Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
δ13C of CO2 respired in the dark in relation to δ13C of leaf metabolites: comparison between Nicotiana sylvestris and Helianthus annuus under drought

The variations of δ13C in leaf metabolites (lipids, organic acids, starch and soluble sugars), leaf organic matter and CO2 respired in the dark from leaves of Nicotiana sylvestris and Helianthus annuus were investigated during a progressive drought. Under well-watered conditions, CO2 respired in the dark was 13C-enriched compared to sucrose by about 4‰ in N. sylvestris and by about 3‰ and 6‰ in two different sets of experiments in H. annuus plants. In a previous work on cotyledonary leaves of Phaseolus vulgaris, we observed a constant 13C-enrichment by about 6‰ in respired CO2 compared to sucrose, suggesting a constant fractionation during dark respiration, whatever the leaf age and relative water content. In contrast, the 13C-enrichment in respired CO2 increased in dehydrated N. sylvestris and decreased in dehydrated H. annuus in comparison with control plants. We conclude that (i) carbon isotope fractionation during dark respiration is a widespread phenomenon occurring in C3 plants, but that (ii) this fractionation is not constant and varies among species and (iii) it also varies with environmental conditions (water deficit in the present work) but differently among species. We also conclude that (iv) a discrimination during dark respiration processes occurred, releasing CO2 enriched in 13C compared to several major leaf reserves (carbohydrates, lipids and organic acids) and whole leaf organic matter.
Taxonomic revision of Geranium sections Andina and Chilensia (Geraniaceae)

The sections Andina and Chilensia of Geranium from South America, Australia and New Zealand are taxonomically revised. Fruits with ‘seed ejection-type’ dispersal have been found in all species, which confirms their classification within subgen. Geranium. Section Andina consist of four species, while sect. Chilensia comprises 11 taxa. In sect. Andina, G. brevicaule and G. parodii, previously considered as synonyms or recognized as infraspecific taxa, are accepted at species level. In contrast, G. tucumanum, G. sessiliflorum ssp. novaezelandiae and 17 other taxa have been reduced to synonyms. In sect. Chilensia, G. patagonicum, G. fiebrigianum and G. drumondii have been considered as synonyms of G. berteroanum, G. fallax and G. solanderi, respectively. Additionally, another 24 taxa have been reduced to synonyms. Diagnostic morphological features are analysed and compared within and between the sections. A multivariate morphometric study from 258 specimens was carried out to test the most significant characters. The chromosome number of six species (five never previously counted) was established. A key, species descriptions, a complete list of synonymy, a list of specimens examined and distribution maps are provided. Most species are illustrated for the first time. Thirty-seven lectotypes and one neotype are designated. © 2005 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2005, 149, 1–68.
K -SEGMENTS CLASSIFIER - A NON-LINEAR APPROACH FOR THE CLASSIFICATION OF SAMPLING DATA

: This paper proposes a method to classify sampling data based on the k-segments algorithm. The data classiﬁcation efﬁciency is relevant for this multivariate statistical analysis technique. The method consists of adjusting an a priori deﬁned polygonal line for each class. A new observation is then classiﬁed into the class for which polygonal line it has the smallest orthogonal distance. Experimentally, the algorithm is applied to several sets of sampling data and the results are compared with the apparent error rate, which demonstrates the good performance of this methodology.
Oviposition behaviour of Lymnaea truncatula in central France

Several authors have reported on the annual generations of Lymnaea truncatula in the field or under laboratory conditions,--and the morphology of the egg masses has been described by Bondesen. Still unknown are some parameters of reproduction under field conditions, such as the length of the oviposition period and fluctuation in the density of egg masses during this period, the number of eggs per mass and fecundity. Data about these aspects were obtained in 1995-1996 at 4 stations in central France (Fig. 1):
Sustainability of Northern Quahogs (= Hard Clams) Mercenaria mercenaria, Linnaeus in Raritan Bay, New Jersey: Assessment of Size Specific Growth and Mortality

ABSTRACT In 2000, the northern quahog (= hard clams) Mercenaria mercenaria population was surveyed in Raritan Bay with the purpose of determining sustainable harvest levels. To complement this population survey, we determined the size-at-age structure and experimentally determined mortality rate and size specific growth of adult clams. Clams of a range of sizes, obtained from the sampling program, were measured, cleaned, and aged by counting growth rings in sectioned shells. Experimental plots were established in the low intertidal zone at two sites in the Raritan/Sandy Hook Bay system. Marked clams of five sizes were planted in three seasons and harvested quarterly. Experimental estimates of mortality and survival were based on collected live and dead individuals and are thus conservative because they do not address the numbers missing. Some of the clams from both sites were removed from the area by predators. Estimated mortality for individuals >25 mm by instantaneous rate yielded a mean of 0.0176. Integrating the size specific information with the size-frequency distribution from field survey yielded an average instantaneous mortality rate of 0.0187. Growth, based on the difference between the mean size planted and the mean size of the same size class retrieved was analyzed with a general ANOVA, and exhibited typical seasonal growth. The smallest size individuals grew faster than larger individuals. Survey data indicated an increasing clam population and increasing harvests. The survey mortality estimates, based on box counts, seem to overestimate losses. Our experimental work suggests adult mortality rates of nearly 2%, but loss of individuals from the plots made computation of exact mortality rates difficult, and 2% probably underestimates adult natural mortality rates. The results indicate that current levels of fishing mortality are sustainable with 3% natural adult mortality, but a natural adult mortality rate just above 5% would reduce the population growth to near zero. This information is important, because there has been interest in establishing additional depuration facilities to take advantage of the clam population and put more people to work. To sustain current levels of harvest, it will be essential to increase population level monitoring activities over time to assure the population is not being over harvested because of slight changes in recruitment or mortality rates.
Detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in cerebrospinal fluid of a patient with HER2-overexpressing gastric cancer and single cell analysis of intra-patient heterogeneity of CTCs

Background The purpose of this study was to identify circulating tumor cells (CTCs) through single cell sorting using DEPArray technology in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from an advanced gastric cancer (AGC) patient with leptomeningeal seeding. We also demonstrated intra-patient heterogeneity of CTCs isolated from CSF samples at the single cell level. Methods We used the DEPArray system to identify and align single enabled CSF and CTCs based on a multi-parallel fluorescence analysis. The CSF samples were stained with an antibody cocktail recognizing DAPI, cytokeratin, EpCAM, and HER2. The stained cells were sorted and identified into a single, variable cell based on a multiparametric fluorescence analysis. The CSF and CTC subpopulations were quantified for absolute cell counts and relative frequency. Based on the stained morphology of each single CSF and CTC, five groups were identified. Results We stratified the CTCs to evaluate the character of the CTCs isolated from the CSF, according to CK, EpCAM and HER2. In total, 78.2% of the CTCs isolated from the CSF showed HER2 overexpression, which was consistent with the status of HER2 in the patient’s primary gastric tumor. The most common types were HER2 positive, CK positive, and EpCAM positive CTCs (56.6%). On the other hand, 21.8% of the CTCs isolated from the CSF did not show HER2 overexpression, which was inconsistent with the primary tumor. Her2 negative, CK negative, and EpCAM positive CTCs were the predominant types among the CTCs without HER2 overexpression (19.7%). Conclusions We enriched the CTCs through a single cell sorting process with DEPArray technology in CSF samples of an AGC patient with leptomeningeal seeding. We also demonstrated intra-patient heterogeneity of the CTCs at the single cell level.
Arboreal nesting and utilization of open-cup bird nests by introduced Ship Rats Rattus rattus on an oceanic island

Summary The introduction of exotic rats Rattus spp. is one of the most important factors contributing to the reduction in avian diversity and extinctions on oceanic islands. However, little is known about factors other than predation, which are associated with the loss of island biodiversity. We report that introduced Ship Rats Rattus rattus constructed arboreal dome-shaped nests and secondarily used open-cup nests of the Bull-headed Shrike Lanius bucephalus for roosting or rearing young in trees within hedgerows along sugarcane fields of Minami-daito Island (northwest Pacific). We found that temporal nest utilization by Ship Rats forced Bull-headed Shrikes to abandon their nests before egg-laying. We suggest that kleptoparasitism applies to the interaction between Bull-headed Shrikes and Ship Rats, which usurp shrike nests during their breeding period. It is necessary to consider the potential effects of introduced Ship Rats on insular avian communities not only through predation but also through interspecific interaction over nest-sites.
Do We Really Know How to Measure Software Quality?

Particular return to McCall’s et al. seminal work has been done in recent international standards ISO/IEC 25022:2016 and ISO/IEC 25023:2016. 122 lower level measures (metrics in McCall’s et al. terminology) were introduced. Authors of standards themselves classify quality measures as Highly Recommended, Recommended, Used at user’s Discre-tion and Generic, Speciﬁc. In this paper, quality measures are additionally classiﬁed also from the point of view of objectivity of measurement and of usage in industry.
SWENZIA, N. NOV., A REPLACEMENT NAME FOR THE PREOCCUPIED COELACANTH GENUS WENZIA CLÉMENT, 2005

Christian F. Kammerer (Committee on Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago) kindly advised me of homonymy in the generic name Wenzia (Clément, 2005:482). This name was recently proposed for a coelacanth (Sarcopterygii, Actinistia) from the Jurassic of France. The taxon “W. latimerae” Clément, 2005, was erected in consideration of the important work on fossil and extant coelacanths of two women, Sylvie Wenz (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris) and the late Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer (East London Museum, South Africa). The generic name is preoccupied and was erected by Pfeffer (1929:93) for a fossil gastropod (Wenzia ramondi, Pulmonata Geomitrinae). The principle of homonymy was also previously transgressed by Taverne for a salmoniform fish from the Cretaceous of Africa (Taverne 1976a:237), formerly called Wenzia and soon after renamed Wenzichthys (Taverne, 1976b:1032). According to Article 53.3 (“Homonyms in the genus group”) and Article 60 (“Replacement of junior homonyms”) of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999), the name of the Jurassic coelacanth is a junior homonym of the name of the fossil gastropod mollusk, and must be replaced. Thus, in accordance with the ICZN, I propose the replacement name Swenzia for the fossil coelacanth in question. Institutional Abbreviation—MNHN, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, France.
Effect of Gamma Radiation on Oil Quality of Dried Mint Leaves

The green mint crop is considered a medicinal and aromatic plant grown in most of Egypt's governors and it has multiple uses, whether it is used fresh or dried or mint oil is extracted from it and mint is also known as its medicinal importance as research has proven that it has many health benefits. This research was conducted to study the effect of gamma irradiation on the oil quality assessment of dried mint leaves. Dry mint leaves were treated by using doses of gamma radiation, 0.0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 kGy. The color properties as Chlorophyll a, Chlorophyll b and Carotenoids (mg/100g) were detected and also, the antioxidant activity, total phenols, total flavonoids and ascorbic acid of aqueous extract of mint leaves have been evaluated. The highest content of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll and content of carotenoids in the dried mint leaves was observed in irradiated samples with 20 kGy. While, the highest content was in the irradiated sample with 5 kGy. The data demonstrated that the irradiated dried mint leaves at 5, 10, 15 KGy had lower phenolic, flavonoids, total antioxidant and ascorbic acid compounds than non-irradiated control in the mint extract. While, irradiated mint at 20 kGy had higher phenolic compounds. It was found significant differences in the content of chlorophyll (a), chlorophyll (b), phenol, flavonoids, antioxidants, ascorbic acid, while there was no significant difference in the carotene content. By using of irradiation with gamma rays of 20 kGy, the most influencing was the higher content of chlorophyll (a) and chlorophyll (b). While the use of the level of irradiation with gamma rays of 15 kGy had a greater impact on the high content of carotene, phenol, flavonoids. Also, the use of irradiation at 10 kGy levels had the best effect on the high content of antioxidant and ascorbic acid. This study indicated the Gamma irradiation of dried peppermint leaves may lead to improved quality of oil.
Augmenting Multiple-Transmitter Coded Caching using Popularity Knowledge at the Transmitters

The work presents a new way of exploiting non-uniform file popularity in caching networks. Focusing on the interference channel with cache-enabled transmitters and receivers, we show how non-uniform file popularity can be used to accelerate the impact of transmitter-side data redundancy in coded caching. This approach is motivated by the recent discovery that under realistic file-size constraints, having content appear in multiple transmitters can boost multiplicatively the speed-up factor attributed to coded caching.We formulate the problem through an optimization algorithm, which seeks to optimize the number of transmitters each file is cached at, as a function of that file’s popularity. Part of the optimization effort involves a biconvex problem; such problems are traditionally solved by heuristic Alternate Convex Search methods that generally do not guarantee the global optimum. To avoid this, we follow a more involved path which includes the design of a new search algorithm that exploits the properties of the caching problem itself. The overall optimization algorithm provably achieves the globally optimal solution, and does so with a complexity that scales as a polynomial function of the logarithm of the size of the file catalog. In the end, the optimal transmitter-side cache placement yields multiplicative speedup factors over traditional multi-transmitter coded caching algorithms.
Multisample Anti-aliasing in Deferred Rendering

We propose a novel method for multisample anti-aliasing in deferred shading. Our technique successfully reduces memory and bandwidth usage. The new model uses per-pixel linked lists to store the samples. We also introduce algorithms to construct the new G-Buffer in the geometry pass and to calculate the shading in the lighting pass. The algorithms are designed to enable further optimizations, similar to variable rate shading. We also propose methods to satisfy constraints of memory usage and processing time. We integrated the new method into a Vulkan based renderer.
Morphology and function of reproductive organs in Neodasys chaetonotoideus (Gastrotricha: Neodasys) with a phylogenetic assessment of the reproductive system in Gastrotricha

The reproductive system of the important basal gastrotrich Neodasys chaetonotoideus is described and reconstructed on the basis of light microscopy, serial ultrathin sections (ultrastructure) and scanning electron microscopy. Starting frontally, the hermaphroditic reproductive system consists of paired and tube shaped lateral testes that do not possess elongated seminal ducts but most likely open directly via paired ventral pores. The unpaired, medio‐dorsal ovary region contains early oogenic stages that mature caudally towards the uterus region, where the most mature egg is positioned laterally to the midgut. The ovary region is not covered with an epithelial lining whereas the uterus region possesses a distinct epithelial wall. Between ovary and uterus region, we have detected a conspicuous section of the female gonad, the vitellogenic oviduct that consists of a thick epithelial wall which forms cellular protuberances into the developing oocytes passing the oviduct. We interpret this as a special, hitherto undescribed mode of vitellogenesis in Gastrotricha. Further caudally, the uterus continues with the fronto‐caudal organ, a complex of two substructures that are apparently homologous to the frontal organ and the caudal organ of many species of the Gastrotricha Macrodasyida. Neodasys chaetonotoideus obviously engages in spermatophore formation and transfer. In this study we develop a morpho‐functional scenario for the gonads and accessory organs in terms of spermatophore production, exchange and oviposition.
The Consequences of Managerial Short-termism on the Firm : Theory and Empirics

We investigate the impact of managerial short-termism on corporate actions. Following Landier and Thesmar (2009), we try to reconcile the behavioral and the contract-theoretic approaches to corporate decisions. Using a simple dynamic moral hazard model with sequential projects, we find that short-termism does not only increase the likelihood of project termination and reduce the rent obtained by the Investor, but it also leads to a socially inefficient outcome: When the probability of success is close to 1, continuation would always be optimal from the Principal’s perspective, but it may not be feasible if the manager’s discount factor is not high enough. We then try to examine empirical evidence about managerial short-termism. Using data from the World Management Survey and conditioning on relationship of a firm’s ownership structure and the strength of its managerial incentives scheme, Propensity Score Matching estimates reveal that companies run by short-termist executives exhibit lower output and output growth, lower investment expenditures, lower managerial compensation and a higher likelihood of firm shutdown.1 I first would like to thank my advisor, Guillaume Plantin, for his invaluable advice and patience. I am also grateful to Stéphane Guibaud for our discussions and his helpful comments, and to my brother Nabil for his continous encouragements about this project. All errors are mine.
IFRS Application and Its Impact on the Accounting Information Quality: Palestine as a Case Study

The primary goal of conducting this paper is to investigate the consequences IFRS mandatory adoption has concerning the accounting information quality for Palestinian listed firms. Discretionary accruals and accruals quality measures are utilized to operationalize the quality of accounting information. The sample in the study contains an examination of 378 firm-year observations covering years from 2003 to 2016. The overall result shows mixed evidence suggesting that the IFRS mandatory adoption declines the extent of discretionary accruals, which means a decline in earnings management and manipulation activities. Furthermore, the results of the study show a lower accruals quality in IFRS mandatory adoption time. This paper builds on the current debate about the ramifications relating to the mandatory adoption of IFRS in emerging countries and displays that adopting IFRS affects accounting information quality. However, the effect differs from one accounting quality measure to another. Key-Words: IFRS, Mandatory Adoption, Discretionary Accrual, Accrual Quality, Palestine.
Sexual conflict over parental care in Penduline Tits Remiz pendulinus: the process of clutch desertion

Do the two parents at a nest make simultaneous decisions whether to care for their offspring or to desert? If a single parent is sufficient for rearing young, one parent (typically, the male) may desert and reproduce with a new mate within the same breeding season, leaving the other parent with the brunt of care. As each parent is expected to maximize its own reproductive success, the interests of the two parents do not necessarily coincide, and a sexual conflict over care may emerge. Here we investigate the process of clutch desertion in a small passerine bird, the Penduline Tit Remiz pendulinus . Among birds, this species has a remarkably variable breeding system, because a single parent (either the male or the female) may provide the full care of the young, whereas about 30% of clutches are abandoned by both parents. First, we show that biparental desertion occurs within a single day in 73.7% of the clutches ( n = 14), whereas desertion decisions are sequential in 26.3% of the clutches ( n = 5) (male first: 10.5% ( n = 2); female first: 15.8% ( n = 3); n = 19 clutches in total). Secondly, we observed the behaviour of both parents before desertion, and investigated whether desertion can be predicted from their behaviour. However, neither singing nor nest-building behaviour predicted whether the male or the female would desert. We therefore suggest that biparental desertion may be simultaneous by male and female in our population of Penduline Tits. Furthermore, the parents do not appear to signal their intention to desert their mate. We argue that the parents’ interest may be actually to disguise their intention to desert.