Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Seismic Hazard Analysis for Armenia and its Surrounding Areas

The Republic of Armenia is located within the central part of a large, 800 km wide, intracontinental collision zone between the Arabian and Eurasian plates which are converging at a rate of 15 to 20 mm/yr. Active deformation occurs along numerous structures in the form of faulting, folding, and volcanism distributed throughout the entire zone from the Bitlis-Zagros suture belt to the Greater Caucasus Mountains and between the relatively rigid Black Sea and Caspian Sea blocks. We performed a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis for the Republic of Armenia (SHARA17) and its surroundings using the latest geological and paleoseismological information on active faults, strain rates from kinematic modeling of GPS data and all available historic earthquake data. The seismic source model uses a combination of characteristic earthquake and gridded seismicity models to take advantage of the detailed knowledge of the known faults while acknowledging the distributed deformation and regional tectonic environment of the collision zone. The ground motion model uses a set of five ground motion prediction equations (GMPE) selected from a pool of GMPEs based on the assessment of each GMPE against regional strong motion data. Hazard computed in GEM’s OpenQuake engine for 10% probability of exceedance in 50 years at Vs30 = 800m/s rock reference soil condition yielded mean PGA values between 0.16 to 0.40g for Armenia. Highest PGA values are found at the junction of the PambakSevan-Syunik and Garni faults while lowest PGA values are found about 60km west of the central branch of the Garni fault.
Molecular Cloning and Expression Analysis of Transformer-2 Gene During Development in Macrobrachium nipponense (de Haan 1849)

The transformer-2 gene (tra-2) plays a key role in the sexual differentiation regulatory hierarchy. In this study, tra-2 gene homologs designated as Mntra-2 was cloned and characterized from Macrobrachium nipponense. The full-length cDNA of Mntra-2 consists of 1724 bp with an open reading frame (ORF) encoding 192 amino acids, an 827 bp 5′-untranslated region (UTR) and a 318 bp 3′-UTR. The predicated molecular mass of Mntra-2 was 20.805 kDa with an estimated theoretical isoelectric point of 10.36. The deduced amino acid sequence shares high homology with Penaeus monodon. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analyses demonstrated that the expression levels of Mntra-2 varied significantly during different developmental stages of embryogenesis, larvae, and post-larvae and in various adult tissues. During embryogenesis, the expression level of Mntra-2 was slightly higher at the cleavage stage than at the blastula stage, and reached the highest level at the nauplius stage. During the larvae, the Mntra-2 expression gradually increased from 1 d larvae post hatch (L1) to L10 and decreased to a lowest level at the end of metamorphosis. During the post-larvae, the Mntra-2 expression was higher level at the 5 d after the metamorphosis (P5). RT-qPCR showed the Mntra-2 mRNA was expressed in ovary, testis, muscle, heart, abdominal ganglion, brain, and intestine with the highest level of expression in muscle and intestine. The results indicate that Mntra-2 is an arthropods tra-2 homolog and probably plays important roles in embryonic development and sex differentiation of M. nipponense.
Toxicogenomics Applied to Ecological Risk Assessment

10.1 The Promise of Ecotoxicogenomics 208 10.2 The Practice of Ecotoxicogenomics: Transcriptomics 210 10.2. 1 Mechanistic Transcriptomic Research 212 10.2. 2 Transcriptional Fingerprints and Biomarkers 215 10.3 The Practice of Ecotoxicogenomics: Proteomics 219 10.3. 1 Protein Expression Signatures 220 10.3. 2 Mechanistic Proteomics Research 222 10.4 The Practice of Ecotoxicogenomics: Metabolomics 223 10.5 Integrated Ecotoxicogenomics 224 10.6 Revolution or Evolution? 225 Acknowledgments 227 References 227
Perfluorooctanoic acid-induced developmental cardiotoxicity in an avian model

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a synthetic chemical used in polyfluormer production. It is a widespread environmental contaminant and is known to induce developmental toxicity in rodent models. As several related compounds also induce developmental cardiotoxicity in avian models a series of experiments were carried out in chicken embryos and hatchling chickens to assess the effects of PFOA on developing hearts and to explore underlying mechanisms. Histology was used to assess late stage embryo hearts and echocardiography was used to assess morphological and functional parameters of hearts in living one-day-old hatchlings. Hearts of exposed embryos had a thinned right ventricular wall and multiple morphological and functional changes were detected in the left ventricles of exposed hatchlings. As PFOA is known to activate the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor Ai (PPARAi) in rodent models the PPARAi agonist WY 14 643 was used to assess the role of PPARAi in PFOA-induced developmental cardiotoxicity. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and western blot were used to assess hearts of early stage embryos for expression of genes related to heart development. WY 14 643 partially mimicked the morphological and functional effects of PFOA only in the left ventricle of hearts of hatchling chickens and bone morphogenic protein 2 (BMP2) signaling pathways were involved in mediating the process. Additionally primary cardiomyocyte cultures were used to explore mechanisms of toxicity at the cellular level. Viability contractility and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation were evaluated in primary cardiomyocytes isolated from hearts of embryos exposed to PFOA in ovo or were exposed in vitro. Primary cardiomyocytes isolated from embryos exposed to PFOA in ovo functioned similarly to hearts of exposed hatchling chickens. Primary cardiomyocytes exposed in vitro responded differently suggesting that the cardiotoxicity is likely from interference of PFOA in an early stage of heart development rather than from overt cytotoxicity to cardiomyocytes. In conclusion this dissertation work indicates that PFOA induces morphological and functional alterations in hearts of chicken embryos and hatchling chickens that mechanisms of the cardiotoxicity may involve PPARAi and BMP2 signaling pathways and that PFOA is likely interfering in an early stage of heart development.
Dysfunctional Communication between Parents and Child -Convergence Analysis with Transactional Analysis and Communication Theory

This study tries to figure out the precarious communication types between parents and their children. For this, the linguistic behavioral characteristics of the main characters in the movie “Daughter” were extracted from their dialogues with the matrix analysis and were conceptualized. These conceptual features were analyzed in the convergence way combined with Transactional analysis and Satir’s communication theory. The result shows that the dysfunctional communication between parents and children deteriorates their relation and even could collapse it. Thus. for their whole relation, it is important that they keep the functional communication between them. The study suggested the need for the parental education and youth personality education which let them know how to facilitate their communication.
Market Power Modelling in Electricity Market: A Critical Review

This paper presents a critical review of market power modelling in the electricity market. This research provides a coherent guideline for policy market to determine suitable modelling for market power in the electricity market. This research also includes market power index application in competition policy enforcement. An ideal market power index is one which provides the most straightforward number to measure the market power exercise. However, a more sophisticated approach is needed to mitigate market power since traditional indexes have limitations in representing the complexity of the power system. Cournot modelling has the main weakness in large-scale power system modelling with transmission constraint. However, However, the Cournot model continues to develop as a tool to analyse player behaviour due to the analytical connectivity between a real power market and microeconomic engineering theory, e.g. DC load flow, reserve margin, transmission constraint, forward contract, demand elasticity, and RSI.
Quantifying Ecological Life Support: The Biological Efficacy of Alternative Supplementation Strategies for Imperiled Amphibian Populations

Global biodiversity loss has prompted diverse efforts to stem or reverse declines for many species. Such efforts are often implemented before the efficacy of alternative management actions is quantified. Here, we use matrix models to compare the effectiveness of two supplementation strategies, head‐starting early life stages and captive breeding for reintroduction, at reducing extinction risk of declining amphibians. We use the imperiled Oregon spotted frog (Rana pretiosa) as a case study and find that when supplementation occurs after metamorphosis, captive breeding is more effective at reducing extinction risk than head‐starting, but the difference declines with increasing supplementation effort. We also find that captive breeding with release as larvae yields similar reductions in extinction risk, and is two orders of magnitude more effective at reducing extinction probabilities than head‐starting the same stage. Our results highlight that even basic demographic data can be leveraged to assess tradeoffs among alternative supplementation strategies.
TRUST WITHIN A COMMUNITY IS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD: TRUST HAS A POSITIVE INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL EFFECT AND A NEGATIVE CONTEXTUAL EFFECT ON SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING

Previous studies have found that trust has a positive effect on subjective wellbeing. However, when trust is accumulated within a community, it can create expectations of trustworthiness and consequently be transformed into shared social norms. We hypothesized that trust toward community members (i.e., community trust) would have a positive effect on well-being at the individual level. Further, we anticipated that it would have a negative contextual effect on subjective well-being at the community level, because it constrains individual freedom by constructing shared norms within a community. We mailed our survey to each household across 105 randomly-sampled communities in the Yasu River watershed in Shiga prefecture, Japan. We conducted multilevel analyses using the survey data (Nindivdual = 3,116, Ncommunity = 99). As predicted, the results showed that community trust had a positive effect on subjective well-being at the individual level and a negative contextual effect at the community level. This suggests that living in a community where residents trust each other may dampen one’s subjective well-being. Implications for studies on happiness and social dynamics are discussed.
Murine Leukemia Virus Spreading in Mice Impaired in the Biogenesis of Secretory Lysosomes and Ca 2

Background: Retroviruses have been observed to bud intracellularly into multivesicular bodies (MVB), in addition to the plasma membrane. Release from MVB is thought to occur by Ca 2+ -regulated fusion with the plasma membrane. Principal Findings: To address the role of the MVB pathway in replication of the murine leukemia virus (MLV) we took advantage of mouse models for the Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS) and Griscelli syndrome. In humans, these disorders are characterized by hypopigmentation and immunological alterations thatare caused by defects in thebiogenesisand trafficking of MVBs and other lysosome related organelles. Neonatal mice for these disease models lacking functional AP-3, Rab27A and BLOC factors were infected with Moloney MLV and the spread of virus into bone marrow, spleen and thymus was monitored. We found a moderate reduction in MLV infection levels in most mutantmice, which differed by lessthan two-fold compared to wild-type mice. In vitro, MLV release form bone-marrow derived macrophages was slightly enhanced. Finally, we found no evidence for a Ca 2+ -regulated release pathway in vitro. Furthermore, MLV replication was only moderately affected in mice lacking Synaptotagmin VII, a Ca 2+ -sensor regulating lysosome fusion with the plasma membrane. Conclusions: Given that MLV spreading in mice depends on multiple rounds of replication even moderate reduction of virus release at the cellular level would accumulate and lead to a significant effect over time. Thus our in vivo and in vitro data collectively argue against an essential role for a MVB- and secretory lysosome-mediated pathway in the egress of MLV.
The drift of Modified Atlantic Water from the Alboran Sea to the eastern Mediterranean

The Algerian basin is a region of the western Mediterranean with a highly variable circulation structure, including the eastward transport of Modified Atlantic Water (MAW) in its surface layer. An experiment with satellite tracked Lagrangian drifters was performed in 1996-97 to analyse the mesoscale circulation of the Algerian current. The complete trajectories of 18 drifters indicate that, at basin scale, all the surface flow occured along the coast from the Alboran Sea to the strait of Sicily. At that time, no portion of the inflowing MAW was driven to the central or northern regions.
Diversidade genética de populações naturais de Pfaffia glomerata (Spreng.) Pedersen estimada por marcadores RAPD

Pfaffia glomerata is a native species from South America, occurring naturally in some states of Brazil. The ever growing interest by the species, mainly due to its important therapeutic properties, has threatened the natural populations, as exploitation has occurred in a rather predatory way. The present study aimed to compare the genetic diversity of four natural populations originated from of the area of the Parana River basin (Parana and Mato Grosso States). The individuals were propagated in vitro and characterized by means of RAPD markers. A total of 267 polymorphic marks were obtained from 67 primers. The genetic distance estimates were obtained based on the complement arithmetic of Nei and Li's similarity coefficient, and the genotypes were grouped according to the UPGMA method. Three populations from the margin of the Parana River and at Mineiro Island presented low diversity levels among them, though possessing the same propagule dispersal flow. The population located in the proximities of the margin of the Ivai river (tributary of the river Parana) presented greater diversity values within and among the populations, suggesting that its preservation should be a priority and that the origin of the genetic variability may be related to the dispersion flow of the vegetative propagules.
Prospect of Blockchain Technology for Construction Project Management in Malaysia

Year 2017 is hailed as the year of the blockchain, a technology which has disrupted a wide array of sectors, particularly the financial and legal sectors. Blockchain is a technology derived from Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. Since then, the Bitcoin concept has been innovated to create blockchain technology. Blockchain consists of de-centralized, tamper-proof digital ledgers of transactions, which are chronologically and securely recorded over complex networks. Proponents of this technology are looking into the adoption of blockchain in their operations, since it is safer and reduces operating costs. This paper provides an overview of the prospects of utilizing blockchain technology to solve issues existing in the construction industry, specifically in Malaysia. The scope of this study is confined to several aspects, which includes the fundamentals of blockchain technology, and the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) for pre-construction and construction phases, within the purview of the project management field. Among the applications of this technology includes identity validation and notarization for construction personnel/industry players, project governance and smart contracts (BIM and Blockchain integration). As a result of this study, it was found that the application of blockchain technology in project management is still in its early adoption phase, with exciting developments in the near future. Despite being in its early stages of adoption, it can be seen that the blockchain technology adoption across the globe, particularly in the area of project management has a promising outlook. However, further research needs to be carried out to ascertain the feasibility of blockchain technology implementation in the local construction industry.
Increased fitness and plasticity of an invasive species in its introduced range: a study using Senecio pterophorus

1 When a plant species is introduced into a new range, it may differentiate genetically from the original populations in the home range. This genetic differentiation may influence the extent to which the invasion of the new range is successful. We tested this hypothesis by examining Senecio pterophorus, a South African shrub that was introduced into NE Spain about 40 years ago. We predicted that in the introduced range invasive populations would perform better and show greater plasticity than native populations. 2 Individuals of S. pterophorus from four Spanish (invasive) and four South African (native) populations were grown in Catalonia, Spain, in a common garden in which disturbance and water availability were manipulated. Fitness traits and several ecophysiological parameters were measured. 3 The invasive populations of S. pterophorus survived better throughout the summer drought in a disturbed (unvegetated) environment than native South African populations. This success may be attributable to the lower specific leaf area (SLA) and better water content regulation of the invasive populations in this treatment. 4 Invasive populations displayed up to three times higher relative growth rate than native populations under conditions of disturbance and non‐limiting water availability. 5 The reproductive performance of the invasive populations was higher in all treatments except under the most stressful conditions (i.e. in non‐watered undisturbed plots), where no plant from either population flowered. 6 The results for leaf parameters and chlorophyll fluorescence measurements suggested that the greater fitness of the invasive populations could be attributed to more favourable ecophysiological responses. 7 Synthesis. Spanish invasive populations of S. pterophorus performed better in the presence of high levels of disturbance, and displayed higher plasticity of fitness traits in response to resource availability than native South African populations. Our results suggest that genetic differentiation from source populations associated with founding may play a role in invasion success.
Floristic aspects and diversity of regenerated arboreal species under a stand of Anadenanthera peregrina Speg.

This study was conducted at the campus of the Federal University of Lavras, Minas Gerais state, in an area of 7.56 ha which in earlier times was planted with Anadenanthera peregrina . It aimed to describe the floristic composition of the site so as to provide a theoretical basis to assist future local management interventions. A total of 81 plots, each measuring 10x10m, were allocated and arranged in such way as to cover as much apparent variation in the physiognomic gradient of the vegetation as possible. All individuals with DBH (diameter at breast height) > 5.0 cm were recorded. Each individual had their DBH and height recorded. Diversity was assessed using Shannon, Pielou and Jentsen indices and compared to adjacent areas and to other areas with similar history of land use. The sampling procedure recorded 1,180 individuals, distributed among 25 families and 66 species. The family presenting the largest number of recorded species was Fabaceae, with 16 species (24.24%). The genera presenting the greatest floristic richness were Casearia, with four species, Machaerium and Rollinia, each with three species, and Anadenanthera, Tapirira, Cordia, Protium, Inga, Ocotea, Miconia, Cedrela and Myrcia, each with two species. The Shannon diversity index (H ) was 1.47 nats.ind -1 , indicating that the local community has low species diversity.
Porous anodic alumina membranes for large biomolecule separations

3 IMPACT STATEMENT . 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS . 6 LIST OF FIGURES . 13 LIST OF TABLES . 21 ABBREVIATIONS USED . 23 CHAPTER
A non‐destructive tissue sampling technique for holothurians to facilitate extraction of DNA for genetic analysis

Increasing demand and overfishing of high-value species has promoted interest in both conservation and aquaculture initiatives supporting stock restoration programs for tropical sea cucumbers. Accordingly, there is a need for baseline information on the genetic structures and relatedness of sea cucumber populations to support sustainable implementation of mariculture and conservation programs, which often involve coastal communities in developing countries. Identification of a non-destructive tissue sampling technique for sea cucumbers that allows extraction of high-quality genomic DNA in a sustainable and culturally appropriate way is thus required. Six sampling techniques were assessed for their suitability to collect tissue for DNA extraction from sandfish (Holothuria scabra): core needle biopsy, punch biopsy, shave biopsy, buccal swab, anal swab, and evisceration. The quantity, quality, and purity of extracted DNA were compared to assess the relative merit of each sampling method. The swab biopsy method produced the best quality DNA agarose band image, and evisceration resulted in the highest yields of DNA, at an average of 525.9 (±98.0) μg g⁻¹. However, when considering all criteria assessed, the swab biopsy methods (both buccal and anal) proved superior. Swabbing not only produced the best quality DNA agarose band image, it was also the only technique that produced DNA that amplified 100% of the time across both extraction protocols. We hope that the non-destructive sampling techniques evaluated in this study provide a foundation for the genetic analysis of sea cucumber stocks to support their conservation and management.