Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Minor Differences in the Proteome of Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus mojavensis Based upon High Abundance/ Conserved Protein MassSpectra; Implications for Rapid, Improved Identification of Two Pathogen Genetically Closely Related

The genus Bacillus comprises a complex group of species, many of which cannot be readily differentiated by phenotypic and genotypic methods. Here, we utilised two species that are genetically very closely related, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus mojavensis as a model to ascertain the potential of a linear MALDITOF MS to differentiate them against a background of their sporulation cycle and ultrastructural changes. Previous studies indicated that MALDI-TOF MS ionises the high abundance/conserved intracellular proteins but also produces additional lower mass ions that, with the appropriate software, may help to delineate such closely related taxa. Cells were grown in liquid culture over 24 hours and samples taken intermittently to monitor growth and the presence of spores. Harvested cells were studied by electron microscopy to detect potential changes in ultra structure and its potential effect on reliable and reproducible mass spectra. Sporulation was clearly evident by 24 hours and correlated inversely with reliable identification scores obtained using MALDI-TOF MS. Thus, cells cultured for 4, 6, 8 and 24 hours had identification scores of 2.157, 2.204, 2.295 and < 2 respectively. Contrary to previous findings, these results demonstrated unequivocally that Bacillus species may be reliably identified using this approach prior to sporulation. Furthermore, the software ClinProTools 3.0 was used to tease out minor components of the mass spectrum that enabled unambiguous separation of both groups of strains.
Predicting the Potential Distribution of Plant Diversity in the Yukarıgökdere Forest District of the Mediterranean Region

ABSTRACT: Biodiversity is of crucial importance for ecosystem health and functioning. It is thus one of the most important topics in forest ecology. This study focuses on modelling the spatial distribution of vascular plant diversity (H), richness (S) and evenness (E) in the Yukarıgökdere forest district (14667 ha) located in transition zone between Mediterranean and continental climates in the Mediterranean region, Turkey. Species abundance was sampled at 95 sample plots extending from 1000 to 1900 m a.s. l. in order to calculate the response variables (H, S, E). Climatic and topographical data served as explanatory variables. Multiple regression (ML) and classification and regression tree technique (CART) were used to obtain the distribution models of response variables. The better results were provided by CART. That is why visual assessments of the predicted values of the response variables based on (CART) were performed. The explained variances of the model trees were 63.4, 63.1 and 44.5% for H, S and E respectively. Elevation was found to be the most important environmental factor for all response variables. The higher H and S values were found at the east lower part (1000–1150 m a.s.l.) and the west upper part (1500–1800 m a.s.l.) of the district. The evenness (E) shows generally higher relative values in the upper part of the area. The lowest E specifies the area being optimal for tree growing. It is located between 1400 and 1500 m a.s. l. , and ranges from the north to the south in the district.
Project Title: Controlling dengue in Florida: Assessment of novel vaccines in mosquito vectors

With epidemics of dengue fever throughout the world, and the steady arrival of infected travelers arriving in Florida, local transmission is a major public health concern. However, public health consequences may be mitigated through targeted technological developments. The purpose of this project was to characterize transmission efficiency of Aedes aegypti using live-attenuated candidate dengue vaccines. This research contributes to an assessment of the potential for use of novel dengue vaccines for disease control in Florida. The Co-PIs have developed live-attenuated vaccine candidates for dengue virus by incorporating a single highly conserved, broadly neutralizing epitope from dengue virus into the backbone of the yellow fever virus (YFV) vaccine 17D. These vaccine candidates are neutralized by a panel of anti-dengue human monoclonal antibodies that represent the primary protective antibody response in naturally infected dengue survivors. The potential use of a liveattenuated dengue vaccine for Florida’s public would also necessitate an appraisal of transmission efficiency in the vector Ae. aegypti. The success of the YFV vaccine (17D) is that Ae. aegypti is unable to transmit this live-attenuated virus. Because living virus is recovered from the blood stream (viremia) of vaccinated humans at very low levels, there is minimal risk that blood feeding mosquitoes may become infected with YFV (17D). The latter attribute is particularly important because it prevents the initiation of a transmission cycle and so the virus is unable to become virulent. We evaluated susceptibility to infection and transmission potential of live attenuated dengue vaccine candidates 2-1 and 2-2 in Florida Ae. aegypti. For comparison, we also included the parental YFV vaccine (17D) as a benchmark as well as the virulent YFV strain Asibi. Viral infection rates were highest in YFV strain Asibi and 17D, whereas Ae. aegypti showed lowest infection rates to both dengue vaccine candidates 2-1 and 2-2. Viral dissemination rates were performed on a subsample of mosquitoes and were highest in YFV strain Asibi and not detected in 17D, 2-1, and 2-2, suggesting that the live attenuated vaccines encounter midgut escape barriers in Ae. aegypti. We found no evidence for detection of infectious viruses in the saliva of mosquitoes from any of the treatment groups suggesting limited ability of transmission potential in Ae. aegypti. Our observations suggest that there is a very low probability that these dengue vaccine candidates would be capable of infecting and being transmitted by the primary dengue vector Ae. aegypti. Therefore, the potential risk of reversion to become more virulent is a highly unlikely scenario for these two dengue vaccine candidates.
Can Good Groups Create Immoral Individuals? Examining Vicarious Moral Licensing in Political Ingroups

Research suggests that people often engage in a process called “moral licensing,” through which they point to past good deeds as a way to license their present immoral actions. Additional research demonstrates that through a process of vicarious moral licensing, people can reference their ingroup members’ morality to license their own morally dubious behavior. However, these proposed moral balancing acts seem to strikingly contradict decades of research arguing that people strive to act consistently with past behavior. The present research studies the phenomenon of ingroup licensing specifically as it relates to political ingroup identity, and examines the conditions under which people license their immoral actions as opposed to behaving consistently with their past good deeds. We hypothesized that learning about their political party’s moral actions would lead people to behave less morally themselves, that this effect would be heightened among people with stronger political party identification, and that it would be weakened among people with a strong moral identity concerning the behavior in question. Together, these three studies did not establish strong support for any of the three hypotheses. The implications of these findings are discussed, and directions for future research are proposed.
PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PARAMETERS AND ENZYMATIC ACTIVITIES ON TILLED SOILS FROM JIBOU AREA, ROMANIA

Different soil samples from five tilled areas of Jibou (Salaj County, Romania) have been physico-chemically and enzymologically studied. Several physico-chemical parameters of tilled soil from these sulphurous areas were determined: pH, conductivity, humus and different mineral ion contents. Also, in the soil samples, the following enzymatic activities have been quantitatively determined: actual and potential dehydrogenase, phosphatase and catalase activities. In all soil samples all enzymatic activities have a uniform behavior, without big differences between the five sampling zones. Also, the physico-chemical parameters were very uniform, as compared to the other sampling sites. The enzymatic potential was appreciate by the enzymatic indicator of soil quality (EISQ), calculated on the base of these enzymatic activities. The EISQ values were good, between EISQ = 0.574 and 0.635. The granulometric analysis of the five soil samples classified them as loamy-clayey soils.
A Molecular Dynamics Study of the Interface Temperature in Ultrasonic Metal Welding

Abstract. In this study, mechanical and thermal behavior of the mating interface during ultrasonic metal welding is investigated using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In ultrasonic welding process, the reciprocating motion of the sonotrode together with the application of the external pressure on the mating parts are the sources of friction heat generation, high temperature gradient at the interface and plastic deformations. The rapid process of ultrasonic welding, which takes a few seconds at the longest, involves coupled mechanical and thermal processes. Therefore, MD simulations have been employed to elucidate the nano-mechanics of this complex coupled process within the picosecond timescale. To this end, the atomic scale simulations of the microstructure at and in the vicinity of the mating interface have been carried out. This contribution addresses the interactive effects of the process parameters on the interface temperature evolution and the diffusion behavior of the interface atoms at the atomic scale. The results of this work are compared to the results from macro scale investigations.
Influence of water defict at vegetative, anthesis and grain filling stages on water relation and grain yield in sorghum

The physiological response of short term water deficits and its relief was assessed on water relations and accumulation of certain metabolites in sorghum hybrid CSH-14 at vegetative, anthesis and grain filling stages. Theleaf water potential, osmotic potential and relative water content decreased in the stressed plants at all the stages studied. The decrease in osmotic potential was more compared to decrease in water potential at all the stages indicating the ability of the leaves to maintain turgor through osmotic adjustment (OA). The stressed plants recovered by 48 h after re-watering in terms of all these parameters. Stomatal conductance decreased drastically/under stress and recovered partially after re-watering indicating its high sensitivity to water stress. The accumulation of total soluble sugar and free amino acids under stress at all the growth stages indicate the possibility of their involvement in osmotic adjustment. However, the relative contribution of proline and potassium appears to be marginal.
Dimethyl and methyl anthranilate and methiocarb deter feeding in captive Canada geese and mallards.

We evaluated the repellency of dimethyl anthranilate (DMA) and methyl anthranilate (MA) in 1- and 2-choice feeding trials with and without methiocarb (MB) on captive Canada geese (Branta canadensis) and mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) because both species cause crop damage or nuisance problems. In 2-choice trials, concentrations of 1% (g/g) DMA and MA were avoided by both species. Concentrations of 2% DMA and MA, and an economically similar concentration of MB (0.1%), reduced (P≤0.005 and P≤0.01, respectively) consumption by geese and ducks in 1-choice tests. Of the 3 materials, MA and MB were the strongest feeding deterrents and warrant further testing in the field
Poking a Hole in the Wall: Efficient Censorship-Resistant Internet Communications by Parasitizing on WebRTC

Many censorship circumvention tools rely on trusted proxies that allow users within censored regions to access blocked Internet content by tunneling it through a covert channel (e.g,. piggybacking on Skype video calls). However, building tools that can simultaneously (i) provide good bandwidth capacity for accommodating the typical activities of Internet users, and (ii) be secure against traffic analysis attacks has remained an open problem and a stumbling block to the practical adoption of such tools for censorship evasion. We present Protozoa, a censorship-resistant tunneling tool featuring both high-performing covert channels and strong traffic analysis resistance. To create a covert channel, a user only needs to make a video call with a trusted party located outside the censored region using a popular WebRTC streaming service, e.g., Whereby. Protozoa can then covertly tunnel all IP traffic from unmodified user applications (e.g., Firefox) through the WebRTC video stream. This is achieved by hooking into the WebRTC stack and replacing the encoded video frame data with IP packet payload, while ensuring that the payload of the WebRTC stream remains encrypted, and the stream's statistical properties remain in all identical to those of any common video call. This technique allows for sustaining enough throughput to enable common-use Internet applications, e.g., web browsing or bulk data transfer, and avoid detection by state-of-the-art traffic analysis attacks. We show that Protozoa is able to evade state-level censorship in China, Russia, and India.
Sexual Dimorphism and Sexing of Mediterranean Colubrids Based on External Characteristics

Sexual dimorphism was studied in seven colubrid species living in the Mediterranean area of the Iberian Peninsula. Six variables of external morphology were considered: numbers of ventral and subcaudal scales, snout-vent and tail lengths, body and tail surface in a cross section close to the vent, and certain ratios of these variables. To determine which traits enable us to distinguish between the sexes, we used a stepwise discriminant analysis. The ventral and subcaudal scales, because their numbers are fixed at birth, were the best predictors of the sex of a randomly-chosen specimen. Using the number of ventral scales and certain ratios, we correctly identified the sex in all individuals of Elaphe scalaris and Natrix maura, nearly 100% of the individuals of Coluber hippocrepis and Natrix natrix, and almost 95% of Coronella girondica and Macroprotodon cucullatus. The method did not work with Malpolon mon- spessulanus, which is sexually monomorphic in the characteristics used here.
Taxonomic Signal and Noise in Multivariate Interpopulational Relationships in Populus mexicana (Salicaceae)

Fifteen populations of the endemic Mexican Populuis mexicana were scored for 72 vegetative and reproductive characters. These data were studied by principal coordinates analysis and cluster analysis. There was a significant latitudinal and longitudinal component to morphological variation among popula- tions, corresponding to my earlier recognition of two geographical subspecies, the northwestern subsp. dimorpha and the eastern subsp. mexicana. This partition reflected the first principal coordinate and repre- sented the strongest phenetic signal in the study, consistently appearing in phenograms of both interpopula- tional correlation and distance matrices for subsets of the data containing from 17 to 40 variables. These variables supplemented the two that I had originally used to distinguish the two subspecies. The signal from the second principal coordinate was almost as strong as the first, appearing in distance phenograms of more than 44 variables, but reflected leaf size rather than taxonomic structure. The two first eigenvalues accounted for only 1/3 of the interpopulational variation, leaving a large unexplained residue that might be evolutionarily, if not taxonomically, significant.
Ixodes downsi Kohls, 1957 in Venezuela

Abstract Three females and three nymphs of Ixodes downsi Kohls, 1957 were collected in guano deposited in Guácharos Cave, State of Monagas, Venezuela. The cave is inhabited by bats and oilbirds (Steatornis caripensis Humboldt) and is frequented by carnivores. Previous records of this tick are from Trinidad & Tobago and Peru, and it is unclear whether the principal hosts are Chiroptera or Aves. The present record of I. downsi in Venezuela does not provide new host data but expands this tick's known range, which is probably greater than collections indicate. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S mitochondrial rDNA sequences of Ixodes species from the Neotropical Zoogeographic Region, plus two Australian Ixodes and three argasids, were conducted to clarify the systematic position of I. downsi. The analyses showed an unexpected relationship with I. (Multidentatus) auritulus Neumann, 1904. However, as with other Neotropical Ixodes, the subgeneric status of I. downsi remains undetermined.
The Influence of Experiential Quality, Excitement, Museum Image, and Experiential Satisfaction toward Revisit Intention (The Empirical Study at Modern and Contemporary Art Museum in Jakarta)

This study attempts to identify four primary dimensions of experiential quality in the art museum and examine the interrelationship between the experiential quality dimensions, experiential quality, excitement, equity, experiential satisfaction, and revisit intention. As a framework, the researcher used a multi-dimensional and hierarchical model to test the relationship among those variables. The researcher used a quantitative method with CB-SEM on a convenience sample of 306 respondents from the museum's visitors. This research showed that interaction quality, physical environment quality, outcome quality, and access quality positively affect visitors' judgment on experiential quality. Experiential quality also has a vital role in affecting excitement and museum image, which will lead to experiential satisfaction and revisit intention, respectively.
Data-driven and learning-based interpolations of along-track Nadir and wide-swath SWOT altimetry observations

Over the last years, a very active field of research aims at exploring new data-driven and learning-based methodologies to propose computationally efficient strategies able to benefit from the large amount of observational remote sensing and numerical simulations for the reconstruction, interpolation and prediction of high-resolution derived products of geophysical fields. In this paper, we investigate how they might help to solve for the oversmoothing of the state-of-the-art optimal interpolation (OI) techniques in the reconstruction of sea surface height (SSH) spatio-temporal fields. We focus on a small region, part of the GULFSTREAM and mainly driven by energetic mesoscale dynamics. Based on an Observation System Simulation Experiment (OSSE), we will use the NATL60 high resolution deterministic ocean simulation of the North Atlantic to generate two types of pseudo altimetric observational dataset: along-track nadir data for the current capabilities of the observation system and wide-swath SWOT data in the context of the upcoming SWOT mission. We briefly introduce the analog data assimilation (AnDA), an up-to-date version of the DINEOF algorithm, and a new NN-based end-to-end learning framework for the representation of spatio-temporal irregulary-sampled data. We evaluate how some of these methods are a significant improvements, particularly by catching up the small scales ranging up to 30-40km, inaccessible by the conventional methods so far. A clear gain is also demonstrated when assimilating jointly wide-swath SWOT and (agreggated) along-track nadir observations.
Wild bee declines linked to plant‐pollinator network changes and plant species introductions

The mutualistic interactions of plant‐pollinator networks provide myriad economic, ecological, and cultural constituents without which there would be severe environmental and societal consequences. Plant‐pollinator networks are becoming increasingly vulnerable to disturbance through intensifying anthropogenic land use and climate change. Wild bees are central to pollination and documenting unique regional interactions between wild bees and floral hosts provides powerful insights into local ecology and biodiversity in addition to the potential to detect temporal network variation. This study characterises the changes in a northern New England wild bee plant‐pollinator network over the past 125 years and reveals a striking increase in exotic bee and plant taxa over time. Here we document that declining wild bee species have historic ties to threatened and endangered plant species. These data provide a rare insight into the fragile nature of plant‐pollinator networks. Notable specialist interactions between native taxa that were recorded in historical networks have been lost, most likely due to local extirpation of these now threatened and endangered plant species. Subsequent monitoring and conservation efforts focused on habitat restoration for declining wild bee and plant taxa are fundamental to the future preservation of regional native diversity.
Rarefaction analysis of morphological and taxonomic diversity

Our assessment of morphological diversity is influenced by morphological extremes and therefore depends on sample size (taxonomic richness). Rarefaction predicts the morphological diversity that would probably be observed in a sample of reduced size, thereby allowing both compensation for differences in sample size that may be strictly preservational, and analysis of diversity structure, that is, the relationship between morphological and taxonomic diversity. Middle and Late Cambrian trilobites exhibit a diversity structure characterized by many variations on a few morphological themes. In contrast, Middle and Late Ordovician trilobites occupy a larger range of morphospace per unit of species richness. Diversity structure in the Devonian is similar to that in the Middle and Late Ordovician, but the magnitude of morphological diversity is lower in the Devonian, as many fewer species are observed. For blastoids, different aspects of morphological diversity (range of morphospace occupied, number of character states possessed, and number of different regions in morphospace occupied) exhibit different relationships to taxonomic richness. In all cases Permian blastoids are characterized by a diversity structure in which morphological diversity per unit of taxonomic richness is greater than for Devonian blastoids. Changes in morphological diversity in fissiculate blastoids appear to reflect evolution of continuous variation in thecal morphology more than changes in the number of character states. Saunders and Swan's data on Namurian ammonoids illustrate some significant differences in diversity structure among stratigraphic levels, but many apparent differences in morphological diversity are consistent with the possibility that they reflect the sampling of different numbers of species from the same underlying diversity structure. Rarefaction curves are also presented for idealized increases and decreases in diversity, and these are compared to some of the observed changes in trilobites, blastoids, and ammonoids.