Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chaoborus‐induced shifts in the morphology of Daphnia ambigua1

A simple filtration procedure allows the isolation of a factor from Chaoborus spp. which induces morphological change in Daphnia ambigua Scourfield. Neonate morphology is unaffected by exposure to the compound, but adults develop both a large helmet and pronounced spinescence along the carapace margin. The term chemomorphosis is proposed to describe cases in which morphological variation is induced by an exogenous chemical agent. Daphnia ambigua Scourfield is a common inhabitant of lakes and ponds throughout the United States and eastern Canada and south into Central and South America (Brooks 1957; Clark et al. 1980; Matsumura-Tundisi 19 84). Populations of this species typically show marked seasonal shifts in morphology (Brooks 1946). The anterior margin of the head may either be rounded or possess a spikelike helmet, and the extent of spinulation on the carapace margin is conspicuously variable. Brooks ( 19 5 7) noted that individuals with large helmets tended to possess prominent spines on their carapace, suggesting that variation in both characters might be controlled by the same factor. Experimental studies have shown that water temperature plays an important role in determining helmet size in neonates of
Silyl-assisted 1,2-cis-α-glucosylation for the synthesis of a triglucoside moiety in high-mannose-type oligosaccharides

A highly stereoselective 1,2-cis-α-glucosylation reaction was developed, in which the use of a strongly electron-donating tert-butyldimethylsilyl protecting group on the C-2 hydroxy group of a glycosyl donor enhanced the α-favoured transition state, and thus resulted in high yield and α-selectivity. Synthetic utility of this α-glucosylation was demonstrated by the generation of a triglucoside moiety in high-mannose-type oligosaccharides.
Efficacy of entomopathogenic nematodes (Rhabditida: Heterorhabditidae and Steinernematidae) against codling moth, Cydia pomonella (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in temperate regions

Abstract The biocontrol potential of South African isolates of Heterorhabditis zealandica, Steinernema citrae, S. khoisanae, S. yirgalemense, and Steinernema sp. , was evaluated against codling moth, Cydia pomonella. Codling moth was susceptible to all six nematode isolates at a concentration of 50 infective juveniles/insect (78–100% mortality). Low temperatures (10 h at 17°C; 14 h at 12°C) negatively affected larvicidal activity (≤3%) for all isolates. All tested isolates were most effective at higher levels of water activity (a w=1). The average a w50-values for all isolates tested was 0.94 (0.93–0.95), except S. khoisanae 0.97 (0.97–0.98). Regarding host-seeking ability, no positive attraction to host cues could be detected amongst isolates, except for H. zealandica. Three of the isolates, H. zealandica, S. khoisanae, and the undescribed Steinernema sp. , were selected for field-testing and proven to be effective (mortality >50%). Insect containment methods used during field experimentation was shown to influence larvacidal activity, as different levels of mortality were obtained using various containment methods (wooden planks vs. pear tree logs vs. mesh cages). Pear tree logs were impractical. Predictive equations were subsequently developed, enabling future trials to be conducted using either planks or cages, enabling the prediction of the expected level of control on tree logs. All tested isolates therefore showed a certain degree of biological control potential, however, none of the experiments showed clear efficacy-differences amongst isolates. The study highlighted the importance of environmental factors to ensure the successful application of these nematodes for the control of diapausing codling moth larvae in temperate regions.
The role of small RNAs in caste determination and differentiation in the bumble bee, Bombus terrestris

Investigating the molecular basis of queen-worker caste determination and differentiation in eusocial insects allows researchers to address fundamental aspects of evolution and development. In this regard, little is known of the role of gene regulation by microRNAs (miRNAs), non-coding RNA molecules that regulate development in animals and plants. In this thesis I therefore investigated the role of miRNAs in caste determination and differentiation in the bumble bee Bombus terrestris. In Chapter 2, I used deep sequencing (miRNA-seq) and bioinformatics to annotate miRNAs in B. terrestris and a second Bombus species, B. impatiens. I found that B. terrestris yielded 131 miRNAs and B. impatiens yielded 114 miRNAs and that, of these, 17 were new miRNAs that had not previously been sequenced in any species. In Chapter 3, using miRNA-seq and Northern blot analysis of female B. terrestris larvae, I isolated a miRNA (Bte-miR-6001) that was more highly expressed in queen- than in worker-destined larvae. This miRNA comprised an entire intron of the gene Very high density lipoprotein (Vhdl), which is homologous to the gene for the key storage protein vitellogenin. In Chapter 4, using miRNA-seq and Northern blot analysis of adult females, I isolated some miRNAs (e.g. Bte-miR-279b, Bte-miR-279c) that were more highly expressed in queens and reproductive workers and others (e.g. Bte-miR-184, Bte-miR-133) that were highly expressed in non-reproductive workers. Finally, in Chapter 5, using RNAi (RNA interference), I tested whether expression at the gene locus foraging (for) is associated with locomotory behaviour of B. terrestris foundress queens. Although RNAi did not induce gene knockdown, there was a positive association between for expression and queen reproduction. Overall, by isolating miRNAs associated with caste and reproduction in B. terrestris, the work reported in this thesis contributes substantially to our understanding of the molecular basis of caste in eusocial in insects.
Comparison of a Fast Analytical Ray Tracer and Channel-Sounder Measurements for V2V Communications

Ray optical path loss predictions for Ad-hoc networks (Device-to-Device) are still a complex and time consuming task. In past publications we introduced a new predictor concept that is based on visibility analysis, leading to a huge predictor speed up for the computation of reflected rays. In this paper we present our newest extensions of the simulation framework, introducing a methodology to apply the same visibility concept on side-building diffraction and non-specular reflection. Although the computation of scattered rays is not real time capable, our approach is fast enough to be applied on scenarios with a realistic number of communication pairs in the future. We evaluated our predictor by applying the model on an intersection scenario for the first time and comparing the result with a measurement campaign performed in 2009 in the Swedish city Lund. The resulting Power Delay Profile offers a good agreement between measurement and simulations, however we could observe differences in the power distribution based on non-specular reflection in the Non-Line-of-Sight region.
Architecture of Swarm Robotics System Software Infrastructure

Swarm Robotics is a modern subdomain of robotics that studies fully autonomous robots without any central control or common knowledge base. One of the most common problems is development process of such systems: at the moment there are no clear guides about designing and modeling of such systems, there are no standard of tools or software in the swarm robotics field. This work researches at swarm robotic systems from a software engineering point of view. The point of the research is how software engineering approach can solve the problem of strong coupling between hardware platforms and swarm systems through guides and instruments for fast and high-quality swarm robotic application development.
Effects of old age on fatigability and sensorimotor characteristics of a repetitive upper limb fatiguing task

Objectives 1) Determine the effects of old age on sensorimotor responses to a fatiguing work-like task. 2) Explore how old age influences the relationships between task fatigability, everyday perceptions of fatigability, and sensorimotor function. Methods Healthy young (N = 17, 9W) and older (N = 13, 10W) adults completed the Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale to assess everyday perceptions of physical (PF) and mental fatigability and performed a repetitive tapping task to fatigue. Before and after the task, grip strength was assessed using a hand-grip dynamometer and touch-pressure sensitivity was measured (shoulder, hand) using Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments. Results Older, but not young adults, had increased touch-pressure sensitivity at the shoulder after fatigue (interaction, p = 0.007). No changes in grip strength were observed (p>0.05). Task fatigability was not different between young and old adults (p>0.05). Having less task fatigability was associated with lower PF, higher grip strength, and higher touch-pressure sensitivity at the hand (ρ = 0.37–0.58, p<0.05), with the hand sensation association also observed in the old adult subgroup (ρ = 0.56, p = 0.046). Conclusions With old age, there were fatigue-related alterations to sensory but not physical function. While task fatigability was associated with perceptual, physical, and sensory features, sensory features appear to have a more important role with old age.
Temporal aspects of affective states, physiological responses, and perceived exertion in competitive cycling time trials

Athletes’ affective states can vary dramatically before, during, and after competition. Further, intense affect is associated with physiological responses that may amplify biological reactions manifested from the execution of physical tasks underlying performance. Fluctuations in perceptual cues (eg, perceived exertion) and physiological responses (eg, blood lactate, heart rate) can influence performance and vary dramatically in relation to competition. However, the pattern of these fluctuations and potential associations between perceptual cues and biological responses may also diverge during task execution with differential implications for performance. Data collected from highly trained athletes (N = 25; Mage = 25.4) during a competition (ie, maximum total distance) comprised of three 7‐minute cycling time trials and were analyzed with longitudinal multilevel modeling. Results showed that affective states were negatively associated with perceived exertion at the within‐person level and negatively associated with heart rate at the between‐person level within each trial. Blood lactate and heart rate were positively associated at the between‐person level, whereas heart rate was positively associated with perceived exertion at the within‐person level. The anticipation of more pleasurable affective states predicted less decline in affective states, but not physiological responses, during each trial. Anticipated affective states prior to each trial were also associated with affective states upon its completion. These findings suggest associations among perceptual cues and physiological responses may differ depending on the level of analysis (between‐ vs. within‐person level associations), and anticipated affective states prior to performance may influence affective states during and after task execution.
Re: Predictive and prognostic impact of preoperative complete blood count based systemic inflammatory markers in testicular cancer

We read with great interest the retrospective research of Arda et al. about the predictive and prognostic impact of some parameters based on complete blood count in patients with testicular cancer (1). The researchers suggested that some parameters such as neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR), mean platelet volume (MPV) and red cell distribution width (RDW) could provide predictive and prognostic information in these patients. We would like to emphasize the factors that may have affected incorrectly some of the parameters evaluated in this study. First, this study included retrospective data from two different centers of a very broad period of 10 years. Unlike prospective studies, it is not possible to reduce pre-analytical and analytical errors in retrospective studies. MPV is a parameter which measurement methodology has not been standardized, which is significantly affected by epidemiological factors such as age, gender, race and variations in the measurement method (2). The age difference between the patient and the control group was a factor that may have affected the results in this study. It has been shown that the variability of the time elapsed from the venipuncture to the measurement time cause to deviations of 2-50% in the MPV results (3, 4). In addition, different technologies used for complete blood count also lead to deviations in results (4-6). MPV measurement times and devices used for MPV measurement were unknown in this study. All these factors make the MPV data of the study unreliable. The preoperative MPV cut-off value specified in Table 3 was probably incorrectly written, and actually, the fact that MPV measurement still could not been standardized today, it makes impossible to determine a cut-off value for MPV. In the study, only lymphocyte and neutrophil percentages were used in comparisons and absolute lymphocyte and absolute neutrophil numbers were not specified. Since the white blood cell values of the cases are unknown and absolute lymphocyte and neutrophil numbers are not given, it remains to be not understood whether the statistical difference in the percentage of lymphocytes and neutrophils is a real difference between the patient and control groups. Moreover, the age difference between the patient and control groups was also statistically significant, and this was a condition that might have affected the results, as the absolute lymphocyte counts decrease with increasing age (7, 8). It is stated in the discussion section that especially NLR and RDW can be used as predictive and prognostic factor with the highest sensitivity and specificity in patients with testicular cancer. However, in Table 4, where NLR 1.78 was used as the cut-off value, the fact that RDW values were not different between the groups with high and low NLR was a situation that did not support this statement. Re: Predictive and prognostic impact of preoperative complete blood count based systemic inflammatory markers in testicular cancer _______________________________________________
Molecular Characterization of Jordanian Isolates of Cucurbit yellow stunting disorder virus

Cucurbit yellow stunting disorder virus (CYSDV) causes high yield losses to cucurbits in many parts of the world. In 1995, it was detected for the first time in Jordan but Jordanian isolates have never been characterized at the molecular level. In 2005 and 2006, leaf samples (2344) from symptomatic plants were collected from Jordan Valley, Ma'daba, Al-Mafraq, Al-Karak, Jarash, Al-Tafila, Al-Balqa', Al-Zarqa', Amman and Irbid. Detection by tissue blot immunoassay (TBIA) showed that the infection rate of CYSDV in collected samples was 58.5%. The coat protein (CP) gene of CYSDV was amplified from 36 selected samples by IC-RT-PCR. The amplicons (753 bp) from 16 isolates, representing all surveyed regions, were cloned and used for the single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis. Seven different SSCP patterns (Pl-P7) were observed for the analysed Jordanian isolates. For further characterization, the CP genes from isolates with different SSCP patterns were sequenced, and the sequences were deposited in the GenBank under the accession numbers DQ903105-DQ903111. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis revealed that all CYSDV isolates investigated in this study were most closely related to isolates previously reported to belong to the Western group of CYSDV.
Does cannabis complement or substitute alcohol consumption? A systematic review of human and animal studies

Background: Whether alcohol and cannabis complement or substitute each other has been studied for over two decades. In the changing cannabis policy landscape, debates are moving rapidly and spill-over effects on other substances are of interest. Aims: update and extend a previous systematic review, by: (a) identifying new human behavioural studies reporting on substitution and/or complementarity of alcohol and cannabis, and (b) additionally including animal studies. Methods: We replicated the search strategy of an earlier systematic review, supplemented with a new search for animal studies. Search results were crossed checked against the earlier review and reference lists were hand searched. Findings were synthesised using a narrative synthesis. Results: Sixty-five articles were included (64 in humans, one in animals). We synthesised findings into categories: patterns of use, substitution practices, economic relationship, substance use disorders, policy evaluation, others and animal studies. Overall, 30 studies found evidence for substitution, 17 for complementarity, 14 did not find evidence for either, and four found evidence for both. Conclusions: Overall, the evidence regarding complementarity and substitution of cannabis and alcohol is mixed. We identified stronger support for substitution than complementarity, though evidence indicates different effects in different populations and to some extent across different study designs. The quality of studies varied and few were designed specifically to address this question. Dedicated high-quality research is warranted.
Physical activity and advanced cancer: evidence of exercise‐sensitive genes regulating prostate cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis

Physical activity is known to protect against cancer. The resistance exercise method whole‐body electromyostimulation (WB‐EMS) has a significant anti‐cancer effect. WB‐EMS‐conditioned serum from advanced prostate cancer patients decreased human prostate carcinoma cell growth and viability in vitro. Multiplex analysis revealed that genes associated with human prostate cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis are sensitive for exercise. Feasible exercise should be part of multimodal anti‐cancer therapies, also for physically weakened patients.
Antenna Mutual Coupling Effects in Highly Integrated Transmitter Arrays

A scattering parameter re-normalization procedure is proposed to obtain a new set of parameter that directly quantifies the actual coupling and reflection coefficients of power waves in highly integrated array antenna systems employing unequal port terminations. We examine both the intra-element coupling between the radiator and the active circuitry along with the inter-element coupling between the elements of an antenna array and discuss the important differences from the more customary 50-Ohm S-parameters.
Entropy and diversity

Entropies such as the Shannon–Wiener and Gini–Simpson indices are not themselves diversities. Conversion of these to effective number of species is the key to a unified and intuitive interpretation of diversity. Effective numbers of species derived from standard diversity indices share a common set of intuitive mathematical properties and behave as one would expect of a diversity, while raw indices do not. Contrary to Keylock, the lack of concavity of effective numbers of species is irrelevant as long as they are used as transformations of concave alpha, beta, and gamma entropies. The practical importance of this transformation is demonstrated by applying it to a popular community similarity measure based on raw diversity indices or entropies. The standard similarity measure based on untransformed indices is shown to give misleading results, but transforming the indices or entropies to effective numbers of species produces a stable, easily interpreted, sensitive general similarity measure. General overlap measures derived from this transformed similarity measure yield the Jaccard index, Sorensen index, Horn index of overlap, and the Morisita–Horn index as special cases.
Towards 3-D Vector Intensity Focusing of Near and Far Fields

A new approach to the problem of focusing the intensity of vector fields into a target point (subject to sidelobe constraints elsewhere) is proposed. While allowing the adoption of completely arbitrary array antennas as radiating systems, the method exploits a nested optimization procedure properly acting on both the field polarization on the target point and the array excitations. By so doing, it is able to improve the performances of existing procedures (that usually handle scalar fields) and to deal with both the near-field (NF) and the far-field (FF) focusing problems in complex inhomogeneous 3-D media.
Phylogenetic relationships of the spider family Psechridae inferred from molecular data, with comments on the Lycosoidea (Arachnida : Araneae)

Abstract. We investigated the relative phylogenetic position of the spider genera Psechrus Thorell, 1878 and Fecenia Simon, 1887 comprising the family Psechridae Simon, 1890 within the order Araneae (plus 50 outgroup taxa) using molecular data of the nuclear 28S rRNA gene and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. We further revised the placement of genera formerly hypothesised in Psechridae and tested morphological species and species-group hypotheses recently proposed for Psechrus and Fecenia. Our results showed both genera as monophyletic and included within Lycosoidea but indicated no support for a monophyletic family Psechridae. Support for relationships to particular genera of other families (Lycosidae, Pisauridae) was found to be equally low. Previous removal of the genera Stiphidion Simon, 1902, Poaka Forster & Wilton, 1973, Tengella Dahl, 1901 (Metafecenia F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1902) and Themacrys Simon, 1906 from Psechridae is confirmed by recovering most of them outside Lycosoidea. For Tengella (part of Lycosoidea) a close relation to Psechridae is not supported. In the species-rich genus Psechrus, morphologically predefined species groups were generally recovered as monophyletic. COI information was applied to test the morphological species hypotheses for 28 Psechridae species, most of them represented by more than one specimen. Our analyses corroborated all proposed species and indicated COI as reliable for barcoding both Psechrus and Fecenia. COI enabled assignment of a juvenile specimen to Fecenia protensa, establishing the first species record for Brunei.
Yagi-Uda-Inspired Pattern Reconfigurable MIMO Antenna with Suppressed Harmonics and Minimum Parasitic Presence for WLAN Applications

In this paper, a dual port multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna with pattern diversity, integrated with a low pass filter to eliminate higher order harmonics is presented. The operating principle of the prototype is similar to that of Yagi-Uda antennas where multiple parasitic elements loaded with single or multiple switches are utilized to achieve the desired radiation characteristics. In the present design, however, only a single parasitic element loaded with just one switch is used to obtain six different H-plane radiation patterns within 2.4GHz WLAN band (2.4GHz–2.48GHz). Since the proposed antenna has less parasitic involvement, spurious ohmic losses are also minimized. The low pass filter, integrated with the microstrip feedline of the radiator, can suppress the higher order harmonics (atleast upto 11GHz) as well as simplifies the back-end circuitry of the whole MIMO antenna system itself. The prototype is fabricated on FR4 glass epoxy substrate with 1.6mm thickness.