Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non‐random patterns of functional redundancy revealed in ground beetle communities facing an extreme flood event

Summary Theory predicts that species performing similar roles for ecological processes or functions can compensate for the loss of others and that this functional redundancy may promote resilience. However, there is no clear evidence for this mechanism, because functional redundancy has been observed to be low in many ecosystems. Using a severe flood event, this study tests whether functional redundancy exists in floodplain ground beetle communities, how it is controlled and how it connects to post-flood resilience. Ground beetles were sampled in floodplain grassland of the Elbe River, Germany. Functional redundancy was estimated as the proportion of species in a community having neutral effects on functional diversity. Null models were used to determine whether functional redundancy is higher or lower than expected and mixed effects modelling was applied to estimate the relationships between functional redundancy, flood disturbance and sampling season. It was found that highly redundant ground beetle communities experienced fewer losses in functional diversity caused by an extreme flood than less redundant communities. Functional redundancy was lowest immediately after the flood, but quickly increased with time since flooding. It was significantly higher in spring than in autumn seasons and significantly higher in habitats exposed to frequent flooding. Null models confirmed that these patterns were to a high degree non-random. The results indicate that functional redundancy plays an important role for stabilizing ground beetles under regular, predictable flooding. However, given sizeable differences in functional diversity before and after the extreme flood, this effect may be lower than expected during extreme events. Other regulating forces, such as stochastic colonization processes and habitat templets, play more important roles directly after extreme disturbances. I therefore assume that a temporal hierarchy of mechanisms, including FR, controls the functional diversity of ground beetles in riparian habitats.
Calculation of maximum temperatures in automatic welding and surfacing

Correction of the well-known Rykalin equation for calculating maximum temperatures in the surfacing zone is described. It is proposed to carry out calculations taking into account the factors associated with melting of the parent metal: the latent heat of melting, the temperature to which the parent metal is heated during melting, displacement of molten metal into the tail part of the weld pool, efficient selection of the thermophysical quantities, etc.
Atrial Natriuretic Peptide Induces Apoptosis in Neonatal Rat Cardiac Myocytes*

Early heart failure is characterized by elevated plasma atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) levels, but little is known about the direct effects of ANP on cardiac myocytes. In neonatal rat cardiac myocytes, ANP induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent and cell type-specific manner. Maximum effects occurred at 1 μm ANP, with a 4–5-fold increase in apoptotic cells, reaching a maximum apoptotic index of 19%. In contrast, the maximum apoptotic index of ANP-treated non-myocytes was 1.1 ± 0.2%, equivalent to control cultures. ANP treatment also sharply reduced levels of Mcl-1 mRNA, a Bcl-2 homologue, coincident with the increase in the incidence of apoptosis. ANP induction of apoptosis was receptor-dependent and mediated by cyclic GMP: the effect was mimicked by 8-bromo-cGMP, a membrane-permeable analog, and by sodium nitroprusside, an activator of soluble guanylyl cyclase, and was potentiated by a cGMP-specific phosphodiesterase inhibitor, zaprinast. Interestingly, norepinephrine, a myocyte growth factor, inhibited ANP-induced apoptosis via activation of the β-adrenergic receptor and elevation of cyclic AMP. These results show that ANP is a specific effector of cardiac myocyte apoptosis in culture via receptor-mediated elevation of cGMP. Furthermore, at least in this model, ANP and norepinephrine may have opposing roles in the modulation of cardiac myocyte growth and survival.
Genetic differentiation among populations of an oceanic island: The case of Metrosideros boninensis, an endangered endemic tree species in the Bonin Islands

Conservation of endemic species on oceanic islands is an essential issue for biodiversity conservation. Metrosideros boninensis (Myrtaceae) is an endangered tree species endemic to the Bonin Islands of the western North Pacific Ocean. This species is considered to be extremely rare with less than 400 adult individuals, a number that has fluctuated between the 1880s and 1980s through human influence. We analyzed the genetic diversity and genetic structure of this species using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers and microsatellite markers. Genetic diversity of M. boninensis was extremely low compared to related taxa and similar endemic species from small islands. This low genetic diversity might be attributed to a stepwise colonization process with repeated founder bottlenecks in the dispersal pathway to the Bonin Islands. Populations of M. boninensis showed significant genetic differentiation and isolation by distance over a small geographical scale, despite the fact that this species should have extensive gene dispersal ability. This genetic differentiation might be caused by limited gene flow via pollen and seed among populations and genetic drift amid a small number of remnant individuals. Taken together, these findings suggest that the genetic diversity and connectivity of tree populations on islands are more vulnerable to habitat fragmentation than previously thought. We offer some recommendations for management to ameliorate habitat fragmentation and biological invasion.
Esfingofilia e sistema de reprodução de Bauhinia curvula Benth. (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae) em cerrado no Centro-Oeste brasileiro

The reproductive biology of Bauhinia curvula was studied in a " cerrado" fragment in Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil. Bauhinia curvula is a shrub that blooms during six to seven months (July to November/December) and has a subterranean stem whith regeneration function. The flowers are white, hermaphrodite, zigomorphic, with nocturnal anthesis, they exhale unpleasant odor, and last about 11 hours. The stigma is wide and located above and/or in front of the anthers that presents pollen with 98.5% of viability. Nectar is produced in the hipanthium, with 26 µL medium volume and solute concentration around of 15%. Although flowers of B. curvula have several characteristics related to both chiropterophilous and sphingophilous syndromes, the small nectar volume and the narrow nectariferous chamber entrance seems to discourage bats visits. Bauhinia curvula is self-incompatible and depends on pollinators, therefore it did not bear fruit after spontaneous self-pollination. The studied population presented reduced reproductive effectiveness (0.07), probably due to pollen limitation. Agrius cingulatus (Sphingidae) was the only flower visitor which presents visiting behaviour, body size and proboscis length appropriated to effective pollination. This fact aid in a medium to long way the autogamic genotipe selection.
Características microbiológicas do suco de laranja in natura

Fresh orange juices are very popular as a source of vitamin C, minerals and carbohydrates. However, for the same reasons, they are a suitable environment for the microorganism growth, including pathogens that are able to survive in such conditions, as E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes. To assure the quality of these products, microbiological safety monitoring is needed, through measuring lactic acid bacteria (LAB), moulds and yeasts, total and fecal coliforms and total plate counts. These parameters were monitored for 50 fresh juice samples commercialized in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The samples were acquired and maintained under refrigerated conditions. Tests were also made for the detection of E. coli and Salmonella sp. The LAB and total plate counts were, for the most of the samples, higher than the expected. The fecal coliforms levels of 15% of the samples were above those permitted by law. The susceptibility patterns for fecal coliforms isolates were as the expected to environmental or fecal samples that were not under selective pressure.
Magnetic particle hyperthermia modelling-different core sizes and magnetic interactions

We present experimental intrinsic loss power (ILP) values, measured at an excitation frequency of 1 MHz and at relatively low field amplitudes of 3.4 to 9.9 kA/m, as a function of the mean core diameter, for selected magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) samples synthesized in the recent EU-funded NanoMag project. The mean core sizes ranged from ca. 8 nm to 31 nm. Transmission electron microscopy indicated that those with smaller core sizes (less than ca. 22 nm) were single-core MNPs, while those with larger core sizes (ca. 29 nm to 31 nm) were multi-core MNPs. The ILP data showed a peak at ca. 20 nm. We show here that this behaviour correlates well with the predicted ILP values obtained using either a non-interacting Debye model, or via dynamic Monte-Carlo simulations, the latter including core-core magnetic interactions for the multi-core particles. We show that this alignment of the models is a consequence of the low field amplitudes used.
Experimental assessment of the effect of temperature and salinity on elemental composition of otoliths using laser ablation ICPMS

Laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) is a new technique that can be used for the multielemental analysis of otoliths at specific loci. This method was used to sample the otoliths of Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus), reared under different constant regimes of temperature and salinity, to determine whether the elemental composition of otoliths changes ontogenetically. Each otolith was sampled at a number of loci, beginning at the center and then every 500 μm along the longest axis to near the edge; of 23 isotopes measured simultaneously at each locus, 18 were standardized to 48Ca and included in analyses. The elemental composition at otolith centers and near their edges differed significantly amongst treatments, with the effect of temperature a stronger influence. Elemental composition also varied across otoliths from within treatments, indicating endogenous effects. Ontogenetic patterns differed amongst treatments, indicating that endogenous control was mediate.
Genetic heterogeneity among various Indigenous and other chicken populations with microsatellite markers

A study was conducted to assess genetic heterogeneity among 14 chicken populations using 16 microsatellite markers. All the microsatellite loci except MCW048 were polymorphic. The number of alleles varied from 2 to 6. The polymorphic information content of the microsatellite markers varied from 0.21 to 0.87. The average observed number of alleles across the microsatellites varied from 3 to 3.8, while effective number of alleles varied from 1.9 to 3.0. The average observed and expected heterozygosities were in the range of 0.3–0.6 and 0.4–0.6, respectively. The markers, MCW049, MCW044, MCW041, ADL176, MCW059, ADL136 and MCW110 showed heterozygosity excess and ADL158, MCW043, ADL102, MCW014, ADL023, ADL210 and MCW007 markers revealed heterozygosity deficiency in the populations. The genetic distance between layer and broiler lines was found to be high ranging from 0.22 to 0.38. The Indigenous populations were more closely related to broiler lines than layer ones. In conclusion, it is stated that Indigenous, broiler and layer chicken populations were heterogeneous in nature and Indigenous chicken populations were distantly related from the broiler and layer chicken populations.
Towards Fog-Relay Selection Strategy for Distributed 5G Networks

He demand for Cyber-physcal computing requirements beyond 4G spectrum such as increased capacity, low latency, energy efficiency, resource provisioning, reliable data rate, and overall quality of service (QoS) has fuelled the fifth generation (5G) Fog-relay network innovation. The overall benefits of Cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), Edge computing (EC) and the recent Osmotic computing (OC) cannot be satisfied without an efficient relay cooperative communication domiciled in distributed 5G Fog network. To meet these demands, deliberate improvements were introduced in existing cellular network infrastructure. First, the paper reported findings on literature survey of 5G relay communication network architecture, relay classification, as well as parameter selection for device-to-device communication (D2D). Second, Single/multiple relays for cooperative communication are discussed while presenting perspectives on typical relay-assisted cooperative network. Third, 5G network relay Use-Cases and its expectations is highlighted. Fourth, 5G Fog network K-clustering relay algorithm for the proposed relay selection scheme is introduced for Fog-data offloading. Monte Carlo simulation model is used to derive the average data values plotted in the OMNeT++ experiment. Furthermore, the performance of a two hop relay transmission scheme in an edge-Fog scenario is discussed. Metrics such as Threshold-distance, threshold SINR and threshold-distance-SINR techniques are used for the relay selection evaluation. Results showed that the accuracy of the proposed relay selection technique has better performance compared to threshold-SINR, threshold-distance and the threshold SINR-distance techniques for all the different numbers of user devices. It was observed that the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) of proposed technique has lowest error relative to other techniques regarding data forwarding. The research offers insight into 5G-Fog distributed network for researchers and industry practitioners.
Arc initiation in aluminium GMAW

The use of pulsed current for MIG welding of aluminium, despite being one of the most recommended technologies, due to its better results, presents difficulties at the start of the process, principally in regard to arc initiation. With the aim of developing a more suitable process of arc initiation, two new techniques were studied: the first based on the imposition of a high current, combined with an interruption to wire advance, and the second using the application of a low current, linked to wire return, which necessitated perfecting a wire feeder. The first technique, despite ensuring arc ignition, resulted in two forms of initiation condition by the geometry of the wire point. One of them is explosive with ignition close to the middle length of the electrode wire, and the other smooth with ignition close to the point of contact between the electrode wire and the base metal. The second technique, regardless of the geometry of the wire point, promoted smooth initiation, with low heat support and arc ignition always close to the point of contact between the electrode wire and the base metal, and was considered to be more suitable than the first.
Regulation of plant morphogenesis by lipo-chitin oligosaccharides

Abstract Lipo‐chitin oligosaccharides (LCOs), produced by rhizobia, are causative agents of the formation of root nodules in leguminous plants. As outlined in this review, the root nodulation process presents a valuable model system to study plant morphogenesis. The knowledge that resulted from the studies of the biological function and biosynthesis of the rhizobial LCOs is summarized. It has been postulated that LCOs are representatives of a general class of signal molecules involved in plant and animal morphogenesis. Discussed is how the present knowledge can be used for future studies on the function of LCOs in morphogenesis and in the search for analogue signal molecules produced by plants and animals.
A probabilistic analysis of decision-making about trip duration by Strait of Georgia sport anglers.

Since 1984, an access-point creel survey of the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, sport fishery has generated data on catch, effort, and attributes of effort from thousands of interviews of salmon anglers completing a daily boat-trip. I present a maximum-likelihood model for this daily bag limit (DBL) constrained fishery that estimates catch rate and variance for various angling fleets (as defined by boat-trip attributes such as the number of angling lines), estimates the probability that a boat-trip ends after a certain number of hours angling, and measures how angling success influences that probability. Most anglers targeting either chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ) or coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) became more likely to end a boat-trip in response to angling success, i.e., they were satiated by angling success before reaching a DBL. However, autumn and winter chinook salmon anglers tended to extend a boat-trip in response to angling success, i.e., they were motivated by angling success. Variability in angling success could not be attributed to variability in angler skill. Coho salmon catch rates increased by about 42% with each additional angling line per boat-trip up to three. The model can be used to judge the effectiveness of a DBL in reducing daily catch. Resume : Depuis 1984, une enquete menee aux points d'acces aupres des pecheurs sportifs dans le detroit de Georgie (Colombie-Britannique), a fourni des donnees sur les prises, l'effort de peche et les attributs de ce dernier. Des milliers d'entrevues de pecheurs sportifs de saumon effectuant des sorties en bateau d'une journee ont ete realisees. Je presente un modele fonde sur le maximum de vraisemblance pour cette peche restreinte par des limites quotidiennes de prises, modele qui estime le taux de capture et la variance des captures pour diverses flottilles (definies selon les attributs des sorties, comme le nombre de lignes) et la probabilite qu'une sortie se termine apres un certain nombre d'heures de peche, et qui mesure comment le succes de la peche influe sur cette probabilite. Chez la plupart des pecheurs de
Religion and Party Choice in Europe

This paper investigates religiosity in relation to party choice in European Parliament elections. Conventional wisdom tells us that as Europe has secularised, the effect of religion on party choice should also have diminished. Yet, this cross-national and cross-temporal study of religious voting in European elections from 1989 to 2004 paints a more nuanced picture. It shows that a) the effect of religion has been declining, but has increased in recent years, b) religion matters in particular for voting for Christian Democratic parties and Conservative parties, c) while generational replacement reduces the overall effect of religion on electoral decisions, the effect of religion has recently increased within each generation, and d) the impact of religion depends on the religious context in which citizens live so that religion plays a bigger role in fractionalised societies. These findings are discussed in the light of a revived importance of religion for European politics.
Involvement of a neutral proteolytic activity in the senescence of unpollinated ovaries of Pisum sativum

Carrasco, P. and Carbonell, J. 1988. Involvement of a neutral proteolytic activity in the senescence of unpollinated ovaries of Pisum sativum. - Physiol. Plant. 72: 610–616. The study of proteolysis by autodigestion in extracts from developing (gibberellic acid-treated) or senescing (non-treated) unpollinated ovaries of Pisum sativum L. cv. Alaska indicated the presence of two main proteolytic activities sensitive to inhibitors of sulfhydryl proteases. One of them was active at acidic pH and was present both in developing and senescent ovaries. The other one, active at neutral pH, was only detected in non-treated ovaries and was identified by the hydrolysis of the large subunit of ribulose-l,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) carboxylase (EC 4.1.1.39). Senescence of non-treated ovaries was also associated with an increase in proteolytic activity measured with a Coomassie Blue reagent and by determination with ninhydrin of a-NH2 groups released after autodigestion of the extracts. The presence of the neutral proteolytic activity only in senescing ovaries, but not in developing ones, suggests that it plays a key role in the senescence of pea ovaries and that its appearance is prevented by gibberellic acid.
Qualidade fisiológica e tratamentos de sementes de cedrela fissilis procedentes do sul do Brasil

Os objetivos deste trabalho foram: avaliar a qualidade fisiologica de sementes de cedro (Cedrela fissilis), procedentes de localidades do sul do Brasil, atraves de testes de vigor e avaliar diferentes tratamentos nas sementes para controle de patogenos e para promocao da germinacao da especie. Para tanto, foram utilizadas seis amostras com procedencias dos Estados do Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina e Parana, as quais foram submetidas a determinacao de teor de agua, teste de germinacao e primeira contagem, envelhecimento acelerado (testando periodos de exposicao as condicoes de envelhecimento), emergencia em viveiro e tratamento de sementes. Os tratamentos utilizados para controle de patogenos foram: testemunha (T0); fisico com calor seco a 70°C±3°C por 48 horas (T1); extrato aquoso de alho (Allium sativum) (T2); biologico a base de Trichoderma spp. - Agrotich Plus® (T3); e quimico com fungicida protetor Captan (T4). A germinacao variou de 56 a 87%; o periodo de 48 h sob temperatura de 41 °C foi o mais eficiente para estratificar as amostras em niveis de vigor; a emergencia variou de 51 a 88% e as variaveis de desempenho de plântulas analisadas conseguiram estratificar as amostras em niveis de vigor. Quanto ao tratamento de sementes, o calor seco e o tratamento a base de extrato de alho se mostram eficientes no controle de microrganismos em semente de cedro, sem prejuizos ao vigor destas.
Reduced fecundity and offspring performance in small populations of the declining grassland plants Primula veris and Gentiana lutea

1 We studied reproduction and offspring performance in relation to population size in the declining self‐incompatible perennials Primula veris and Gentiana lutea. In both species, reproduction was strongly reduced in small populations, where plants produced fewer seeds per fruit and per plant. Total seed mass per plant was higher in large populations, but individual seeds were smaller, indicating a trade‐off between seed number and size. Reproduction was depressed most strongly in populations consisting of less than c. 200 (P. veris) and c. 500 plants (G. lutea), respectively.