Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identifying Wildlife Corridors Using Local Knowledge and Occupancy Methods along the San Buenaventura-Ixiamas Road, La Paz, Bolivia

In 2013, we conducted a baseline study on the presence, distribution and occupancy of medium- to large-sized mammals in Bolivia along the San Buenaventura-Ixiamas road that runs parallel to the Madidi National Park and Natural Area of Integrated Management boundary and cuts through the Tacana Indigenous Territory and a number of neighboring private properties. Establishing a 3 km buffer on each side of the road, we studied an 865 km2 area divided into 1 km2 cells and sampled a total of 356 of these cells. In each cell, we established one 300 m transect divided into 25 m sections and registered wildlife sign, mainly footprints, from eight wildlife species or species groups. The transects were placed either along streams (75% of cells) or within forest (25% of cells). Using single-season single-species occupancy models we estimated occupancy (ψ) for Tapirus terrestris (ψ = 0.39), Pecari tajacu (ψ = 0.5), Mazama americana (ψ = 0.56), Dasyprocta spp. (ψ = 0.59), Cuniculus paca (ψ = 0.56), Leopardus spp. (ψ = 0.33), and use for Tayassu pecari (ψ = 0.17) and Panthera onca (ψ = 0.11). Occupancy and use results verified community perceived wildlife corridors between Madidi and its area of influence. We identified additional corridors along many streams crossing the San Buenaventura-Ixiamas road. This connectivity is not only important for wildlife, but also from a food security perspective for the indigenous communities that depend on wildlife as an important source of protein. The results will be used to mitigate the impact of road improvements through the identification of priority areas for maintaining connectivity between Madidi and the surrounding landscape.
Nanoliposomal Cercodemasoide A and Its Improved Activities Against NTERA-2 Cancer Stem Cells

Recently, saponins derived from marine sources have received much attention because of their promising bioactivities, such as anticancer, anti-angiogenesis, and anti-inflammation. In particular, a triterpene saponin from the sea cucumber Cercodemas anceps Selenka, cercodemasoide A (CAN1), showed potent cytotoxicity against various cancer cell lines. Recent evidence has indicated that cancer stem cells (CSCs) could be a novel target for efficient cancer therapies. In order to improve the biopharmaceutical properties of CAN1, the compound was loaded into nanoliposomes as an ideal drug carrier. CAN1 was successfully incorporated into nanoliposomes as small unilamellar liposome vesicles with an average size of 73.39 ± 1.57 nm, zeta potential of −0.299 ± 0.046 mV, polydispersity index of 0.336 ± 0.038, and with an encapsulation efficiency of up to 62.9%. For the first time, CAN1 and its nanoliposomal forms have been shown to have a promising cytotoxic activity against NTERA-2 CSCs, with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) =1.03 ± 0.04 and 0.41 ± 0.03 µM, respectively. The CAN1 nanoliposomes also presented significantly improved activities in suppressing the growth of NTERA-2 3-dimensional tumorspheres (IC50 = 1.71 ± 0.06 µM) in comparison with the free form (P < .05). The anti-CSC effects of CAN1 nanoliposomes on NTERA-2 cells were due to their apoptotic induction through enhancing caspase-3 activity (more than 2-fold) and arresting the cell cycle at the S phase (P < .05). The obtained CAN1-encapsulated nanoliposomes suggest valuable applications in CSC-targeting treatment for more efficient clinical therapy.
Auditory Rate Perception Displays a Positive Serial Dependence

We investigated perceived timing in auditory rate perception using a reproduction task. The study aimed to test (a) whether central tendency occurs in rate perception, as shown for interval timing, and (b) whether rate is perceived independently on each trial or shows a serial dependence, as shown for other perceptual attributes. Participants were well able to indicate perceived rate as reproduced and presented rates were linearly related with a slope that approached unity, although tapping significantly overestimated presented rates. While the slopes approached unity, they were significantly less than 1, indicating a central tendency in which reproduced rates tended towards the mean of the presented range. We tested for serial dependency by seeing if current trial rate reproductions depended on the preceding rate. In two conditions, a positive dependence was observed. A third condition in which participants withheld responses on every second trial produced a negative dependency. These results suggest separate components of serial dependence linked to stimulus and response: Withholding responses reveals a negative perceptual effect, whereas making responses adds a stronger positive effect that is postperceptual and makes the combined effect positive. Together, these data show that auditory rate perception exhibits both central tendency and serial dependence effects.
Droplet‐based microfluidics for microtoxicological studies

The specific sensitivity of different organisms, cells, and tissues against chemicals, the huge number of produced and applied substances, and the combinatorial explosion of effects by the combination of substances demand new concepts for the efficient determination of toxicological dose/response relations. The generation, processing, and characterization of microdroplets of different chemical compositions enable microfluidic approaches to offer a very promising strategy for strongly miniaturized toxicological screenings. Over the last decade, several developments demonstrated the applicability of droplet‐based microfluidic systems for toxicological studies. We review the current state of developments in microfluidics for toxicological applications. These have become powerful alternatives to microtiter plates and are very promising for replacing the standard methods in many fields. This article will focus on toxicological dose/response screenings with the variation of droplet composition, particularly on the possibility of generating “concentration spaces,” as well as on the applied sensing principles of organisms and cells inside the microdroplets.
Speed Overestimation of the Moving Away Object in the Intentional Reaction Causal Effect

We describe a new illusory speed effect arising in visual events developed by Michotte (1946/1963) in studies of causal perception and, more specifically, within the so-called intentional reaction effect: When an Object B is seen intentionally escaping from another Object A, its perceived speed is overestimated. In Experiment 1, we used two-alternative forced choice comparisons to estimate perceived speed scale values for a small square moving either alone or in different contexts known to elicit different impressions of animacy (Parovel et al., 2018). The results showed that B’s speed was overestimated only in the condition in which it moved away from another approaching square moving in a nonrigid way, like a caterpillar. In Experiment 2, we psychophysically measured the magnitude of speed overestimation in that condition and tested whether it could be affected by further animacy cues related to the escaping object (the actual velocity of the square) and to the approaching square (its type of motion: caterpillar or linear). Results confirmed that B’s speed was overestimated up to 10% and that the degree of overestimation was affected by both experimental factors, being greater at higher speeds and when the chasing object moved in an animate fashion. This speed bias might be related to a higher sensitivity of the visual processes to threat-related events such as fighting and chasing, leading to evolutionary adaptive behaviours such as speedy flight from predators, but also empathy and emotion understanding.
Land-Use Change in a Mexican Dry Forest Promotes Species Turnover and Increases Nestedness in Plant-Hummingbird Networks: Are Exotic Plants Taking Over?

Background Despite the increasing knowledge of plant-pollinator interaction networks, the effects of human-induced disturbances on them have barely been studied. We analyzed whether land-use changes modified the structure and topology of plant-hummingbird interaction networks or promoted the integration of exotic plant species. Methods Fieldwork was carried out in two vegetation areas in Mexico: a protected tropical dry forest and nearby disturbed sites. For two years we registered hummingbird-plant interactions monthly in each area. Then, we constructed interaction matrices from these data and compared their assemblage structure. Results The conversion of original dry forest to disturbed habitats impacted some assemblage attributes of the plant-hummingbird network. In the disturbed sites, there were more plant species, mainly exotics, and one additional hummingbird species. Most network attributes remained the same except niche width and nestedness (pattern of interactions where generalists and specialists tend to interact with generalists whereas specialist-to-specialist interactions are infrequent), which were higher in the disturbed network. The generalist core in the disturbed network contained half of the core species in the conserved network. Implications for conservation Exotic plants that strongly integrated into the disturbed network may exert a large influence on network dynamics in these areas. Identifying the interacting species and their role provides valuable insights for their conservation and protection. Hummingbirds attracting native plant species have a potential for practical or ornamental use, and hummingbirds presence in human-modified landscapes not only provides positive aesthetic value to people but can additionally contribute to conserving native plants and the biodiversity associated with them.
A Geometrical Account to Explain the Fat-Face Illusion

Investigations of the “fat-face” illusion have unanimously agreed that the illusion is face-specific. Here, we offer several manipulations to highlight that the fat-face illusion is not restricted to the bottom image, isn’t a property of internal features, facial contour/texture, and in general isn’t even specific to faces. We propose the axis of horizontal asymmetry account to contextualize fat-face illusion as a geometry-led illusion.
Book review: Nayan Mitra and René Schmidpeter (Eds.), Corporate Social Responsibility in India: Cases and Developments after the Legal Mandate

Nayan Mitra and René Schmidpeter (Eds.), Corporate Social Responsibility in India: Cases and Developments after the Legal Mandate. Cham: Springer, 2016, 238 pp., ₹135.19 (Hardback). ISBN: 978-3-319-41781-3.
The Effects of Differential Diffusion on Nanoparticle Coagulation in Temporal Mixing Layers

The effects of size-independent diffusive transport on nanoparticle growth is studied by performing direct numerical simulation of nanoparticle coagulation in temporal mixing layers. The flow field is obtained by solving the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, while the evolution of the particle field is obtained by using a nodal approach to approximate the aerosol general dynamic equation. Simulations are performed where particles diffuse according to their size and also where all particles have the same diffusivity. For the latter, the model assumes that all particles of different sizes have the same diffusivity as the smallest particles. The advantage of the second approach is the length scales that need to be resolved are larger, facilitating more affordable computations. Simulations are performed at two volume fractions to assess the effects of the models under different growth rates. The results indicate the use of size-independent diffusion coefficients predicts particle sizes and geometric standard deviations that are larger than those obtained with size-dependent diffusion coefficients.
Symposia — Oral Communications — Late Breaking News

S 1D E V E L O P M E N T O F A V A C C I N E F O R P R E V E N T I O N A N D T R E A T M E N T O F A L Z H E I M E R’ S D I S E A S E . S. H e n d ri x 1 , C. J e ff r e y , R. E ri c , M. Ri c h a r d (( 1) Pe nt ar a Mill cree k, U S A; ( 2) C ns I n n o v ati o ns L as Ve g as; U S A; ( 3) B a n ner Al z hei mer’s I nstit ute P h oe ni x, U S A; ( 4) Gl o b al Al z hei mer’s Pl atf or m F o u n d ati o n W as hi n gt o n D c, U S A)
Ammonium-functionalized mesoporous silica MCM-41 for phosphate removal from aqueous solutions

AbstractThe aim of this study was to investigate the removal of phosphate (P) using ammonium-functionalized MCM-41 (A-MCM-41). Batch experiments were performed with A-MCM-41 under various conditions including the adsorbent dose, reaction time, initial P concentration, and solution pH. The results showed that the phosphate removal in the MCM-41 (initial P conc. = 2 mgP L−1) was negligible with the percent removal of ≤1.0% at the adsorbent dosages between 0.5 and 2.0 g L−1. In the case of A-MCM-41, the percent removal increased from 73.6 to 100% as the adsorbent dose increased from 0.5 to 2.0 g L−1. This indicated an enhancement of the phosphate removal due to the surface modification of the MCM-41 through the functionalization of the ammonium group (NH3+). The results also demonstrated that the phosphate removal by the MCM-41 was minimal throughout the acidic and alkaline pH conditions (3.1% at pH 3.5; ≤1.0% at pH 5.4–10.7), whereas the phosphate removal by the A-MCM-41 was effective throughout the acidic .
Structural Characterization of Cork Lignin by Thioacidolysis and Permanganate Oxidation

Summary Quercus suber L. milled cork lignins obtained from extractive-free cork (MCL) and from saponified cork (MCLsap) were characterized by thioacidolysis and KMnO4 oxidation. These techniques and the previously used analytical pyrolysis revealed that cork contains a guaiacyl lignin (G lignin) with 94–96% guaiacyl-, ca. 3% syringyl-, and 2–3% of 4-hydroxyphenyl-propane units. The total yields of degradation products in thioacidolysis and KMnO4 oxidation experiments were lower in comparison to those of a spruce milled wood lignin (MWLspruce) suggesting a higher cross-linking in the G-lignin of cork. The higher frequency of “condensed” structures (having C-C or C-O-C linkages to aromatic rings) in cork lignin was also manifested in the relative abundance of various aromatic acids obtained by KMnO4 oxidation. The cork lignin (MCLsap) contains only low amounts (ca. 2%) of covalently bonded suberinic acids. Numerous free aliphatic suberinic acids were detected and identified in the ether soluble part of MCLsap. Ferulic acid was not liberated by thioacidolysis, pointing at an in situ acylation. We suggest that the major part of the aromatic domain in cork is a G-lignin but that it includes also another structural moiety with higher H-unit content and linked by thioacidolysis resistant bonds.
Mechanical Spectroscopy Studies on a Side-Chain Liquid Crystalline Polysiloxane. Comparison with Dielectric and DSC Data

The viscoelastic properties are investigated for a side-chain liquid crystalline polymer using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) in the temperature region comprising the glass transition and the smectic phase. Two main relaxation processes are found, labeled α and δ relaxations, with increasing temperature. The results are compared with dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results previously reported. The α-relaxation is well described by the KWW and Havriliak−Negami models, featuring a broad distribution of relaxation times, which depend on temperature according to the VFT model above Tg. The mechanical, dielectric, and calorimetric results in the region of the α-relaxation show similar behavior, indicating that this process should be assigned to the segmental mobility of the main chain. This hypothesis could be consistent with the onset of faster modes within the mesogens, mainly involving their transverse dipole component, for the case of the dielectric r.
Platelet Indices show marked systematic bias on storage under ideal conditions: An important preanalytical factor affecting the interpretation of platelet indices

Sir, Systematic bias occurring on storage is an important preanalytical error with implications for clinical decision‐making. The mean platelet volume (MPV), plateletcrit (PCT), and platelet distribution width (PDW) have been proposed as discriminatory indices in a variety of clinical settings. [1] In the blood bank, platelet indices are important to check disease progression in dengue patients and are also important measurands in studies on platelet concentrates. However, the reported values of the parameters may change on sample storage, resulting in interpretational difficulties. This study was conducted to investigate the short‐term stability of the platelet indices (MPV, PDW, and PCT) when stored under ideal clinical laboratory conditions (4°C and 22°C).
Fate of Estrogens and Estrogenic Potentials in Sewerage Systems

Release of steroid estrogens such as estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) into the urban environment is of concern due to their prominent endocrine disrupting properties. This review focuses on the fate of estrogens as well as estrogenic potentials in the sewerage system starting from human excretion to municipal sewage treatment facilities. To examine the roles of different components in the municipal sewage treatment facilities in the removal of estrogens, data from 130 full-scale municipal sewage treatment plants (STPs) in 14 countries were summarized. Primary treatment systems removed less than 10% of the influent estrogens. Municipal STPs with the secondary biological treatment systems gave higher percentage removals of estrogens and estrogenic potentials than municipal STPs without secondary biological treatment systems. On average, municipal STPs with suspended growth systems gave better percentage removals of estrogens and estrogenic potentials than attached growth systems. Biological processes with nitrification had higher percentage removals than processes without nitrification. Microorganisms responsible for the degradation of estrogens under various conditions were also reviewed and presented.
Ion beam assisted deposition of textured magnesium oxide templates on un-buffered glass and silicon substrates

Biaxially textured magnesium oxide (MgO) templates of 10-nm thickness were successfully fabricated on glass and silicon substrates without any buffer layers using Ar^+ ion beam assisted e-beam evaporation. With an additional layer of 100 nm homoepi MgO on top, the in-plane misorientation of ∼6.5° and out-of-plane misorientation of ∼2.0° have been obtained. Prior to growth, the substrates were bombarded with the same Ar^+ ion beam for a certain period ranging from 5 to 35 min to provide initial substrate conditions for textured MgO formation. The ion beam induced modification of the substrate surface morphology was characterized using atomic force microscopy. Reduced surface roughness R _a from 2 to 3 nm on the original glass substrates to below 1.0 nm after 5 min ion beam bombardment was found to be an important condition for the textured MgO formation. The nearly unchanged R_a ≤ 1 nm of the silicon substrate after the ion beam bombardment, however, suggests that additional surface modification is required for the textured MgO to form.
An Extraoral Surgical Approach to Treat Chronic Submandibular Sialolithiasis - A Case Series

Sialolithiasis is the most common cause of sialadenitis in the submandibular gland, in which the highest incidence of this condition occurs, among the major salivary glands. This could be explained by the anatomy of Wharton's duct, and the chemical composition of the saliva produced by this gland. There are several alternatives and techniques for the treatment of sialolithiasis, including lithotripsy, sialoendoscopy, and conservative removal of the sialoliths or complete removal of the submandibular gland, through the transoral and extraoral routes for access to the gland. To determine the form of treatment, characteristics such as topography, diameter, and location of the sialolith in the duct are observed. The aim of this case series was to show our experience gained in two clinical cases of submandibular gland excision through an extraoral approach, using the submandibular access technique. In addition, we discussed the cause of sialolithiasis in these patients and after follow-up, compared the clinical results we obtained with this technique with those reported in the current literature. The submandibular approach or Risdon access continues to be a safe approach to removing the submandibular gland, as it is a commonly used technique and obtained satisfactory results, as shown in these cases. However, the major disadvantages were the less favorable esthetic results and paralysis of the marginal mandibular branch of the facial nerve.
Short-Term Noise Annoyance and Electrodermal Response as a Function of Sound-Pressure Level, Cognitive Task Load, and Noise Sensitivity

Introduction: Two aspects of noise annoyance were addressed in the present laboratory study: (1) the disturbance produced by vehicle pass-by noise while engaging in a challenging non-auditory task, and (2) the evaluative response elicited by the same sounds while imagining to relax at home in the absence of a primary activity. Methods and Material: In Experiment 1, N = 29 participants were exposed to short (3-6 s) pass-by recordings presented at graded levels between 50 and 70 dB(A). Concurrent with each sound presentation, they performed a visual multiple-object tracking task, and subsequently rated the annoyance of the sounds on a VAS scale. In Experiment 2, N = 30 participants judged the sounds while imagining to relax, without such a cognitive task. Results and Discussion: Annoyance was reduced when participants were engaged in the cognitively demanding task, in Experiment 1. Furthermore, when occupied with the task, annoyance slightly, but significantly increased with task load. Across both experiments, the magnitude of simultaneously recorded skin conductance responses in the first 1-4 s after the onset of stimulation increased significantly with sound pressure level. Annoyance ratings tended to be elevated across all sound levels, though significantly only in Experiment 2, in participants classified as noise sensitive based on a 52-item questionnaire. Conclusions: The results suggest that noise annoyance depends on the primary activity the listener is engaged in. They demonstrate that phasic skin conductance responses may serve as an objective correlate of the degree of annoyance experienced. Finally, noise sensitivity is once more shown to augment annoyance ratings in an additive fashion.