Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Competition between isoetids and invading elodeids at different concentrations of aquatic carbon dioxide

Summary 1. The growth of submerged macrophytes in softwater lakes is often assumed to be carbon limited. Isoetid species are well adapted to grow at low carbon availability and therefore commonly dominate the submerged macrophyte vegetation in softwater lakes. In many such lakes, however, large-scale invasions of fast-growing elodeid species, replacing the isoetid vegetation, have been observed. 2. In a laboratory experiment, we tested how rising aquatic carbon availability, in interaction with different densities of the isoetid Littorella uniflora, affected the growth (and thereby the potential invasion success) of the elodeid Myriophyllum alterniflorum. For this purpose, the growth of M. alterniflorum was determined at a combination of three concentrations of dissolved CO2 (15, 90, 200 μmol L−1) and three densities of L. uniflora (0, 553, 1775 plants m−2). 3. At an ambient CO2 of 15 μmol L−1, M. alterniflorum could not sustain itself, whereas at raised CO2 concentrations, growth became positive and increased with higher CO2 availability. 4. The presence of L. uniflora, independent of its density, reduced the growth of M. alterniflorum by 50%. Whether this is related to nutrient availability or other factors is not clear. 5. Despite the growth reduction of M. alterniflorum by L. uniflora, at CO2 ≥90 μmol L−1, L. uniflora was still overgrown by M. alterniflorum. This may imply that, in field situations, M. alterniflorum can invade softwater systems with relatively high CO2 availability, even in the presence of dense stands of L. uniflora.
OPTIMIZATION OF CULTURE CONDITIONS FOR A BIOFILM FORMING BACTERIUM

Oral hygiene is an essential component of human health. Dental caries is one of the most common diseases of man. Some specific species of bacteria are responsible for the formation of this disease. In the present investigation, biofilm forming organisms were isolated from dental caries affected man. The isolates were screened using test tube assay, glass cover slip assay and microtiter plate assay. Different conditions for better biofilm formation and antibiotic susceptibility of the selected organism were investigated. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) was also determined. Among the selected isolates, Streptococcus mutans was found as better biofilm former that was finally selected for detailed study. Optimized culture conditions for biofilm formation were found 37oC for 24 hrs of incubation with the medium pH 6.5 by the selected isolate. Glucose and yeast extract induced biofilm formation. It was found that the selected isolate was sensitive to ciprofloxacin and tetracycline; intermediate to chloramphenicol and gentamicin; and resistant to amoxicillin, ampicillin, penicillin, cefixime and erythromycin. Results of this study suggest reducing excessive consumption of sugary foods and drinks to prevent the occurrence of dental caries. In case of therapeutic use, antibiotics should be given depending on the basis of antibiotic susceptibility.
Histomorphological Study of the Eyelid in Adult Marwari Goat (Capra hircus)

The present study was carried out on the eyelid of the adult Marwari goat (Capra hircus). The eyelid was composed of an outermost layer of typical skin, orbicularis oculi muscle, tarsal plate and the innermost layer of the palpebral conjunctiva. The eyelids were covered externally with typical skin containing a dense coat of fine hairs. The follicles of eyelashes were located at the marginal part of skin and were devoid of arrector pili muscle. The roots of the large eyelashes were in close association with prominent sebaceous glands (glands of Zeis) and modified sweat glands (glands of Moll). Beneath the outermost layer, there was the orbicularis oculi muscles which was separated from the posterior epithelial lining of the eyelids (i.e. palpebral conjunctiva) by dens connective tissue, the tarsal plate. Within the tarsal plate, modified multilobular sebaceous glands (Meibomian or tarsal glands) were embedded. The palpebral conjunctiva was the innermost layer which consisted of the stratified cuboidal or columnar epithelium that became more squamous towards the margin of the eyelid. The tarsal gland, gland of Moll, gland of Zeis, ground substance of eye lids and the goblet cells in conjunctiva revealed a positive reaction for PAS.
Synthesis of optically pure (S)-2-amino-5-arylpent-4-ynoic acids by Sonogashira reactions and their potential use as highly selective potent inhibitors of aldose reductase

A new and convenient synthesis of optically pure (S)-2-amino-5-[aryl]pent-4-ynoic acids (alkynylated amino acids) is reported. (S)-2-Aminopent-4-ynoic acid-Ni-(S)-BPB was prepared and then functionalized via Sonogashira cross-coupling reactions to give (S)-2-amino-5-[aryl]pent-4-ynoic acid-Ni-(S)-BPB. The reaction conditions for the cross-coupling reaction were optimized and twelve derivatives were synthesized. Afterwards the Ni-complexes were cleaved to obtain the free (S)-2-amino-5-[aryl]pent-4-ynoic acids with excellent optical purity. The prepared (S)-2-amino-5-[aryl]pent-4-ynoic acids were tested for biological activity and selectively showed high inhibitory activity against aldose reductase (ALR2) over ALR1. Molecular docking studies have also been carried out to identify the putative binding mode of the compounds in these enzymes.
Induction and detection of pathogenesis-related proteins in leaves and roots of potato plants infected with pathotypes of Globodera pallida

denaturing 20 % homogenous gels, while 8-25 % gradient gels resolved only one major new band and a few minor ones. These new proteins have Rf values in the range 0.2 to 0.9. In cv. Maris Piper, six new proteins with Rf values in the same range were detected from plants infected with G. pallida. In denaturing SDS-PAGE new proteins were resolved in the intercellular fluid ofinfected plants of cv. P5517; these new proteins have molecular weights in the range 14-45 kD. The cv. P5 517, which is considered to be resistant to G. pallida Pa 1 and susceptible to Pa 2/3, responds differenuy to attack by these pathotypes; the intensity of PR protein bands from intercellular fluid and leaf homogenate analyses was greater from plants invaded by juveniles of Pa 2/3 than from those attacked by Pa 1. Analysis of root extracts of plants infected with G. pallida revealed the presence of two higher molecular weight proteins with estimated molecular weights of 70 kD and 82 kD. AIl three cvs tested responded similarly to induction of PR proteins by salicylic acid and silver nitrate treatrnent, although the presence of PR proteins was more easily determined in cv. Maris Piper. These proteins had molecular weights in the range 14-45 kD.
The Effect of Graph Layout on the Perception of Graph Properties

The way in which a graph is described visually is crucial for the understanding and analysis of its structure. In this study we explore how different drawing layouts affect our perception of the graph’s properties. We study the perception of connectedness, tree-ness and density using four different layouts: the Circular, Grid, Planar and Spring layouts. Results show that some layouts are better than others when we need to decide whether a graph is a tree or is connected. More sophisticated algorithms, like Planar and Spring, facilitate our perception, while Circular and Grid layouts lead to performance not better than chance. However, when perceiving the density of a graph, no layout was found to be better than the others.
The Relationship Between Phenotype & Genotype

Two important concepts in genetics are 1) the difference between a genetic selection and a genetic s creening experiment, and 2) the relationship between phenotype and genotype. For many students, these are abstract concepts with little meaning. The laboratory exercise described below uses a DNA transformation and DNA isolation activity to provide a concrete demonstration of both concepts. The f irst p art o f t his e xercise involves the transformation of E. coli with two different plasmids. This section of the laboratory shows both the power of a genetic selection experiment (where only organisms with the desired phenotype can grow) and the usefulness of a genetic screen (where organisms with desired and undesired phenotypes can grow, but desired organisms can be distinguished by the screen). Both plasmids used in this laboratory exercise contain a -lactamase gene that confers resistance to ampicillin. One plasmid [pGEM-11zf(-), Promega Biotech, Madison, WI (Figure 1)] has an intact lacZ gene, allowing the plasmid to restore lactose fermenting ability to E. coli strains with a specific mutation (lacZM15) in the chromosomal copy of lacZ. The other plasmid [pGEM-luc, Promega Biotech (Figure 1)] has the firefly luciferase gene inserted into the lacZ gene of the pGEM-11zf(-) plasmid. This insertion inactivates the lacZ gene on the plas
Width-Scale Bar Charts for Data with Large Value Range

Data sets with large value range are difﬁcult to visualize with traditional linear bar charts. Usually, a logarithmic scale is used in these cases. However, the logarithmic scale suffers from non-linearity. Recently, scale-stack bar charts and magnitude markers, improve the readability of values. However, they have other disadvantages such as various scales or several objects for visualizing one value. We propose the width-scale bar chart that uses width, height and color to cover a large value range within one linear scale. A quantitative user study shows advantages of our design – especially for reading values.
The Use of Three-Dimensional DNA Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (3D DNA FISH) for the Detection of Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Circulating Tumor Cells

Tumor tissue biopsy is often limited for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and alternative sources of tumoral information are desirable to determine molecular alterations such as anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are an appealing component of liquid biopsies, which can be sampled serially over the course of treatment. In this study, we enrolled a cohort of ALK-positive (n = 8) and ALK-negative (n = 12) NSCLC patients, enriched for CTCs using spiral microfluidic technology and performed DNA fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) for ALK. CTCs were identified in 12/20 NSCLC patients ranging from 1 to 26 CTCs/7.5 mL blood. Our study revealed that 3D imaging of CTCs for ALK translocations captured a well-defined separation of 3′ and 5′ signals indicative of ALK translocations and overlapping 3′/5′ signal was easily resolved by imaging through the nuclear volume. This study provides proof-of-principle for the use of 3D DNA FISH in the determination of CTC ALK translocations in NSCLC.
Visual Analysis of Car-hailing Reimbursement Data for Overtime

Compensation management is one of the most important elements of personnel management. One type of compensation is trafﬁc supplementary pay for the overtime employees. Conventional analysis of the trafﬁc reimbursement focuses on the basic ﬁnancial statistics such as the expenditure trends and rankings among different departments in the company. However, it largely ignores the wellbeing of the individuals and their residential distribution that can help improve the effectiveness of compensation strategies. In this work, we propose a visual analytics system based on a company’s trafﬁc reimbursement data for the overtime. It assists the compensation managers in understanding the overtime employees’ commuting status and providing more indirect compensation beneﬁts for the employees. A user case conﬁrms the efﬁcacy of our system and experts’ feedback also suggests that our approach indeed helps them better tackle the problem of analyzing the car-hailing reimbursement data for the overtime.
Evaluating Strategies of Exploratory Visual Data Analysis in Multi Device Environments

Supporting exploratory visual data analysis is essential when multiple analysts collaborate using multiple devices. Yet, we still have no full understanding of how the iterative process of analysis unfolds in complex settings. In this paper, we present the results from an exploratory study where six groups of three participants performed a collaborative visual data analysis task in a complex multi-user multi-device environment. We found that the course of the analysis happens at two levels. Within each level, we observed a set of exploration patterns. We present a categorization of the analysis structure in such a complex environment and discuss the implications of device affordances on this categorization. We also discuss this categorization in relation to the current structural assumptions of exploratory visual analysis.
Sketchy Rendering to Aid the Recollection of Regular Visualizations

Some visualizations have a more regular visual appearance than others. For example, while stream graphs or force-directed network layouts feature a unique, almost organic look&feel, matrices or unit treemaps can become rather bland, grid-like visualizations in which one data item is hard to tell apart from the next. In this paper, we investigate the use of sketchy rendering for such grid-like visualizations to give them a slightly more unique look&feel themselves. We evaluate our approach in a lab study (N = 16 ) where participants were asked to re-ﬁnd a given grid cell in regular and sketchy grids. We ﬁnd that users who make conscious use of the sketchy features can beneﬁt from certain forms of sketchy rendering in terms of task completion times
ElasticBloC: A Massively Scalable Architecture For Blockchain Based Applications

— Blockchain is an emerging technology that would possibly disrupt the existing centralized financial systems lead to the rise to a new technology era for the financial sector. Additionally, different new use cases such as healthcare, identity management, etc. suggest that Blockchain has much wider applications. Blockchain is founded on distributed ledger technology that ensures trust through consensus between parties in a peer-to-peer network instead of the need to a third party or central authority. However, blockchain has several limitations such as scalability, latency, low throughput which are the main barriers for Blockchain being adopted by the industries. Of all, scalability is the most critical limitation of blockchain that needs an efficient and effective solution. In this paper, we aim to enhance the scalability of blockchain by designing and implementing a massively scalable architecture for private blockchain-based applications, called ElasticBloC. To evaluate our contribution, we conducted several experiments on ElasticBloC. The results showed that ElasticBloC is a high-performant architecture that scales massively
GENETIC IDENTIFICATION OF EGGS PURPORTEDLY FROM THE EXTINCT LABRADOR DUCK (CAMPTORHYNCHUS LABRADORIUS)

Abstract Material extracted from inside the shells of nine purported Labrador Duck (Camptorhynchus labradorius) eggs was subjected to DNA extraction and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. For each egg, partial sequences of one to three mitochondrial genes (12S, ND2, and control region) were compared with sequences derived from a Labrador Duck specimen and representatives of several other waterfowl species. Sequences from six eggs were consistent with those of the Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator), whereas the sequences from one egg was most consistent with that of the Common Eider (Somateria mollissima). The remaining two eggs yielded sequences consistent with that of the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) or a domestic duck. Regrettably, none of the eggs provided additional information about the breeding grounds of the extinct Labrador Duck. To our knowledge, this is the first report of DNA extraction and amplification from old eggshells of birds. Identification génétique d'œufs présumés provenir de l'espèce disparue Camptorhynchus labradorius
Deep-Eyes: Fully Automatic Anime Character Colorization with Painting of Details on Empty Pupils

Many studies have recently applied deep learning to the automatic colorization of line drawings. However, it is difﬁcult to paint empty pupils using existing methods because the networks are trained with pupils that have edges, which are generated from color images using image processing. Most actual line drawings have empty pupils that artists must paint in. In this paper, we propose a novel network model that transfers the pupil details in a reference color image to input line drawings with empty pupils. We also propose a method for accurately and automatically coloring eyes. In this method, eye patches are extracted from a reference color image and automatically added to an input line drawing as color hints using our eye position estimation network.
THE EXPERIMENTAL CONTROL OF SPARTINA ANGLICA AND SPARTINA X TOWNSENDII IN ESTUARINE SALT MARSH

Spartina anglica and Spartina x townsendii were introduced into estuarine habitats in Northern Ireland between the 1930s and 1950s. They were planted largely into inter-tidal sediment and have subsequently spread to develop mono-dominant swards at several locations. Sward development reduces the feeding habitat for wildfowl and waders by excluding salt marsh species such as Zostera spp. and physically preventing access to benthic invertebrates. Spartina anglica and Spartina x townsendii are therefore considered to be a pest species requiring control. This thesis investigates methods used for controlling Spartina anglica and Spartina x townsendii by field experiment. Experiments were initiated to study the effectiveness of control methods at two sites, one a S. anglica sward, the other a S. x townsendii sward. The treatments studied included, smothering with black plastic sheeting, applying the herbicides dalapon and glyphosate, and cutting followed by herbicide application. The effects of the control treatments on live S. anglica and S. x townsendii stem density, stem height, dry root weight, and associated flora and benthic fauna was examined. Dalapon applied at a rate of 57kg ha and smothering were the most effective control methods, reducing live S. anglica and S. x townsendii stem density by over 95 %. Glyphosate was relatively ineffective. S. anglica and S. x townsendii re-established via re-growth or seedling colonization in all treatments over the two years following treatment applications, indicating that S. anglica and S. x townsendii eradication would require re-application of control treatments. Cutting treatments increased the abundance of Puccinellia maritima in the S. x townsendii sward one year after stem removal. This suggests that S. anglica and S. x townsendii control treatments may facilitate the growth of other salt marsh species. There were no differences in invertebrate numbers prior to and one year after treatment application. S. anglica and S. x townsendii eradication management strategies should initially focus on eradication of small foci (seedlings – clumps). Monitoring is required to prevent S. anglica or S. x townsendii re-colonization. It is suggested that swards are eradicated in the next phase of the management strategy. It is advisable to use herbicides for eradication when possible due to cost effectiveness and practicality. If herbicide use is prohibited nonherbicidal methods should be used to eradicate small foci. At present it is not practical or cost-effective to remove sward areas with non-herbicidal methods. In such cases it may be possible to covert Spartina spp. sward areas into mixed saltmarsh by using control techniques that facilitate the spread of other saltmarsh species within the sward.
Towards Fingerprint Spoofing Detection in the Terahertz Range

Spoofing attacks using imitations of fingerprints of legal users constitute a serious threat. In this study, a terahertz time domain spectroscopy (TDS) setup in a reflection configuration was used for the non-intrusive detection of fingerprint spoofing. Herein, the skin structure of the finger pad is described with a focus on the outermost stratum corneum. We identified and characterized five representative spoofing materials and prepared thin and thick finger imitations. The complex refractive index of the materials was determined in TDS in the transmission configuration. For dataset collection, we selected a group of 16 adults of various ages and genders. The reflection results were analyzed both in the time (reflected signal) and frequency (reflectivity) domains. The measured signals were positively verified with the theoretical calculations. The signals corresponding to samples differ from the finger-related signals, which facilitates spoofing detection. Thanks to deconvolution, we provide a basic explanation of the observed phenomena. We propose two spoofing detection methods, predefined time–frequency features and deep learning based. The methods achieved high true detection rates of 87.9% and 98.8%. Our results show that the terahertz technology can be successfully applied for spoofing detection with high detection probability.
Winter Habitat Use and Survival of Female Ring-necked Pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) in Southeastern North Dakota

Abstract From 1992 to 1995 we used radiotelemetry to monitor winter habitat selection and survival of female ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) in southeastern North Dakota. We captured 100 birds at nine sites in six study blocks centered on cattail-dominated (Typha spp.) semipermanent wetlands. Pheasants showed nonrandom habitat use at two hierarchical scales. At the second-order scale (23-km2 blocks) semipermanent wetlands were preferred during two winters in which habitat selection could be assessed (1992–1993 and 1994–1995). An additional second-order preference for grass-covered uplands was shown during the mild 1994–1995 winter. At the third-order scale (home-range) pheasants preferred the edges of wetlands in 1992–1993 and 1994–1995. The central portions of wetlands were preferred in 1992–1993 and used proportionately in 1994–1995. Seasonal wetlands were avoided at the third order scale during 1992–1993 and 1994–1995. The average winter survival rate was 0.41, with rates ranging from 0.04–0.86 and differing significantly among winters. Survival was lower during early winter and midwinter periods for birds weighing less than 1090 g and for birds captured in semipermanent wetlands under private ownership. A 1 C increase in the mean weekly maximum temperature decreased the probability of death by 0.06 and a 2.5 cm increase in new snow raised the probability of death by 0.08.
GaCoVi: a Correlation Visualization to Support Interpretability-Aware Feature Selection for Regression Models

The recent growth of interest in explainable artiﬁcial intelligence (XAI) has resulted in a large number of research efforts to provide accountable and transparent machine learning systems. Although a large volume of research has focused on algo-rithm transparency, there are other factors that inﬂuence the interpretability of a system, such as end-users’ understanding of individual features and the total number of features. Thus, involving end-users in the feature selection process may be key to achieving interpretability. In addition, previous work has suggested that to obtain satisfactory interpretability and predictive performance, the feature selection process should look for a subset of features that are highly correlated with the response variable yet uncorrelated to each other. Taking this into account, in this paper, we present a work-in-progress design study of a novel system for correlation visualization, GaCoVi. GaCoVi is designed to put domain experts in the loop of feature selection for regression models in scenarios where transparency of the machine learning systems is crucial.