Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Species composition and distribution of decapod crustaceans in the waters off Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, South America

SUMMARY: This paper comprises the decapod crustacean material collected during the “Victor Hensen” campaign 1994 and during the last phase of “Polarstern” cruise ANT XIII/4 in 1996. Sampling covered waters of medium and greater depth in the Straits of Magellan, the channels towards the south, and the area south of the Beagle Channel including the northern slope of the Drake Passage. 30 species of decapods were found, which is considered a good result taking into account that the species restricted to the intertidal and the upper subtidal, which were not subject of this study, are missing. Anomurans were the dominant group, followed by brachyurans and caridean shrimps. Additionally one palinuran (Stereomastis suhmi; n=8) and a single specimen of the astacuran Thymops birsteini were found. Dominance patterns changed considerably from the Straits of Magellan to the channel system south of the Strait, and again to the area south of the Beagle and the northern slope of the Drake Passage. Among the top dominants were the galatheid Munida spp. , which in the southernmost area numerically contributes >90% to the catches, the brachyuran crabs Peltarion spinosulum and Eurypodius latreillii, the hermit crab Pagurus comptus, and the caridean shrimps Austropandalus grayi and Pasiphaea acutifrons. Munida spp. and P. spinosulum also revealed the highest frequency of occurrence at 49% and 45% of the stations, respectively, followed by E. latreillii, P. comptus, and A. grayi. Regional and bathymetric distribution of the principal species are given. The depth range of some species was found to be very wide (Campylonotus semistriatus, Munida spp., E. latreillii, P. spinosulum) whereas others were restricted to relatively shallow waters (Pagurus gaudichaudii, Lithodes santolla, Campylonotus vagans, A. grayi) or great depth (Nematocarcinus lanceopes, Stereomastis suhmi). It should be mentioned, however, that sampling depths differed greatly in the areas of study. Contrary to the Antarctic, the Magellan region reveals a strong dominance of reptant decapods whereas caridean shrimps play a minor role in that region. This dominance pattern is valid even for the southernmost areas of the region. The northern slope of the Drake Passage is characterized by a mixture of cold-temperate and Antarctic elements which make it a transitional area between the two continents.
Genetic Variation of Pinus brutia from Islands of the Northeastern Aegean Sea

The present study concentrated on Pinus brutia TEN. one of the main forest species of the Aegean islands and one of the most important low-elevation Mediterranean conifers. In this report the amount and structure of genetic diversity of four Pinus brutia populations which forms an integral prerequisite for breeding efforts and for the protection of the species genetic resources, is presented. One population per island was sampled from four islands of the north-eastern Aegean namely Lesvos, Chios, Samos and Thasos. Seven isoenzymic loci (Dia-1, Idh-1, Lap-1, Mdh-1, Mdh-4, Pgd-1 and Pgi-2) were identified and used for the evaluation of genetic variability in the above populations. Five of the loci studied were polymorphic, while a total of 17 alleles were detected. All populations presented significant amounts of genetic diversity and heterozygosity. The levels of genetic diversity parameters were higher than those of earlier reports regarding this species, but in agreement with values reported for conifer trees in general. Genotypic frequencies of the population samples were in agreement with those expected from HARDY-WEINBERG expectations. Results also point towards the absence of inbreeding and random genetic drift. Most of the genetic diversity of Pinus brutia (97.9%) was found within populations and only 2.1% among populations. Most of the alleles studied were common for all populations. Some differences among populations were detected for rare alleles. Populations present low values of NEI’s genetic distance and CAVALLI-SFORZA and EDWARDS’ chord distance. Two groups were revealed in the respective dendrograms: the first group formed by the populations of Lesvos, Chios and Samos, and the second by the Thasos population. The significance of these results in breeding and forest management practice is briefly discussed.
Machine Learning Algorithms for Service Robotics Applications in Precision Agriculture

World population is growing faster than expected. Every year Earth resources are consumed faster, as proven by the shift back of the Earth Overshoot Day that claims the end of year resources. One of the simplest solutions to this problem would be investing in technologies and innovations towards a smart extraction of what population needs. In the last few years a lot of companies introduced automation and robots to improve production in terms of time and obviously cost. Agricultural world is not distant from this evolution; in fact many of the works attempted are now helped by a set of machines that simplifies human work. Hitherto the application in precision agriculture has been always under the human control; there are a lot of application that sees the participation of a worker and in parallel a machine used for a lot of tasks. In the future may an entire field will be manage by a group of automated robots that works together. Those machines will requires a lot of specific features likes autonomous navigation, mapping, visual object recognition and many others. This thesis is part of the project and it regards the detection and classification of fruits for future application of auto-harvesting and health control. In a more specific way there will be treated apples as fruit application and will be addressed methods and algorithms as Y.O. L.O. and Mask R-CNN to do the processing of images. With the application of these techniques it is possible the detection of apples in post processing and in real-time with accuracies that range over 20% to 98%. The final result can be used in the future application for the spatial localization of fruits and the detection of possible disease. It should be emphasised that also if the thesis show the results of the object class apple the algorithms can be applied in a wide range of object with the only requirements of a different training images dataset.
Deep neural networks trained with heavier data augmentation learn features closer to representations in hIT

Modern artiﬁcial neural networks have been shown to learn representations comparable to the human visual cortex. However, the degree of representational similarity greatly differs between network architectures, training data sets and other factors. Understanding what makes a deep neural network learn representations closer to the human brain and subsequently developing models that reduce the gap helps computational neuroscientists investigate the underlying mechanisms that shape neural representations. Furthermore, understanding information processing in the brain paves the way for better artiﬁcial intelligence algorithms, as human vision is known to be highly robust. In this work, we investigate the relationship between augmentation of training data and the representational similarity of convolutional neural networks with high-level visual representations in human inferior temporal cortex. Our results suggest that networks trained with heavier augmentation yield representations that are more similar between deep neural networks and the brain.
A new species of Gehyra Gray, 1834 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from the Loyalty Islands and Vanuatu, and phylogenetic relationships in the genus Gehyra in Melanesia

ABSTRACT Geckos are one of the most widespread and diverse squamate taxa in the Pacific region and play a major role in explaining colonisation history and locating faunal affinities. We describe a new species of large growing Gehyra Gray, 1834 from the Loyalty Islands and Vanuatu based on molecular phylogenetics and morphology. Gehyra georgpotthasti n. sp. was formerly included within G. vorax Girard, 1857, but has longer postmental scales, more postrostral scales, and usually fewer subdigital lamellae and precloacal-femoral pores. We here designate a lectotype for G. vorax and propose a close relationship of this species to G. georgpotthasti n. sp. and G. membranacruralis King & Horner, 1989. The phylogenetic position of G. marginata Boulenger, 1887 as sister species to G. oceanica (Lesson, 1830) is described and new morphological evidence also disproves the previously supposed close relationship with G. vorax. Both G. georgpotthasti n. sp. and G. vorax have been introduced to Polynesia by human activities, as Polynesian populations of both taxa are genetically and morphologically indistinguishable from populations within their respective native ranges. But even within its native range, G. georgpotthasti n. sp. shows little genetic variability, inferring a recent colonisation history. Systematics of this group confirm the close Zoogeographic relationship between Vanuatu and the Loyalty Islands.
Conservation Status of Amphibians in Peru1

Abstract: Peru hosts a rich amphibian fauna with approximately 571 species described to date. Many of these species have been formally described only recently, and many more remain to be discovered and recognized. Despite the increase in the number of known species, some reports indicate recent, and in some cases enigmatic, loss of species richness at several sites in the Peruvian Andes. Similar population declines have been observed in neighboring Andean countries. The pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is associated with some of these declines, and we include a timeline of records of this pathogen in Peruvian amphibians. However, the paucity of standardized, long-term surveys limits our ability to understand the causes of declines and to assess the conservation status of Peruvian amphibians. Here we provide updated information on the conservation status of amphibians in Peru, and we discuss the possible causes of the observed declines. Furthermore, we discuss present and future threats to amphibian biodiversity, and we outline actions needed to promote the survival of this globally endangered group. We include a list of candidate sites for long-term surveys.
Analysis of foraging behavior of the whitefly parasitoid Encarsia formosa on a leaf: A simulation study.

Abstract Foraging behavior ofEncarsia formosawas analyzed with a stochastic simulation model of the searching parasitoid during a single visit to a tomato leaflet infested with immatures of the greenhouse whitefly,Trialeurodes vaporariorum,from which the parasitoid can fly away. The model is based on host searching, host selection, host handling, and patch leaving behavior and on the physiology of the parasitoid. Outputs of the model were the residence time of the parasitoid on the leaflet and the number of hosts encountered, parasitized, or killed by host feeding. The mean residence time and the mean number of encounters, ovipositions, and host feedings on the leaflet increased with host density to a maximum of 14.0 h, 209.3 encounters, 15.6 ovipositions, and 2.9 host feedings. The shape of the curves resembles a Type II functional response. The relationship between ovipositions per unit of residence time and host density showed a dome-shaped curve. The most important parameters affecting the number of ovipositions at low host densities were the parasitoid's initial egg load, the walking speed, the walking activity, and the leaf area. At high densities, the maximum and initial egg loads and the egg maturation rate were most essential.
Reguły polityki pieniężnej w Polsce. Podejście ilościowe

Ksiązka jest kompleksowym ujeciem problematyki regul polityki pienieznej. Moze ona zainteresowac przedstawicieli instytucji panstwowych odpowiedzialnych za ksztalt polityki makroekonomicznej, pracownikow instytucji finansowych, a takze doktorantow i pracownikow naukowych. Moze takze stanowic uzupelnienie podrecznikow do makroekonomii na poziomie średnio zaawansowanym i zaawansowanym
Nitrogen cycling in semi-arid Mediterranean zones: removal and return of nitrogen to pastures by grazing sheep

The intake of nitrogen and its removal, return, and partition between urine, faeces, and milk was measured over 5 months in Awassi ewes grazing medic pasture or barley. Total faeces and urine were collected in bags carried by the ewes for 5-day collection periods at monthly intervals. Bags were changed in the morning and evening so that excreta produced in the field or in the yards at night were collected separately. Nitrogen was partitioned between the urine and faeces on the basis of the N: ADF ratio of samples of faeces taken directly from the rectum of the animal when the bags were changed. Outputs of excreta and N were very similar in the field and at night in the yard. When N output in the milk was included, 20% more N was removed from the field than was returned. The partitioning of N output between urine and faeces changed markedly during the season and corresponded with changes in the quality of the herbage. Fifty per cent and 65% of the removal of N in faeces and urine, respectively, occurred in the first 2 months of the experiment.
Floral trimorphism and monomorphism in continental and island populations of Eichhornia paniculata (Spreng.) Solms. (Pontederiaceae)

Eichhornia paniculata (Spreng.) Solms. (Pontederiaceae) is a short-lived perennial or annual of marshes, seasonal pools and ditches of lowland tropical South America, primarily NE Brazil, and the Caribbean islands of Cuba and Jamaica. Comparisons, made under uniform glasshouse conditions, of populations originating from seed collected in the two regions revealed striking differences in their floral biology and breeding systems. The majority of populations sampled in NE Brazil are tristylous. Floral trimorphism is associated with pollen trimorphism and minor differences in anther size and pollen production among the three stamen levels. Unlike the majority of heterostylous plants the floral morphs of E. paniculata are highly self-fertile. Populations sampled on the island of Jamaica are composed exclusively of self-pollinating, semi-homostylous, mid-styled forms. Flowers from these populations are smaller and less showy, with reduced pollen heteromorphism and significantly fewer pollen grains and ovules per flower, in comparison with trimorphic populations from Brazil. Individual genotypes from Jamaican populations display considerable developmental instability in floral expression, particularly with respect to filament elongation of the lower stamen level. It is proposed that self-pollinating populations of E. paniculata are evolutionarily derived from tristylous ancestors and that the shift in breeding system is favoured at low density, following population bottlenecks, where pollinator service is unreliable.
Niche-based processes and temporal variation of environment drive beta diversity of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in dryland ecosystems of Iran

Clarifying the mechanisms that determine diversity in communities is a key task in biodiversity conservation. Niche differentiation, dispersal limitation, and stochastic processes are possible causes of variation in community composition, or beta diversity. In this study we quantified variation in ant assemblages related to environmental and spatial factors. We used pitfall traps to sample ant assemblages across a ca. 1200 km transect through arid and semi-arid heterogeneous environments of Iran. We then applied these data to canonical analysis to disentangle the relative importance of environmental and spatial processes. A total of 69 species / morphospecies were collected along the North-South transect. Cataglyphis was the most speciose genus with 12 species, followed by Messor and Monomorium with ten and seven species, respectively. Our parsimonious environmental and spatial models jointly explained 62% of the variation in community composition of ants. Community composition was primarily controlled by environmental factors (45%). Variation in ant species composition was driven by the amount of precipitation and also by its occurrence patterns. A large number of species were highly localized to a certain habitat. The overall findings suggest that mechanisms linked to environmental filtering and niche-based processes may be regulating beta diversity on ants in the Persian semi-deserts and deserts. Environmental factors appear also to control ant dispersal. Future conservation studies on insects should carefully take the temporal pattern of precipitation into account.
Genetic contributions to the study of taxonomy, ecology, and evolution of mayflies (Ephemeroptera): review and future perspectives

Since the late 1970s, allozymes, microsatellites, and DNA sequence variation have been widely used to study the taxonomy, ecology, and evolution of mayflies (Ephemeroptera). Early research investigated species limits in morphologically cryptic groups and attempted to link immature and adult stages using genetic markers. Population genetic studies soon followed, with a strong emphasis on measuring gene flow as a proxy for dispersal. Most recently, direct sequencing of DNA and molecular phylogenetic tools have broadened our understanding of mayfly systematics and evolution. Interestingly, these newer approaches have also begun to re-address some of the earliest questions about species circumscription and taxonomy. Here we present an overview of genetics in mayfly research to date, focusing on how genetic approaches have been applied to taxonomy, phylogenetics, and population genetics. We identify a number of outstanding questions and highlight some of the most interesting topics for future research. These include the need for evolutionarily valid species concepts when applying genetics to taxonomy, a better understanding of how parthenogenesis may affect population genetic structure, and increased use of DNA sequence data from nuclear gene regions.
Physiological Fear Response Amplitude in Visual Stimuli vs Audio-Visual Stimuli: A Comparative Gender Study

The comparison between unimodal stimuli (visual stimuli only) and bimodal stimuli (simultaneous audio-visual stimuli) is an under-studied but interesting subject in physiology. This study aims to explore gender differences in fear response by implementing and comparing both unimodal and bimodal stimuli. Across both genders, it was hypothesized that bimodal stimuli will induce a stronger fear response than unimodal stimuli. Specifically for the purpose of this study, it was also hypothesized that females will show a higher degree of fear response when compared to males. Fear response was defined by changes to heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate; and these physiological measures were taken before stimuli presentation and during both a unimodal and bimodal film clip. Analysis indicated that males and females had an increased fear response to bimodal stimuli than to unimodal stimuli, but between genders there was no significant difference in degree of response. Post-stimulus surveys reported that woman indicated that the film clips were significantly more frightening than their male counterparts. Further research will need to be conducted in order to understand this enhanced fear perception in females. Introduction Film plays a large role in cultures all over the world. Across every genre of film, a wide range of emotional responses are intentionally elicited from the viewer. These responses have undoubtedly been amplified by the addition of auditory stimuli; movies originally began as silent
Antifungal activity and molecular identification of endophytic fungi from the angiosperm Rhodomyrtus tomentosa

Problems associated with fungal resistance to antifungal agents are increasing worldwide. There is need to find sources of novel antifungal drugs and endophytic fungi could be another interesting source. In this study, 213 culturable endophytic fungi isolated from leaves and branches of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa from Thailand were screened for their ability to produce antifungal agents. Crude extracts from 177 out of 213 fungal isolates exhibited inhibitory activity against human pathogenic fungi, evaluated by a microbroth dilution method. Of the 349 active extracts out of 617 extracts tested, 43.5% inhibited Penicillium marneffei ; 16.5 to 20.8% inhibited two strains of Cryptococcus neoformans ; 6.0% Microsporum gypseum ; 5.0% Candida albicans , with minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 1 to 200 μg/ml. 22 endophytic fungi showing strong antifungal activity (MICs of 1 to 8 μg/ml) were identified by morphological and molecular methods. They mainly belonged to the genera Colletotrichum , Diaporthe , Guignardia and Phomopsis . The results of this work indicate that endophytic fungi from R. tomentosa can be a good source of potential antifungal natural products. Keywords: Rhodomyrtus tomentosa , antifungal activity, endophytic fungi, molecular identification
Esterase Activity from Venturia nashicola: Histochemical Detection and Supposed Involvement in the Pathogenesis of Scab on Japanese Pear

Conidia of Venturia nashicola were collected from naturally scab-infected leaves of Japanese pear. Conidia-derived esterase activity was detected histochemically during the course of infection in ungerminated conidia, germ tubes, appressoria and conidia exudates. The esterase activity derived from conidia was partly inhibited in vitro by the specific cutinase inhibitor o-methyl-o-butyl-o-(3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridyl)phosphate and by the serine hydrolase inhibitor diisopropylfluorophosphate. The specific cutinase inhibitor applied at a concentration of 1.5 ppm did not influence the germination rate of the conidia on pear leaves but reduced the formation of subcuticular fungal structures by 64%. It was concluded that cutinase activity from conidia of V. nashicola probably plays an important role in the pathogenesis of scab during the invasion process.
Effect of Different Energy to Protein Ratio and Tallow Supplementation on Broiler Performance

2 Abstract: This experiment was carried out to examine the effect of tallow supplementation and reducing protein level on broiler chickens performance. A total of 480 one-day old broiler chicks of a commercial strain (Arian) from both sex with equal ratio were placed in 32 pens, fifteen in each pen. Treatments were included tallow at 0, 2.5, 5 and 7.5% levels and protein level reduction in NRC energy diets as ME to CP ratio increased 10 unit. Each treatment replicated four times. Metabolizable energy of tallow was determined by Sibbald method. Results showed that AME value of tallow was 7150 kcal kg . In whole production period n -1 (days 7-56) chicks that fed with a diet containing NRC protein level, adding 5 and 7.5 percent tallow significantly (P<0.05) increased feed intake but in reduced protein diets, adding tallow could not affect feed intake. Feeding different levels of tallow and diet protein reduction in both low and high energy diets had no significant effect on weight gain in ages 1-21 and 42-56 and 7-56. There was no significant difference in feed conversion ratio in chicks fed with different experimental diets in all ages. Carcass, liver and abdominal fat did not affect by experimental treatments. The results showed that adding 2.5 percent tallow to a diet with a protein level according to NRC recommendation results to better performance.