Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coherent Seasonal Acceleration of the Weddell Sea Boundary Current System Driven by Upstream Winds

The Weddell Sea is of global importance in the formation of dense bottom waters associated with sea ice formation and ocean-ice sheet interaction occurring on the shelf areas. In this context, the Weddell Sea boundary current system (BCS) presents a major conduit for transporting relatively warm water to the Weddell Sea ice shelves and for exporting some modified form of Wedell Sea deep and bottom waters into the open ocean. This study investigates the downstream evolution of the structure and the seasonality of the BCS along the Weddell Sea continental slope, combining ocean data collected for the past two decades at three study locations. The interannual-mean geostrophic flow, which follows planetary potential vorticity contours, shifts from being surface intensified to bottom intensified along stream. The shift occurs due to the densification of water masses and the decreasing surface stress that occurs westward, toward the Antarctic Peninsula. A coherent along-slope seasonal acceleration of the barotropic flow exists, with maximum speed in austral autumn and minimum speed in austral summer. The barotropic flow significantly contributes to the seasonal variability in bottom velocity along the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Our analysis suggests that the winds on the eastern/northeastern side of the gyre determines the seasonal acceleration of the barotropic flow. In turn, they might control the export of Weddell Sea Bottom Water on seasonal time scales. The processes controlling the baroclinic seasonality of the flow need further This study investigates the structure and the seasonality of the flow at the continental margin in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, using in situ observations upstream and downstream of the dense water formation regions. Following the bathymetry, ocean currents flow from East to West along the continental shelf edge. As water densifies along this the flow speed changes from being maximum at the ocean surface to be maximum at the bottom. The depth-averaged current varies with a synchronized seasonality along the continental shelf break, in Our analysis the on the eastern/northeastern drives the seasonality of the depth-averaged along the shelf break, contributing to changes in
A NEW RECORD OF Leishmania (Viannia) guyanensis (Trypanosomatidae) FROM THE PACIFIC COAST OF COLOMBIA

The aim of this study was the identification of Leishmania species that causes cutaneous leishmaniasis in a patient from Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, on the Pacific coast of Colombia.Clinical samples were obtained from a 29 years-old male who presented a distinct ulcer with raised borders on his neck. Samples were taken for direct microscopic examination, parasite culture, and molecular identification of the infecting Leishmania species by sequencing of the cytochrome b gene. Direct examination was positive for amastigotes of Leishmania but the culture was negative. The infecting parasite species was identified as L. (V.) guyanensis by means of the nucleotide sequence of a 509 bp fragment of the cytochrome b gene. We report the presence of L. (V.) guyanensis in rural areas of Buenaventura in Valle del Cauca, and the expansion of the geographical distribution of this species in the Pacific region of Colombia.
Toxicological Evaluation Of Two Nigerian Refinery Effluents Using Natural Biomonitors

Abstract The present study aimed to evaluate the toxic effects of two Nigerian refineries’ effluents using natural bio-monitors. Standard physicochemical analysis, toxi-chromo test using mutant E. coli and sub-chronic animal toxicity testing with emphasis on tissue heavy metal accumulation, biochemical parameters and histopathology, were adopted during the study. The physicochemical results revealed that the two effluent samples are highly polluted although PH sample was more polluted than the Warri sample. Toxi-chromo testing revealed that the positive control sample (HgCl2) exhibited the most harmful effect on 50% population of mutant E. coli with EC50 value of 1.535 mg/L. The mice model revealed that iron (1.616 mg/kg) and lead (0.169 mg/kg) had the highest accumulation in the Warri exposed liver tissues of the mice. PH sample had the highest values of the biomarkers but statistical analysis showed a significant difference (p<0.05) between the samples and control with R2 value of 0.304. There were non-cancerous changes in the architectural structure and integrity of the observed liver and kidney tissues in comparison to their controls with normal architecture. Hence, adequate and strict measures should be established by government and environmental policymakers to ensure proper treatment and monitoring of these liquid wastes before they are discharged into our terrestrial and aquatic environments. Keywords: Animal model, E. coli, environmental health, pollution, refinery effluents Cite this Article Samson Ogagaoghene Egurefa, Micheal Uchenna Orji and Bright Obidinma Uba. Toxicological Evaluation of Two Nigerian Refinery Effluents using Natural Biomonitors. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Toxicology. 2020; 10(2): 22 – 31p.
Microstructure-informed probability-driven point-particle model for hydrodynamic forces and torques in particle-laden flows

Abstract We present a novel deterministic model that is capable of predicting particle-to-particle force and torque fluctuations in a fixed bed of randomly distributed monodisperse spheres. First, we generate our dataset by performing particle-resolved direct numerical simulations (PR-DNS) of arrays of stationary spheres in moderately inertial regimes with a Reynolds number range of $2 \leq \textit {Re} \leq 150$ and a solid volume fraction range of $0.1 \leq \phi \leq 0.4$. The key idea exploited by our model is that, while the arrangement of neighbours around each particle is uniform and random, conditioning forces or torques exerted on a reference sphere to specific ranges of values results in the emergence of significantly non-uniform distributions of neighbouring particles. Based on probabilistic arguments, we take advantage of the statistical information extracted from PR-DNS to construct force/torque-conditioned probability distribution maps, which are ultimately used as basis functions for regression. Given the locations of surrounding particles as input to the model, our results demonstrate that the present probability-driven framework is capable of predicting up to 85 % of the actual observed force and torque variation in the best cases. Since the precise location of each particle is known in an Eulerian–Lagrangian (EL) simulation, our model would be able to estimate the unresolved subgrid force and torque fluctuations reasonably well, and thereby considerably enhance the fidelity of EL simulations via improved interphase coupling.
Exploration, mapping and characterization of filtration galleries of the Pica Oasis, northern Chile: A contribution to the knowledge of the Pica aquifer

In arid areas, the efficient management of scarce water resources is key for population survival and development. One of the oldest and greatest ancient water management system in drylands is the filtration gallery. Originated from ancient Persia, they were spread to other regions and cultures, and are found in the oasis of Pica, in the Atacama Desert. A filtration gallery consists of an almost horizontal tunnel dug underground until it reaches a water-bearing zone. It allows to tap and drains out groundwater, and thus a direct contact with groundwater table. With the objective to understand groundwater processes, preserve the water and geoheritage of one of the driest places on Earth and improve land-use planning, the present work explored and studied the filtration galleries, locally called socavones, of the oasis of Pica. Through direct exploration, topographical survey and geo-electrical prospection, 24 socavones were identified, mapped and their main physical features described, showing common traits with filtration galleries described worldwide, but also proper features highlighting their originality. The findings of the geological and hydrogeological studies of the socavones, complemented by physical and chemical analysis, allow to identify new groundwater recharge processes and, thus, to review and complete the hydrogeological model of the local aquifer of Pica. Most socavones are abandoned today, owing to physical and socioeconomic changes. Nevertheless, this study concludes that they can still have a role to play in the groundwater management of this arid area.
Inhibition of acetyl-CoA carboxylase by spirotetramat causes lipid depletion and surface coat deficiency in nematodes

Plant-parasitic nematodes pose a significant threat to agriculture causing annual yield losses worth more than 100 billion US$. Nematode control often involves the use of nematicides, but many of them including non-selective fumigants have been phased out, particularly due to ecotoxicological concerns. Thus new control strategies are urgently needed. Spirotetramat (SPT) is used as phloem-moble systemic insecticide targeting acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) of pest insects and mites upon foliar application. Our studies revealed that SPT known to be activated in planta to SPT-enol acts as a developmental inhibitor of the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and the plant-parasitic nematode Heterodera schachtii. Exposure to SPT-enol leads to larval arrest and disruption of the life cycle. Furthermore, SPT-enol inhibits nematode ACC activity, affects storage lipids, fatty acid composition and disrupts surface coat synthesis. Silencing of H. schachtii ACC by RNAi induced similar phenotypes and thus mimics the effects of SPT-enol, supporting the conclusion that SPT-enol acts on nematodes by inhibiting ACC. Our studies demonstrated that the inhibition of de novo lipid biosynthesis by interfering with nematode ACC is a new nematicidal mode of action addressed by spirotetramat, a well-known systemic insecticide for sucking pest control.
Deviant Versus Nondeviant Routines, Social Guardianship and Adolescent Victimization in the Rural Context of China

There is limited knowledge on the possible pathways of victimization among rural dwellers during adolescence in developing contexts, such as rural China, where victimization may compound developmental disadvantages of rural adolescents. Guided by the lifestyle/routine activity theory, the goal of this study thus was to examine how far delinquent lifestyles (delinquent involvement and delinquent peer association); nondeviant routine activities (unstructured socializing with peers, structured activities, and solitary activities); and social guardianship within family, school, and neighborhood contribute to juvenile victimization in a rural setting. The outcomes of interest covered direct victimization (violent, property, and sexual) and indirect victimization (witnessing community violence). The study included 2,839 adolescents (51.2% male; mean age = 13.88 ± 0.90 years) from 30 middle schools in rural China. The delinquent peer influence as a risk factor of direct and indirect victimization appeared to be more profound than delinquent involvement. Solitary activities consistently put rural adolescents at greater risk of direct and indirect victimization, and their role was stronger than that of rural adolescents’ delinquent involvement. No victimization outcomes were predicted by unstructured socializing with peers and structured activities. Attachment to family caregivers and neighborhood cohesion were the strongest social guardianship predictors across all forms of victimization. These results suggest that alongside social guardianship and delinquent lifestyles, rural isolation should be addressed in managing juvenile victimization. The insignificant role of unstructured socializing with peers may raise the need to clarify its conceptual relevance to rural settings. The implications for improving the underdeveloped preventive measures against victimization of rural adolescent populations in developing societies are described.
Interactions between sirtuins and fluorogenic small-molecule substrates offer insights into inhibitor design

Sirtuins are nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)-dependent lysine deacylases regulating metabolism and stress responses and are involved in human pathologies such as neurodegeneration. In this study, four fluorogenic small-molecule substrates, i.e., acetyl-(AcBKA), crotonyl-(CrBKA), succinyl-(SuBKA), and myristoyl-(MyBKA)-containing substrates, were synthesized and tested against three representative sirtuin isoforms (i.e., SIRT2, SIRT5, and SIRT6). Enzyme kinetic results indicate that the fluorogenic small-molecule substrates have similar sirtuin-isoform preference as compared to peptide substrates. ITC analyses reveal that AcBKA or MyBKA binding to SIRT2 is mainly driven by entropy, whereas SuBKA binding to SIRT5 is driven by enthalpy. The SIRT5:SuBKA complex crystal structure reveals a new substrate-binding mode that is different from peptide substrate binding modes, but involves Tyr102, Arg105, and other catalytically important residues on Loop S; this indicates that SuBKA is desuccinylated by SIRT5 probably through the catalytic mechanism proposed for peptide substrates. The biophysical and structural results presented herein will provide thermodynamic insights and key pharmacophore features for the development of selective sirtuin isoform-specific inhibitors.
Omnidirectional wireless power transfer system with a multidirectional receiver inside a cubic transmitter

Dramatic advancements have been witnessed for the magnetic resonant coupling wireless power transfer technology used in various portable electronic devices. A novel omnidirectional wireless power transfer system was proposed in this paper. Instead of conventional planar coils, a multidirectional receiver inside the transmitter was designed to receive the electromagnetic energy from all the directions. As expected, the finite element simulation results show that the distribution of magnetic field is uniform at different positions inside the transmitter. And the power transfer efficiency (PTE) of the newly designed system with the multidirectional receiver is obviously greater than that of the conventional system with the planar coil. Effects of the different receiver structural sizes on the system performance were discussed. PTE of the system becomes higher when the receiver is larger. Furthermore, PTE is insensitive to position and angular misalignment of the multidirectional receiver. The experimental measurments show that PTE of the system with the multidirectional receiver is 26% at the frequency of 6.78 MHz. The newly designed magnetic resonant coupling wireless power transfer system will be significative for the electronic devices indoor.
Changements ontogéniques de la condition larvaire chez une espèce de poisson à reproduction hivernale, le hareng des Downs, Ontogenetic shift in the larval condition of Downs herring, a winter spawning fish

The larval condition of Downs herring during the critical period was investigated between 2008 and 2015 in the eastern English Channel and Southern Bight of North Sea from data collected during the International Bottom Trawl Survey (IBTS). First, the study of the feeding strategy from gut contents analysis using two complementary approaches (electronical microscopy and measure of fluorescence) revealed a shift in the feeding diet occurring at a larval size of 13 mm. Smaller larvae had an omnivorous and a more diversified diet composed of numerous protist and small zooplanktonic preys whereas bigger larvae had a less diversified diet composed mainly of bigger zooplanktonic prey. Along with the diet shift, combination of four condition indices (ingestion rate, RNA/DNA and DNA/C ratios and otoliths) also revealed important changes in the nutritional status and growth of these larvae. Larvae smaller than 13 mm had a sustainable nutrition and growth whereas larger larvae depicted low growth rate. This could reflect a change in the energy-allocation strategy from a growth-oriented strategy towards a more storage-oriented strategy. These ontogenetic changes in the larval condition suggest that the diet shift occurring at 13 mm could constitute the core of the critical period for Downs herring larvae.
White Kabesak (Acacia Leucophloea RoxB) Leaves Utilization in Concentrate on Fermentation Products and In Vitro Gas Production

This study aimed to evaluate gas production and in vitro fermentation products from feed containing leaves of white kabesak ( acacia leucophloea Roxb.)Willd. Feed was composed of a ratio of 60% natural grasses and 40% concentrate. The treatments were used levels of white kabesak leaves in concentrates i.e. 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40% in the dry matter (DM) basis as treatments, R 0 , R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 treatments, respectively. The results showed that inclusion of acacia leucophloea leaves in concentrate increased organic matter and crude fiber contents but decreased the crude protein content. Increasing level of acacia leucophloea leaves in concentrate decreased gas production (b, ml / 500 mg DM) from 198.29 (R 0 ) to 139.93 (R 4 ). The gas production rate (c, ml /hour) was relatively constant between 0.034 to 0.036 on R 0 - R 3 and 0.028 on R 4 . Gas production at 48 hours incubation (y, ml / 500 mg DM) decreased from 153.38 (R 0 ) to 103.23 (R 4 ). The NH 3 concentrations ranged from 6.17-7.31 mg / 100 ml and the total VFA was 83.07-91.96 mM. The lowest C2 / C3 ratio was in R 2 (2.63). The highest IVDMD was 50.18-67.14% in R 0 and the lowest IVOMD was 55.04-71.35% R 4 . The use of acacia leucophloea leaves at level 20% in concentrates as supplements was more efficient in reducing gas production and in vitro fermentation products.
Towards a Visual Typology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development

Representations of sustainability and sustainable development, as images, figures, and models have received relatively little attention in the literature, compared with textual definitions. However, there has been a concerted effort by authors to communicate complexity to specialized and wider audiences over the past fifty years. The purpose of this article is to present a taxonomy of visual representations of sustainability and sustainable development that reveal the conceptual diversity and complexity of these metanarratives of the dynamics of socio-ecological systems (SES). Using an exploratory and interpretive methodology, the principal objective is to describe and interpret the core traits of 18 different representations, which reflect the hybrid nature of sustainability and sustainable development depictions, but also allow them to be categorized into six main types. This exercise is based on the review of images used in the secondary literature on sustainability and sustainable development, and also websites that have compiled sets of images. The shared roots or common traits of the six main types are to be found in the principles of complexity, nonlinearity, holism, projection, and praxis. These roots reflect not only the dynamics of SES, but also how these system representations change according to their purposes and etiologies which are, in turn, defined by the academic, public, and private actors who design them.
Exceptional coupling in photonic anisotropic metamaterials for extremely low waveguide crosstalk: publisher’s note

Electromagnetic coupling is ubiquitous in photonic systems and transfers optical signals from one device to the other, creating crosstalk between devices. While this allows the functionality of some photonic components such as couplers, it limits the integration density of photonic chips, and many approaches have been proposed to reduce the crosstalk. However, due to the wave nature of light, complete elimination of crosstalk between closely spaced, identical waveguides is believed to be impossible and has not been observed experimentally. Here we show an exceptional coupling that can completely suppresses the crosstalk utilizing highly anisotropic photonic metamaterials. The anisotropic dielectric perturbations in the metamaterial mutually cancel the couplings from different field components, resulting in an infinitely long coupling length. We demonstrate the extreme suppression of crosstalk via exceptional coupling on a silicon-on-insulator platform, which is compatible with a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor process. The idea of exceptional coupling with anisotropic metamaterials can be applied to many other electromagnetic devices, and it could drastically increase the integration density of photonic chips.
Isolation, identification and characterization of probiotic properties of bacterium from the honey stomachs of Yigilca honeybees in Turkey

Balarilari, dunyadaki hemen hemen butun canlilarin idamesi icin hayati deger tasiyan anahtar turler olarak nitelendirilmektedir. Ancak, tum dunyada bal arisi stoklarinin buyuk oranda kitlesel olumlerine yol acan koloni cokusu, uluslararasi endiseye sebep olmaktadir. Bu kayiplari onlemek icin yeni yaklasimlarin ortaya cikarilmasi gerekmektedir. Yapilan calismalarda, arilarin vucutlarinda bulunan probiyotik ozellik tasiyan bakterilerin, arilarin patojenlere karsi direnc saglamasinda aktif bir rol ustlenecekleri dusunulmektedir. Bu baglamda, bu calismada saglikli arilarin bal midesinden probiyotik ozellikli laktik asit bakterilerinin izole edilmesi, bu bakterilerin arilarda hastalik etmeni patojenlere karsi etkisinin incelenmesi ve bu bakterilerin arilarin bagisiklik sistemini guclendirmek maksadiyla kullanilmasi amaclanmistir. Bu amac dogrultusunda, 2015-2016 yillari arasinda, DAGEM (Duzce Universitesi, Aricilik Arastirma, Gelistirme ve Uygulama Merkezi, Yigilca, DUZCE)’ den temin edilen arilarin bal midesinden probiyotik ozellikli bakteri taramasi yapilmistir. Elde edilen bakterilerin ari patojeni Melissococcus plutonius (Truper and de' Clari, 1998) (Enterococcaceae)’ a karsi inhibisyon aktivitesi in vitro agar kuyu difuzyon metodu ile belirlenmistir. Ardindan istenen ozelliklere sahip bakteri biyokimyasal, fizyolojik ve 16s rDNA analizi ile molekuler olarak Lactobacillus kunkeei (Edwards, 1998) (Lactobacillaceae) olarak tanimlanmis ve probiyotik dogasi incelenmistir. Sonuclar degerlendirildiginde, elde edilen izolatin gelecekte preparatlarinin hazirlanarak, arilarin bagisiklik sistemlerini destekleyecegi ve sonucta, antibiyotikler ile kimyasal tedavi yontemlerine basvurulmadan direncli arilarin uretilecegi dusunulmektedir.