Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strain typing of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis from Tamil Nadu, India based on polymorphisms in MAP1506 locus and IS1311 PCR-REA.

| Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) causes Johne’s disease, a progressive chronic granulomatous enteritis affecting the domestic ruminants. Dung samples from cattle, sheep and goat were collected from the suspected clinical cases in livestock farms of different regions of Tamil Nadu state, India. All the samples were subjected to IS 900 PCR for the detection of MAP and 45% were found to be positive. All the positive samples were subjected to IS 1311 PCR-REA that confirmed MAP ‘Bison type’ is most prevalent cause of JD among the domestic ruminants in Tamil Nadu. MAP isolation has been attempted from the tissue samples collected from the animals that were slaughtered being positive for JD. A total of 4 isolates were obtained and were characterized by IS1311 PCR-REA, MAP1506 PCR and sequence analysis which identified the single nucleotide polymorphisms that allow strain typing. One isolate from sheep intestine was identified as “Intermediate type” strain by MAP 1506 PCR-sequence analysis. To the best of our understanding, this is the first report of ‘Intermediate type’ strain of MAP from sheep from India.
The Sources of Growth in a Technologically Progressive Economy: The United States, 1899–1941

We develop new aggregate total factor productivity (TFP) growth estimates for the USA between 1899 and 1941, and sectoral estimates at the most disaggregated level so far, 38 industries. We include hard-to-measure services, and a refined measure of sectoral labour quality growth. The resulting data set supersedes Kendrick (1961), showing TFP growth lower than previously thought, broadly based across industries, and strongly variant intertemporally. The four ‘great inventions’ that Gordon (2016) highlighted were important but less dominant in TFP growth than their predecessors in the British industrial revolution. The findings also make it unlikely the 1930s had the twentieth century's highest TFP growth.
SUBCONTINUA WITH DEGENERATE TRANCHES IN HEREDITARILY DECOMPOSABLE CONTINUA 1

A hereditarily decomposable, irreducible, metric continuum M admits a mapping/onto [0,1] such that each/"'(f) is a nowhere dense subcontinuum. The sets/~'(r) are the tranches of M and/"'(r) is a tranche of cohesion if t £ {0,1} or /■'(f) = Cl(/-'([0, t))) n Cl(/-'((i, 1])). The following answer a question of Mahavier and of E. S. Thomas, Jr. Theorem. Every hereditarily decomposable continuum contains a subcontinuum with a degenerate tranche. Corollary. If in an irreducible hereditarily decomposable continuum each tranche is nondegenerate then some tranche is not a tranche of cohesion. The theorem answers a question of Nadler concerning arcwise accessibility in hyperspaces.
Polyploidy Breeding of African Nightshade (Solanum section Solanum)

The perception of African nightshades (Solanum section Solanum) as “healthy” foods, supported by documentation of their high nutritional and medicinal benefits, has led to a sudden and steady upsurge in their consumption, demand and monetary value in Africa and most parts of South-East Asia. However, due to very low leaf yields, production of these vegetables remains on small-scales, resulting in acute shortages and escalating prices, especially in urban areas. Apart from local variants or landraces selected in some regions where these plants are utilized as food and/or medicinal plants, there are no improved cultivars developed through conventional plant breeding techniques. Species belonging to this section, generally referred to as “Solanum nigrum-complex” are predominantly autogamous, favouring production of many small fruits and seeds, which compete with leaves for photosynthates. S. nigrum-complex constitutes a polyploid series, with diploid (2n=2x=24), tetraploid (2n=4x=48), hexaploid (2n=6x=72) and rarely, octoploid (2n=8x=96) species, a trait that can be exploited for cultivar development. This review outlines the possible evolutionary mechanisms and modes of origin of the polyploids, breeding strategies to produce heteroploids such as triploid (2x=3x=36), pentaploid (2n=5x=60) and heptaploid (2n=7x=84) from existing or induced polyploids and envisaged advantageous properties of the novel polyploids or heteroploids over their wild-type progenitors. With few exceptions, heteroploidy is known to cause sterility or highly reduced fertility of both pollen and ovules. The African nightshade heteroploid series would putatively be male- and female-sterile, thus eliminating fruit- and seed-set and enhancing leaf productivity.
The short-term responses of small mammals to wildfire in semiarid mallee shrubland, Australia

Context. Wildfire is a major driver of the structure and function of mallee eucalypt- and spinifex-dominated landscapes. Understanding how fire influences the distribution of biota in these fire-prone environments is essential for effective ecological and conservation-based management. Aims. We aimed to (1) determine the effects of an extensive wildfire (118 000 ha) on a small mammal community in the mallee shrublands of semiarid Australia and (2) assess the hypothesis that the fire-response patterns of small mammals can be predicted by their life-history characteristics. Methods. Small-mammal surveys were undertaken concurrently at 26 sites: once before the fire and on four occasions following the fire (including 14 sites that remained unburnt). We documented changes in small-mammal occurrence before and after the fire, and compared burnt and unburnt sites. In addition, key components of vegetation structure were assessed at each site. Key results. Wildfire had a strong influence on vegetation structure and on the occurrence of small mammals. The mallee ningaui, Ningaui yvonneae, a dasyurid marsupial, showed a marked decline in the immediate post-fire environment, corresponding with a reduction in hummock-grass cover in recently burnt vegetation. Species richness of native small mammals was positively associated with unburnt vegetation, although some species showed no clear response to wildfire. Conclusions. Our results are consistent with the contention that mammal responses to fire are associated with their known life-history traits. The species most strongly affected by wildfire, N. yvonneae, has the most specific habitat requirements and restricted life history of the small mammals in the study area. The only species positively associated with recently burnt vegetation, the introduced house mouse, Mus domesticus, has a flexible life history and non-specialised resource requirements. Implications. Maintaining sources for recolonisation after large-scale wildfires will be vital to the conservation of native small mammals in mallee ecosystems.
Growth rate control of ━ agellar assembly in Escherichia coli strain RPぱばぴ

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Model calculation of N2 Vegard‐Kaplan band emissions in Martian dayglow

[1] A model for N2 Vegard-Kaplan (VK) band (A3Σu+ − X1Σg+) emissions in Martian dayglow has been developed to explain the recent observations made by the Spectroscopy for Investigation of Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Mars (SPICAM) ultraviolet spectrograph aboard Mars Express. Steady state photoelectron fluxes and volume excitation rates have been calculated using the analytical yield spectra technique. Since interstate cascading is important for triplet states of N2, the population of any given level of N2 triplet states is calculated under statistical equilibrium considering direct excitation, cascading, and quenching effects. Relative population of all vibrational levels of each triplet state is calculated in the model. Line of sight intensities and height-integrated overhead intensities have been calculated for VK, first positive (B3Πg − A3Σu+), second positive (C3Πu − B3Πg), and Wu-Benesch (W3Δu − B3Πg) bands of N2. A reduction in the N2 density by a factor of 3 in the Mars thermospheric general circulation model is required to obtain agreement between calculated limb profiles of VK (0–6) and SPICAM observation. Calculations are carried out to asses the impact of model parameters, namely, electron impact cross sections, solar EUV flux, and model atmosphere, on the emission intensities. Constraining the N2/CO2 ratio by SPICAM observations, we suggest the N2/CO2 ratios to be in the range 1.1–1.4% at 120 km, 1.8–3.2% at 140 km, and 4–7% at 170 km. During high solar activity the overhead intensity of N2 VK band emissions would be ∼2.5 times higher than that during low solar activity.
Log‐normal distribution based Ensemble Model Output Statistics models for probabilistic wind‐speed forecasting

Ensembles of forecasts are obtained from multiple runs of numerical weather forecasting models with different initial conditions and typically employed to account for forecast uncertainties. However, biases and dispersion errors often occur in forecast ensembles: they are usually underdispersive and uncalibrated and require statistical post‐processing. We present an Ensemble Model Output Statistics (EMOS) method for calibration of wind‐speed forecasts based on the log‐normal (LN) distribution and we also show a regime‐switching extension of the model, which combines the previously studied truncated normal (TN) distribution with the LN.
GJ 436c? The contribution of transit timings

Abstract From recent high-accuracy transit timings measurements, we discard the 5 M⊕ planet recently proposed by Ribas et al. (2008). Thanks to a combined radial-velocity and transit timings overview we also define a mass/period domain in which a secondary planet may be found in the system. We also show that timings obtained until now, although not sufficient to remove degeneracies on mass and period, can still restrict the parameter space of the potential secondary planet.
A parsimonious model for generating arbitrage-free scenario trees

Simulation models of economic, financial and business risk factors are widely used to assess risks and support decision-making. Extensive literature on scenario generation methods aims at describing some underlying stochastic processes with the least number of scenarios to overcome the ‘curse of dimensionality’. There is, however, an important requirement that is usually overlooked when one departs from the application domain of security pricing: the no-arbitrage condition. We formulate a moment matching model to generate multi-factor scenario trees for stochastic optimization satisfying no-arbitrage restrictions with a minimal number of scenarios and without any distributional assumptions. The resulting global optimization problem is quite general. However, it is non-convex and can grow significantly with the number of risk factors, and we develop convex lower bounding techniques for its solution exploiting the special structure of the problem. Applications to some standard problems from the literature show that this is a robust approach for tree generation. We use it to price a European basket option in complete and incomplete markets.
Adaptive Traits and Community Assembly of Epiphyllous Bryophytes

Author(s): Kraichak, Ekaphan | Advisor(s): Mishler, Brent D | Abstract: Leaf surfaces of tropical vascular plants provide homes for diverse groups of organisms, including epiphyllous (leaf-colonizing) bryophytes. Each leaf harbors a temporally and spatially discrete community of organisms, providing an excellent system for answering some of the most fundamental questions in ecology and evolution. In this dissertation, I investigated two main aspects of epiphyllous bryophyte biology: 1) adaptive traits of bryophytes to living on the leaf surface, and 2) community assembly of epiphyllous bryophytes in space (between-hosts) and time (succession). For the first part, I used published trait data and phylogeny of liverworts in family Lejeuneaceae to demonstrate that only the production of asexual propagules appeared to evolve in response to living on the leaf surface, while other hypothesized traits did not have correlated evolution with epiphylly. The second portion dealt with the assembly of communities among different host types. In this part, I identified communities of epiphyllous bryophytes from the same set of three hosts across the gradient of water deficit fluctuation, as represented by the daily range of vapor pressure deficit (VPD) on the island Moorea, French Polynesia. Dissimilarity of epiphyllous communities among host types (beta diversity) increased with the increasing VPD range, suggesting that assembly of bryophyte community may depend on microclimate fluctuation. In the last portion of this dissertation, I investigated temporal changes of epiphyllous communities on Inocarpus fagifer, using chronosequence and long-term observation of tagged leaves in the field. Data from both approaches showed significant changes in abundance, species richness, and composition over time. These successional changes, however, did not follow any single trajectory, resulting in divergent communities among leaves of older age. Together, the results from this dissertation work improve our understanding of fundamental biology of epiphyllous bryophytes and allow future researchers to use this system to answer broader questions in ecology and evolution.
Comparison of effects of melatonin, pentoxifylline and dimethyl sulfoxide in experimental liver ischemia-reperfusion injury by three different methods

Objectives: Liver transplantation is increasingly being used in the treatment of end-stage liver disease. Ischemia-reperfusion injury is one of the major problems encountered in transplantation. In this study, we aimed to compare the effects of melatonin, pentoxifylline, and dimethyl sulfoxide ( DMSO), in hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury with different methods such as biochemical/ultrastructural changes and hepatobiliary scintigraphy. Methods: Thirty rabbits were used in the Laboratory of Experimental Animals of Trakya University under appropriate conditions. Sham laparotomy and only ischemia reperfusion group were planned. They were used melatonin, pentoxifylline, and DMSO after ischemia-reperfusion in the other three groups. 6 rabbits were randomly selected for each group. Rabbits in all groups were subjected to liver scintigraphy. Following scintigraphy, 2 cm 2 of liver tissue was removed to examining for liver antioxidant enzyme levels (superoxide dismutase [SOD] and glutathione peroxidase [GPx]) and for liver electron microscopy. Results: Pentoxifylline and melatonin protected significantly uptake and excretion functions in liver scintigraphy. When the effects of all three substances were examined by electron microscopy, it was found that the three substances protected the liver from the effects of ischemia-reperfusion damage at varying rates. All three agents were found to protect SOD and GPx from falling in various amounts. Conclusions: Studies to prevent ischemia-reperfusion injury, which may develop as a result of the Pringle maneuver applied to liver transplantations as well as to liver resections or liver injuries, still maintain their popularity. In our study, the effects of agents were identified in three different ways. Ischemia-reperfusion injury-reducing effect of pentoxifylline gave parallel results with three methods.
Integration between Primary Health Care and Emergency Services in Brazil: Barriers and Facilitators

Introduction: Characteristics of primary health care and emergency services may hamper their integration and, therefore, reduce the quality of care and the effectiveness of health systems. This study aims to identify and analyse policy, structural and organizational aspects of healthcare services that may affect the integration between primary health and emergency care networks. Theory and Methods: We conducted a qualitative research study based on grounded theory that included: (1) interviews with 30 health care leaders; and (2) documental analysis of the summaries of Regional Interagency Committee meetings from two regions in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Results: The integration between primary health and emergency care network is inefficient. The barriers that contributed to this situation are as follows: (1) policy: the municipal health department is responsible for providing primary health care and the regional health department provides emergency care, but there is a lack of space for the integration of services; (2) structural: distinct criteria for planning mechanisms; and (3) organizational: ineffective point of interaction between different levels of the health system. Conclusions and discussion: Our findings have implications for health management and planning in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) with suggestions for interventions for overcoming the aforementioned barriers.
Impact analysis of the decline of agricultural land-use on flood risk and material flux in hilly and mountainous watersheds

Abstract. Agricultural land-use has been reduced by mainly urbanization and devastation in Japan. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of the decline of agricultural land-use on flood risk and material flux in hilly and mountainous watersheds using Soil Water Assessment Tool. The results indicated that increase of flood risk due to abandonment of agricultural land-use. Furthermore, the abandonment of rice paddy field on steep slope areas may have larger impacts on sediment discharges than cultivated field. Therefore, it is suggested that prevention of expansion of abandonment of rice paddy field is an important factor in the decrease of yields of sediment and nutrients.
PixelBrush : Art Generation from text with GANs

Recently, generative adversarial networks (GANs) have been shown to be very effective in generating photo-realistic images. And recent work from Reed et al. also allows people to generate images with text descriptions. In this work, we propose a tool called PixelBrush that generates artwork from text descriptions using generative adversarial networks. Also, we evaluated the performance of our model and existing models on generating artworks. We also compared different generator architecture to see how the depth of the network can affect generated image quality.
Measurement of genetic diversity in progenies of sour passion fruit by ward-mlm methodology: a strategy for heterotic group formation

Passion fruit belongs to the family Passifloraceae, and the genus Passiflora is regarded the most economically important. The present study aimed to quantify genetic diversity among progenies of sour passion fruit, in order to define potential heterotic groups, based on morpho-agronomic descriptors, using the Ward-MLM procedure. It is useful for generation advancement in the passion fruit breeding program, via recurrent selection, under development at the Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF). For such, 81 full-sib progenies belonging to the third recurrent selection cycle (C03) were assessed. Twenty-three descriptors were used, five of which were qualitative and 18, quantitative. The quantitative and qualitative variables were analyzed simultaneously using the Ward-MLM procedure for the composition of groups. The likelihood function determined that five was the ideal number of groups. The Ward-MLM classification strategy for morpho-agronomic data analysis allowed the formation of five groups into 26, 5, 15, 16 and 19 progenies. A certain distance was observed for group III, compared to the other groups while groups I, II, IV and V showed approximation. This greater distance of group III compared to the other groups may indicate crosses, aiming at the exploitation of heterosis, for the pyramiding of favorable alleles for traits of interest. The Ward-MLM statistical procedure was a useful tool to detect genetic divergence and group progenies using simultaneously quantitative and qualitative variables.
Toward a theory of collaboration for teachers and librarians

Collaboration is a ubiquitous term that has been defined in numerous ways across diverse fields. This paper draws on information from these diverse fields to begin to develop a theory of collaboration within library science for teachers and library media specialists. In order to fully understand the meaning of collaboration and the relationship between collaboration and student academic achievement, an explanatory theory is needed. Toward the development of such a theory, a definition of collaboration for teachers and library media specialists is proposed. It defines collaboration as a process in which two or more individuals work together to integrate information in order to enhance student learning. The author argues that various notions of working together have been confused with collaboration and proposes four models to distinguish collaboration from other joint efforts such as coordination and cooperation. The models evolve from the literature and from the taxonomy for library media specialists and teachers developed by Loertscher (1982, 1988, 2000). The models are descriptive of the range of joint efforts involved in working relationships that can lead to fully developed collaboration. Numerous attributes—such as collegiality, respect, and trust—needed for collaboration to be effective are discussed. These attributes contribute collaborative activities, such as shared thinking, shared planning, and shared creation of integrated instruction. Two enablers and inhibitors, time and administrative support, are identified from the literature and discussed in relation to collaboration.
From Gas Phase to Bulk — Photodissociation of Neutral Size Selected (HBr)n Clusters

We present results of photodissociation experiments with HBr molecules and clusters. The unique method of cluster size selection allow us to show main differences in photodissociation dynamics between molecules, small clusters and large clusters prepared in expansions into vacuum. The difference between the small cluster dynamics, which can be calculated by present ab initio methods and large cluster dynamics, which can be compared to bulk is crucial for understanding of the environmental effects on dissociation process.
Optical bistability in subwavelength slit apertures containing nonlinear media

We develop a self-consistent method to study the optical response of metallic gratings with nonlinear media embedded within their subwavelength slits. An optical Kerr nonlinearity is considered. Due to the large $E$ fields associated with the excitation of the transmission resonances appearing in this type of structure, moderate incoming fluxes result in drastic changes in the transmission spectra. Importantly, optical bistability is obtained for certain ranges of both flux and wavelength.