Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing the environmental impact of underwater noise during offshore windfarm construction and operation

Offshore wind farms offer an important source of renewable energy worldwide. The noise created during their construction and operation, however, has the capacity to adversely affect the underwater environment. Consequently, a reliable, robust and accurate means of predicting and assessing the environmental effects of noise at an early stage is of key importance in providing an iterative process in the engineering towards an optimum design for the construction, which reduces environmental effects to a minimum or acceptable level while not unreasonably constraining the project or influencing its cost-benefit. It has been found that a key part of this process is to use appropriate and objective criteria for the principal effects of noise (hearing damage and avoidance), to estimate the degree of effect using these and a suitable predictive model, and to consider the biological consequences of this prediction with a view to determining if it is acceptable, and changing the engineering design if not. This paper investigates state of knowledge for assessment of underwater noise impacts on marine fauna and the ways this is used by offshore wind developers to minimise the risk to the environment.
Study on metabolic compounds of Kappaphycus alvarezii and its in-vitro analysis of anti-inflammatory activity

The aqueous extract of Kappaphycus alvarezii was evaluated for antimicrobial activity and Minimum inhibitory concentration against human pathogens. The phytochemical analysis showed the presence of alkaloids, saponin, phenols, steriods, protein, phytosterols, aminoacids, sugars, reducing sugars, flavonoids, tannins and absence of terpenoids and anthraquinone. Kappaphycus alvarezii possesses significant anti-inflammatory activity probably due to inhibition of hyaluronidase enzyme. Therefore, it was worthwhile to review its anti inflammatory property to give an overview of its status to scientist both modern and ancient.
KSHV vGPCR: A VIRAL ONCOPROTEIN THAT TRIGGERS AUTOPHAGY AND CELLULAR SENESCENCE

xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS USED . xiii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . xvii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Overview . 1 1.2 Autophagy . 1 1.2.1 The Macroautophagic Process . 2 1.2. 2 Molecular Mechanism and Cellular Regulation . 3 1.2. 3 Involvement in Cell Fate . 5 1.2. 3.1 Cell Survival . 6 1.2. 3.2 Cellular Senescence . 7 1.2. 3.3 Cell Death . 7 1.2. 4 Involvement in Immunity . 8 1.2. 4.1 Xenophagy . 9 1.2. 4.2 Innate Immunity . 9 1.2. 4.3 Adaptive Immunity . 10 1.2. 4.4 Viral Adaptations to Autophagy . 10 1.3 The Herpesviruses . 11 1.4 Kaposi’s Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus . 12 1.4.1 Disease Associations . 13 1.4.1.1 Kaposi’s Sarcoma . 13 1.4.1.2 Primary Effusion Lymphoma . 15 1.4.1.3 Multicentric Castleman’s Disease . 15 1.4.2 The Virus . 16 1.4.2.1 Virion Structure . 16
Influence of Technology on Entrepreneurial Innovative ability and Sustainability in Nigeria

The influence of Information Communication Technology (ICT) on the innovative possibility and sustainability of entrepreneurship in Nigeria has been assessed. The Survey research design was employed using structured questionnaire administered on 158 respondents selected from three states within South-west geopolitical zone of Nigeria with the aid purposeful and judgemental sampling techniques. Data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics and a simple regression model. The result showed a strong relationship between ICT and innovative capability of SMEs in Nigeria as revealed by the (p-value of 0.000<0.05 and β = 0.95), clear indications that ICT will cause innovative capacity to go northward. Similarly, in the case of ICT and entrepreneurial sustainability, the(p-value of 0.000<0.05 and β =0.78). Again, there existsa strong association between ICT and sustainability of entrepreneurship in Nigeria. As such, it is recommended that entrepreneurs should embrace information technology as this will expose them more to new innovations and better ways of doing things as well as hasten transmission of vital information and reduce time and cost of operation. More so, access to the internet will enhance easy communication with potential customers and business partners. It is suggested that the government should further improve on the power supply to encourage entrepreneurial growth and sustainability. In all, adequate security measures should be put in place to regularly prevent hackers, malicious attacks and other disasters inherent in ICT based environment
Cloning of canine IL-2, IL-4 and IFN gamma genes in mammalian expression vector and analysis of their immunogenicity in dog

IL-2 gene was amplified from peripheral lymphocytes, cloned into pTargeT vector and the clone designated pTargeT.IL-2can was confirmed by RE analysis, colony PCR and finally by sequencing. Expression of recombinant clone in vitro was confirmed by IFAT and IPT. The homology study revealed that canine IL-2 is more closely related to human IL-2 sequence as compared to bovine and porcine sequences. Similary, the canine IL-4 and IFN gamma were cloned and both the clones were confirmed by RE analysis and sequencing. The sequences obtained were assigned the GeneBank accession numbers viz. canine IL-2 (AM238655), canine IL-4 (EF095771) and canine IFN gamma (EF095772).
Breeding biology and social structure of White-winged Fairy-wrens (Malurus leucopterus): comparison between island and mainland subspecies having different plumage phenotypes

Abstract White-winged Fairy-wrens have a clan mating system wherein up to three cooperative breeding groups (breeding pair plus any helpers) are contained within the larger territory of a nuptial-plumaged male who also has a mate (likely with helpers). Nuptial-plumaged males of island and mainland subspecies have different plumage phenotypes: in the mainland Australian suspecies (Malurus leucopterus leuconotus) nuptial males are blue with white wings, whereas in the subspecies on Dirk Hartog (M. l. leucopterus) and Barrow (M. l. edouardi) Islands males are black with white wings. Here, we compare island and mainland populations of White-winged Fairy-wrens in morphology, breeding biology and social behaviour based on data collected over two breeding seasons on Dirk Hartog Island and near Lancelin, Western Australia, on the mainland. In addition to the colour differences of the nuptial males, mainland males and females were significantly larger than their counterparts on the island and mainland birds had significantly higher realised reproductive success. Pairs on Dirk Hartog Island had significantly smaller clutches, longer incubation periods, decreased hatching success, and fledged fewer offspring. Moreover, most mainland pairs had 1–4 helpers at their nests, whereas island pairs had few, if any, helpers at their nest. Thus island birds could be characterised as largely socially monogamous, whereas mainland birds were mainly cooperative breeders. We discuss morphological differences in relation to general island-mainland patterns of avian body size and relate island-mainland differences in reproductive success and social behaviour to research on parental care and sexual selection in other fairy-wren species.
MOLECULAR EVIDENCE FOR THE HYBRID ORIGIN OF HEPATICA TRANSSILVANICA (RANUNCULACEAE) BASED ON NUCLEAR GENE SEQUENCES

SUMMARY. Allopolyploidy (hybridisation followed by genome doubling) has been recognised as a major force driving plant speciation. The genus Hepatica includes both diploid and polyploid species where the origin of polyploids has not been fully established, yet. In particular, the origin of Romanian endemic, tetraploid Hepatica transsilvanica Fuss. remained challenging because a previous study found its incongruent placement between plastid and nuclear phylogenies (suggestive of its hybrid origin). In this study a more direct method was applied in order to shed lights on the hybrid origin of species. A fragment of nuclear At103 gene was sequenced in H. transsilvanica and in both of its putative diploid progenitors, the European distributed H. nobilis Schreb. (var. nobilis) and the Central Asian endemic Hepatica falconeri Thomson. Direct At103 sequence of H. transsilvanica clearly showed an additive pattern between the parental sequence types, supporting the allopolyploid origin of species. A few additional additive polymorphic sites (i.e. superimposed peaks) neither supporting, nor contradicting the hybrid origin were also found in the sequence of H. transsilvanica but these were not shared by all samples analysed. Origin of this ‘inconclusive sequence variation’ can be explained by various phenomena, like random sorting of ancestral polymorphism or paralogy. In this study a new platform is provided on which the auto- vs. allopolyploid origin of the rest of tetraploid Hepatica taxa can be tested.
Model Organizational Commitment: Analysis of Emotional Intelligence, Rewards, and Job Satisfaction (Survey of the Jabodetabek XYZ Life Insurance Agent)

DOI: 10.21276/sjbms.2018. 3.12. 2 Abstract: This study aims to analyze the influence of emotional intelligence, rewards and job satisfaction on organizational commitment both partially and simultaneously. The design of this study is quantitative using the survey method. The population of this study is life insurance agents who work for insurance companies that control the market share in the JABODETABEK region. The sample size in this study was determined through a minimum sample size formula for the iterative measure of correlation coefficients, in order to obtain a sample of 200 life insurance agents. This study uses multiple linear regression analysis techniques. SPSS 22.00 analysis tool. The results of this study are that emotional intelligence, rewards and job satisfaction have a positive and significant effect on organizational commitment both partially and simultaneously. There are still other factors that influence organizational commitment apart from three variables of emotional intelligence, rewards and job satisfaction.
EFFECT OF JOLLY PHONICS ON PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS ACHIEVEMENT ON READING AND SPELLING SKILLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

This study sought to find out the effect of teaching synthetic multisensory phonics (i.e. Jolly Phonics)on pupils achievement in Anambra State of Nigeria. To this end, 100 primary school pupils from 5 primary schools in the state aged between 7 to 10 participated in this study. The participants were randomly assigned to either experimental or control classes. While the pupils in the control group were taught Basic English literacy skills through the rote traditional phonics, the learners in the experimental group were taught English literacy via a synthetic multisensory phonics approach named Jolly Phonics. After a one-month English course, all the participants took a reading and a spelling test. A set of descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze pupils’ scores obtained from these tests. The results demonstrated that the experimental (Jolly Phonics) group had a better performance on the reading and spelling tests. This result shows that there is need for teaching jolly phonic in Anambra State Primary schools in Nigeria.
Mortality of sarus cranes (Grus antigone) due to electricity wires in Uttar Pradesh, India

Although overhead electrical wires are known to have caused severe declines of bird populations, there are no studies in India that address this danger, even for endangered species. Rates of mortality, factors affecting mortality and population effects of electrical wires on the globally endangered sarus crane (Grus antigone) were assessed for breeding and non-breeding cranes in Etawah and Mainpuri districts, Uttar Pradesh, India. Non-breeding cranes were most susceptible to wires and, within territories, mortalities were higher for pre-dispersed young. Similar proportions of non-breeding and breeding cranes were killed, together accounting for nearly 1% of the total sarus crane population annually. Supply wires accounted for the majority of sarus crane deaths, and only non-breeding cranes were killed by both supply and high-tension power lines. Non-breeding crane deaths at roost sites were correlated with numbers of roosting birds and numbers of wires at each site. Over 40% of 251 known sarus crane territories had at least one overhead wire posing a risk to breeding adults and pre-dispersed young. A risk index for wires over territories of cranes was computed; mortality was not affected by increasing the number and therefore risk posed by wires. Most crane deaths in territories occurred as a result of wires at edges of territories. Wires around roosting sites, territoriality and age of sarus cranes appear to be the most important factors affecting their mortality due to wires. Mitigation measures will be most effective around roost sites and for wires that border territories of breeding pairs.
Detection of Staphylococcus aureus from fish and water samples collected from Lake Qarun

Staphylococcus aureus is considered to be one of the most frequently prevailing food-borne pathogen worldwide. The number of outbreaks and number of cases of staphylococcal gastroenteritis is much higher than several other microbial food borne diseases outbreaks. Staphylococcus spp. is one of the zoonotic bacteria which could be found on fish and also could reach the aquatic environment as it was isolated from different water types (fresh or brackish water) in many countries. The present study focused on detection of total staphylococci and S.aureus in Lake Qarun,, Egypt. Staphylococci isolates were isolated from Lake Qarun, water and Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fish within the period of 2010 to 2011. The determination of the four hundred typical colonies of total staphylococci and one hundred and eighty of typical colonies of S.aureus were carried out using surface plate technique. Moreover, molecular and biochemical confirmation of the S.aureus isolates were carried out by PCR analysis and biochemical reactions. Three hundred and twenty six isolates were total staphylococci +ve when tested by PCR. Also, one hundred and eighty isolates were S.aureus isolates +ve when confirmed by biochemical reactions.
Mindboggle: automated human brain MRI feature extraction, labeling, morphometry, and online visualization

Mindboggle computes several shape measures for features and labeled regions, and we are adding more. For example, each vertex of the cortical surface mesh is assigned a new and accurate measure of depth called "travel depth" (J, by J.G.), curvature (average (K), G a u s s i a n , a n d p r i n c i p a l directions), as well as surface area (L) for normalizing shape measures computed over aggregates of vertices. Labeling
Physiological Daily Inhalation Rates for Free-Living Individuals Aged 2.6 Months to 96 Years Based on Doubly Labeled Water Measurements: Comparison with Time-Activity-Ventilation and Metabolic Energy Conversion Estimates

ABSTRACT In the first part of this article, a critical review of traditional approaches used to estimate daily inhalation rates as a function of age for health risk assessment purposes shows that such rates are not totally reliable due to various biases introduced by both quantitative and qualitative deficiencies regarding certain input parameters. In the second part, the magnitude of under- and overestimations of published inhalation rates derived from each approach is described by a comparison with new sets of physiological daily inhalation rates and distribution percentile values based on total daily energy expenditures (TDEEs) measured by the doubly labeled water (DLW) method. TDEEs are derived from the analysis of deuterium (2H) and heavy oxygen-18 (18O) in urine samples by gas-isotope-ratio mass spectrometry during an aggregate period of over 20,000 days for unrestrained free-living normal-weight individuals aged 2.6 months to 96 years (n = 1252). Regarding physiological values based on DLW measurements, opposite tendencies have been observed between two sets of estimates using time-activity patterns both biased by conservative input data assumptions during sleep and light activities: most estimates based on the time-activity-ventilation approach are overestimated, whereas most of those using metabolic equivalent approach are underestimated. Erroneous food intakes have clearly lead to underestimated rates when used in daily food-energy intake (EFD) and Parameter A approaches. With the latter approach, overestimated basal metabolic rates (BMRs) used in EFD/BMR ratios contribute to the underestimation of inhalation values. Few mean daily inhalation rates and Monte Carlo simulation percentiles based on traditional approaches (57 out of 253) are close to physiological values within a gap of ± 5% or less. Aggregate errors in all estimates (in m3/day and m3/kg-day) vary from -52 to +126%. The most accurate daily inhalation rates are those based on DLW measurements with an error of about ± 5%, as calculated in previous studies for free-living males and females aged 1 month to 96 years and pregnant and lactating adolescents and women aged 11 to 55 years during real-life situations in their normal surroundings.
Everything Old is New Again: Binary Security of WebAssembly

WebAssembly is an increasingly popular compilation target designed to run code in browsers and on other platforms safely and securely, by strictly separating code and data, enforcing types, and limiting indirect control ﬂow. Still, vulnerabilities in memory-unsafe source languages can translate to vulnerabilities in WebAssembly binaries. In this paper, we analyze to what extent vulnerabilities are exploitable in WebAssembly binaries, and how this compares to native code. We ﬁnd that many classic vulnerabilities which, due to common mitiga-tions, are no longer exploitable in native binaries, are completely exposed in WebAssembly. Moreover, WebAssembly enables unique attacks, such as overwriting supposedly constant data or manipulating the heap using a stack overﬂow. We present a set of attack primitives that enable an attacker (i) to write arbitrary memory, (ii) to overwrite sensitive data, and (iii) to trigger unexpected behavior by diverting control ﬂow or manipulating the host environment. We provide a set of vulnerable proof-of-concept applications along with complete end-to-end exploits, which cover three WebAssembly platforms. An empirical risk assessment on real-world binaries and SPEC CPU programs compiled to WebAssembly shows that our attack primitives are likely to be feasible in practice. Overall, our ﬁndings show a perhaps surprising lack of binary security in WebAssembly. We discuss potential protection mechanisms to mitigate the resulting risks.
Surface Properties of Lactobacillus Strains of Human Origin

Several mechanisms mediate the adherence of bacteria to host tissues, but the physical and chemical properties of the bacterial surface play a key role. Little is known about the surface properties of Lactobacillus that mediate attachment to human epithelial cell surfaces. In this study, we looked at the specific characteristics of the surface of Lactobacillus strains. These characteristics included the effect of Lactobacillus on the hemagglutination of rabbit, sheep, bovine, guinea pig and human erythrocytes, its surface hydrophobicity, slime production and the adherence of Lactobacillus to two different epithelial cell lines. These properties were compared by using electron microscopy on the cell surface. In a few Lactobacillus strains, surface properties such as hemagglutination of human OP 1 erythrocytes, the presence of extracellular slime material and their high degree of hydrophobicity appeared to be related to one another. The most surface-active strains of Lactobacillus adhered well to both enterocytes and to vaginal cells. These characteristics seem to be closely related; however, different adhesions and various mechanisms of attachment may play a role in the adherence of different Lactobacillus strains to epithelial surfaces.
Disentangling the effect of parental care, food supply, and offspring decisions on the duration of the postfledging period

The postfledging dependence period (PFDP) is a crucial stage in the development of altricial birds. This period is regulated by parental investment, in terms of food provisioning and protection, and the demands of young associated with their development and physical condition. We examine the relative role of parental investment, food provisioning, and offspring decisions on the PFDP regulation in the Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti) by comparing the PFDP timing among young from non-manipulated territories, food supplemented territories, and birds translocated by hacking methods in the absence of adults and with ad libitum food supply. We found that extra food homogenized the nutritional condition of young and reduced the length of the first stage of PFDP, which is related to flight development and thus dependent on body condition. However, hacked birds did not reduce this stage despite ad libitum food, likely due to the lack of parental stimulus to develop advanced flights. Although the presence of adults might accelerate young becoming independent, hacked birds did not extend significantly the whole PFDP and all birds eventually started dispersal. Thereby, the PFDP regulation was primarily under offspring control, and modulated secondarily by parental effects independently of food provisioning and laying date. The length of this period seems to be constrained mainly by the inherent benefits of early dispersal on ultimate fitness in accordance with ontogenic hypotheses. In addition, hacking was shown to be an effective translocation method when properly used, without negative drawbacks for young development during the PFDP.
Amélioration des systèmes de production mixtes en Afrique soudano-sahélienne. Rôle de l’espèce Stylosanthes hamata (L.) Taub. (synthèse bibliographique)

Introduction. En Afrique soudano-sahelienne, les systemes de production agricole traditionnels ne permettent plus de subvenir aux besoins en nourriture des populations. Pour ameliorer durablement la securite alimentaire des petites exploitations familiales, les pratiques agro-ecologiques sont de plus en plus promues par les organisations de recherche et de developpement.Litterature. Plusieurs etudes montrent que les performances de l'agriculture peuvent etre ameliorees de maniere durable par le developpement des synergies entre les activites de production vegetale et animale. Parmi ces possibilites d'amelioration, l'integration de Stylosanthes hamata (L.) Taub. dans les systemes de production est une des voies les plus interessantes. La legumineuse presente de nombreuses qualites susceptibles d'ameliorer les performances des systemes de culture dans lesquels elle est integree. En outre, elle permet une importante production de fourrage de qualite, a partir de la seconde annee, utilisable pour l'alimentation des animaux. Toutefois, des contraintes phytosanitaires, techniques, environnementales et/ou socio-economiques doivent etre levees pour permettre une meilleure integration de la culture dans les systemes de production.Conclusions. L'integration de S. hamata dans les systemes de production des regions soudano-saheliennes presente des avantages potentiels qui devraient motiver des investigations plus approfondies pour identifier les modalites adequates de cette integration.
B4.3 Wireless low-power warning system for the detection of flammable gases

The detection of flammable gases is necessary to avoid explosive atmospheres. For this reason, lowcost pellistors are frequently used sensors, although they suffer from high operation temperatures and high power consumption. Within the scope of our work, we present a novel wireless low-power catalytic gas sensor system for flammable gases. The combination of a MEMS-based sensor and low power radio system provide the opportunity to monitor complex infrastructures without using the grid for power supply.