Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inviable Seed Set Affects Arthropod Damage to Seeds of Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis)

Abstract Retention and development of fruits containing inviable seeds has been considered anomalous, because such seeds cannot contribute to plant fitness. Although trees in the genus Juniperus are conifers and thus not true fruiting plants, junipers package seeds within fruit-like female cones commonly referred to as “berries,” and juniper seeds often exhibit high levels of inviability. We tested the prediction that inviable seeds in western juniper (J. occidentalis) reduce levels of pre-dispersal seed predation by arthropods. From 2009 to 2014 we assessed production of berries and seeds in two northeast California populations of western juniper and documented presence of four arthropods (three seed predators, one fruit predator) as well as condition of seeds. The number of inviable seeds per juniper berry was directly associated with numbers of the pulp-feeding frugivore in berries collected both in fall and spring, suggesting that trees may abort seeds within berries experiencing heavy frugivore damage. Consistent with the hypothesis that inviable seeds can reduce seed predation, numbers of a granivorous mite were inversely related to numbers of inviable seeds in fall berry collections. However, the pattern switched to a direct relationship between mites and inviable seeds in spring-collected berries, perhaps due to the timing of mite infestation during berry development. Inviable seeds occurred most frequently during a year of mast production of juniper berries, and the lowest levels of seed damage by a granivorous chalcid wasp occurred during the mast year. The following year saw the greatest levels of seed damage by granivorous moths and mites, possible hold-over effects from large populations built during the mast year. The production of inviable seeds, together with satiating granivores through masting, may represent complementary mechanisms for reducing pre-dispersal seed predation.
Skeletal Muscle Metabolism: from Tissue to Stem Cell

Excessive circulating triglycerides due to reduction or loss of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity contribute to hypertriglyceridemia and increased risk for pancreatitis. The only gene therapy treatment for LPL deficiency decreases pancreatitis but minimally reduces hypertriglyceridemia. Synthesized in striated muscle and adipose tissue, LPL is then trafficked to blood vessel endothelial cells where it hydrolyzes triglycerides into free fatty acids. We conditionally knocked out LPL in differentiated striated muscle tissue lowering striated muscle LPL activity and causing hypertriglyceridemia. We crossed these LPL knockout mice with mice possessing a conditional avian retroviral receptor gene and infected mice with human LPL or mCherry retrovirus. Plasma LPL activity increased for three weeks following human LPL infection. Human LPL infected mice also had significantly lower blood triglyceride levels. Thus, targeted delivery of human LPL into striated muscle tissue identifies a potential therapeutic target for LPL deficiency. To repair skeletal muscle, the resident stem cells, termed satellite cells, exit reversible quiescence, proliferate, and differentiate to repair damaged muscle. The transition from quiescence to cycling is poorly understood, particularly with regard to the molecular clock. Pharmacological and genetic perturbations of the molecular clock in satellite cells disrupts activation blunting muscle regeneration. Bmal1 deficient satellite cells have an altered citric acid cycle metabolism increasing succinate levels and altering the alpha-ketoglutarate/succinate ratio. Succinate promotes satellite cell G-alert and premature activation via inhibition of prolyl-
Love It or Leaf It: Site Selection of Breeding Treefrogs Based on Leaf Litter Subsidies

Breeding organisms rely on numerous environmental cues to determine optimal sites for oviposition. Site selection is often associated with factors that increase fitness, and the identification of these factors can help conservation efforts. For amphibians that breed in wetlands, the quality of terrestrial subsidies (e.g., leaf litter) can strongly influence larval survival and development by altering water chemistry and available nutrients. In this study, we examined the preference of breeding Gray Treefrogs (Hyla versicolor) for wetlands containing litter species of varying chemical quality. Based on previous studies of larval survival, we hypothesized that treefrogs would oviposit more eggs into wetland mesocosms containing litter with high nutrient concentrations and low phenolic concentrations. To test our hypothesis, we counted the number of eggs oviposited by treefrogs in artificial wetland mesocosms containing either Red Maple (Acer rubrum), Black Oak (Quercus velutina), or Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) litter. We conducted this study over two breeding seasons. Counter to our hypothesis, we found that treefrogs preferred to oviposit in mesocosms containing maple litter, which contains high levels of both nutrients and phenolic acids. We discuss possible explanations for this result, including the possible anti-parasitic effects of phenolic acids. This is the first study demonstrating that breeding amphibians can differentiate between wetlands containing leaf litter species of differing chemistry. Given global declines in amphibian species concurrent with widespread changes in forest composition, our results emphasize the importance of considering leaf litter quality in wetland management and conservation efforts.
Nutrient uptake and Accumulation Patterns in Banana cv. Rasthali (AAB) with respect to Dry Matter Production at Critical Growth Stages

ABSTRACT A field experiment was conducted to assess the nutrients uptake pattern and partitioning of nutrient in banana cv. Rasthali (AAB) at critical growth stages like 10-leaf stage, 20-leaf stage, shooting stage and harvesting stage. From 10-leaf stage to harvesting, the per cent dry matter (DM) accumulation decreased from 43 to 22 in underground segment and increased from 57 to 78 in above ground segment. The sample was partitioned into root, corm, pseudostem, leaf lamina, petiole, peduncle, bunch and male bud, processed and analyzed for macro and micronutrients at different growth stages. The nutrient accumulation pattern with respect to dry matter production was worked out. To produce 38.8 ton banana per hectare, about 396 kg N, 69 kg P, 1044 kg K, 2.2 kg Cu, 5.3 kg Mn, 4.0 kg Zn and 6.5 kg Fe were taken up by banana cv. Rasthali. About 8 to 51% removal occurred through bunch harvest from the total nutrient uptake from the soil and remaining nutrients accumulated in the residual tissues were quantified and given.
Optimisation of controller reconfiguration instant for spacecraft control systems with additive actuator faults

This paper aims to propose a method of optimising the controller reconfiguration (CR) instant for spacecraft control systems with additive actuator faults. Due to severe resource constraints, it is ‘expensive’ for spacecraft to handle the faults in orbit. To overcome the constraints, we try to reduce the CR cost from a perspective of time management. The basic idea of this method is to propose a reconfigurability evaluation index to quantify the capability of the fault system in maintaining admissible performance by CR measures, and then to derive the mathematical relationship between the reconfigurability index and four crucial instants during the CR process. Based on this, the CR instant is optimised by maximising the reconfigurability index. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated through an example. The results show that by enhancing the time management efficiency during the CR process, the limited resources can be economised to some extent.
Electromagnetic performance of Ti6Al4V and AlSi7Mg0.6 waveguides with laser beam melting (LBM) produced and abrasive flow machining (AFM) finished internal surfaces

Metal additive manufacturing processes, such as laser beam melting (LBM), can play a key role in developing antenna-feed chains because monolithic and multifunctional parts can be manufactured with high geometric freedom in the design phase. Using LBM technology, lighter and more compact antennas can be produced and manufacturing costs can be reduced. However, the surface roughness of internal surfaces in waveguides produced by LBM is much higher (about 10 μm Ra) than that produced by conventional manufacturing technologies. Consequently, such high surface roughness of the internal surface can affect electrical current propagation through the waveguide and corresponding transmitted power. In this paper, abrasive flow machining (AFM) was used to reduce the surface roughness of the internal surfaces of four different waveguides used at both K and Q bands. A significant reduction in the transmission loss at both K and Q bands was observed as their internal surface roughness decreased from about 10 μm to 1 μm Ra. This was assumed to be due to an increase of the internal surface electrical conductivity with the decrease of roughness in waveguides channels.
Love, sex, drugs and women’s sub-optimal adherence to MDR-TB treatment in South Africa: Opportunities for enhanced health education

Objective: Rising incidence of acquired multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in South Africa suggests low knowledge and implementation of infection prevention and control strategies in household and congregate settings. This study contributes to the under-researched area of non-biomedical responses to sub-adherence to treatment. Design: The study utilises a quasi-ethnographic qualitative case study of 10 women aged 18 to 34 years to understand their treatment adherence behaviours through the lens of their sex, gender, age, cultural beliefs and socio-economic status. Setting: This study investigated reasons for young women’s sub-optimal adherence to treatment for acquired MDR-TB in eThekwini Metro, KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, which records high burdens of tuberculosis (TB), MDR-TB and HIV. Methods: Primary data were collected from 20 participants who were selected through criterion, purposive and snowball sampling. Data were gathered through focus group discussions with women being treated for transmitted MDR-TB and key informant interviews with their family members, health workers and KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Department of Health personnel. Results: Anti-MDR-TB treatment affects women’s sexuality, intimate relationships, family planning intentions and reproductive health. Some vulnerable women struggle to persevere on noxious and lengthy treatment regimes that affect their reproductive and psychological health. Women may skip doses or abandon treatment when high pill burdens and adverse events make intimate and sexual relations with male partners, on whom they may depend for their livelihoods, difficult. Conclusion: It is important to consider the effects of lengthy treatment on young people’s social and sexual lives and self-esteem when (re)designing MDR-TB counselling approaches. This paper advances an evidence-based treatment education and counselling strategy to contribute to improving MDR-TB treatment adherence and success.
Artificial intelligence as an agent to transform research paradigms in building science and technology

Due to the consideration of people’s well-being and environmental comfort, as well as the building performance, which are being demanded as important design requirements by modern society’s standards, nowadays, many researchers and practitioners are evaluating environmental sustainability and human factors of building design and management to comply with these sustainable building criteria. Better environmental controls and building system efficiency have been developed as a result of the growing demand for the advanced environmental comfort and sustainability in multiple engineering and science domains, and these related technological criteria are now emerging subjects of rapid growth for academic study. One important solution for this technology need is the development of smart buildings and intelligent environmental controls as a function of advanced computational technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning theories and the Internet of Things (IoT). Their ability to process vast amounts of data has the potential to significantly improve environmental efficiency as well as human physiological benefits and health through improved indoor environmental quality and higher building performance. Many attempts have been made in modern research domains to advance building environmental control methods by incorporating novel computational algorithms.
Improving practice: Giving voice to the experiences of sexual health education teachers

Objective: To explore teachers’ beliefs, experiences and barriers influencing teaching related to sexual health education. Methods, Design and Setting: Descriptive, cross-sectional study design. Rhode Island certified health teachers (n = 190) completed an online sexual health education survey. Teacher perceptions about the need and benefits of teaching this subject, coverage of essential topics, their experiences and the barriers they faced were gathered. Qualitative questions were analysed using open, axial and selective coding. Constant comparative approach was used to identify themes. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse quantitative items. Results: Findings indicated that 98% of teachers felt that sexual health education should be taught. Less than 50% agreed that coverage for topics identified in the national sexuality education standards for grades K-12 should begin at each grade level. Two common themes – prevention and access to accurate information – emerged as reasons for teaching the subject. Themes generated from teacher experiences revealed the use of a risk reduction approach to sexual health education. Healthy sexual development, gender identity, inclusive education and all components of a comprehensive approach were not identified. Perceived barriers to teaching included teacher comfort, time, parents’ likely responses and lack of training. Conclusion: Findings signal the need for ongoing professional development to broaden teachers’ understanding of comprehensive sex education and address the beliefs and barriers that hinder inclusive and comprehensive teaching approaches. Good quality training in which teachers reflect on their beliefs and develop proficiency in the use of effective pedagogies can strengthen educator capacity and self-efficacy.
Co-creating an empowering health education intervention for urological cancer patients

Objective: The effectiveness of health education for patients has often been suboptimal. The neglect of a focus on empowerment and the presence of implementation barriers have been put forward as possible explanations for this. This study aimed to gain insight into how to co-create and develop an empowerment theory-based health education intervention for urological cancer patients. Design: Bravo’s empowerment intervention model provided the theoretical foundations for the work undertaken with urological cancer patients in the Netherlands, using a participatory interactive learning and action approach. Method: Insights into needs regarding health education were obtained through semi-structured interviews with patients (n = 22) and health professionals (n = 17). Subsequently, eight co-creation sessions (n = 30) were organised to translate these needs into a health education intervention. Results: An intervention in the form of digital patient information was developed. The information offered provides a view of the different care steps based on clinical guidelines but personalised in different ways. By connecting patients’ empowerment needs to the information provided, and by taking health professionals’ perspectives into account, barriers to health education were made visible and addressed. Conclusion: Patient empowerment theory proved valuable in better aligning a participatory research process with the empowerment needs of urological cancer patients. The programme theory developed may offer a valuable template for the development of future health education interventions.
A Flexible and Extensible Framework for Multiple Answer Modes Question Answering

This paper presents a framework to answer the questions that require various kinds of inference mechanisms (such as Extraction, Entailment-Judgement, and Summarization). Most of the previous approaches adopt a rigid framework which handles only one inference mechanism. Only a few of them adopt several answer generation modules for providing different mechanisms; however, they either lack an aggregation mechanism to merge the answers from various modules, or are too complicated to be implemented with neural networks. To alleviate the problems mentioned above, we propose a divide-and-conquer framework, which consists of a set of various answer generation modules, a dispatch module, and an aggregation module. The answer generation modules are designed to provide different inference mechanisms, the dispatch module is used to select a few appropriate answer generation modules to generate answer candidates, and the aggregation module is employed to select the final answer. We test our framework on the 2020 Formosa Grand Challenge Contest dataset. Experiments show that the proposed framework outperforms the state-of-the-art Roberta-large model by about 11.4%.
Highly Permeable Skin Patch with Conductive Hierarchical Architectures Inspired by Amphibians and Octopi for Omnidirectionally Enhanced Wet Adhesion

Amphibian adhesion systems can enhance adhesion forces on wet or rough surfaces via hexagonal architectures, enabling omnidirectional peel resistance and drainage against wet and rough surfaces, often under flowing water. In addition, an octopus has versatile suction cups with convex cup structures located inside the suction chambers for strong adhesion in various dry and wet conditions. Highly air‐permeable, water‐drainable, and reusable skin patches with enhanced pulling adhesion and omnidirectional peel resistance, inspired by the microchannel network in the toe pads of tree frogs and convex cups in the suckers of octopi, are presented. By investigating various geometric parameters of microchannels on the adhesive surface, a simple model to maximize peeling strength via a time‐dependent zig‐zag profile and an arresting effect against crack propagation is first developed. Octopus‐like convex cups are employed on the top surfaces of the hexagonal structures to improve adhesion on skin in sweaty and even flowing water conditions. The amount of reduced graphene oxide nanoplatelets coated on the frog and octopus‐inspired hierarchical architectures is controlled to utilize the patches as flexible electrodes which can monitor electrocardiography signals without delamination from wet skin under motion.
Temporal dynamics of free‐living nitrogen fixation in the switchgrass rhizosphere

Free‐living nitrogen fixation (FLNF) represents an important terrestrial N source and is gaining interest for its potential to contribute plant available N to bioenergy cropping systems. Switchgrass, a cellulosic bioenergy crop, may be particularly reliant on FLNF when grown on low N systems, like marginal lands. However, the potential contributions of FLNF to switchgrass as well as the controls on this process are not well understood. In this study, we evaluated drivers of FLNF rates and N‐fixing microbial (diazotrophic) community composition in field‐grown switchgrass systems over two growing seasons with high temporal sampling. We found that climate variables are strong drivers of FLNF rates in switchgrass systems, compared to other environmental and biological factors including soil nutrients and diazotrophic community composition. Increased soil moisture availability generally promoted FLNF rates, but extreme rainfall events were detrimental. These climate‐related responses suggest a potential for loss of FLNF‐derived N contributions under projected climate shifts. We found a significant, but weak correlation between diazotrophic community composition and FLNF rates. We also observed a significant shift in the diazotrophic community composition between 2017 and 2018 and similarly measured a significant difference in FLNF rates between growing seasons. Lastly, we found that seasonal FLNF N contributions, based on measurement with high temporal resolution, has the potential to meet up to 80% of switchgrass N demands suggesting that FLNF measurements extrapolated from fewer time points or locations may underestimate these potential N contributions.
Comprehensive medical evaluation of pediatric bilateral sensorineural hearing loss

Children with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) should undergo a comprehensive medical evaluation to determine the underlying etiology and help guide treatment and counseling. In this article, we review the indications and rationale for medical evaluation of pediatric bilateral SNHL, including history and physical examination, imaging, genetic testing, specialist referrals, cytomegalovirus (CMV) testing, and other laboratory tests. Workup begins with a history and physical examination, which can provide clues to the etiology of SNHL, particularly with syndromic causes. If SNHL is diagnosed within the first 3 weeks of life, CMV testing should be performed to identify patients that may benefit from antiviral treatment. If SNHL is diagnosed after 3 weeks, testing can be done using dried blood spots samples, if testing capability is available. Genetic testing is oftentimes successful in identifying causes of hearing loss as a result of recent technological advances in testing and an ever‐increasing number of identified genes and genetic mutations. Therefore, where available, genetic testing should be performed, ideally with next generation sequencing techniques. Ophthalmological evaluation must be done on all children with SNHL. Imaging (high‐resolution computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging) should be performed to assess for anatomic causes of hearing loss and to determine candidacy for cochlear implantation when indicated. Laboratory testing is indicated for certain etiologies, but should not be ordered indiscriminately since the yield overall is low.
The cell phone vibration test: A telemedicine substitute for the tuning fork test

An at home‐test for differentiating between conductive and sensorineural hearing loss remains elusive. Our goal was to validate the novel cell‐phone vibration test (CPVT) against the Weber tuning fork test (WTFT) and to assess if the CPVT can be self‐administered by patients reliably.