practices in terms of geographical e-services was conducted, and was complemented with an analysis of the deriving stakeholders’ requirements. To guide the federal administration along the way, a twelve years (2018-2030) Strategy was created, as a framework that lays the foundations enabling a federal administration to build flexible and innovative e-services, by relying on three pillars (Openness, Participation and Collaboration) and one key fundament: Geo-orientation. Openness implies rethinking the information management system; ensuring sustainable funding for public data quality and up-to-dateness; and guaranteeing personal data protection and security. Participation implies aligning with internal stakeholders; integrating the input from citizens and external users; and developing the appropriate methods and tools. Collaboration implies rethinking organisational structures to actively serve the end-user; strengthening coordination and sharing practices within a single administration; and building on common service and data approaches to stimulate cooperation across public administrations. Finally, Geo-orientation underlies these three pillars.