Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Range edges in heterogeneous landscapes: Integrating geographic scale and climate complexity into range dynamics

The impacts of climate change have re‐energized interest in understanding the role of climate in setting species geographic range edges. Despite the strong focus on species' distributions in ecology and evolution, defining a species range edge is theoretically and empirically difficult. The challenge of determining a range edge and its relationship to climate is in part driven by the nested nature of geography and the multidimensionality of climate, which together generate complex patterns of both climate and biotic distributions across landscapes. Because range‐limiting processes occur in both geographic and climate space, the relationship between these two spaces plays a critical role in setting range limits. With both conceptual and empirical support, we argue that three factors—climate heterogeneity, collinearity among climate variables, and spatial scale—interact to shape the spatial structure of range edges along climate gradients, and we discuss several ways that these factors influence the stability of species range edges with a changing climate. We demonstrate that geographic and climate edges are often not concordant across species ranges. Furthermore, high climate heterogeneity and low climate collinearity across landscapes increase the spectrum of possible relationships between geographic and climatic space, suggesting that geographic range edges and climatic niche limits correspond less frequently than we may expect. More empirical explorations of how the complexity of real landscapes shapes the ecological and evolutionary processes that determine species range edges will advance the development of range limit theory and its applications to biodiversity conservation in the context of changing climate.
Coherence of Matter and Light Waves in Localizing Media

The phenomena of coherence and localization have gained enormous research interest during the past decades. Theoretical predictions of localization have been confirmed recently in a variety of experiments in the fields of condensed matter physics and optics. We consider the widely employed model of the one-dimensional discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation which allows for the investigation of localization of linear and nonlinear waves. We establish a generic connection between coherence and localization by showing that localized solutions are necessarily coherent. The effects of a loss of coherence are investigated numerically by applying random dephasing. The onset of a diffusive spreading regime is observed as a generic feature for persistent dephasing, which eventually destroys localization. After finite integration times maximal delocalization is achieved for a certain rate and strength of dephasing, resulting from the competition between destroying the initial wave packet on the one hand and not suppressing spreading too much on the other. When dephasing is switched off at a certain time, a loss or gain of coherence in linear wave packets directly corresponds to delocalization or stronger localization. This leads to stable partially coherent wave packets. In contrast, localization of nonlinear waves after dephasing is connected to the efforts of establishing complete coherence, at least for asymptotically long times. On intermediate time scales, however, various interesting partially coherent regimes can be observed.
Size and Causes of the Occupational Gender Wage‐gap in the Netherlands

Research from the United States consistently shows that female-dominated occupations generally yield lower wages than male-dominated occupations. Using detailed occupational data, this study analyses the size andcauses of this occupational genderwage-gap in the Dutch labourmarket using multi-levelmodelling techniques.The analyses showthat bothmen andwomen earn lowerwages if they are employed in female-dominated occupations. This especially indicates the signi¢cance of gender inWestern labour markets, since overall levels of wage inequality are relatively small in the Netherlands compared to, for example, the United Kingdom and the United States. Diierences in required responsibility are particularly important in accounting for this occupational wage-gap. Nonetheless, we find large wage penalties for working in a female-dominated instead of a maledominated occupation for occupations that require high levels of education, skills, and responsibility.
Shift of Aromatic Profile in Probiotic Hemp Drink Formulations: A Metabolomic Approach

Vegetal drinks as a substitute for milk consumption are raising striking interest in the food industry. Soy and rice drinks are the most successful milk substitutes but are low in protein and fiber contents, are rich in sugars, and their cultivation systems are unsustainable; thus, alternative vegetal sources to resolve these limits must be found. A winning candidate could be hemp seed, which is a powerhouse of nutrients, is sugarless, rich in fiber and proteins, and little land and nutrients demanding. The aim is to develop novel drinks obtained from hemp seeds mixed or not with soy and rice and fermented with probiotics (Lactobacillus fermentum, Lb. plantarum, and Bifidobacterium bifidum). The drinks were characterized for their microbial growth, by means of culture-dependent and -independent techniques, and for their volatilome, by means of solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS) analysis. The results showed that hemp seed drinks have a specific aroma and its compounds are dependent on the type of formulation and to the probiotic used. For example, in hemp seed drinks, 2-heptanol, 2-methyl, 2,4-decadienal, 2-butanone, 3-hydroxy, 2,3-butanedione, and propanoic acid were fine descriptors of probiotics fermentations. Multivariate analysis of volatile metabolites and their correlation to some physiological parameters and nutritional values offered a novel approach to assess the quality of functional hemp drinks which could result in a decisional tool for industrial applications.
Transparent Hemicellulose-DWCNT Electrode

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene have shown promising potential as next-generation transparent conducting materials due to their high electrical and thermal conductance, flexibility and transparency in both visible and infrared spectral regions. In this study transparent and conductive thin films with a novel hemicellulose and double-walled carbon nanotube (HC-DWCNT) hybrid material were produced with spray-coating, droplet casting and vacuum filtration deposition methods. HC-DWCNT material is easily dispersed in water and usable for mass-production. These films showed good conductivity, stability at ambient air, very good transparency in the visible and excellent transparency in the infrared spectral regions while having few percent haze. The best sample had sheet resistance of 115 ± 9 Ω/sq and direct transmittance of 81.6 % at 550 nm wavelength. The properties of the prepared films were compared to CNT, graphene and their hybrid films reported by research groups by reviewing their fabrication methods and film performances. While many of these other films have shown higher shortterm quality, it was found that the performances of HC-DWCNT films were quite promising for future development considering the stability of the films and the fact that dopants or post-treatments were not used for enhancing the performance of the best samples.
Determining Soil Bulk Density for Carbon Stock Calculations: A Systematic Method Comparison

Accurate and effective determination of soil bulk density (BD) is needed to monitor soil organic C (SOC) stocks and SOC stock changes. However, BD measurements are often lacking in soil inventories and BD is estimated by pedotransfer functions with substantial uncertainty. In a systematic method comparison, we evaluated different methods for BD determination in the field by comparing the performance of MINI (5 cm3) and BIG (250 cm3) sample rings and of three driving hammer probes differing in diameter, material, and extraction method. Bulk density determined with 100-cm3 sample rings was defined as the reference method (REF). All methods were tested at five depth increments in nine subplots at four sites with differing soil texture and SOC content. All methods determined BD in the depth increments with low systematic error (8% for probes and 2% for sample rings). The random error of the probe samples was, on average, 50% higher than that of the ring samples when the cores of the probes were adequately corrected for compaction or stretching. The BD was significantly overestimated (by 2%) when determined with MINI rings, and the variation in BD was not reduced with BIG sample rings rather than the smaller REF sample rings. The performance of the driving hammer technique varied widely among probe types and sites. The sheath probe had the smallest systematic error of all probes tested and is recommended for soil inventories. All methods for estimating BD had smaller errors than pedotransfer functions.
Morpho-physiological and Molecular Variability in Salt Tolerant and Susceptible Popular Cultivars and their Derivatives at Seedling Stage and Potential Parental Combinations in Breeding for Salt Tolerance in Rice

Saltol, a major QTL for salt exclusion, was derived from ‘Pokkali’, a salt-tolerant rice cultivar. Apart from Pokkali, many genotypes with wide variation for salinity tolerance offer ample scope for identifying new genes or QTLs underlying various tolerance mechanisms. Such genes could be aggregated into high-yielding backgrounds to reinforce a breeding programme. To identify potential donors for salt tolerance and prospective parental combinations for developing high-yielding salt-tolerant cultivars, ten genotypes were subjected to salt stress and evaluated for morpho-physiological traits and marker-allele polymorphism in the Saltol-QTL region. Although the salt-susceptible high-yielding varieties clustered together in a 3-D plot, principal component analysis showed marked spatial isolation among the tolerant genotypes. Unlike Pokkali and its derivative FL496, Rahspunjar maintained a higher level of K+ despite high Na+ influx in shoots. The wider genetic distances observed at both phenotypic and genotypic levels suggest the possibility of getting transgressive segregants among the offspring of crosses between Rahspunjar and Gayatri or Swarna Sub1. Similarly, SR 26B, which coped with the stress by diluting the Na+ load by maintaining a higher growth rate, differed from Pokkali or Nona Bokra: these two coped with the stress by regulating the transmission of Na+ from roots to photosynthetically active sites. The F2:3 population derived from Savitri × SR 26B showed wide morpho-physiological diversity for salt tolerance. SR 26B was the most distant genotype from Pokkali in the Saltol QTL region and was salt tolerant despite the absence of Pokkali alleles in this region.
Screening of cotton genotypes against leafhopper, Amrasca biguttula biguttula (Ishida) (Homoptera: Cicadellidae)

The study was conducted for preliminary screening trial of 350 cotton genotypes for relative susceptibility/resistance against leafhopper, Amrasca biguttula biguttula (Ishida) laid out in Department of Cotton, TNAU, Coimbatore during 2014-2015. Among the 350 genotypes screened, no genotypes were found to be resistant, 50 genotypes were categorized as tolerant, 158 genotypes moderately tolerant, 91 genotypes susceptible and 51 genotypes highly susceptible against leafhopper with a population ranged from 0.10 to 0.78, 0.79 to 1.57, 1.58 to 2.36 and 2.37 to 6.25 leafhopper/3 leaves/plant respectively based on the standard deviation value. The trichomes were compared against leafhoppers, incidence of leafhopper was less in high hairy varieties whereas high in less hairy varieties.
Tactile Robotic Skin with Pressure Direction Detection

Tactile sensing is the current challenge in robotics and object manipulation by machines. The robot’s agile interaction with the environment requires pressure sensors to detect not only location and value, but also touch direction. The paper presents a new, two-layer construction of artificial robotic skin, which allows measuring the location, value, and direction of pressure from external force. The main advantages of the proposed solution are its low cost of implementation based on two FSR (Force Sensitive Resistor) matrices and real-time operation thanks to direction detection using fast matching algorithms. The main contribution is the idea of detecting the pressure direction by determining the shift between the pressure maps of the skin’s upper and lower layers. The pressure map of each layer is treated as an image and registered using a phase correlation (POC–Phase Only Correlation) method. The use of the developed device can be very wide. For example, in the field of cooperative robots, it can lead to the improvement of human machine interfaces and increased security of human–machine cooperation. The proposed construction can help meet the increasing requirements for robots in cooperation with humans, but also enable agile manipulation of objects from their surroundings.
E - Shaped Micro-strip Notched Patch Antenna for Wireless Applications

A new design of Microstrip patch antenna has been proposed for wireless communication applications. An Eshaped Microstrip Notched Antenna structure has been designed and simulated using Ansoft HFSS simulator. Low-profile, compact, easily mountable, light weight are the advantages of this antenna. The proposed antenna has compact dimensions of 30.31 mm × 25.37 mm ×1.2 mm. The proposed structure is simulated on FR4 epoxy substrate, it resonates at frequencies 3.0270 GHz, 7.2432 GHz and 9.1892 with a return loss of 16.015 dB, -21.2168 dB and -37.3031 dB respectively. VSWR of the proposed antenna lies within the acceptable values of 0.237 to 1.5283 for all resonating frequencies. The maximum achieved gain is 7.28 dB. Proposed antenna can work in S, C and X frequency bands which covers useful applications like radio location, mobile/fixed-satellite service and wireless computer networks.
Brain cortical injury induces changes in peripheral lymphocyte ectonucleotidase activities

Injury and other pathological conditions induce a massive release of ATP and ADP that initiate an immune response. Extracellular nucleotides are degraded by ectonucleotidases: enzymes from E-NTPDase and E-NPP families sequentially hydrolyze ATP and ADP to AMP, which is further hydrolyzed by ecto-5’-nucleotidase to adenosine that exerts suppressive effects on immune cells. We investigated the ectonucleotidase activities of peripheral lymphocytes at different post-injury times after an unilateral brain injury in the rat. Significant and dynamic changes in the lymphocytic ectonucleotidase activities were obtained. ATP- and ADP-hydrolysis changes, together with their calculated ratios, indicate the major contribution of E-NTPDase 1 and its comparable upregulation between sham operation and injury. AMP hydrolysis changes were more brain-injury specific, with a longer-lasting lymphocytic response induced by cortical stab injury (CSI). In summary, CSI and sham operation induce the upregulation of the whole enzyme chain for adenine nucleotide hydrolysis in lymphocytes, suggesting an important roles of ectonucleotidases in the course of recovery after brain injury. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. III41014]
Isolation and characterization of five novel probiotic strains from Korean infant and children faeces

Probiotics are dietary supplements containing viable, non-pathogenic microorganisms that interact with the gastrointestinal microflora and directly with the immune system. The possible health effects of probiotics include modulating the immune system and exerting antibacterial, anticancer, and anti-mutagenic effects. The purpose of this study was to isolate, identify, and characterize novel strains of probiotics from the faeces of Korean infants. Various assays were conducted to determine the physiological features of candidate probiotic isolates, including Gram staining, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, tolerance assays to stimulated gastric juice and bile salts, adherence ability assays, antibiotic susceptibility testing, and assays of immunomodulatory effects. Based on these morphological and biochemical characteristics, five potential probiotic isolates (Enterococcus faecalis BioE EF71, Lactobacillus fermentum BioE LF11, Lactobacillus plantarum BioE LPL59, Lactobacillus paracasei BioE LP08, and Streptococcus thermophilus BioE ST107) were selected. E. faecalis BioE EF71 and L. plantarum BioE LPL59 showed high tolerance to stimulated gastric juice and bile salts, and S. thermophilus BioE ST107 as well as these two strains exhibited stronger adherence ability than reference strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. All five strains inhibited secretion of lipopolysaccharide-induced pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α in RAW264.7 macrophages in vitro. L. fermentum BioE LF11, L. plantarum BioE LPL59, and S. thermophilus BioE ST107 enhanced the production of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Overall, our findings demonstrate that the five novel strains have potential as safe probiotics and encouraged varying degrees of immunomodulatory effects.
Technical Vocational Education in the Context of Globalization: Its Pedagogy and Strategies

Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the personal experiences of the teacher-participants in the teaching of Technology and Livelihood Education. It also ascertained and met the following objectives: 1) determine the teaching experiences of the TLE teachers; 2) to identify the training needs of TLE teachers; 3) ascertain the challenges faced by the TLE teachers; 3) discover the pedagogy and strategies used by the TLE teachers; and 4) find out the recommendations of the TLE teachers to improve the delivery of the course. Study Design: Qualitative-phenomenological approach. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in Sta Cruz National High School, Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur. The study was conducted for 6 months. Methodology: The researchers purposely chose all the Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) teachers. The information were gathered through Focus Group Discussion (FGD). Results: Six themes emerged from the data analysis. Generally, the teacher-participants found teaching of TLE subject was challenging because the activities were focused on exploration. Moreover, they felt satisfied because they were able to share their knowledge and skills to their students. It implies that the TLE teachers were committed and dedicated to their jobs despite the difficulties they encountered. However, the teacher-participants revealed that generally, they were not sent outside of the school to attend training-seminar for skills enhancement. It is an indication that the school heads lack concern for their teachers’ professional development. In addressing the challenges of the teachers, they collaborate with each other by sharing their resources. Despite the challenges they encountered, they were still optimistic to be globally competitive. It implies that the TLE teachers do not give up easily. They suggested that the school administration needed to develop the participants’ personal character so that their teaching goals were met. Conclusion: The TLE teachers loved and enjoyed their teaching jobs despite the challenges they faced. However, they clamored to the Department of Education (DepEd) to address their needs such as sending them to trainings and seminar-workshop to enhance their skills and capabilities. To show their dedication to their jobs, they brought their own tools and shared the same to other teachers. Notably, the participants only used three teaching strategies. It shows that TLE teachers lack the knowledge of other teaching strategies. The participants were optimistic that sooner or later their TLE programs are accredited and recognized locally and internationally. This implies that the participants were committed to their jobs. Ironically, they suggested that improvement of the teachers’ self was better than improving the TLE implementation. This shows that the teachers believed that materials can be easily acquired but not the attitude.
Effectuation and its implications for socio-technical design science research in information systems

We study the implications of the effectuation concept for sociotechnical artifact design as part of the design science research (DSR) process in information systems (IS). Effectuation logic is the opposite of causal logic. Effectuation does not focus on causes to achieve a particular effect, but on the possibilities that can be achieved with extant means and resources. Viewing socio-technical IS DSR through an effectuation lens highlights the possibility to design the future even without set goals. We suggest that effectuation may be a useful perspective for design in dynamic social contexts leading to a more differentiated view on the instantiation of mid-range artifacts for specific local application contexts. Design science researchers can draw on this paper’s conclusions to view their DSR projects through a fresh lens and to reexamine their research design and execution. The paper also offers avenues for future research to develop more concrete application possibilities of effectuation in sociotechnical IS DSR and, thus, enrich the discourse.
VALORIZATION ALTERNATIVES OF COLOMBIAN BEE-POLLEN FOR ITS USE AS FOOD RESOURCE - A STRUCTURED REVIEW

Background: Pollen of honey-bee Apis mellifera L. is a product gathered for human consumption and marketed as a nutritional and functional resource. However, some studies indicate that it is necessary to develop transformation processes to modify the external structure of pollen, which is extremely difficult and prevents the nutrients and bioactive compounds to be completely digested in the gastrointestinal tract. The bee-pollen productivity in Colombia is up to five times higher than in countries traditionally recognized for its marketing, making this a valuable business opportunity. Objectives: To describe the chemical structure and the most important nutritional and functional components in bee pollen, as well as to understand the availability of compounds and some backgrounds reported for the opening of the bee-pollen grain, both in a natural and artificial manner. Methods: The literature search involved the use of different terms, alone or combined, by using logical operators; some terms were: pollen, beebread, bioactive and nutritional compounds, bioavailability, pollen structure, exine, fertilization. Selected search fields were the title or abstract of the publication in the following databases: Directory of Open Access Journals, Emerald, Pubmed, Redalyc, Scientific Electronic Library Online, Science Direct, Springer Journal, Taylor & Francis, Wiley Online Library. The selected literature was that found mainly between 2008 and 2014in Spanish and English. Results: The nutritional and functional composition of bee-pollen is widely reported; nevertheless, few studies on transformation processes to improve the availability of the compounds present in this product were found. The natural fermentation process occurred within the hive to obtain the product known as “bee-bread” is highlighted, since an emulation of this transformation could be developed in a controlled manner for a scaled production; despite this, further research in the involved biotechnological aspects is still required. Conclusions: Efforts have been made to characterize the bee-pollen from a physical-chemical point of view, but no significant progress in the development of processes of transformation has been reached. The future trends should aim at developing engineering processes emulating the phenomena occurred in nature where structural changes in the outer layer of bee-pollen can be achieved.