Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Morphological studies on the early development of Rapana venosa

Embryos and larvae of the prosobranch gastropod mollusk Rapana venosa were artificially incubated and hatched from egg masses under laboratory conditions,and morphological changes during the early development were observed. Fertilized eggs developed into veligers in about 16 days at temperature 25℃. Embryonic development included six stages: cleavage,blastula,gastrulae,trochophore in egg membrane,intra-membrane veliger,and veliger. The planktonic larval development was divided into five stages,including one-spiral whorl stage,tw o-spiral whorls stage(early,mid and late),early three-spiral whorls stage,mid and late three-spiral whorls stage,four-spiral whorls stage(early,mid and late). The highest growth rate of larvae was observed during the late tw o-spiral whorls stage with an increase of 44.45 μm in shell height per day,while the lowest was in early three-spiral whorls stage with an increase of 19.51 μm in shell height per day. The settlement and metamorphosis of veligers occurred in the mid-to-late four-spiral whorls stage with the shell height of 1250-1500 μm. Morphological changes during the settlement and metamorphosis of veligers could be summed up as: incrassation of edge of shell aperture, exstrophy of shell aperture,disappearance in the middle edge of shell aperture,degeneration of velum of veligers,and the broadened feet which could flex freely.
Inhibition arrest of dehydrogenase and phytoactivities by soil incorportation of hexachlorocyclohexane degrading bacteria.

Soil incorporation of bacteria adapted to insecticide Hexachlorocyclohexane (Tech HCH), alpha-HCH and beta-HCH through laboratory enrichment technique, accelerated the degradation of respective chemicals. The presence of such bacteria in soil arrested to varying extents, inhibition of dehydrogenase activity caused by isomers of HCH. Similar biological amendment of the soil also offered protection to amaranthus, knol-khol and tomato seedlings against HCH toxicity.
The seroprevalence of cytomegalovirus infection in Belgium anno 2002 and 2006: a comparative analysis with hepatitis A virus seroprevalence

Abstract Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is endemic worldwide but its seroprevalence varies widely. The goal of this study was to estimate the age-specific seroprevalence of CMV infection in Belgium based on two cross-sectional serological datasets from 2002 and 2006. The seroprevalence was estimated relying on diagnostic test results based on cut-off values pre-specified by the manufacturers of the tests as well as relying on mixture models applied to continuous pathogen-specific immunoglobulin G antibody titre concentrations. The age-specific seroprevalence of hepatitis A virus (HAV), based on three Belgian cross-sectional serological datasets from 1993, 2002 and 2006, was used as a comparator since individuals acquire lifelong immunity upon recovery, implying an increasing seroprevalence with age. The age group weighted overall CMV seroprevalence derived from the mixture model was 32% (95% confidence interval (CI) 31–34%) in 2002 and 31% (95% CI 30–32%) in 2006. We demonstrated that CMV epidemiology differs from the immunizing infection HAV. This was the first large-scale study of CMV and HAV serial datasets in Belgium, estimating seroprevalence specified by age and birth cohort.
Occupational Asbestos Exposure and Kidney Cancer: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Cohort Studies

Abstract Objectives An estimated 125 million workers are exposed to asbestos worldwide. Asbestos is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Group 1 carcinogen. The association between occupational asbestos exposure and kidney cancer is not well established however. This study aimed to determine the mortality and incidence of kidney cancer in workers who have been exposed to asbestos. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the association between occupational asbestos exposure and kidney cancer. Methods Medline, EMBASE, and Web of Science were searched according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for articles on occupational asbestos exposure and kidney cancer. The studies reported the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) or standardized incidence ratio (SIR) of kidney cancer in workers exposed to asbestos. SMRs or SIRs with its 95% confidence interval (CI) were pooled using a fixed-effect model. Results Forty-nine cohort studies involving 335 492 workers were selected for analysis. These studies included 468 kidney cancer deaths and 160 incident cases. The overall pooled-SMR of kidney cancer was 0.95 (95% CI: 0.86–1.05), with no significant heterogeneity (PQ = 0.09, I2 = 24.87%). The overall pooled-SIR of kidney cancer was 0.95 (95% CI: 0.79–1.11), with no significant heterogeneity (PQ = 0.68, I2 = 0.00%). Subgroup analysis did not find any increased association with occupational asbestos exposure. There was no evidence of publication bias with Egger’s test P values of 0.08 for mortality studies and 0.99 for incidence studies. Conclusions This systematic review and meta-analysis did not show evidence of association between occupational asbestos exposure and kidney cancer mortality or incidence.
Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses: A Review of the Pinnipedia

Victor B. Scheffer Seals, sea lions, and walruses. A review of the Pinnipedia. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. Pp. x + 179, 15 figs., 32 pls. April 24, 1958. Price, $5.00. To write a comprehensive book that encompasses, among other things, the structure, habits, evolution and classification of a mammalian order is a rather unique accomplishment. This, however, has been done with admirable skill by Dr. Victor B. Scheffer. The pinnipeds, as a group, are world-wide in distribution although they are limited essentially to continental shores, islands, and polar ice fields in the breeding season. During this critical reproductive period, therefore, their distribution is essentially one-dimensional, comparable to that of alcids among birds, certain fishes and many marine invertebrates. This, as the author suggests, has probably had a marked influence on their evolutionary development. Little is known regarding the origin of the pinnipeds since …
The Impact of African and Brazilian Zika virus isolates on neuroprogenitors

In the last few months, an overwhelming number of people have been exposed to the Zika virus (ZIKV) in South and Central America. Here we showed, in vitro, that a Brazilian isolate impacts more severely murine neuronal progenitors and neurons than the African strain MR766. We found that the Brazilian isolate more pronouncedly inhibits neurite extension from neurospheres, alters their differentiation potential and causes neurons to have less and shorter processes. Comparing both lineages using a panel of inflammatory cytokines, we showed, with human neuroblastoma cells, that ZIKV induces the production of several inflammatory and chemotactic cytokines and once again, the Brazilian isolate had a more significant impact. Although much more needs to be studied regarding the association of ZIKV infection and brain damage during development, our study sheds some light into the differences between African and American lineages and the mechanisms by which the virus may be affecting neurogenesis.
WIND PROFILES IN PLANT CANOPIES: STUDIES ON AN ANALYTICAL MODEL

calculated, using a one-dimensional model, in terms of the vertical profiles of the concentration, and the transfer coefficients (K m2 s- 1). Transfer coefficients can be obtained either from energy balance or aerodynamic measurements-in both cases the assumption of equality between the transfer coefficients of the various entities is usually made. (In this paper Krefers to the momentum transfer coefficient, also called the eddy viscosity.) A pre-requisite of any attempt to derive the momentum transfer coefficient is an accurate knowledge of the wind profile in the plant-air layer. Wind speeds should also be incorporated in any model which purports to make layer-by-layer estimates of photosynthesis in plant stands, since the ventilation at any level is an important factor in the transfer processes between leaves and their immediate environment.
Biosynthèse hétérologue de l’Orange Carotenoid Protein chez Escherichia coli

Les cyanobacteries ont developpe des mecanismes de photo-protection pour se premunir des dommages causes par un exces de lumiere. L’un d’eux repose sur l’activite de l’Orange Carotenoide Proteine (OCP), proteine soluble qui attache un keto-carotenoide, l’hydroxy-echinenone. Sous illumination, l’OCP se photo-convertit en forme active et interagit avec les phycobilisomes pour dissiper l’energie collectee sous forme de chaleur. En consequence, l’energie d’excitation recue par les centres reactionnels et la fluorescence du complexe photosynthetique diminuent. L’OCP a aussi la faculte de neutraliser l’oxygene singulet pour lutter contre la photo-oxydation. J’ai developpe un systeme d’expression heterologue pour reconstituer la voie de biosynthese de cette proteine dans E.coli. Ce systeme permet l’obtention d’une grande quantite d’OCP liant son carotenoide in vivo. Grâce a ce systeme robuste et rapide, les OCPs de trois cyanobacteries : Synechocystis, Arthrospira et Anabaena ont ete produites, liant differents carotenoides. Toutes les OCPs recombinantes sont photo-actives et capables de quencher la fluorescence des phycobilisomes in vitro. Elles possedent toutes la faculte de neutraliser l'oxygene singulet quel que soit le carotenoide lie. Ce systeme d'expression heterologue nous a permis d’elucider les determinants structurels impliques dans la photo-activation et la structure de la forme active de l’OCP. Il constitue une avancee fondamentale dans l'etude des proteines a carotenoide et dans la production d'antioxydants solubles qui presentent un grand interet pour l’industrie de la sante.
PHYTOPHTHORA INFESTANS POPULATIONS FROM THE EUROPEAN PART OF RUSSIA: GENOTYPIC STRUCTURE AND METALAXYL RESISTANCE

Populations of the potato and tomato late blight pathogen from different regions of the European part of Russia were studied for their genotypic structure and metalaxyl resistance. The majority of the studied populations showed a high genotypic diversity, i.e. strains of A1 and A2 mating types, Ia and IIa mitochondrial DNA haplotypes, and different genotypes at Pep1 and Pep2 loci were identified. The highest genotypic diversity was registered among P. infestans populations from the North Caucasus, Mariy El Republic, and the Moscow region. The obtained data confirm a high probability of crossing and hybridization within the most part of the field populations of P. infestans from the European part of Russia. Most of the studied populations included strains with high and low metalaxyl resistance, the incidence of resistant strains depending on the use of metalaxyl-containing fungicides.
Feature Extraction Technique using Discrete

feature extraction tooltoanalyze sub-band frequency of Abstract-- Thepurpose offeature extraction technique in wavelet transform. Thesub-band frequencies wereusedasan imageprocessing istorepresent theimageinitscompact and input totheexpert modelnetwork. Thecommontechnique unique formofsingle values ormatrix vector. Lowlevel featureusedforfeature extraction ofDWT coefficient isbyusing extraction involves automatic extraction offeatures froman neural network (6), (7), (8). Inthisstudy, wavelets willbe imagewithout doinganyprocessing method. Inthispaper, we usedintheanalysis ofnarrowandbroadweedimages since consider theuseofhighlevel feature extraction technique to theharcteisti ofnarowndboadwee by DWT allows decomposition oftheimage into different levels investigate theof resolution. Bydoing so,weintroduce anewfeature setthat implementing the2Dimensional Discrete Wavelet Transform is reduon Bysis ofwe oducen t. sehat (2D-DWT)astheprocessing method. Mosttransformation isbasedontheanalysis ofwavelet coefficient. Thistechnique techniques produce coefricient values withthesamesize asthe helps reducethesizeofwavelet coefficient andproduce a original image. Further processing ofthecoefricient values must smaller sizeoffeature vectors. As aresult, simple linear beapplied toextract theimage feature vectors. Inthis paper, we classification tools canbeusedtocategorize thetwotypeof propose analgorithm toimplement feature extraction technique weed.Typically, theimplementation ofDWT usesthemother using the2D-DWTandtheextracted coefficients areusedto ofwavelet suchasHaar, daubechies, Coiflet, Meyer, Morlet represent theimageforclassification ofnarrowandbroad andMexicanHat.However, thisstudy onlyconsiders the weed.Results obtained suggest thattheextracted 2D-DWT Haarmotherwavelet inthepreliminary attempt since the coefricients canuniquely represents thetwodifferent weedtype.mainobjective istoextract anewsetoffeatures basedonthe DWT coefficients andtouselinear discriminant analysis
Software Tools for Handling Magnetically Collected Ultra-thin Sections for Microscopy

This report presents the software tools that will be available online to help users to accurately segment ultra-thin sections of brain tissue in a large image to determine section’s coordinates. In order to predict these coordinates, the goal was to use state-of-art object instance segmentation framework called Masked Region-based Convolutional Neural Network (Masked R-CNN) on the dataset containing sections of brain tissue in the light microscopy images. The predicted coordinates of the sections will later be used for automated image acquisition in high resolution electron microscope. We will demonstrate that Masked R-CNN can be used to perform highly eﬀective and eﬃcient automatic segmentation of microscopy images containing the sections. The machine learning pipeline used will be explained in detail. In addition, we will show the results of how diﬀerent parameters and settings of this pipeline were changing the performance. This semester project was done in collaboration with the Center for Interdisciplinary Electron Microscopy (CIME) lab and Machine Learning and Optimization (MLO) lab at EPFL.
Self-Taught Learning of the Accessible Surface Area of Proteins

—In this work, We have investigated self-taught learning methods along with deep neural network to predict one very important property of proteins from protein sequences, i.e., accessible surface area and to solve the problem of feature selection using a comparatively new machine learning concept i.e self-taught learning. Accessible surface area (ASA) is predicted using Support Vector Regression (SVR). Two SVR optimization methods with three different types of features including position dependent k-spectrum, Blosum 62 substitution matrix and position speciﬁc scoring matrix (PSSM) are used separately to predict ASA. Optimization methods used are quadratic programming (QP) solver to solve dual form of SVR with Radial Basis Function (RBF) kernel and stochastic sub-gradient optimization (SSGO) algorithm to optimize a linear SVR. QP based solver produced better results with PSSM features as compared to SSGO algorithm but SSGO algorithm is signiﬁcantly time efﬁcient as compared to ﬁrst method. Two self-taught learning algorithms are used to learn better representations of data which are Sparse autoencoder and dictionary learning. These algorithms are trained using unlabeled data extracted from non-redundant protein database. Labeled examples are transformed into new representations using trained algorithms and SSGO based re-gressor is used to predict ASA. We have used these algorithms with position dependent k-spectrum and Blosum 62 substitution matrix based features as these are easier to compute as compared to PSSM which uses a lot of data and time. We got comparable results with these algorithms as those of using simple data without using these algorithms. A feed forward deep neural network having three layers has been used for comparison purposes. This model is trained and tested using labeled data. It produced better results than self-taught learning algorithms with Blosum features.
Drinking by the Common Boa, Boa constrictor

floor of the oropharyngeal cavity rises, and increasing pressure in the oropharyngeal cavity forces water to the back of the throat and into the esophagus. The expansion and compression stage of the oropharyngeal cavity floor occur in two distinguishable regions. Onset of each drinking stage begins in the anterior throat floor slightly before the posterior throat region, thus setting up front to back motion which functions as a buccal-pump mechanism, acting first to aspirate water into the mouth and then to force the water posteriorly past a sphincter into the esophagus.
Tricritical point and phase diagram based on critical scaling in monoaxial chiral helimagnet Cr 1 / 3 NbS

In this work, the magnetism of the single crystal Cr1/3NbS2, which exhibits chiral magnetic soliton lattice (CSL) state, is investigated. The magnetization displays strong magnetic anisotropy when the field is applied perpendicularly and parallel to the c-axis in low field region (H < HS, HS is the saturation field). The critical exponents of Cr1/3NbS2 are obtained as β = 0.370(4), γ = 1.380(2), and δ = 4.853(6), which are close to the theoretical prediction of three-dimensional Heisenberg model. Based on the scaling equation and the critical exponents, the H −T phase diagram in the vicinity of the phase transition is constructed, where two critical points are determined. One is a tricritical point which locates at the intersection between the CSL, forced ferromagnetic (FFM), and paramagnetic (PM) states. The other one is a critical point situated at the boundaries between CSL, helimagnetic (HM), and PM states. PACS numbers: 75.30. Gw, 75.40. -s, 75.40. Cx
Community Structure of Prokaryotes in Pit Mud of Lu-Flavor Liquor from Luzhou Prefecture Based on Culture-independent Approach

The community compositions of bacteria and archaea in mature pit mud of Lu-flavor liquor were detected through establishing 16S rRNA gene clone library of bacteria and archaea, sequencing and analyzing phylogenetic tree. Data analysis showed that the biodiversity of bacteria in pit mud was quite rich, reaching 34 OTUs, which were mainly distributed in 14 families and 2 unidentified families of Clostridia and Bacteroidia. And also, most of them were restricted anaerobes. Among them, Clostridia strains were absolutely dominant in the bacterial community of pit mud, and its ratio of clone number was 68.2%. In addition, there was appropriate distribution for Bacilii(21.6%), Bacteroidetes(8.0%), Tenericutes(1.1%) and Synergistetes(1.1%). Archaeal community composition was quite simple, and only 4 OTUs were detected and mainly distributed in Methanoculleus, Methanosarcina, Methanobacterium and Methanomassiliicoccus with clone distribution ratios of 58.8%, 29.4%, 5.9% and 5.9%, respectively.
Why Was the August Rainfall Pattern in the East Asia–Paciﬁc Ocean Region in 2016 Different from That in 1998 under a Similar Preceding El Ni ñ o Background?

Previous studies have noted that a strong El Ni ñ o event occurring in the preceding winter will result in westward stretching of the western North Paciﬁc subtropical high (WPSH) in the following summer, causing anomalously high precipitation in the Yangtze–Huaihe River basin and anomalously low precipitation in southern China. The winters preceding the summers of 1998 and 2016 featured strong El Ni ñ o events, which, alongwith theEl Ni ñ oeventof 1982,representedthestrongestEl Ni ñ oeventssince1950. Underthesesimilar El Ni ñ o event backgrounds, the July precipitation anomaly in 2016 was similar to that in 1998, but the August precipitation anomalies in the two years featured opposite distributions. According to the atmospheric cir- culation analysis, we found that an anomalous ascending motion appeared over the Indian Ocean, while an anomalous descending motion appeared over the Paciﬁc Ocean in August 1998. In addition, the WPSH stretched westward over southern China. However, the atmospheric circulation distribution in August 2016 was the opposite of that in 1998, and the WPSH was divided into eastern and western parts by the anomalous western Paciﬁc cyclone. Further analysis showed that the number of tropical cyclones and typhoons over the western Paciﬁc Ocean increased signiﬁcantly in August 2016, and their activities were concentrated in the South China Sea (SCS)–southern China region and the western Paciﬁc Ocean, resulting in the division of the WPSH. Therefore, the numbers, tracks, and strengths of tropical cyclones and typhoons were responsible for the differences in the anomalous precipitation distributions over the East Asia–Paciﬁc Ocean region between August 2016 and August 1998.
Increased resistance to detergent in Enterococcus faecalis

Enteroccocus faecalis, a gram-positive bacterium ubiquitous in the environment and normal inhabitant of the human gastrointestinal tract, has emerged as a major health problem exacerbated by its ability at surviving adverse conditions, including prolonged stay on environmental surfaces. Here its tolerance to detergents that are routine household chemicals was investigated and compared to that of E. coli. A clinical isolate of E. faecalis with plasmid-mediated antibiotics resistance grown in the presence of increasing concentrations of sodium Nlauroylsarcosinate (sarkosyl) and sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) exhibited a sarkosyl minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0.1% (10% for E. coli) and a SDS MIC of 0.05% (6% for E. coli). A mutant with accrued sarkosyl resistance (MIC = 0.6%) was isolated after growth in the presence of 0.06% sarkosyl. While there was no cross-resistance to SDS, other mutant characteristics gave it advantages over the original strain, emphasizing the potential emergence of E. faecalis with increasing tolerance to common household detergents.
Asperula calabra (Rubiaceae) and allied taxa in southern Apennines, Italy

Abstract The present work is aimed at studying several Asperula (Rubiaceae) sect. Cynanchicae populations in southern Apennines, Italy, with particular reference to those referred to A. calabra, by employing biometrical methods on macromorphological data. Among other historical misapplications, A. cynanchica subsp. cynanchica seems to be very rare or missing in southern Italy. The enigmatic Asperula calabra, confirmed to be limited to a single mountain population in Calabria, appears to be strictly related to A. aristata subsp. scabra, so we suggest to treat it as a further subspecies of A. aristata. This latter species is otherwise distributed throughout southern Italy with subsp. scabra and subsp. aristata, characterised by slight morphological differences, which are correlated to altitudinal ranges.
Organization-based social marketing: An alternative approach for organizations adopting sustainable business practices

This article conceptualizes a new area for social marketing practitioners by focusing on individual behavior change that might occur within organizations. Organization-Based Social Marketing (OBSM) draws from organization change theory and internal marketing theory, while maintaining social marketing’s focus on beneficial behavior modification. The article argues that as such, OBSM represents a viable approach for organizations seeking to address the increasing demand for change strategies that promote proenvironmental behavior among their employees