Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Growth performance, carcass traits, behaviour and welfare of New Zealand White rabbits housed in different enriched cages

The present study investigated the effect of gnawing sticks as environmental enhancers on the performance, carcass traits and behaviour of individually housed growing rabbits. Two batches of weaned New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits were used, each consisting of 135 animals. Rabbits were homogeneously classified into the following three groups, each consisting of 45 rabbits: rabbits housed individually in cages without enrichment (control), rabbits housed individually in cages enriched with wooden sticks from apple tree and rabbits housed individually in cages enriched with wooden sticks from willow tree. Rabbits reared in enriched cages with apple or willow sticks showed a significantly (P < 0.0001) better performance (live bodyweight at slaughter 2526 and 2591 g, total weight gain 1620 and 1683 g, average daily gain 21.04 and 21.87 g and daily feed intake 78.57 and 74.89 g respectively), and had a higher carcass weight (1648.39 and 1750.26 g respectively, P < 0.0001) than did the control group. Rabbits in apple-stick group had a higher daily feed intake (78.57 g, P < 0.0001) and lower carcass weight (1648.39 g, P < 0.0001) than did those in the willow-stick group. The cortisol concentration was significantly (P < 0.0001) lower in apple and willow groups (9.44 ± 0.02 and 9.35 ± 0.02 nmol/L respectively) than in the control group (17.24 ± 0.03 nmol/L). Moreover, cage enrichment with apple or willow sticks improved the duration of feeding (7.08 and 7.39 min/3 h respectively, P < 0.0001) and drinking (2.54 and 2.67 min/3 h respectively, P < 0.0001) time, and reduced abnormal behaviour (biting the bars of the cage 0.24 and 0.34 min/3 h respectively, P = 0.001) when compared with the control group. Overall, the current results indicated that cage enrichment (with wooden sticks from apple or willow trees for gnawing) increased the final bodyweight and some carcass traits, reduced abnormal behaviour and potentially improved rabbit welfare during intensive rabbit breeding.
Soluble saccharides block the inhibition of agonist‐induced human platelet aggregation observed after in vitro incubation of human platelet‐rich plasma with porcine aortic endothelial cells

Abstract Platelet aggregation is a prominent feature in the hyperacute process of vascularized allografts and xenografts. In a study of extracorporeal connection of pig kidneys to the blood circulation of human volunteers, we observed in one case considerable destruction of human platelets in the pig kidney without signs of hyperacute rejection or microthrombi formation. In the present study, we have investigated the agonist‐induced aggregation of human platelets in mixtures with porcine aortic endothelial cells (PAEC). In vitro incubation of human platelet‐rich plasma (PRP) with PAEC inhibited platelet aggregation induced by ADP, collagen and arachidonic acid in a time‐dependent manner and partially inhibited adrenalin‐induced aggregation. Aggregation of the human platelets could not be induced by high concentrations of ADP (20 µM) to overcome the inhibition capacity of the PAEC. The PAEC inhibiting effect could be transferred by the supernatants of PAEC/PRP and PAEC/PPP incubation mixtures. Preincubation of the PAEC with aspirin, but not with NG‐methyl‐L‐Arg, reduced the aggregation inhibitory effect. Control experiments mixing human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and human PRP or mixing porcine PRP and PAEC did not elicit any inhibition of ADP‐induced platelet aggregation. The aggregation inhibition effect could partially be blocked by preincubation of PRP with soluble Galαl–3Gal, Galα1–3β1–4GlcNAc, lactose, galactose, and glucose, but not by lactosamine, galactosamine, or glucosamine. The Galα1‐3Gal disaccharide was most effective in blocking aggregation inhibition, and to a similar extent as its ability to block the human anti‐pig lymphocytotoxicity reaction. In conclusion, the data indicate that PAEC, upon stimulation by human anti‐pig xenoantibodies in a nondynamic system, inhibits agonist‐induced human platelet aggregation, and that this effect is probably at least partially caused by prostáiyclin released from the PAEC.
Exploring the diversity of ascomycete fungi : evolution of mating systems in Pleospora and discovery of new lineages in the Dothideomycetes

This thesis explored aspects of diversity in the ascomycete genus Pleospora and the new family Aliquandostipitaceae. In Pleospora, the main focus was on mating system evolution. I found that homothallism in Pleospora evolved in three different ways from heterothallism. One origin of homothallism resulted from a horizontal transfer across lineages involving a MAT locus. The approach chosen to investigate mating system evolution in Pleospora was based on delimiting the polyphyletic genus Pleospora to Pleospora sensu stricto, inferring a robust species phylogeny of Pleospora sensu stricto and cloning and examining the master regulator locus of sexual development in ascomycetes, the MAT locus. Conclusions were then drawn by integration of the total evidence. Research of mating system evolution in Pleospora was initiated by confirmation of the monophyly of Pleospora isolates with Stemphylium asexual states. This group contained the type of Pleospora, and was thus called Pleospora sensu stricto. Contributing towards a monophyletic genus Pleospora, the marine species P. gaudefroyi collected in British Columbia, and lacking a Stemphylium asexual state, was transferred to the new genus Decorospora. Phylogenetic 18S rDNA analyses and Shimodaira-Hasegawa and Kishino-Hasegawa tests rejected the null hypothesis of monophyly for the two taxa. Instead, Pleospora gaudefroyi grouped distantly from P. herbarum, at the base of the family Pleosporaceae confirming the importance of a Stemphylium asexual state for the definition of Pleospora sensu stricto in this case. Since no existing genus was available to accommodate P. gaudefroyi, the new genus Decorospora had to be erected. To generate a species phylogeny of Pleospora sensu stricto, 114 ingroup taxa with Stemphylium asexual states were used. Phylogenetic analyses based on ITS, GPD, EF-1alpha and vmaA-vpsA DNA sequences with four different algorithms showed that Pleospora sensu stricto contained 22 phylogenetic species. Morphological species generally correlated well with phylogenetic species, except for the type P. herbarum whose phylogenetic species contained the four additional morphological species P. alfalfae, S. vesicarium, P. tomatonis and P. sedicola. Another conflict between morphological and phylogenetic species concept could arise in the phylogenetic species S. xanthosomatis that also contained an isolate of S. lycopersici, which, however, was not certain to represent the type of the species. Three phylogenetic species, one of which was exclusively collected in British Columbia, did not contain any morphological species and might be new to science. The protein-coding gene EF-1 alpha, parts of which where used for phylogenetic inference in Pleospora sensu stricto, contained an unusual intron
Growth and Physiology of Foraminifera in the Laboratory: Part 1: Collection and Maintenance

Methods employedfor routine laboratory culture offoraminifera are described, including a methodfor establishing axenic or synxenic culture. Attempts have been made to grow Trochammina inflata, Miliammina fusca, Elphidium poeyanum, Allogromia sp. , Quinqueloculina sp. , and Streblus beccarii in limited agnotobiotic and synxenic culture. The algae and the foraminifera have been grown and tested in enriched seawater and artificial seawater media. None of the synxenic cultures tested support continuous growth and reproduction of the foraminifera. A Mixture of eight pennate diatoms, three bacteria, and three blue-green filamentous algae supports abundant growth of Streblus beccarii cultures. Nitzschia acicularis was found to stimulate the growth ofBolivina sp. ; another species of Nitzschia wasfound to inhibit growth; and there was no response to a mixture of Rhodomonas lens and Isochrysis galbana. Reactions between Dunaliella cultures andforaminifera are described. Growth and physiology of foraminifera in the laboratory: Part I Collection and maintenance JOHN J. LEE, STANLEY PIERCE, MARILYN TENTCHOFF, and JOHN J. A. McLAUGHLIN Department of Micropaleontology American Museum of Natural History and Haskins Laboratories New York
NOTE : Vertebral Numbers in Larval and Juvenile Haddock of the Scotian Shelf and Implications for Stock Discrimination

Analysis of vertebral number in larval and juvenile haddock (Melanogramnlus aeglefinus) from different parts of the Scotian Shelf indicated that juveniles from the northeastern area (Div. 4V) had significantly fewer vertebrae than those from the central and southwestern areas (Div. 4W and 4X). This is in contrast to previous studies of vertebral number in adults. Complex segmentation in the caudal region of the vertebral column occurred in about 25% of the specimens in the length range of 15-220 mm.
Invertebrate diversity in Irish and British forests

22 Introduction . 23 Materials and methods . 25 Results . 32 Discussion . 42 References . 48 Chapter 3: The importance of young plantation forest habitat and forest roadverges for ground-dwelling spider diversity . 57 Abstract . 58 Introduction . 59. 58 Introduction . 59 Materials and methods . 61 Results . 67 Discussion . 73 References . 78 Chapter 4: Influence of conifer tree species on ground-dwelling spider diversity in plantation forests . 84 Abstract . 85 Introduction . 86 Materials and methods . 88 Results . 93 Discussion . 100. 85 Introduction . 86 Materials and methods . 88 Results . 93 Discussion . 100 References . 105 Chapter 5: Ground-dwelling spider (Araneae) and carabid beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) community assemblages in mixed and monoculture stands of oak (Quercus robur/ Q. petraea) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) . 113 Abstract . 114. 114 Introduction . 115 Materials and methods . 117 Results . 125 Discussion . 133 Acknowledgements . 138 References . 139 Chapter 6: The application of forest biodiversity indicators across forest stand types and regions . 146 Abstract . 147 Introduction . 148 Materials and methods . 150 Results . 157 Discussion . 161 References . 169. 147 Introduction . 148 Materials and methods . 150 Results . 157 Discussion . 161 References . 169 Chapter 7: Ground-dwelling spider diversity in rare European oak and yew woodlands and the impact of grazing . 181 Abstract . 182 Introduction . 183 Materials and methods . 185 Results . 189. 182 Introduction . 183 Materials and methods . 185 Results . 189 Discussion . 195 References . 200 Chapter 8: Concluding synthesis . 207 Main conclusions . 208 Forest management recommendations . 210 Further research . 211 References . 213 Acknowledgements . 218 Appendix 1 . 219 Appendix 2 . 224 Appendix 3 . 230 Appendix 4 . 233
Aquatic Oligochaete (Annelida: Clitellata) Fauna from the Jungnang Stream in Seoul, Korea, with Eight New Korean Records

Aquatic oligochaetes were investigated from a small amount of sediment sampled from the Jungnang Stream, an urban stream in Seoul, Korea, in November 2012. Sorted oligochaetes were observed under a light microscope in a drop of carbonated water, and then preserved in 70% ethanol. Some specimens were slide mounted using glycerin and Eupharal. As a result, the following 12 species were identified including 8 new Korean records, Bothrioneurum vejdoskyanum Stolc, Branchiodrilus hortensis (Stephenson), Chaetogaster cristalinus Vejdosky, Nais communis Piguet, Nais pardalis Piguet, Dero obtusa d’Udekem, Piguetiella denticulata Liang, and Haemonais waldvogeli Brescher and 4 additional known species, Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri Cleparéde, Branchiura sowerbyi Beddard, Chaetogaster diastrophus (Gruithuisen), and Stylaria fossularis Leidy. This study shows how freshwater oligochaetes are diverse even in urban streams in Korea, if a proper sampling and examining method is employed.
Nonprofit Church Leaders’ Perceptions and Lived Experiences Involving Innovation Competency and Change Management: A Phenomenological Study

Innovation competency among religious leaders has been an area of study as nonprofit researchers continue to discover that conventional ways of managing change are no longer effective when tackling present issues. Discussions regarding using innovation competency to manage change among religious leaders are vague, despite benefits to the nonprofit sector. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of nonprofit church leaders to better understand how innovation competency has shaped organizational change results. Boyatzis’ effective job performance model was the conceptual framework that guided this study. Interview data were gathered from 14 participants who met the inclusion criteria of being a leader with innovation competency experience living in New York, New York. Data from the transcripts were inductively analyzed by using computer software and coded techniques for 10 emergent themes. Results revealed improved organizational performance for church leaders who used innovation competency in managing change, along with spirituality and faith. However, emerging themes showed diverse reasons for innovation competency use and its influences on leaders’ behavioral characteristics. Positive social change can be achieved by promoting innovation competency among religious leaders irrespective of spirituality, belief, and doctrine position regarding change management and organizational performance. Outcomes of this study may also provide useful information for religious leaders regarding implementing new ways and programs to help organizational growth.
Intrathymic delivery of plasmid‐encoding endoplasmic reticulum signal‐sequence‐deleted MHC class I alloantigen can induce long‐term allograft survival

Abstract Intrathymic (IT) delivery of donor alloantigen is a potent strategy to induce operational tolerance. In this study we determined whether this effect was dependent on direct aliorecognition of the tolerogen. Ten microgrammes of plasmid, encoding either the wildtype major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecule Kb or a truncated form in which the signal sequence for translocation into the endoplasmic reticulum was deleted, preventing cell surface expression and direct allorecognition of the tolerogen, was administered intrathymically to CBA.Ca (H2k) recipients. In addition, recipients were treated with anti‐CD4 antibody (YTA3.1) at the time of IT injection and underwent transplantation 28 days later with a fully mismatched C57BL/10 (H2b) cardiac allograft. Wildtype, as well as truncated Kb genes, were able to induce long‐term survival of the cardiac allografts, in contrast to empty control plasmid. Reversetranscriptase PCR showed expression of the Kb genes for up to 28 days in thymus and spleen of pretreated recipients. These data show that direct allorecognition of the tolerogen was not required for the induction of long‐term allograft survival following the introduction of plasmid‐encoded MHC alloantigen into the thymus.
Niche Differentiation by Crucifer-feeding Flea Beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

The coexistence of six closely related crucifer-feeding flea beetles in central New York was due to distinct host-plant and micro- habitat preferences. Extensive sampling from five crucifer species, grow- ing in their natural habitats and cultivated in an open field and shady woodland, revealed obvious differences between the species. Phyllotreta bipustulata, the most specialized species, fed exclusively on Dentaria diphylla in moist woodlands. Phyllotreta cruciferae fed almost exclusive- ly on Brassica nigra in open, sunny fields, and Psylliodes napi fed on Bar- barea vulgaris in cool, shady field microhabitats. Phyllotreta striolata was the most generalized herbivore; it fed equally on all five crucifer hosts. Both Phyllotreta zimmermanni and Psylliodes punctulata occurred in small numbers on the host plants in open field habitats and no distinct host-plant preferences were established. Laboratory experiments with four of the flea beetle species confirmed feeding preferences observed in the field. In all three experiments, P. striolata had the broadest host breadth and largest mean host overlap, followed in decreasing order by P. zim- mermanni, P. punctulata, P. cruciferae, P. napi and P. bipustulata. Esti- mates of percentage similarity indicated that competitive interaction between P. striolata and P. cruciferae could be severe, since both species occurred together in high densities. Values for P. bipustulata showed little interaction with other species, further demonstrating its most effec- tive niche isolation.
Transforming task representations to perform novel tasks

Significance An intelligent system should be able to adapt to a novel task without any data and achieve at least moderate success. Humans can often do so, while models often require immense datasets to reach human-level performance. We propose a general computational framework by which models can adapt to new tasks based only on their relationship to old tasks. Our approach is based on transforming learned task representations. Our approach allows models to perform well on novel tasks, even using novel relationships not encountered during training. This adaptation can substantially accelerate later learning. Our work could contribute to understanding the computational basis of intelligence, to cognitive modeling, and to building more flexible forms of artificial intelligence. An important aspect of intelligence is the ability to adapt to a novel task without any direct experience (zero shot), based on its relationship to previous tasks. Humans can exhibit this cognitive flexibility. By contrast, models that achieve superhuman performance in specific tasks often fail to adapt to even slight task alterations. To address this, we propose a general computational framework for adapting to novel tasks based on their relationship to prior tasks. We begin by learning vector representations of tasks. To adapt to new tasks, we propose metamappings, higher-order tasks that transform basic task representations. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this framework across a wide variety of tasks and computational paradigms, ranging from regression to image classification and reinforcement learning. We compare to both human adaptability and language-based approaches to zero-shot learning. Across these domains, metamapping is successful, often achieving 80 to 90% performance, without any data, on a novel task, even when the new task directly contradicts prior experience. We further show that metamapping can not only generalize to new tasks via learned relationships, but can also generalize using novel relationships unseen during training. Finally, using metamapping as a starting point can dramatically accelerate later learning on a new task and reduce learning time and cumulative error substantially. Our results provide insight into a possible computational basis of intelligent adaptability and offer a possible framework for modeling cognitive flexibility and building more flexible artificial intelligence systems.
Word Rotator’s Distance

One key principle for assessing semantic similarity between texts is to measure the degree of semantic overlap of them by considering word-by-word alignment. However, alignment-based approaches} are inferior to the generic sentence vectors in terms of performance. We hypothesize that the reason for the inferiority of alignment-based methods is due to the fact that they do not distinguish word importance and word meaning. To solve this, we propose to separate word importance and word meaning by decomposing word vectors into their norm and direction, then compute the alignment-based similarity with the help of earth mover's distance. We call the method word rotator's distance (WRD) because direction vectors are aligned by rotation on the unit hypersphere. In addition, to incorporate the advance of cutting edge additive sentence encoders, we propose to re-decompose such sentence vectors into word vectors and use them as inputs to WRD. Empirically, the proposed method outperforms current methods considering the word-by-word alignment including word mover's distance with a big difference; moreover, our method outperforms state-of-the-art additive sentence encoders on the most competitive dataset, STS-benchmark.
Molecular Profiling of Human Primary Chondrosarcoma-Derived Spheres Reveals Specific and Target Genes Involved in Multidrug Resistance and Metastasis

Chondrosarcoma is a malignant bone tumor that accounts for approximately 25% of all bone neoplasms. The “Cancer Stem Cell” (CSC) hypothesis states that tumor contains a cell subpopulation with stemness features. Sphere cultures are routinely used for self-renewal assays and to select CSCs. Our purpose was to investigate the gene profile of chondrospheres and identify target genes for chondrosarcoma treatment. Whole-genome microarray was used to compare the gene expression of floating spheres with that of adherent counterparts derived from a human primary chondrosarcoma. In addition, CD133, OCT4, SOX2, and collagen type II markers were tested both with Real-Time PCR and flow cytometry, and cell cycle analysis and resistance to cisplatin treatment were performed. Microarray analyses revealed that 1405 genes were found differentially expressed, of which 629 genes were upregulated and 776 down-regulated in chondrospheres, with a 2-fold cut-off threshold. Restricting analyses with a 3-fold cut-off threshold, the number of up-regulated and down-regulated probes was 251 and 302, respectively. The most highly up-regulated genes were involved in stemness, multidrug resistance, cell cycle, apoptosis regulation, migration, motility, and invasion. Furthermore, chondrospheres expressed CD133, OCT3/4, and SOX2, and showed a remarkable resistance to cisplatin-induced apoptosis compared with their adherent counterpart. In conclusion, this study highlights that: (i) the molecular profile of chondrospheres identifies genes that are potential targets for chondrosarcoma treatment and (ii) chondrospheres are strongly resistant to cisplatin treatment.
PHO4 transcription factor regulates triacylglycerol metabolism under low‐phosphate conditions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, PHM8 encodes a phosphatase that catalyses the dephosphorylation of lysophosphatidic acids to monoacylglycerol and nucleotide monophosphate to nucleoside and releases free phosphate. In this report, we investigated the role of PHM8 in triacylglycerol metabolism and its transcriptional regulation by a phosphate responsive transcription factor Pho4p under low‐phosphate conditions. We found that the wild‐type (BY4741) cells accumulate triacylglycerol and the expression of PHM8 was high under low‐phosphate conditions. Overexpression of PHM8 in the wild‐type, phm8Δ and quadruple phosphatase mutant (pah1Δdpp1Δlpp1Δapp1Δ) caused an increase in the triacylglycerol levels. However, the introduction of the PHM8 deletion into the quadruple phosphatase mutant resulted in a reduction in triacylglycerol levels and LPA phosphatase activity. The transcriptional activator Pho4p binds to the PHM8 promoter under low‐phosphate conditions, activating PHM8 expression, which leads to the formation of monoacylglycerol from LPA. The synthesized monoacylglycerol is acylated to diacylglycerol by Dga1p, which is further acylated to triacylglycerol by the same enzyme.