Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interesting times: winners, losers, and system shifts under climate change around Australia

Fulton, E. A. 2011. Interesting times: winners, losers, and system shifts under climate change around Australia. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: 1329–1342.Feedback and change are basic features of ecosystems, something global change has highlighted. Changes in the physical environment will see shifts in species ranges, community compositions, and ultimately the form and function of ecosystem and the human societies that exploit them. What these shifts will be depends on which of the competing (and potentially counteracting) mechanisms dominate through space and time. Moreover, changes are unlikely to be simple or linear; there will be winners, losers, and surprises. It also means that management will be complex and non-stationary, presenting management, scientific, and statistical challenges.
Rapid Implementation of E-Learning using a Technology Design Model

With the arrival of a new Learning Management System (LMS) on campus, the challenge was to develop a method to ensure rapid uptake of the technology, within the context of existing modules being taught. Most instructional design processes are based on designing a learning module from scratch, which is not only time consuming, but also not practical for a lecturer involved in teaching a number of courses. To change course delivery from face-to-face towards blended learning within an existing module, the technology design process was used. The technology design process allows the lecturer to scope the change from one unit in a module to all units or to incorporate single or multiple LMS functions. The technology design process allows for continuous improvements or changes being made to parts of an existing module. In this chapter, the lecturer remained in charge of the research and development change process and had only one other person who gave advice and assisted with technology during migration of the module to the LMS and blended mode of delivery. Implementation had a short lead time and units were developed on a Just In Time (JIT) basis. The lecturer could adapt presentation and design based on student questions and feedback in class and questions asked, from one unit to the next. From this case study a process was developed that the instructional designer can easily upscale or downscale for use during consultations with lectures who want to use the LMS: depending on the time available, intended outcomes and students involved.
The First Record of Asymphylodora Progenetica (Trematoda, Monorchiidae) in Ukraine

The First Record of Asymphylodora Progenetica (Trematoda, Monorchiidae) in Ukraine The trematode Asymphylodora progenetica Serkova et Bychovskii, 1940 was found in freshwater mollusks Bithynia tentaculata (Linnaeus, 1758) collected from the Kalmius River (near the city of Donetsk) in Ukraine. This species was recorded for the first time in Ukraine. Previously unknown encysted metacercariae and all detected stages of development are described and figured. Первая регистрация Asymphylodora progenetica (Trematoda, Monorchiidae) в Украине Трематода Asymphylodora progenetica Serkova et Bykhovskii, 1940, обнаруженная у моллюсков Bithynia tentaculata (Linnaeus, 1758), впервые зарегистрирована на территории Украины. Материал собран в р. Кальмиус (окр. г. Донецк). Выявлены и описаны ранее неизвестные для этого вида инцистированные метацеркарии. Приведены промеры, рисунки и морфологическая характеристика вида на всех выявленных стадиях.
Habitat Suitability and Local Population Persistence of the Sea Palm Postelsia Palmaeformis

Sporophytes of the sea palm Postelsia normally occur on a variety of inter- tidal surfaces. An experimental technique was developed permitting spores to be sown onto natural substrata whose relative suitabilities were evaluated using three criteria. All major surface categories (bare rock, animal, plant) were equivalent if judged by the appearance the following spring of a descendant sporophyte. However, the proportion of these plants surviving to maturity and continuing into the following year was highly substratum de- pendent. Bare rock surfaces are the most suitable for Postelsia as judged by probability of successful occupancy, sporophyte density, and inter-annual persistence. Single fertile plants can establish or maintain a population. The probability of local extinction is a function of population size: only 36% of small populations (1-30 plants) tended to continue to the next year, whereas all those > 120 individuals did. Postelsia seems incapable of persisting in the presence of the turf-like algae Corallina or Halosaccion. Thus sea palms may require the presence of competitively superior mussels: mussels out- compete algae of low stature; waves remove mussels, thereby generating Postelsia's most suitable substratum.
RiPLE-EM: a process to manage evolution in software product lines

Software reuse is a key aspect for organizations interested in achieving improvements in productivity, quality and costs reduction. Software product lines, as a software reuse approach, have proven its benefits in different industrial environments (Weiss et al., 2006). In terms of evolution, a product line is a continuously evolving organism, and for that, evolution should be managed properly to achieve all benefits of this approach. The fact that a core asset is shared among products, and every change to this asset can have effects on several products (McGregor, 2003), combined with the fact that in the SPL we have to deal with evolution in time (versions) and space (variability) (Krueger, 2002), make evolution management more challenging than in traditional single software development (Pussinen, 2002). Thus the evolution of each core asset and product need to be well managed to minimize problems like this. Thus, those challenges involve different solution spaces, such as technical issues, managerial and processes issues. Nevertheless, this dissertation focus is on the process issues of evolution management of software product lines. In this context, this dissertation presents the RiPLE-EM process to evolution management. The process is a systematic way to guide and manage the evolution of every asset and product in a product line context, handling change management, build management and release management activities. This dissertation also presented the initial validation of RiPLE-EM process, following well established guidelines to software experimentation (Wohlin et al., 2000), and according to the data collected and analyzed in the experimental study, RiPLE-EM presents indications that the process can be viable.
Past century changes in Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze water use efficiency and growth in forest and grassland ecosystems of southern Brazil: implications for forest expansion

Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze is an indigenous conifer tree restricted to the southern region of South America that plays a key role in the dynamics of regional ecosystems where forest expansion over grasslands has been observed. Here, we evaluate the changes in intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE) and basal area increment (BAI) of this species in response to atmospheric CO2, temperature and precipitation over the last century. Our investigation is based on tree‐rings taken from trees located in forest and grassland sites in southern Brazil. Differences in carbon isotopic composition (δ13C), 13CO2 discrimination (Δ13C) and intracellular carbon concentration (Ci) are also reported. Our results indicate an age effect on Δ13C in forest trees during the first decades of growth. This age effect is not linked to an initial BAI suppression, suggesting the previous existence of nonforested vegetation in the forest sites. After maturity all trees show similar temporal trends in carbon isotope‐derived variables and increasing iWUE, however, absolute values are significantly different between forest and grassland sites. The iWUE is higher in forest trees, indicating greater water competition or nutritional availability, relative to grassland, or both. BAI is also higher in forest trees, but it is not linked with iWUE or atmospheric CO2. Nevertheless, in both forest and grassland sites A. angustifolia has had growth limitations corresponding to low precipitation and high temperatures observed in the 1940s.
Determining the importance of the criteria of traffic accessibility using fuzzy AHP and rough AHP method

When defining criteria that have an influence on traffic accessibility, it is necessary to take into account the specificity of a concrete urban unit. A large number of authors base own research on a small number of traffic access criteria using one of the decision-making methods. The methods on which research can be based are multi-criteria decision-making in combination with fuzzy logic and rough numbers that give relevant results and are widely applied in all fields of science today. Thanks to these methods, for problems where is a large number of solutions in which certain criteria are formed, a valid solution can be reached. When using these methods, it is necessary to emphasize that there is a certain degree of subjectivity of the decision maker, but this can be minimized using fuzzy or rough numbers. The aim of this paper is to compare the significance of particular criteria using the Fuzzy AHP method and the Rough AHP method, which would show differences in the values of weight significance criteria and their ranking.
Cultural Value Orientations and Christian Religiosity: On Moral Traditionalism, Authoritarianism, and their Implications for Voting Behavior

Drawing upon problems of interpretation in political sociological research, this article questions the common practice of lumping together moral traditionalism and authoritarianism. First, it is demonstrated that of the two only moral traditionalism relates to religious orthodoxy. Second, the well-established strong correlation between both value orientations proves to be caused, in the case at hand solely by the circumstance that nontraditionalism and nonauthoritarianism go hand in hand; moral traditionalism and authoritarianism are almost unrelated. Third, moral traditionalists are shown to vote for Christian right-wing parties, whereas authoritarianism more commonly leads to a vote for a secular right-wing party. Fourth, whereas moral traditionalism proves decisive for the voting behavior of Christians, it is authoritarianism that underlies the non-Christian vote. These findings from The Netherlands (consistent with theories on cultural modernization) lead to the conclusion that attention should be paid to the distinction between these orientations because this aids the interpretation of research findings, and because authoritarianism will probably gain a more central role in politics at the cost of moral traditionalism.
A New Stratified Aquatic Sampling Technique for Aquatic Vertebrates

ABSTRACT We developed a new type of passive-sampling minnow trap that enables aquatic sampling at depths of up to 70 cm without drowning obligate air-breathers. The trap demonstrated a heightened ability to capture bottom-dwelling animals that may otherwise be underrepresented by other trapping methodologies. The success rate of this new trap, relative to conventional minnow traps, seems to vary across wetlands and seasons. After 502 trap-nights with the new trap and 870 trap-nights with minnow traps at three wetlands, we present data for three species of permanently aquatic salamanders, seven species of aquatic snakes, and four species of fishes.
COII Sequence-based Study for Population Genetic Variation of a Ground Beetle, Scarites aterrimus (Coleoptera : Carabidae)

The Scarites aterrimus (Coleoptera: Carabidae) dwells exclusively on coastal sandy dunes. Previously, we investigated the nation-wide magnitude and nature of genetic diversity of the species using mitochondrial COI gene and found moderate to low magnitude of sequence diversity, the presence of closely related haplotypes, and relatively high gene flow estimate. Based on these observations we concluded that the species had no historical barriers that bolster genetic subdivision and possible population decline. In this study, we additionally sequenced mitochondrial COII gene from 23 individuals collected from 9 Korean localities to confirm previous findings. Sequencing of 688 bp COII gene provided 5 haplotypes ranging in sequence divergence from 0.145% to 0.291% (1 ~ 2 bp), further confirming low sequence divergence of the species. Gene flow estimates and genetic diversity estimates also support the previous findings that there had been no historical barriers that bolster genetic subdivision.
Plants and Breeding Bird Response on a Managed Conservation Reserve Program Grassland in Maryland

Abstract Currently over 14.6 million ha of land at an annual cost of US$1.76 billion are enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The habitat benefits of CRP frequently are lauded, but documentation that wildlife is responding as hoped is urgently needed. We evaluated plant and breeding bird responses to 92.4 ha of CRP grasslands at Chino Farms in northeastern Maryland, USA. In 1999 we seeded 12 contiguous CRP fields with 5 mixtures of warm-season grasses representing various growth-form heights in a replicated experimental design, and used mowing and topical herbicide applications to control noxious weeds and facilitate stand establishment. In 6 years cumulative plant species richness increased to 261, 105 of which were species exotic to the region. During the third growing season, we initiated a schedule of prescribed burning on a 3-year rotation to remove accumulated litter and to retard woody succession, and in 2003 we added additional management to control aggressive plant species. Several at-risk bird species colonized the restored grasslands in the first year and established sustainable breeding populations. We implemented a comprehensive observation and banding program, which included mapping male territories for selected bird species and recording nest locations. We marked 1,985 grasshopper sparrows (Ammodramus savannarum; GRSPs) in 7 years. Breeding GRSP populations ranged annually from 70 to 90 socially monogamous pairs with an additional 40 non-territorial males. Annual return rates in the last 5 years were 57% for adult males, 41% for adult females, and 12% for hatch-year individuals. Adults and young birds exhibited high site fidelity, but overgrown fields left unburned for 2–3 years were unpopulated by GRSPs but attracted several shrub-land bird species. Habitat preference for territories was influenced more by vegetation structure than by plant species composition. We recommend the management of grasslands restored for birds include spatial and temporal rotation of prescribed fire and herbicide applications to sustain vegetation physical structure rather than species composition.
Past and prospects of forage maize breeding in Europe. I. The grass cell wall as a basis of genetic variation and future improvements in feeding value

Although maize was early recognized as an excellent forage plant soon after its introduction in Eu- rope, during a long time it was only bred for grain traits. Conversely to agronomic value, a steady decline in the average cell wall digestibility of hybrids was observed since the 1950s, despite a greater specialization of hybrids between forage and grain uses, except for the Nether- lands where varietal registration has taken into account traits related to plant digestibility for longer times. Mod- ern hybrids had on average a 5.5% lower in vivo cell wall digestibility than the old ones, leading to an organic mat- ter digestibility reduction by 2%, despite a tendency to a slight, but significant, increase in grain content. When compared to the well-known early hybrid LG11, hybrids with a lower cell wall digestibility were 32, 63, 75, 84, and 93% in each of the registration periods before 1981, 1989, 1994, 1999, and in or after 1999, respectively. Alle- les for highly friable and digestible cell walls were either eliminated during breeding for stalk standability and breakage resistance, or lost by genetic drift during breed- ing for grain yield. Breeding of highly digestible and in- gestible forage maize may depend on the reevaluation and use of old genetic resources that are not currently used, and/or specific breeding of digestibility/ingestibility resource lines. Cell wall structure and organization, and lignified tissue patterning, are the key factor explaining silage maize variation both for cell wall digestibility and intake. In maize, as in other Poaceae, p-coumaric acid and ferulic acid, along with its array of dehydrodimers, are ester and/or ether-linked to the cell wall polymers. Linkages of pCA esters to syringyl lignin units may markedly influence not only the binding mode of these lignin units, but also the spatial organization of the poly- mers and their interactions with polysaccharides. Similar- ly, ferulates cross-linking between guaiacyl residues and arabinoxylans is detrimental to cell wall digestibility, act- ing as a reinforcement of the wall structure, and decreas- ing wall component accessibility to microorganism en- zymes. Moreover, diferulate cross-linking of arabinoxylan chains is also involved in cell wall digestibility decrease, and is commonly thought to play a role in stiffening cell walls. While first improvements of maize cell wall di- gestibility were (will still be) based on whole plant di- gestibility tests, understanding the biochemical and mole- cular basis of cell wall biogenesis, organization, and ligni- fication, is now required to realize further progress in plant cell wall digestibility and intake.
A digital platform for supervised self-directed learning in emergencies: the case of the Syrian crisis

ABSTRACT The well-known Syrian crisis has made it very challenging for thousands of Syrian children to have access to education. In this article, the authors propose a framework for designing a digital education platform to allow children inside Syria as well as in the refugee camps in bordering countries to have access to education. The authors start by looking at the efforts performed in the field of education in conflict-affected regions, and they extract from them the lessons learned and recommendations. They provide four main characteristics of war impacting children’s education: (1) insecurity, (2) instability, (3) lack of resources, and (4) lack of adult supervision. They then use these four characteristics, along with the extracted recommendations, as the grounds for drafting three design considerations for the implementation of a digital education platform. The three design considerations are: supervised self-directed learning method, context-aware education and children-oriented design. Finally, the authors use these design considerations to provide design recommendations for the four main elements of a digital education platform: hardware, software, curriculum and supporting services. They conclude by discussing the validity of the digital platform, its implementation feasibility, and challenges facing the implementation.
Suaeda salsa, A Desalinating Companion Plant for Greenhouse Tomato

To determine its effect on salinity of the growth medium and on tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) growth and yield, the halophyte Suaeda salsa (L.) Pallas, or seepweed, was planted as a companion plant in the closed insulated pallet system (CIPS). In this production system, water moves from a bottom reservoir through capillary wicks to the medium in the root pouch in response to plant uptake. Fertilizers are placed at the top surface of the root matrix, so nutrient ions move downward to the roots by chemical ion diffusion to establish relatively stable chemical gradients within the matrix. Plants were subjected to capillary subirrigation water containing 0 or 4 g.L -1 NaCl. Sodium (Na + ) concentration of the root medium at termination was 50% lower when S. salsa was grown in the same pouch with tomato. Sodium concentration was also significantly less in the tomato foliage, but S. salsa did not prevent suppression of growth of tomato plants by NaCl. Suaeda salsa plants reduced blossom end rot of tomato fruit but did not significantly affect fruit weight, number or yield.
Epicuticular wax on pea plants decreases instantaneous search rate of Hippodamia convergens larvae and reduces attachment to leaf surfaces

Abstract Crop cultivar can affect the ability of natural enemies to control pest populations. Peas, Pisum sativum L. (Fabaceae), with a reduced epicuticular wax bloom have reduced pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), populations in the field than peas with a normal-wax bloom. In this paper we use the functional response to examine predation by Hippodamia convergens Guérin de Méneville (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) larvae foraging on pea plants with a normal- and a reduced-wax bloom. We found that Hippodamia convergens shows a Type II functional response on both phenotypes of peas. Hippodamia convergens consumed significantly more pea aphids on reduced-wax plants than on normal-wax plants. The instantaneous search rate, a, was higher for predators on reduced-wax plants, but the handling time, Th, was similar for predators on both wax phenotypes. In addition, we tested the ability of H. convergens larvae to attach to the surface of normal-wax and reduced-wax pea leaves. We found that H. convergens larvae attach more strongly to reduced-wax peas than to normal-wax peas. These results suggest that predation of pea aphid by H. convergens is enhanced on reduced-wax peas due to increased ability of predators to attach to these plants, and as a result, search for and find aphids. Résumé Le type de cultivar peut affecter la capacité des ennemis naturels à lutter contre les populations d'insectes nuisibles. Les pois, Pisum sativum L. (Fabaceae), qui ont une production de cire épicuticulaire réduite sont moins parasités par les populations du puceron du pois, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) (Hemiptera : Aphididae), en nature que les pois avec une couche cireuse normale. Nous avons examiné la réponse fonctionnelle de la prédation exercée par les larves d'Hippodamia convergens Guérin de Méneville (Coleoptera : Coccinellidae) se nourrissant sur des plants de pois à production normale ou réduite de cire. Hippodamia convergens a une réponse fonctionnelle de Type II sur les deux phénotypes de pois, mais consomme significativement plus de pucerons du pois sur les plants moins cireux. La vitesse instantanée de recherche, a, est plus grande chez les prédateurs qui sont sur les plants moins cireux, mais la durée de manipulation, Th, est semblable sur les deux types de plants. Nous avons également examiné la capacité des larves d'H. convergens de s'agripper à la surface de feuilles normales et de feuilles à couche de cire réduite. Les larves d'H. convergens se fixent plus solidement sur ces dernières que sur les feuilles normales. Ces résultats indiquent que la prédation exercée sur les pucerons du pois par H. convergens est favorisée sur les plants à couche de cire réduite parce que les prédateurs ont plus de facilité à s'y agripper et peuvent donc plus aisément chercher et trouver les pucerons. [Traduit par la Rédaction]