Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of time and diet change on the bacterial community structure throughout the gastrointestinal tract and in faeces of the northern brown bandicoot, Isoodon macrourus

Abstract. A significant gap, in not only peramelid nutritional physiology but marsupial nutrition as a whole, is the lack of information relating to microorganisms of the gastrointestinal tract. This research is a preliminary investigation that will provide a baseline for comparisons among peramelids. The high degree of 16S rRNA gene clones identified in this research that are closely related to culturable bacteria suggests that additional research will enable a more complete description of the gastrointestinal bacteria of I. macrourus. Most identifiable clones belonged to Clostridium and Ruminococcus. This research has confirmed that the hindgut of I. macrourus, the caecum, proximal colon and distal colon, are the main sites for microbial activity.
Preference and performance of Diachasmimorpha kraussii (Fullaway) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) on five commercial fruit species

Diachasmimorpha kraussii is a polyphagous endoparasitoid of dacine fruit flies. The fruit fly hosts of D. krausii, in turn, attack a wide range of fruits and vegetables. The role that fruits play in host selection behaviour of D. kraussii has not been previously investigated. This study examines fruit preference of D. kraussii through a laboratory choice‐test trial and field fruit sampling. In the laboratory trial, oviposition preference and offspring performance measures (sex ratio, developmental time, body length, hind tibial length) of D. kraussii were investigated with respect to five fruit species [Psidium guajava L. (guava), Prunis persica L. (peach), Malus domestica Borkh. (apple), Pyrus communis L. (pear) and Citrus sinensis L. (orange)], and two fruit fly species (Bactrocera jarvisi and B. tryoni). Diachasmimorpha kraussii responded to infested fruit of all fruit types in both choice and no‐choice tests, but showed stronger preference for guava and peach in the choice tests irrespective of the species of fly larvae within the fruit. The wasp did not respond to uninfested fruit. The offspring performance measures differed in a non‐consistent fashion between the fruit types, but generally wasp offspring performed better in guava, peach and orange. The offspring sex ratio, except for one fruit/fly combination (B. jarvisi in apple), was always female biased. The combined results suggest that of the five fruits tested, guava and peach are the best fruit substrates for D. krausii. Field sampling indicated a non‐random use of available, fruit fly infested fruit by D. kraussii. Fruit fly maggots within two fruit species, Plachonia careya and Terminalia cattappa, had disproportionately higher levels of D. krausii parasitism than would be expected based on the proportion of different infested fruit species sampled, or levels of fruit fly infestation within those fruit.
Floristic composition and plant diversity in distribution areas of native species congeneric with Betula halophila in Xinjiang, northwest China

Betula halophila, a wild plant with extremely small populations, is endemic to Xinjiang, northwest China. Its wild populations have declined severely in the field. Understanding the patterns of floristic composition where congeneric species of B. halophila are distributed and their determinants is a necessary step to restore the wild populations. Based on literature records, specimen information, shared public data and field survey data, the patterns of floristic composition, diversity and environmental conditions of seed flora within the distribution areas of five native species (i.e. B. tianschanica, B. microphylla, B. pendula, B. rotundifolia and B. humilis), congeneric with B. halophila, were examined. The results are as follows. (1) There were 3013 species, 693 genera and 108 families of seed plants in the distribution area of these congeneric species of B. halophila, which accounted for 86.16%, 94.54% and 93.91% of the total seed plants in Xinjiang, respectively. (2) The family composition of seed flora in the distribution area of these congeneric species of B. halophila was mainly cosmopolitan; the genus composition of seed flora was dominated by temperate, mainly of northern temperate and Mediterranean components. (3) There are no significant differences existing in plant richness amongst the areas where each of the five congeneric species (B. tianschanica, B. microphylla, B. pendula, B. rotundifolia and B. humilis) are distributed. (4) The influNature Conservation 42: 1–17 (2020) doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.42. 54735 http://natureconservation.pensoft. net Copyright Jihong Huang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. RESEARCH ARTICLE Launched to accelerate biodiversity conservation A peer-reviewed open-access journal
Interrogation of the Spatial Metabolome of Ginkgo biloba with high-resolution MALDI and LDI Mass Spectrometry Imaging

Ginkgo biloba is the only extant species in the division Ginkgophyte, and so is called a “living fossil”. Leaves of the Ginkgo biloba are a rich resource for bioactive products for treatment of diseases associated with peripheral circulation, memory dysfunction, etc. Numerous modern techniques have been used to study Ginkgo biloba, trying to profile metabolites to help understand biosynthesis pathways from the ginkgo plant; ex. , gas chromatography (GC), liquid chromatography (LC), capillary electrophoresis (CE), GC/LC coupled mass spectrometry (MS), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) [1]. However, little is known about the distribution of various types of metabolites due to tissue homogenization. There are at least ten basic tissue types and more than 15 cell types [2] that are heterogeneously distributed in the plant. Current plant imaging techniques, such as light or electron microscopy, have been used to study the distribution of chemical
The Elevation does not strongly influence interspecific variation in body size of small Tropical endotherms

Introduction: Body size is an essential trait for endotherms to face the physiological requirements of cold, so there is a tendency to large body size at high altitudes and latitudes, known as Bergmann’s rule. However, the validity of this ecomorphological rule to small-bodied endotherms across altitudinal gradients is poorly known. Objective: To understand the effects of environmental variation on body size, we assessed whether interspecific variation in body size of small tropical endotherms follows Bergmann’s rule along tropical altitudinal gradients. Methods: We compiled data on elevational ranges and body masses for 133 species of hummingbirds of Colombia. We then assessed the association between body mass and mid-point of the altitudinal distribution using phylogenetic generalized least squares (PGLS) analyses under different evolutionary models. Results: We found a decelerating rate of evolution for body size since the Early Burst model of evolution provided a better fit to body mass data. For elevational range, we found a slow and constant rate since Pagel’s lambda model provided a better fit to the mid-point of the altitudinal distribution data. Besides, phylogenetic regression analysis indicated that body mass and the altitudinal range of hummingbirds are associated through the phylogeny, with a positive but slight association (R2= 0.036). Conclusions: We found that body mass and altitude of hummingbirds are positively related, which is in agreement with expectations under Bergmann’s rule. However, this association was weaker than expected for small and non-passerine birds like hummingbirds. Thus, our results suggest that environmental changes across altitudinal gradients do not strongly influence body mass in small tropical endotherms as hummingbirds.
Health Promotion Action Plan Can Improve the Level of Physical Activity in Secondary School Teachers

The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the relationships between health promoting activities and physical activity of secondary school teachers. Forty secondary school teachers took part in the study by completing a questionnaire on health promotion (HPQ) and physical activity (IPAQ). A multiple regression analysis was performed to examine whether health promotion activities predict the level of physical activity of teachers. The results showed that a comprehensively designed, properly implemented, and evaluated health promotion action plan sufficiently motivates employees to ensure their good psycho-physical well-being through regular physical activity. The implementation of a health promotion plan can be a long-term investment in the health of employees.
Genome Analysis of Selected Foodborne Pathogens for Identification of Drug Targets

As the bacterial pathogens are showing growing resistance against existing antibiotics, there is an urgent requirement of pharmaceutical companies for designing new and effective drugs against these pathogens causing common foodborne diseases. We have performed in-silico genomic analysis of two virulent foodborne pathogens Listeria monocytogenes and Bacillus cereus for identification of potential drug targets for novel drug discovery. Our prediction found small number of genes of each pathogen to be targeted for drug designing. The gene products are found to be involved in various important regulatory proteins, membrane proteins and hypothetical proteins of unknown function of bacterial species. Further using KEGG pathway prediction various enzyme proteins were found which have active role in biosynthetic and metabolic pathways. The primary goal of this study was to provide a valuable resource of drug targets to the scientific community. The current data is included in “Drug Targets Protein Database” developed by our group.
Rapid detection of walnut and pumpkin oil adulteration using Raman spectroscopy and partial least square methodology

The purpose of this study is to develop a statistical method, based on Raman spectroscopy results, to quickly identify the adulteration of pumpkin and walnut oils. For this purpose, pure pumpkin and walnut oils from Cluj County, Romania were studied with Raman techniques. They were adulterated with sunflower oil at 14 levels of concentration, ranging from 2.5 to 50%. The areas under the significant peaks were quantified and compared. A statistical method using the partial least square methodology was developed and used as a prediction tool in order to establish the adulteration percentage for pumpkin and walnut oils. 4 components were used to model the equation, the peak areas from ~1264, ~1300, ~1441 and respectively ~1659 cm-1. The final model equations take into account only the peak areas that had a high impact on the prediction values, statistically proven using the p-value. The level of prediction obtained with the final model equation was ≥ 95%.
Biochemical and Functional Characteristics of Elderly Female Residents in the Rural and Urban Sectors of Yumbe, Chile

This study aimed to evaluate and compare functional capacity and biochemical factors among elderly women living in the urban and rural sectors of Yumbe, Chile. The sample consisted of 2 groups of elderly women from the province of Ñuble, from the eighth region of Chile, divided into urban elderly (UE) (n = 20) with a mean age of 67.57 ± 3.4 years, and rural elderly (RE) (n = 20), with a mean age of 71.25 ± 2.2 years. The following biochemical variables were analyzed: glycemic index a, and triglycerides levels and cholesterol levels. The test battery used to assess functional capacity was the Senior Fitness Test. It was found that the UE group presented better indices than the RE group for all variables except glycemia, for which the RE group presented better indices. In the functional capacity, in particular, the upper and lower body strength is significantly lower in the RE. The functional capacity and the biochemical parameters studied have shown that the elderly women of different social conditions in the Yumbe-Chile region do not present a good degree of functionality, and also show high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, which might be the cause of the increased prevalence of health problems in this population.
Determinants of Termite Species Taxonomic, Phylogenetic, and Functional Diversity in the Amazonian Forest

The distribution of species in space is determined by the species dispersal capacity, adaptation to environmental conditions, and response to predators and competitors. To determine the importance of dispersal limitation, environmental filtering, and species interactions on the distribution of species in the Brazilian Amazonian forest, I sampled termites in a large area of Brazil. I investigated patterns in species occurrence that could indicate competition and predation structuring termite communities, and analyzed the association of termite abundance and species richness with the density of ant predators. The spatial distribution of termites, and their association with climatic and edaphic conditions were also used to infer about the effects of dispersal limitation and environmental filtering. A total of 271 termite species and 4,389 colonies was found in the 148 transects sampled. Predator density was the strongest predictor of termite abundance and species richness at small spatial scales, but the turnover in termite species composition was mostly associated with measures of soil texture. At broad spatial scales, soil chemistry, climate, and isolation by distance were associated with termite abundance, species richness, and species composition. These results suggest that both species interactions, their association with the environment, and their dispersal capacity determine their distribution. Nevertheless, dispersal limitation seem to be stronger over large areas, whereas environmental filtering can act both at small and large geographic scales.
Bayesian Dynamical Modeling of Fixational Eye Movements

Humans constantly move their eyes, even during visual fixations, where miniature (or fixational) eye movements are produced involuntarily. Fixational eye movements are composed of slow components (physiological drift and tremor) and fast microsaccades. The complex dynamics of physiological drift can be modeled qualitatively as a statistically self-avoiding random walk (SAW model, see Engbert et al., 2011). In this study, we implement a data assimilation approach for the SAW model to explain quantitative differences in experimental data obtained from high-resolution, video-based eye tracking. We present a likelihood function for the SAW model which allows us apply Bayesian parameter estimation at the level of individual human participants. Based on the model fits we find a relationship between the activation predicted by the SAW model and the occurrence of microsaccades. The latent model activation relative to microsaccade onsets and offsets using experimental data reveals evidence for a triggering mechanism for microsaccades. These findings suggest that the SAW model is capable of capturing individual differences and can serve as a tool for exploring the relationship between physiological drift and microsaccades as the two most important components of fixational eye movements. Our results contribute to the understanding of individual variability in microsaccade behaviors and the role of fixational eye movements in visual information processing.
Use of Textual Elements to Improve Reliability Prediction for Aircraft Component Behavior

Unplanned maintenance is a costly factor in aircraft operations. Predictive maintenance models aim to provide greater insight into future component and system behaviour. In the state of the art, a variety of statistical models and machine learning techniques, amongst others, are used to estimate component remaining useful life. These approaches commonly leverage technical information, such as sensor data. However, the use of data and techniques from other domains is not prevalent. One such example is the application of natural language processing to incorporate textual information, e.g. derived from pilot complaint data. In other words, does the presence and specific content of pilot complaints have potential to improve the predictability of component removals? In this research, data integration and processing from multiple disciplines are combined to address this question. Relevant words from pilot complaints are identified using a term frequency–inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) numerical analysis, after which the most relevant words are used as covariates in a proportional hazards model. Left truncation and right censoring is applied to limit the time-invariant nature of these covariates. The results in the form of hazard ratios indicate a hazard increase of several orders of magnitude with respect to baseline hazard, pointing towards potential value of including these words as predictive parameters.
The Katabatic Winds of Adélie Land and King George V Land

The principle features of the katabatic wind in the neighbourhood of Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica, are described with particular emphasis on the sudden onsets and cessations of the wind. The unusual features are explained on the hypothesis that a quasistationary pressure jump line, forming a sharp boundary between the strong katabatic winds of the ice slope and the comparitively calm conditions over the sea, occurs near the coast. Movement of this pressure jump line across the causes a sudden change in wind conditions there. Quantitative predictions on this hypothesis are of the correct magnitude. DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1957. tb01874.x
The enigma of the snowshoe hare population cycle: explaining the low phase through stress and maternal programming

The snowshoe hare cycle has been fundamental to the development of ecological theory for more than half a century. Though these cycles have been intensively studied for over 70 years it is still unknown what mechanism causes young born in the decline to have much lower fitness than those born in the increase and peak phase and why the hare population remains low for 2-5 years after the decline phase even though the predator populations have collapsed and there is ample vegetation. My doctoral studies investigated how the risk of predation affected maternal stress and whether this would result directly in a decline in reproduction and indirectly, through maternal effects, in a decline in offspring physiology and fitness. To study the impact of predator-induced maternal stress I used a natural monitoring study and an experimental manipulation. In the former, I examined hares throughout the cycle and found that their stress levels were directly related to predator pressure, being greatest during the decline. During the low phase stress levels remained elevated at levels similar to those found at the peak when reproduction starts to decline. Lastly, I found that the variation in the length of the low phase (2-5 years) was related to the rate of loss of hares during the decline phase. In the experimental manipulation, pregnant hares were exposed to a simulated predator for 1 min. every other day for the last third of gestation. I found that an increase in predator-induced maternal stress resulted in a decline in litter size, birth weight, and birth size. Furthermore, these offspring had a compromised stress-axis resulting in higher baseline stress levels and an enhanced stress response. This occurred both at weaning and when the offspring were adult size.
Correlation between Fusarium head blight severity and DON content in triticale as revealed by phenotypic and molecular data

Fusarium head blight (FHB) in triticale (× Triticosecale Wittmack) results in yield losses and mycotoxin contamination, for example, by deoxynivalenol (DON). This study aimed to analyse the correlation between FHB severity and DON content in a DH population of 146 entries across environments. Additionally, Fusarium damaged kernel (FDK) rating, heading stage and plant height were recorded. Highly significant (P < 0.001) genotypic variances were found throughout, but also significant (P < 0.001) genotype–environment interaction variances occurred. Correlation between FHB severity and heading stage or plant height was low (r = 0.144 and r = −0.153, P < 0.10). A prediction of DON content from FHB severity or FDK rating is not possible caused by low correlations (r = 0.315 and 0.572, respectively, P < 0.001). A common quantitative trait locus (QTL) for all FHB-related traits was found on wheat chromosome 2A being of minor importance for FHB severity, but of high importance for DON content and FDK rating. Another QTL on rye chromosome 5R was more important for FHB severity. In conclusion, DON content has to be measured in triticale after selection for FHB severity to gain for healthy and mycotoxin-reduced feed.
The Influence of Brand Awareness, Brand Image, and Brand Trust on Brand Loyalty

The aim of this research is to examine the positive influence of brand awareness, brand image, and brand trust on brand loyalty. The coffee shop business in big cities in Indonesia is growing rapidly. Each coffee shop strives to show its uniqueness. This competition has resulted in them competing to increase competitiveness by using logos, symbols, unique names – or what is usually called a brand to become a differentiator among the competitors. This study was done in a quantitative manner. The data was collected by using a questionnaire distributed using a survey method. Using a snowball sampling, a total of 436 samples were used and analyzed statistically using the partial least square – structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach using SmartPls 3.0 program. The results show that brand awareness and brand trust had a positive effect on brand loyalty. However, the brand image did not have a positive effect on brand loyalty. This study is expected to provide input to the coffee shop management on how to increase their brand loyalty which can be done by increasing their brand awareness, brand image, and brand trust.
Short Peptides in Minimalistic Biocatalyst Design

Abstract We review recent developments in the use of short peptides in the design of minimalistic biocatalysts focusing on ester hydrolysis. A number of designed peptide nanostructures are shown to have (modest) catalytic activity. Five features are discussed and illustrated by literature examples, including primary peptide sequence, nanosurfaces/scaffolds, binding pockets, multivalency and the presence of metal ions. Some of these are derived from natural enzymes, but others, such as multivalency of active sites on designed nanofibers, may give rise to new features not found in natural enzymes. Remarkably, it is shown that each of these design features give rise to similar rate enhancements in ester hydrolysis. Overall, there has been significant progress in the development of fundamental understanding of the factors that influence binding and activity in recent years, holding promise for increasingly rational design of peptide based biocatalysts.