Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combining phylogeography and landscape genetics of Xenopipo atronitens (Aves: Pipridae), a white sand campina specialist, to understand Pleistocene landscape evolution in Amazonia

Open vegetation (campinas and campinaranas) associated with white sand patches occurs in the form of islands in a forested matrix throughout the Amazon basin. Bird species restricted to these habitats have patchy distributions, although connectivity may have been influenced by past glacial cycles as a result of the substitution of forest by savanna. Because these landscape changes are a matter of debate in the history of Amazonia, we studied the diversification of Xenopipo atronitens, a white sand specialist, aiming to infer the effects of past climate changes. The split of Xenopipo atronitens from its sister species, Xenopipo uniformis, may be related to Tepuis erosion and retreat of escarpments during the Miocene, or to a dispersal event. Compared with birds from terra firme forest, X. atronitens has low genetic structure. Low levels of unidirectional gene flow were found from the Guyana Shield to adjacent areas. Demographic expansion starting approximately 25 kyr BP was detected for some populations and is probably related to the Last Glacial Maximum and subsequent climate improvement. Landscape genetic analyses indicate that the forested (terra firme) matrix acts as a barrier for the dispersal of X. atronitens. The results of the present study indicate that glacial cycles have deeply influenced Amazonian biogeographical history, demonstrating a complex interaction between forest and nonforest habitats during the Pleistocene. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013, 110, 60–76.
Antimicrobial ZnO Nanoparticle–Doped Polyvinyl Alcohol/Pluronic Blends as Active Food Packaging Films

Today, plastic waste has been highlighted as one of the greatest threats to the environment. These environmental concerns and the increased necessity for safe food packaging have inspired scientists to focus on the development of active biodegradable materials. Herein, a novel poly(vinyl alcohol)/pluronic/ZnO nanocomposite film (PVA/PLUR/ZnO) is introduced as an active packaging material with enhanced antimicrobial activity. Gamma irradiation is used as a “green” route to prepare ZnO nanoparticles via a polymer pyrolysis method. The as‐prepared ecofriendly ZnO nanoparticles are characterized and incorporated into the PVA/PLUR matrix in different concentrations. Transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering measurements prove that ZnO nanoparticles have a mean particle size of 30 nm with a spherical‐like morphology. Morphological and structural characterization confirm the successful incorporation of ZnO into the PVA/PLUR matrix, which in turn enhances the thermal and barrier properties of PVA/PLUR/ZnO nanocomposite films. On the other hand, the opacity of blends is increased. The PVA/PLUR/ZnO composites exhibit broad‐spectrum antimicrobial activity against Gram‐positive, Gram‐negative bacterial pathogens, and fungi, and the activity increases with increasing concentrations of ZnO nanoparticles. These results introduce PVA/PLUR/ZnO films as effective antimicrobial materials for active food‐packaging applications.
Toxoplasma gondii -- Antigen presentation and interactions in the intestinal mucosa

Toxoplasma gondii infection provides a clinically important, and experimentally tractable, system for exploring the delicate balance of interactions between a pathogen and its host, resulting in the long-term survival of both. Many studies have shown that this parasite is susceptible to, and can actively manipulate a variety of innate and acquired immune responses. It also known that the nature of these responses is likely to be critical in distinguishing between the development of acute disease, chronic, asymptomatic infection, and parasite clearance. However, the factors responsible for controlling these diverse outcomes are still unclear. This dissertation explores the establishment of T. gondii infection after invasion of the small intestine and the host’s cellular response to parasites at this site. Ex vivo visualization of infection in whole tissue explants using fluorescently tagged parasites and deep-imaging techniques reveals a significantly more complex process of interaction within the small intestine than previously appreciated. After crossing the intestinal epithelium to enter the lamina propria, T. gondii parasites remain confined to the area surrounding the initial site of invasion rather than rapidly disseminating to the tissues, producing spatially restricted plaques and a high mucosal burden relative to non-mucosal tissues. The host response to T. gondii plaques is similarly striking and include a massive influx of LysM+ cells into the infection plaque. In contrast, while CD11c+ dendritic cells are recruited to the infected region, they appear to be absent from the plaque itself; perhaps reflecting host efforts to control parasite replication and block dissemination, and/or parasite efforts to modulate the host response. Activation of CD8+ T cells, which are critical for the control of replicating parasites, in response to parasitederived antigen was also examined. Transgenic T. gondii lines engineered to target the model antigen ovalbumin to various intraand extracellular locales demonstrate that entry into the processing pathway requires extra-parasitic antigen, indicating that these antigens are processed for MHC I presentation without entry into degradative organelles. These studies provide new insights into host-pathogen interactions, helping to elucidate the means by which T. gondii parasites establish infection and how host cells respond and control parasite infection. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Cell & Molecular Biology First Advisor David Artis Second Advisor John M. Murray This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn. edu/edissertations/366 Third Advisor E. John Wherry
Heterogeneous Effects of Sustainable Agriculture Practices: Micro-evidence from Malawi

Are the effects of sustainable agricultural practices heterogeneous across agro-ecology and wealth in Malawi? Would a wealth-enhancing policy be associated with increased effectiveness of these practices? Focusing on a nationally representative set of Malawian agricultural households, the article answers the above questions by employing plot-level panel data matched with a set of geo-referenced rainfall and temperature records. The findings suggest a positive correlation between aggregate yield and the adoption of organic fertilizer. A similar result holds for legume intercropping and for hybrid seeds, which are associated to reductions in yield volatility between the two waves. Nevertheless, these effects appear heterogeneous across the agro-ecological zone of adoption, since a reduced number of farmers in selected locations can improve yields through the adoption of these practices. Further exploration suggests that less wealthy households show higher returns when adopting hybrid seeds or legume intercropping. Wealthier households, in contrast, report high yield only when treated with technology-enhancing practices, such as organic fertilizers and soil erosion control measures.
Temporal–Spatial Distribution of Ecosystem Health and Its Response to Human Interference Based on Different Terrain Gradients: A Case Study in Gannan, China

The exploitation, utilization, and protection of land resources are some of the great social problems during the process of rapid urbanization in China. The status of land use directly affects ecosystem health (ESH). The evaluation of ESH and the spatial correlations between urbanization caused by human interference help us to analyze the influence of urbanization on ecosystems and also provide new insight into reasonable and scientific resource management. In this study, we evaluated the ESH of Gannan, in Jiangxi Province, China, based on ecosystem service values (ESV) and selected a series of indicators to detect the impact of urbanization on ecosystem health in 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010. and 2015. Remote sensing (RS) and the Geographic Information System (GIS) were used as processing tools to calculate basic data and to map the results based on different terrain gradients. The results show that ecosystem health suffered a downward trend from 1990 to 2015. Especially, the area proportion at an unhealthy level and average health (ave-health) level increased prominently, and the area of a well state decreased. Further, the results indicate that urbanization had a negative impact on ESH. The degree of a negative correlation increases with the process of urban sprawl. In addition, we found that from 1990 to 2015, the area proportion of a degraded level and unhealthy level was the highest on the first terrain gradient, and as the terrain gradient increased, this area proportion also decreased. However, the high interference region occupies a higher proportion in the lower terrain gradient. Consequently, the results could reveal the impact of urbanization on ecosystem health and could provide an even more effective service for a sustainable development.
Sponsorship-based health care programs and their impact on employees’ motivation for physical activity

ABSTRACT Research question: This study investigates the impact of a healthcare portal and employee attitude toward a healthcare program on sponsorship-based employee motivation to do physical exercises. Research methods: Applying a case methodology, the sponsorship object was the Norwegian National Cross-Country Skiing Team, and the sponsor was Aker, a major international corporation involved in fishing, offshore construction and engineering. By means of mixed methods, qualitative data were collected from 10 employees and then, quantitative data from 544 employees were used to test the hypotheses. Results and Findings: The findings show that the user-friendliness of the healthcare portal, and the attitude towards the health care program are significant predictors of employees’ sponsorship-based motivation to do physical exercises. These findings held when controlling for sex, education, income, portal usage, and physical activity level. Implications: These findings have practical implications for sponsors and the use of sponsorships as a strategic tool to improve employee matters. ‘The Internal CSR and Sponsorship-linked Health Care Strategy Model’ is presented. This paper establishes connections between internal sponsorship activation, employee health care program, and their motivation to do physical exercise.
Ingestion of palatable substances in oxytocin knockout mice

Mice deficient in oxytocin (OT) (OT KO), those that do not synthesize or release OT at any point in the life cycle, have shown significantly enhanced ingestion of sweet (sucrose and saccharin) and non-sweet carbohydrate-containing solutions (Polycose and cornstarch) as compared to wildtype (WT) mice of the same C57BL/6 background. The purpose of this work is two-fold: to determine if the effects observed with sweet and non-sweet carbohydrate-containing solutions extend to a palatable non-carbohydrate containing emulsified fat solution (Intralipid), and to further elucidate the drinking behavior of WT and OT KO mice exposed to sucrose solutions. Mice were exposed to a variety of two-bottle access tests to compare ingestion of Intralipid, a fat-containing emulsion, as well as sucrose and aversive (sodium chloride (NaCl) and citric acid) solutions mixed with sucrose. On the first day of exposure to Intralipid OT KO animals consumed significantly greater volumes of Intralipid as compared to WT mice. Animals showed preference for the Intralipid emulsion over water at a variety of concentrations, however, no genotypic differences were observed in Intralipid ingestion beyond the first exposure day, suggesting that the increased ingestion of palatable liquids observed in OT KO mice does not extend to Intralipid solutions. OT KO mice continually consumed more 10% sucrose than WT mice during repeated four-day trials and during a two-week trial. Sucrose bottle placement did not have a significant effect on sucrose consumption. OT KO mice also consumed significantly more sucrose at concentrations of 0.625%, 1.25%, 2.5%, and 5% during four-day trials. Similar drinking patterns were observed in male and female animals and across generations.When exposed to two-bottle access to 0.5M NaCl or 30mM citric acid mixed with 10% sucrose and water, OT KO animals consumed more of the aversive solution mixed with 10% sucrose than WT counterparts. The results of this thesis suggest that OT plays a role in the ingestion of sweet carbohydrate-containing solutions. However, it appears that these effects do not extend to the ingestion of Intralipid, a palatable fat-containing emulsion. The exact function of OT in these ingestion behaviors has yet to be determined.
Assessment of quality and readability of internet-based health information related to commonly prescribed angiotensin receptor blockers

Introduction Hypertension is a global public health burden. Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) have proven efficacy in the management of hypertension and related complications. The Internet has become a major source of health information for patients and healthcare professionals. The study aimed to assess the quality and readability of internet-based information related to selected Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARBs). Methods The three most widely used ARBs were identified from published literature, after which internet-based patient information was identified from the first five pages of three search engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing). Quality of identified websites were assessed using the DISCERN instrument, while readability was evaluated using the SMOG instrument and the Flesch-Kincaid readability algorithm. Final ratings were then calculated as described by the instruments developers. Further, inter-class correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Results The average overall DISCERN score in this study was 2.99 (SD±1.05). No website received an excellent rating, 15% were rated good, 66% as moderate and 19% as poor. The inter-class reliability was 0.804 for losartan and 0.695 for valsartan. The mean Flesch Reading Ease score for the websites was 48.87 (SD±16.12), mean Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade Level was 9.29 (SD±1.98) while mean SMOG value was 11.29 (SD±1.70). Conclusion Overall, patient information on the reviewed ARBs websites was found to be of moderate quality and suboptimal readability. Content providers on websites should ensure that health information is of favorable quality and easy to read by patients with varying degree of health literacy.
Moving ecological and biogeochemical transitions across the North Pacific

In the North Pacific Ocean, nutrient rich surface waters flow south from the subpolar gyre through a transitional region and into the subtropics. Along the way, nutrients are used, recycled, and exported, leading to lower biomass and a commensurate change in ecosystem structure moving southward. We focus on the region between the two gyres (the Transition Zone) using a coupled biophysical ocean model, remote sensing, floats, and cruise data to explore the nature of the physical, biogeochemical, and ecological fields in this region. Nonlinear interactions between biological processes and the meridional gradient in nutrient supply lead to sharp shifts across this zone. These transitions between a southern region with more uniform biological and biogeochemical properties and steep meridional gradients to the north are diagnosed from extrema in the first derivative of the properties with latitude. Some transitions like that for chlorophyll a (the transition zone chlorophyll front [TZCF]) experience large seasonal excursions while the location of the transitions in other properties moves very little. The seasonal shifts are not caused by changes in the horizontal flow field, but rather by the interaction of seasonal, depth related, forcing with the mean latitudinal gradients. Focusing on the TZCF as a case study, we express its phase velocity in terms of vertical nutrient flux and internal ecosystem processes, demonstrating their nearly equal influence on its motion. This framework of propagating biogeochemical transitions can be systematically expanded to better understand the processes that structure ecosystems and biogeochemistry in the North Pacific and beyond.
HOLISTIC APPROACH TO THE SUSTAINABLE COMMERCIAL PROPERTY BUSINESS: ANALYSIS OF THE MAIN EXISTING SUSTAINABILITY CERTIFICATIONS

Sustainability is no longer a new concept. However, applying, measuring and reporting on the sustainability initiative is still a somewhat confused and subjective issue. There is a huge variety of sustainability guidelines and green building schemes of differing natures, meanings and wordings. Despite this, there is no one guideline providing a crossreference between corporate social responsibility and green building performance to help the commercial property market completely incorporate sustainability into their activities. Therefore, this paper intends to link sustainability, real estate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and sustainable building in order to help companies internalise this concept in all areas of their operations aligning it with their strategic planning. From desk-based research, this proposal examines and compares key aspects of the main schemes in existence, which are currently evolving in the definition, assessment and report of sustainability at the corporate and built environment level. This approach provides key information to help professionals get a better understanding of the specific changes which sustainability brings about in their corporate process, strategies, investment decisions, daily business operations as well as their property management. The insights presented here can support real estate companies to develop comprehensive communication flows and tools for the measurement and disclosure of sustainability data.
Utilization and effectiveness of social media message strategy: how B2B brands differ from B2C brands

This study aims to investigate how business-to-business (B2B) companies use message strategies on social media platform and how these strategies are effective in improving customer perceived value and encouraging customer engagement, as well as how B2B companies differ from business-to-customer (B2C) counterparts in terms of utilization and effectiveness of social media message strategy. ,Based on content analysis of Sina Weibo brand pages and survey of website visitors, this paper examines the differences of social media message strategies and their impacts upon customer perceived value and customer engagement between B2B and B2C companies. ,B2B companies use more rational appeals and less emotional appeals, have lower degree of informativeness and perform better in interactivity and variety than B2C companies. These five dimensions of message strategy have different roles in engaging customers via perceived value across B2B and B2C settings. ,The research makes significant contributions to B2B social media marketing literature by answering two interrelated questions, namely, “What companies are doing? ” and “What companies should do? ” on social media websites. Besides, it provides insightful implications for B2B companies on how to implement appropriate message strategies in their social media marketing efforts by conducting Importance-Performance Analysis.
The Experiences of Nursing Student's Introductory Clinical Practice

This study was conducted to discover the meaning and the essential structure of the experiences of nursing students' introductory clinical practice. The participants were eight nursing students who had carried out the introductory clinical practice at a hospital. The data was collected from July 15 2019 to July 31, 2019 through focus group discussions and in-depth individual interviews using non-structured questionnaires. The data was analyzed by Colaizzi's phenomenological analysis methodology. The introductory clinical practice experienced by nursing students was categorized as followed: 'Feel worried and concern about expectations at the same time', 'Hospital experience as reality', 'Becoming accustomed to complexed emotion's, 'The first step of becoming a nurse', and 'Preparation for the future'. The five categories were expanded in the same context according to time. The essential structure of the clinical introductory practice experiences of the nursing students revealed by the study is that they begin to practice feeling worried and concerned about expectations, and concern about experience and adaption to various situations, emotions and preparation for the future. Based on the results obtained from this study, it is necessary to develop a realistic and effective education program before starting clinical practice
Local Circulation Features in the Eastern Amazon: High-resolution Simulation

A high-resolution simulation of a real case is carried out in Eastern Amazon (Northeastern coast of State of Para) with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model in order to analyze/detect local circulation features in the region. To this end, we simulated a case with low interference of synoptic weather systems and precipitation aiming to eliminate the effects of convective systems in local circulations. The performance of the model for the day studied was evaluated and the existence of circulations found in the simulation was confirmed through observational data. The model performance evaluation showed that the model was able to capture most of the patterns for the studied area. The simulation captured the presence of three main circulations: the Sea Breeze (SB), on the coast; the Land Breeze (LB), also on the coast; and the Bay Breeze (BB), which forms on both banks of Marajo Bay. In addition to these three major circulations, the high-resolution simulations also revealed the presence of a river breeze (RB) from Guama River and a fan-shaped circulation on the entrance of Guajara Bay. The observational data confirmed the presence of Guama River breeze from the Southeast, which is more active from July to September.
Using LMS activity logs to predict student failure with random forest algorithm

The paper presents a Random forest model in the task of predicting student success (grade) on the base of input predictors (lectures, quizzes, labs and videos) extracted from Moodle activity logs. Since 2010. University of Rijeka is using Moodle based Learning Management Systems (LMS) to complement traditional teaching. LMS is used for documents sharing, quizzes, assessments, video lecturing, tracking student progress and much more. When student access an LMS using his personal account, a digital profile is created that is saved in LMS log files. These logs were used to create a dataset with couple of hundreds of observations. However, building a prediction model using Random forest algorithm is relatively easy comparing to explaining the results. Interpreting Random forest and other machine learning black box models is a challenge regarding to complexity of their decision-making mechanisms. There are a number of new techniques allowing us to interpret such models, and couple of them is used in this paper for that purpose. Another problem a researcher is facing using black box algorithms is GDPR. General Data Protection Regulation has a significant impact on many aspects of EU citizen’s data collection and processing. This paper will highlight most challenging GDPR restrictions on data mining including GDPR’s "right to explanation".