Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Entomofauna associada à erva-de-touro (Poiretia latifolia Vogel) em povoamentos na região do Planalto Catarinense

Poiretia latifolia Vogel (Fabaceae), a native plant of the high-altitude field ecosystems appears to show promise, when introduced into the Atlantic Forest biome of southern Brazil. It is valued for its monoterpene-rich essential oil and exhibits great potential in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. This work aimed at studying the entomofauna associated with P. latifolia , as well as assessing the effects of these insects on this plant's reproductive success. The entomofauna were surveyed between December 2015 and January 2016, in two natural P. latifolia stands found in the Capao Alto and Sao Jose do Cerrito municipalities of Santa Catarina State. At each site, the entomofauna were subjected to 42-hour monitoring periods and five marked plants in each area were monitored every hour, from 9:00 am to 4:00 p.m. The effects of the climatic variables on the insect were analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficient. To determine the damage due to herbivory, ten P. latifolia plants were marked at each site, from which the flowers and seeds were collected and the insect damage estimated. The predominant insects in both stands were identified as belonging to the orders Coleoptera, Diptera and Hymenoptera. The Dipteran insects revealed a significant positive correlation with the mean daily temperature (r = 0.84, p = 0.03442) in the Capao Alto stand. Damages caused by insects to the P. latifolia flowers and seeds were 54% and 88%, respectively, and were even higher in the Sao Jose do Cerrito area. Environmental changes precipitated by the intense agricultural usage in the vicinity of the P. latifolia stands may have been the reason for these differences.
A New Reclassification Method for Highly Uncertain Microarray Data in Allergy Gene Prediction

A NEW RECLASSIFICATION METHOD FOR HIGHLY UNCERTAIN MICROARRAY DATA IN ALLERGY PREDICTION Jasmin Paul Advisor: University of Guelph, 2012 Dr. David Chiu The analysis of microarray data is a challenging task because of the large dimensionality and small sample size involved. Although a few methods are available to address the problem of small sample size, they are not sufficiently successful in dealing with microarray data from extremely small (~<20) sample sizes. We propose a method to incorporate information from diverse sources to analyze the microarray data so as to improve the predictability of significant genes. A transformed data set, including statistical parameters, literature mining and gene ontology data, is evaluated. We performed classification experiments to identify potential allergy-related genes. Feature selection is used to identify the effect of features on classifier behaviour. An exploratory and domain knowledge analysis was performed on noisy real-life allergy data, and a subset of genes was selected as positive and negative class. A new set of transformed variables, depending on the mean and standard deviation statistics of the data distribution and other data sources, was identified. Significant allergyand immunerelated genes from the microarray data were selected. Experiments showed that classification predictability of significant genes can be improved. Important features from the transformed variable set were also identified.
Nutrients and antinutritional factors at different maturity stages of selected indigenous African green leafy vegetables

A study was conducted to determine the effect of maturity stage on selected nutrients and anti-nutritional factors in selected indigenous African leafy vegetables namely Amaranths (Madiira Ex zim, and Madiira AM 38), African nightshade (Nduruma BG 16 and Olevolosi SS 49) and Spider plant. Vegetables were planted on plots and harvested at three maturity stages (21, 28 and 35 days). Chemical analyses were done to determine levels of vitamin C, iron and zinc and anti-antinutional factors (oxalate, phytate and nitrate). Vitamin C increased significantly (p<0.05) with maturity in all vegetables except African nightshade Nduruma BG 16. Vitamin C content was highest (162.7 1.2 mg/100g) in Spider plant and lowest (29.0 1.5 mg/100g) in African nightshade Olevolosi SS 49. Iron content increased significantly (p<0.05) at all maturity stages. Amaranths Madiira Ex zim had the highest iron concentration (999.0 3.7 mg/100g) while African nightshade Olevolosi SS 49 had the lowest value (231.1 1.5 mg/100g). Zinc content decreased with plant age although not significantly (p>0.05) between each stage. Zinc was highest (76.9 1.0 mg/100g) in Spider plant and lowest (44.8 0.7 mg/100g) in amaranths Madiira Ex zim. Oxalic acid concentration increased with plant age. African nightshade Nduruma BG 16 had lowest oxalic acid concentrations (28.7 0.0 mg/100g) while African nightshade Olevolosi SS 49 had highest value (60.9 0.9 mg/100g). Phytic acid increased significantly between stages of maturity in all varieties except in Spider plant. Highest phytic acid value was in amaranths Madiira AM 38 (0.9 0.0 mg/100g) while the lowest value (0.01  0.0 mg/100g) was in Spider plant Nitrate content decreased with plant age in all samples. Highest nitrate content was 86.1 1.1 mg/100g in Olevolosi SS 49 whereas lowest value was 45.8 0.6mg/100g in amaranths Madiira AM 38. The study concludes that nutrients and anti-nutritional factors vary with plant maturity and therefore the vegetables need to be harvested at 28 days.
Effects of single and multiple herbivory by host and non‐host caterpillars on the attractiveness of herbivore‐induced volatiles of sugarcane to the generalist parasitoid Cotesia flavipes

It is well known that parasitoids are attracted to volatiles emitted by host‐damaged plants; however, this tritrophic interaction may change if plants are attacked by more than one herbivore species. The larval parasitoid Cotesia flavipesCameron (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) has been used intensively in Brazil to control the sugarcane borer, Diatraea saccharalisFabricius (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in sugarcane crops, where Spodoptera frugiperda (JE Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), a non‐stemborer lepidopteran, is also a pest. Here, we investigated the ability of C. flavipes to discriminate between an unsuitable host (S. frugiperda) and a suitable host (D. saccharalis) based on herbivore‐induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) emitted by sugarcane, and whether multiple herbivory (D. saccharalis feeding on stalk + S. frugiperda feeding on leaves) in sugarcane affected the attractiveness of HIPVs to C. flavipes. Olfactometer assays indicated that volatiles of host and non‐host‐damaged plants were attractive to C. flavipes. Even though host‐ and non‐host‐damaged plants emitted considerably different volatile blends, neither naïve nor experienced wasps discriminated suitable and unsuitable hosts by means of HIPVs emitted by sugarcane. With regard to multiple herbivory, wasps innately preferred the odor blend emitted by sugarcane upon non‐host + host herbivory over host‐only damaged plants. Multiple herbivory caused a suppression of some volatiles relative to non‐host‐damaged sugarcane that may have resulted from the unaltered levels of jasmonic acid in host‐damaged plants, or from reduced palatability of host‐damaged plants to S. frugiperda. In conclusion, our study showed that C. flavipes responds to a wide range of plant volatile blends, and does not discriminate host from non‐host and non‐stemborer caterpillars based on HIPVs emitted from sugarcane. Moreover, we showed that multiple herbivory by the sugarcane borer and fall armyworm increases the attractiveness of sugarcane plants to the parasitoids.
Local knowledge and awareness on the incipient lionfish invasion in the eastern Mediterranean Sea

Public participation is increasingly used to both study and manage marine bio-invasions. Here, we outline the use of public surveys to rapidly acquire information on the very first stages of colonisation by the invasive Pterois miles in the Mediterranean Sea. Interviews with 105 fishermen, spearfishers and scuba divers in Lebanon provided evidence of a proliferation and rapid expansion of the species, whose presence at the time of the survey was less than that of a true invasion. We also evaluate the role of stakeholders and sea users in responding to this emerging hazard, investigating awareness and willingness to collaborate on managing efforts. These findings showed the potential of local communities to acquire ecological knowledge not available to scientists working alone. This participative approach also consolidates the dialogue and partnership between researchers and stakeholders ameliorating the civil response to time-sensitive conservation issues.
Washoff of Dicamba and 3,6-Dichlorosalicylic Acid from Turfgrass Foliage

The functional relationships between rainfall intensities and amounts, and the washoff of dicamba and 3,6-DCSA from turfgrass foliage were determined. Dicamba was applied to Kentucky bluegrass field plots and the turfgrass was subjected to 2 to 58 mm of simulated rainfall 18 to 48 h later. Rainfall was applied at an average intensity of 20.6 or 39.9 mm h−1. The 39.9 mm h−1 intensity reduced dicamba washoff by 10% for a given amount of rainfall. Washoff of 3,6-DCSA was independent of rainfall intensity. When averaged over intensities, washoff of dicamba was best described by the equation y = 1 − 0.341x0. 187, and 3,6-DCSA washoff by the equation y = exp(-0.210x), where x represents millimeters of rainfall and y, the proportion of compound remaining on the foliage after rainfall.
Comparison of cell‐based versus cell‐free mammalian systems for the production of a recombinant human bone morphogenic growth factor

The human bone morphogenetic protein‐2 (hBMP2) is a glycoprotein, which induces de novo bone formation. Here, recombinant production in stably transfected Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells is compared to transient expression in Human Embryo Kidney (HEK) cells and cell‐free synthesis in CHO cell lysates containing microsomal structures as sites of post‐translational processing. In case of the stably transfected cells, growth rates and viabilities were similar to those of the parent cells, while entry into the death phase of the culture was delayed. The maximum achievable rhBMP2 concentration in these cultures was 153 pg/mL. Up to 280 ng/mL could be produced in the transient expression system. In both cases the rhBMP‐2 was found to interact with the producer cells, which presumably contributed to the low yields. In the cell‐free system, hBMP2 yields could be increased to almost 40 μg/mL, reached within three hours. The cell‐free system thus approached productivities for the active (renatured) protein previously only recorded for bacterial hosts, while assuring comprehensive post‐translational processing.
Genetic diversity among accessions of Capsicum annuum L. through morphoagronomic characters

Genetic variability among pepper genotypes is essential in obtaining hybrid combinations with greater heterotic effect and in obtaining superior strains. This work’s goal was to evaluate the genetic diversity between accessions of Capsicum annuum L. , indicating the selection of promising individuals for ornamental purposes. The experiment was carried out in at the Plant Biotechnology Laboratory of the Center of Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Paraiba. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with 16 treatments and eight replications. The plants were evaluated for 28 morphoagronomic traits. Data were submitted to analysis of variance and grouped according to Scott and Knott's test at 1% probability. The Tocher grouping was performed based on Mahalanobis distance and analysis of canonical variables were performed with graphical dispersion of the accessions. All variables were significant by the F test (p = 0.01) and presented high heritability and a CVg/CVe ratio higher than 1.0 for most traits, indicating genetic divergence between accessions. In keeping with the Scott-Knott's test (p = 0.01), the accessions were grouped into two to eight classes, varying according to the character. The of Tocher optimization method separated the accessions into five distinct groups. There is phenotypic divergence between the accessions of Capsicum annuum L. which can be used in ornamental peppers’ breeding programs. Only the number of stamens trait presented a heritability value (65.81%) lower than 70%. The characters that most contributed to divergence among the accessions were fresh fruit mass, stem diameter, widest fruit diameter and fruit weight. The accessions UFPB001, UFPB004, UFPB45, UFPB77.3, UFPB099, UFPB134, UFPB390 and Calypso are designated as potential accessions for ideal ornamental pepper plant with vigorous seedling, small port, large flowers and small fruits. Ornamental pepper accessions with larger anthers are indicated for selection, for facilitating the breeder’s work during flower emasculations for crossings.
Accounting for Attribute Non-attendance (ANA) in Chinese Consumers’ Away-from-Home Sustainable Salmon Consumption

It is critical to accurately assess consumer preference for sustainable seafood because they can use their purchasing power to shape the market. Much of the research on consumer preference for ecolabeled seafood fails to account for attribute non-attendance (ANA), which may result in biased estimation of preference for sustainable seafood. We elicit Chinese consumer preference for ecolabel certification of salmon fish entrées by accounting for ANA using two approaches. Our results reveal that the stated ANA approach is a more straightforward and robust approach to deal with ANA in choice experiments. Our results also show that consumers are willing to pay the highest for ecolabel certification among all the attributes examined. With a strong preference for ecolabeled seafood, policy development directed at the sustainable food system could, in the long run, improve the sustainability of marine resources in China as well as in the world.
Investigations of 2,4-D and Multiple Herbicide Resistance in a Missouri Waterhemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus) Population

Abstract Research was conducted from 2015 to 2017 to investigate the potential for 2,4-D and multiple herbicide resistance in a waterhemp [Amaranthus tuberculatus (Moq.) J. D. Sauer] population from Missouri (designated MO-Ren). In the field, visual control of the MO-Ren population with 0.56 to 4.48 kg 2,4-D ha-1 ranged from 26% to 77% in 2015 and from 15% to 55% in 2016. The MO-Ren population was highly resistant to chlorimuron, with visual control never exceeding 7% either year. Estimates of the 2,4-D dose required to provide 50% visual control (I50) of the MO-Ren population were 1.44 kg ha-1 compared with only 0.47 kg 2,4-D ha-1 for the susceptible population. Based on comparisons to a susceptible population in dose–response experiments, the MO-Ren population was approximately 3-fold resistant to 2,4-D, and 7-, 7-, 22-, and 14-fold resistant to atrazine, fomesafen, glyphosate, and mesotrione, respectively. Dicamba and glufosinate were the only two herbicides that provided effective control of the MO-Ren population in these experiments. Examinations of multiple herbicide resistance at the individual plant level revealed that 16% of the plants of the MO-Ren population contained genes stacked for six-way herbicide resistance, and only 1% of plants were classified as resistant to a single herbicide (glyphosate). Results from these experiments confirm that the MO-Ren A. tuberculatus population is resistant to 2,4-D, atrazine, chlorimuron, fomesafen, glyphosate, and mesotrione, making this population the third 2,4-D-resistant A. tuberculatus population identified in the United States, and the first population resistant to six different herbicidal modes of action.
End-to-End Extraction of Structured Information from Business Documents with Pointer-Generator Networks

The predominant approaches for extracting key information from documents resort to classifiers predicting the information type of each word. However, the word level ground truth used for learning is expensive to obtain since it is not naturally produced by the extraction task. In this paper, we discuss a new method for training extraction models directly from the textual value of information. The extracted information of a document is represented as a sequence of tokens in the XML language. We learn to output this representation with a pointer-generator network that alternately copies the document words carrying information and generates the XML tags delimiting the types of information. The ability of our end-to-end method to retrieve structured information is assessed on a large set of business documents. We show that it performs competitively with a standard word classifier without requiring costly word level supervision.
Functional traits and environmental conditions predict community isotopic niches and energy pathways across spatial scales

Despite ongoing research in food web ecology and functional biogeography, the links between food web structure, functional traits and environmental conditions across spatial scales remain poorly understood. Trophic niches, defined as the amount of energy and elemental space occupied by species and food webs, may help bridge this divide. Here, we ask how the functional traits of species, the environmental conditions of habitats and the spatial scale of analysis jointly determine the characteristics of trophic niches. We used isotopic niches as a proxy of trophic niches, and conducted analyses at spatial scales ranging from local food webs and metacommunities to geographically distant sites.We sampled aquatic macroinvertebrates from 104 tank bromeliads distributed across five sites from Central to South America and compiled the macroinvertebrates’ functional traits and stable isotope values (δ15N and δ13C). We assessed how isotopic niches within each bromeliad were influenced by the functional trait composition of their associated invertebrates and environmental conditions (i.e., habitat size, canopy cover [CC] and detrital concentration [DC]). We then evaluated whether the diet of dominant predators and, consequently, energy pathways within food webs reflected functional and environmental changes among bromeliads across sites. At last, we determined the extent to which the isotopic niches of macroinvertebrates within each bromeliad contributed to the metacommunity isotopic niches within each site and compared these metacommunity‐level niches over biogeographic scales. At the bromeliad level, isotopic niches increased with the functional richness of species in the food web and the DC in the bromeliad. The diet of top predators tracked shifts in prey biomass along gradients of CC and DC. Bromeliads that grew under heterogeneous CC displayed less trophic redundancy and therefore combined to form larger metacommunity isotopic niches. At last, the size of metacommunity niches depended on within‐site heterogeneity in CC. Our results suggest that the trophic niches occupied by food webs can predictably scale from local food webs to metacommunities to biogeographic regions. This scaling process is determined by both the functional traits of species and heterogeneity in environmental conditions.
The Sandpile Model on Random Apollonian Networks

Bak, Teng and Wiesenfel originally proposed a simple model of a system whose dynamics spontaneously drives, and then maintains it, at the edge of stability: a sandpile. The sandpile model was inspired to natural systems, exhibiting robust non-local correlations, in order to capture the main features of their self-organizing criticality (SOC). In this work we briefly review the BTW model, also by numerically implementing it, and then generalize it on scale-free topologies such as Random Apollonian Networks. Our numerical results suggest that the scale-free topology actually preserves the presence of long-range correlations but lowers their robustness.
Cortinarius lustrabilis (Basidiomycota, Agaricales), a new species to Fennoscandia

Seven years ago the senior author of this paper found an interesting Cortinarius species from a pine heath in Finland. It had characteristics of both the subg. Phlegmacium (Fr.) J.G. Trog and the sect. Vibratiles Melot in the subg. Myxacium (Fr.) J. G. Trog. Later on it turned out to be Cortinarius lustrabilis Moënne-Locc. , a Vibratiles species described from France (Bidaud et al. 2000). The species has also been reported from Germany (Laber 2003). In this paper the description of the species is given and in addition the taxonomy, ecology and distribution are discussed.
MICROMORPHOLOGY, ANATOMY AND ULTRASTRUCTURE OF NECTARIES IN TWO TYPES OF FLOWERS OF Citrus limon CV. ‘PONDEROSA’

Trees of the genus Citrus can bloom all year round and are an abundant source of nectar for honey bees. Nectar production largely depends on nectary structure. The aim of this study was to investigate the structure of nectariferous tissues in hermaphrodite and functionally male flowers of the so-called Skierniewice lemon (Citrus limon cv. ‘Ponderosa’), which enjoys great popularity in Europe, using light microscopy as well as scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The nectary glands in both types of flowers differed in shape and size, but their structure and the pathways of nectar transport were similar. The intrastaminal nectary in the lemon flowers is composed of a massive ring-like located below the base of the ovary. Nectar is secreted through few modified stomata and probably through the microchannels in the cuticle. Numerous branches of vascular bundles, with phloem elements, penetrate the nectariferous tissue and reach the subepidermal layers. The high content of endoplasmic reticulum, vesicles and Golgi bodies in the nectary cells indicates that the nectar is transferred by granulocrine secretion. The intercellular transport of nectar occurs using two ways: the symplast and apoplast pathway. The different regions of the nectary function asynchronously.
Postglacial Lineage Admixture in the Contact Zones of the Two Japanese Deciduous Broad-leaved Tree Species Estimated by Nuclear Microsatellite and Chloroplast DNA Markers

Climate oscillations during the Quaternary affected geographical distribution of various plant and animal species (Hewitt 2004). During climatic oscillations, the ranges of organisms might have occasionally been divided into several isolated populations. The genetic structure in extant populations may be the result of such historical changes in distribution (Hewitt 2000). Several organisms exhibit intraspecific genetic structures consistent with expected patterns from historical distributional changes suggested by paleontological studies (King & Ferris 1998, Abbott et al. 2000, Palme & Vendramin 2002, Petit et al. 2002, McLachlan et al. 2005, Magri et al. 2006). Contact zones are defined as areas where isolated populations from different refugia meet during postglacial expansion and distinct DNA lineages are consequently able to mix (Harrison 1993, Taberlet et al. 1998). Although secondary contacts of isolated lineages may result in other evolutionary consequences, such as reinforcement (Song et al. 2009, Lee & Mitchell-Olds 2011, 2013), the genetic structure of once separate populations in such contact zones are expected to gradually dissolve through postglacial mixing as long as gene flow between the lineages is not Postglacial Lineage Admixture in the Contact Zones of the Two Japanese