Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Bayesian interpretation of target strength data from the Grand Banks

Knowledge of the target strength (TS) distribution of the fish being surveyed is necessary for accurate acoustic biomass estimates. Although dual-beam and split-beam transducers can measure TS in situ, these measurements are usually misleading because fish with higher TS are detected more readily, measurements are coming from several fish species, and measurements are made on the total echo from several unresolved targets. A Bayesian method of analysis was developed to extract information from TS data despite these problems. The first problem was addressed using a model of fish detection that was calibrated with data from a survey of northern cod (Gadus morhua) on the Grand Banks. The second problem, species composition, was dealt with by incorporating information about the relative abundance of species groups. Prior information about the concentration profile of the species assemblage was used to take into account the third problem, multiple detection. Results suggested that the difficulties mentioned ab.
The contribution of large-scale atmospheric patterns to pollution with PM10: the new Saharan Oscillation Index

ABSTRACT PM10, an urban air pollutant that originates from both natural and anthropogenic sources (desert dust and industrial and traffic emissions), reduces visibility and threatens human health, particularly in large cities. Casablanca, which exhibits the highest urbanization rate and population density in Morocco, possesses a concentration of industrial units as well as a large vehicle fleet. Marrakech, another of the most populated cities in the country, has also witnessed an increased rate of motorization during the recent years. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the atmospheric circulation and the PM10 concentrations in Casablanca and Marrakech (based on daily measurements from 2013 to 2016). First, we assessed the correlations between the concentrations and the climate indexes (the North Atlantic Oscillation [NAO] and the Mediterranean Oscillation [MO]). Then, we characterized the contribution of large-scale atmospheric patterns related to extreme PM10 events. Finally, we created the Saharan Oscillation Index (SaOI), a climate index for characterizing the oscillation in the country’s southern desert, between the Saharan depression and the Azores High, and calculated its time series. Our results elucidate the relationship between the MO and the average PM10 concentrations, demonstrating that particulate pollution in the study area is partly induced by a northeasterly to southwesterly continental flow that is triggered by the Saharan trough and influenced by the high-pressure area in the north. The significant statistical correlations, mainly found in winter, confirm the relationships between the Saharan Oscillation Index, the average PM10 concentrations and the MO and NAO indexes—and thus the applicability of the SaOI—during this season.
A-level students: their problems with gene and allele

The findings of this research indicate that it is important for teachers to be aware of students' concepts in genetics before they start teaching them. It also showed that once students had resolved any difficulty with the relationship between gene and allele, their performances in genetics showed a significant improvement. This research found that the use of a chromosome model as a conceptual challenge tool was a most effective way of resolving these difficulties, especially if teachers were aware of students' concepts, and had undergone some staff development in the model's use.
Integrating Questioning and Task Planning: Does it work for EFL Oral Production?

Although the role of task planning conditions affecting EFL learners’ oral performance has been of investigators’ enduring concern, to the best of our knowledge, no study so far has investigated the influence of planning time in combination with a cocktail of questioning instruction on the oral performance in EFL settings. The present study thus examined the combined impact of pre-task planning and questioning instruction on the accuracy and complexity of Iranian EFL learners' oral presentation of intermediate learners of English at a private language institute in Mazandaran. Drawing on Bloom's taxonomy of higher order questions (HOQs), a pretest posttest quasi-experimental design was utilized. Initially, three groups including a control and two experimental groups engaged in pre-intervention oral tasks and performed the post-intervention oral tasks ensuing rehearsal planning plus HOQs (EX1), strategic planning in addition to HOQs (EX2), and no planning condition along with HOQs (CG) instructions. Results pointed to the positive impact of pre-task planning integrated with HOQs on the complexity as well as accuracy of oral narrative tasks. More specifically, engaging in rehearsal planning condition plus HOQs proved to be optimal for inducing better results in EFL learners’ oral production in terms of all three measures of performance. Accordingly, the findings rejected a conflict between complexity and accuracy in that both of them were found to have increased simultaneously. Finally, drawing on the outcomes of the investigation, it is proposed that in order for task-based instruction to more beneficially contribute to EFL learners' task performance, a more flexible view of implementing TBLT needs to be merged with other influential educational factors including thinking skills which have proved to be fruitful in the present study.
Exploring EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of Classroom Video Surveillance: A Qualitative Study

The theory and practice of language teacher autonomy seems to be contradictory in terms. While, in theory, language teaching is conceptualized as a reflective process wherein teachers exercise their professional expertise, in many contexts including some private language schools of Shahrood and Semnan, teaching performance is tightly monitored through closed-circuit cameras. This study attempts to explore language teachers’ perceptions of teaching under video surveillance through elicitation data gathered and analyzed based on grounded theory. Iterative data collection and analysis and the constant comparative techniques revealed that video surveillance negatively affects language teaching since the participants believed it violates their rights to privacy, induces artificial practice, suppresses teacher initiatives, and deskills teachers by inducing disused atrophy. Through the counter-evidence presented by the language teachers, it was also found that the rationales for using video surveillance are unjustified. The findings of this study have clear implications for managers, supervisors and language teachers teaching in private language schools in the context of this study and other similar contexts.
Spatial distribution and occurrence of terrestrial Gastropod Molluscs in the National Center of Floristic (NCF) of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

The terrestrial Gastropod Molluscs of the National Center of Floristic (NCF) were studied in this work through their relative abundance, their frequency of occurrence as well as their density of population. To do this, quadras were delineated on the different parcels of the NCF and a stratified sampling was applied. Two sampling methods, namely the direct collection method and the litter sampling method, were used for the collection of specimens. The individuals collected were identified and counted. A total of 4,216 specimens of terrestrial Gastropod Molluscs were collected. Achatinidae and Subulinidae are numerically the most abundant with 54.06% and 42.08% respectively of the molluscs harvested. Only species of the family Achatinidae have a frequency of occurrence greater than 50% so can be considered constant. In terms of stand density, it is very high for micro-species and low for Achatinidae (large species). Achatinidae are mostly found in the arboretum while micro-species are mainly concentrated in fallow. In addition, NCF molluscs are characterized by either high abundance or regular distribution. In addition, of the three microhabitats used, the habitat who includes the soil surface, below the litter, on the litter and under the trunks of trees lying on the ground is the most inhabited by the molluscs of the NCF.
Short-term logging and burning impacts on species richness, abundance and community structure of birds in open eucalypt forest in Western Australia

In 1985 new silvicultural prescriptions for managing jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) forest in south-west Western Australia came into operation. The most extreme logging treatment (gap release) involved removal of most of the overstorey from patches no larger than 10 ha, followed by a regeneration fire. In the other logging treatment (shelterwood), less wood was removed from a larger area, also followed by a fire. This study examined the impact of these disturbances on the avifauna by monitoring species richness and abundance of birds one year before logging, one year before burning, and for five years after burning. Although 68 bird species were recorded during the seven years of the study, 29 of these were detected fewer than 15 times. Of the other 39 bird species recorded, only two (Gerygone fusca and Acanthiza apicalis) showed a statistically significant treatment effect over time on their abundance. The abundance of G. fusca initially declined in the disturbed treatments and by Year 7 of the study (5 years post-fire) in the gap-release treatment had not recovered its original abundance. A. apicalis increased its abundance in both shelterwood and gap-release treatments. By Year 7, both species in the logged treatments had abundances similar to those in the unlogged treatments. Total abundance of all species varied little across treatments. Species richness was highest by Year 7 in the shelterwood and lowest in the gap-release treatment. In some years community structure varied more at the external-reference sites (not recently logged or burnt) than at the gap-release sites. In particular, there was little overlap in community structure in the external-reference treatment between the first and final years, whereas the pre-logging and final year in the gap-release treatment showed a high degree of overlap. These differences are suggestive of overriding short-term annual variation in broad-scale factors rather than local factors. Yearly variation in rainfall and temperature was documented; during low rainfall periods, populations of foliage arthropods may have been reduced.
Aulacoseira veraluciae sp. nov. (Coscinodiscophyceae, Aulacoseiraceae): a common freshwater diatom from Brazil

Examination of samples from different aquatic environments from Brazil revealed the presence of a new Aulacoseira species. Aulacoseira veraluciae Tremarin, Torgan & T. Ludwig is described and illustrated with light and scanning electron microscopy, and its morphology compared with that of similar species, such as A. muzzanensis (Meister) Krammer, A. granulata (Ehrenberg) Simonsen and A. agassizii (Ostenfeld) Simonsen. The new species is characterized mainly by the straight pervalvar rows of areolae, morphology of the linking spines, shape and position of the rimoportulae on the valve mantle, deepness and thickness of the ringleiste.
Host specificity and morphometric variation of Haemoproteus meleagridis Levine, 1961 (Protozoa: Haemosporina) in gallinaceous birds

Haemoproteus meleagridis was transmitted to a ring-necked pheasant, Phasianus colchicus L. , to a chuckar partridge, Alectoris chuckar (Gray), and to domestic turkeys by the intraperitoneal inoculation of sporozoites from pools of infected Culicoides edeni Wirth and Blanton, 1947, and Culicoides hinmani Khalaf, 1952. Guineafowl, Numida meleagris (L.), northern bobwhites, Colinus virginianus (L.), and chickens, Gallus gallus (L.), were not susceptible. Parasitemias in the infected chuckar and the infected pheasant were lower and more transient than parasitemias in domestic turkeys infected with the same number of sporozoites. Mature gametocytes of Haemoproteus meleagridis were morphologically similar in each susceptible host species. Infected red blood cells in each host species underwent increases in total area and decreases in nuclear size and area. The current taxonomy of Haemoproteus meleagridis is discussed in relation to recent revisions in the taxonomy of the avian hosts.
Energy flow and the trophic basis of macroinvertebrate and amphibian production in a neotropical stream food web

Summary Despite the typically high taxonomic and functional diversity of tropical habitats, little is known about the roles of individual consumers in their ecosystem structure and function. We studied the trophic basis of production in a tropical headwater stream by identifying major sources of energy, measuring energy flow through consumers and characterising interactions among trophic levels and functional groups. We examined gut contents of 18 dominant macroinvertebrate and two tadpole taxa and used these data, along with previously published estimates of secondary production, to quantify food-web structure and energy flow pathways. We also examined the prevalence of omnivory and patterns of resource consumption across seasons and habitats. Non-algal biofilm, a heterogeneous polysaccharidic matrix, was the most utilised food resource in the stream. Contrary to some studies of Old World tropical stream food webs, detrital energy sources were consumed at relatively high rates and contributed significantly to overall energy flow, although much of this was attributable to a single shredder taxon. Algal consumption rates were similar to values reported for temperate streams and were highest during the dry season. Omnivory was prevalent across all functional groups, particularly predators, suggesting traditional functional and trophic assignments based on temperate regions may not be appropriate for tropical systems. Seasonal patterns of resource consumption appeared linked to hydrological disturbance. This is the first study to provide quantitative estimates of energy flow through a neotropical stream food web. Extirpation and extinction rates in tropical freshwater habitats are high; our study provides baseline information for conservation and management of remaining systems, and for quantifying the consequences of further losses of biodiversity such as ongoing amphibian declines.
Phylogenetic analysis of the genus Helicopha Mosely (Trichoptera: Helicophidae), with description of five new species from New Caledonia

Five new Helicopha species are described from New Caledonia: H. paniensis sp.n. , H. amieuensis sp.n. , H. einap sp.n. , H. ramea sp.n. and H. dognyensis sp.n. The new species are all endemic to New Caledonia and described herein. Distributional data is included on maps for all eight New Caledonian Helicopha species. A key to the males of New Caledonian Helicophidae is presented. Phylogenetic analyses performed on morphological characters of the males of Helicophidae species show that the New Caledonia Helicopha are monophyletic, but the relationship between the Australian and New Caledonian Helicopha species is at present not fully understood. Analyzing with equally weighted characters leaves the Australian Helicopha as the sistergroup to the New Caledonian Helicopha. When characters are weighted using implied weights and concavity constant of 2, the New Zealand Zelolessica split the New Caledonian and Australian Helicopha, leaving Helicopha paraphyletic. The monotypic New Caledonian genus Briama is closely related to Helicopha in all results.
Aggregation of preferences in participatory forest planning with multiple criteria: an application to the urban forest in Lycksele, Sweden

A promising approach for participatory forest management planning is the combination of multiple-criteria deci- sion-making and group decision making. A crucial part of the participatory multiple-criteria decision-making process is the aggregation of individual stakeholder preferences into a collective preference. In this study, an approach based on the de- termination of cardinal compromise consensus was applied to a real case of participatory forest planning. Consensus matri- ces for four different social groups were established from stakeholder preferences in the form of pairwise comparisons of different sets of criteria. Criteria weights were obtained for each social group and used to determine rankings of 12 forest management plans. The rankings of the social groups were aggregated to determine consensus solutions for the choice of the best forest management plan from a collective perspective. In the procedure, control parameters and a distance metric were employed to find solutions that balance the points of view of the majority and the minority. This approach makes it possible to aggregate preferences of different stakeholders and produces a range of different solutions. Furthermore, certain values of the control parameters and the distance metric generate solutions that are promising to present in a participatory situation where stakeholders have very differing preferences. Resume´ : La combinaison de l'analyse multicritere de decision et de la prise de decision en groupe est une approche prometteuse pour la planification participative en amenagement forestier. Une partie cruciale du processus d'analyse multi- critere est l'agregation des preferences de chacun des intervenants pour obtenir une preference collective. Dans cette etude, une approche basee sur la determination d'un consensus pour lequel des compromis sont essentiels a eteappliqueeaun cas reel de planification forestiere participative. Des matrices de consensus pour quatre groupes sociaux differents ont ete ´ etablies a partir des preferences des intervenants sous la forme de comparaisons jumelees de differents ensembles de cri- teres. Le poids des criteres a eteobtenu pour chaque groupe social et utilisepour determiner le classement de 12 plans d'amenagement forestier. Les classements des groupes sociaux ont eteregroupes pour determiner les solutions consen- suelles pour le choix du meilleur plan d'amenagement dans une perspective collective. Dans la procedure, des parametres temoins et une metrique de distance ont eteutilises pour trouver des solutions qui equilibrent les points de vue majoritaires et minoritaires. Avec cette approche, il est possible de regrouper les preferences de differents intervenants et de produire une gamme de solutions differentes. De plus, certaines valeurs des parametres temoins et de la metrique de distance gener- ent des solutions qui vaudraient la peine d'etre presentees dans un contexte participatif oules intervenants ont des prefer- ences tres divergentes. (Traduit par la Redaction)
Antifungal effect of potassium chloride (KCl) on water mold infection in ayu Plecoglossus altivelis eggs.

The antifungal effects of potassium chloride (KCl) against Saprolenia diclina, S. parasitica and Achlya sp. and fungal infection in ayu Plecogrossus altivelis eggs were evaluated. Zoospore motility of the fungi was greatly inhibited within 1 min in 0.03% KCl, although hyphal growth and zoospore germination of the fungi were not inhibited at a concentration of 0.24% KCl. When fertilized ayu eggs were continuously kept in 0.03%, 0.06% and 0.12% KCl until the eyed-egg stage, treatment at concentrations of 0.06% and 0.12% apparently decreased the rate of fungal infection in three separate experiments. These concentrations showed no effect on the egg-eyed ratio, the subsequent hatching and the larval deformity rates. It was confirmed that KCl was a useful chemical to prevent mold infection in ayu eggs.
Morphological variation in Tricyrtis hirta plants regenerated from heavy ion beam-irradiated embryogenic calluses

In order to induce horticulturally valuable mutants in the Liliaceous ornamental Tricyrtis hirta, embryogenic calluses of this species were irradiated with 12C+6 ion beams. Morphological characterization was performed on 35, 37 and 15 plants regenerated from calluses irradiated with 5, 10 and 20 Gy ion beams, respectively, and on 10 plants from non-irradiated calluses after 3 years of cultivation in pots. No plants were regenerated from calluses irradiated with 50 Gy ion beams. There were no large differences in the mean values of leaf length, leaf width, soil and plant analyzer development (SPAD) value of leaves, flower length and flower diameter between the control (division-derived plants from the mother plant of the embryogenic calluses) and the irradiation treatments at different doses. On the other hand, the mean number of shoots per plant increased, and the mean shoot length and the mean number of nodes per shoot decreased in the irradiation treatments. The mean number of flowers per plant was increased in the 20 Gy irradiation treatment. For most morphological characteristics investigated, the variation spectrum widened with increase in the irradiation dose. Several horticulturally attractive variations such as dwarfism, slender and deep green leaves, and large flowers were observed in regenerants from the irradiation treatments, and these variations were stable after additional 2 years of cultivation in pots or garden. Thus mutation induction by heavy ion beam irradiation of embryogenic calluses is a valuable tool for improving horticultural value of T. hirta.
Epilithic boulder communities of Lough Hyne, Ireland: the influences of water movement and sediment

The Marine Nature Reserve of Lough Hyne (south-west Ireland) encompasses an extremely wide range of marine conditions within a small area. A total of 378 boulders were collected from a range of depths at five sites subjected to very different degrees of water movement and sedimentation. Encrusting biota were identified and the communities compared between sites and upper and lower surfaces. In all, 114 taxa were identified. Alpha diversity was generally found to be higher for lower surfaces at sites with intermediate flow/disturbance. Sites with high water flow had much greater space occupation, predominantly cheilostomatid bryozoans. Multivariate analyses divided the samples into six groupings. Similarity percentage analysis (SIMPER) was used to indicate particular species characteristic of each group. Equations for the species-area curves generated tended to indicate communities at equilibrium except at sites subjected to stresses such as high sediment load or high disturbance. For high disturbance sites it was apparent that number of species cm−2 was significantly negatively correlated with surface area of rock implying non-random distribution.
Efficient gene delivery into cells by a surprisingly small three-armed peptide ligand

The development of new non-viral transfection vectors for gene transport into cells is of current interest. A small, three-armed peptide ligand 1 is derived from the cationic dipeptide Lys-Phe with an additional anion recognition site at its N-terminus, binds to DNA with high affinity (K ca. 107 M−1) and efficiently delivers a GFP plasmid into cells. Compared to the cationic polymer polyethyleneimine (PEI), routinely used as a standard vector for transfection, 1 is significantly more efficient and also less cytotoxic. As DLS and AFM studies show, ligand 1 condenses DNA into tightly packed cationic aggregates which are then taken up by the cells. In contrast, the analogous divalent peptide ligand 2 of identical amino acid sequence and the highly charged divalent DNA-binder 3 (Lys-Lys-Arg) do not enable gene delivery though they also bind with high affinity (2: K ca. 106 M−1; 3: K ca. 107 M−1). All three ligands are able to transfer genetic material into cells but only the trivalent gene carrier is able to escape from the endosome due to its superior buffering capacity.