Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Production of 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid by Azomonas macrocytogenes and Azotobacter paspali

Four strains of Azomonas macrocytogenes and a strain of Azotobacter paspali were found to produce a common extracellular, iron-binding, phenolic compound. This compound was purified from cell-free culture supernatant fluids and chemically identified as 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (protocatechuic acid). 3,4-Dihydroxybenzoic acid was produced by cells growing in a simple defined medium containing acetate and glucose or sucrose as sole carbon sources. This compound promoted the solubilization of iron from the minerals olivine, glauconite, pyrite, and marcasite. Mineral-free medium prepared by preincubation with olivine or glauconite as the only iron source supported enhanced growth yields of Azomonas macrocytogenes (ATCC 12334) when 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid was present during the preincubation period. This suggests that 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid may play a role in solubilizing iron from some natural iron sources; however, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid can not be considered a true siderophore since it was produced.
An Evaluation of Management Objectives for Canada's Commercial Harp Seal Hunt, 1996‐1998

Abstract: The largest existing hunt for marine mammals is Canada's commercial hunt for Northwest Atlantic harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus). From 1995 to 1998, the total allowable catch was set at a level that the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans calculated would not cause the population to decline, consistent both with its stated management objectives of maintaining stable seal populations while allowing a sustainable harvest and with its stated policy of taking a precautionary approach to management. During those years, Canada's total allowable catch was progressively increased from 186,000 harp seals per year (1995) to 250,000 (1996) to 275,000 (1997 & 1998). We examined whether the government's management objectives were achieved using the conventional approach of comparing landed catches with the replacement yield estimated from a biological population model. We then conducted a second assessment, using a more modern and precautionary approach recently implemented for marine mammal management in the United States which incorporates uncertainty into management models to estimate sustainable “potential biological removal levels. ” From 1996 to 1998, landed catches from Canada and Greenland exceeded Canada's estimated replacement yield. Over the same period, estimated total human‐caused mortality exceeded potential biological removal levels by 1.5 to 5.9 times. Given such levels of reported catches and estimated total human‐caused mortality, Canada's management of its harp seal hunt did not achieve its objectives. It is likely, therefore, that the population is now declining and, if recent levels of killing continue, the population will stabilize only at levels below (and possibly far below) its maximum net productivity level. Viewed from this perspective, Canada's approach to harp seal management between 1996 and 1998 cannot be deemed precautionary or risk‐averse.
Hearing Loss in Workers Exposed to Toluene and Noise

In this study we investigated the risk of hearing loss among workers exposed to both toluene and noise. We recruited 58 workers at an adhesive materials manufacturing plant who were exposured to both toluene and noise [78.6–87.1 A-weighted decibels; dB(A)], 58 workers exposed to noise only [83.5–90.1 dB(A)], and 58 administrative clerks [67.9–72.6 dB(A)] at the same company. We interviewed participants to obtain sociodemographic and employment information and performed physical examinations, including pure-tone audiometry tests between 0.5 and 6 kHz. A contracted laboratory certified by the Council of Labor in Taiwan conducted on-site toluene and noise exposure measurements. The prevalence of hearing loss of ≥25 dB in the toluene plus noise group (86.2%) was much greater than that in the noise-only group (44.8%) and the administrative clerks (5.0%) (p < 0.001). The prevalence rates were 67.2, 32.8, and 8.3% (p < 0.001), respectively, when 0.5 kHz was excluded from the estimation. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the toluene plus noise group had an estimated risk for hearing loss ≥25 dB, 10.9 times higher than that of the noise–only group. The risk ratio dropped to 5.8 when 0.5 kHz was excluded from the risk estimation. Hearing impairment was greater for the pure-tone frequency of 1 kHz than for that of 2 kHz. However, the mean hearing threshold was the poorest for 6 kHz, and the least effect was observed for 2 kHz. Our results suggest that toluene exacerbates hearing loss in a noisy environment, with the main impact on the lower frequencies.
Freshwater mollusc diversity in the Kruger National Park: a comparison between a period of prolonged drought and a period of exceptionally high rainfall

Most of the previous records of the freshwater molluscs from the Kruger National Park date back to 1966 and earlier. On account of several droughts between 1966 and 1995, a survey was done in 1995 to evaluate the effect of these droughts on the mollusc population. As a result of extensive rainfall between 1995 and 2000 another survey was conducted to establish the effect of a period of exceptionally high rainfall on the species’ diversity of the mollusc population. With the exception of three habitats, an increase in mollusc diversity was recorded for all the other habitats previously surveyed. One of the invader freshwater snail species, Aplexa marmorata , collected in only one habitat in 1995, was found in seven habitats located mainly in the south during the 2001 survey. Another interesting finding was that juvenile specimens of Lanistes ovum , of which large specimens were present prior to 1966 but none found in 1995, were present in the Sirheni Dam in 2001. From this study the positive effect of the high rainfall on the species’ diversity is highly evident.
Effects of freeze-thaw injury on parameters of distributed electrical circuits of stems and needles of Scots pine seedlings at different stages of acclimation

Frost hardening and frost injury of both the stems and needles of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seedlings were studied by electrical impedance analysis. This impedance analysis was based on equivalent circuits with distributed circuit elements (DCE). A double-DCE model for stems and two single-DCE models for needles provided excellent fit to the experimental impedance data. However, the single-DCE model for needles which takes into account the asymmetry of the impedance arc proved more appropriate than the symmetric model. Several parameters changed in proportion to frost injury. In stems, extracellular resistance and one relaxation time decreased with increasing damage, whereas intracellular resistance remained relatively unchanged
Improving S-MSCKF With Variational Bayesian Adaptive Nonlinear Filter

In recent years, multi-sensor fusion has been paid a great attention and is widely applied to simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), e.g. Visual-Inertial Odometry (VIO). However, in the most of previous works the observation noise of sensor is assumed to be Gaussian with invariant constant mean and covariance, which is not the case actually. In this paper, a variational Bayesian adaptive algorithm is proposed to improve the performance of visual-inertial odometry, where covariance of observation noise is modeled as inverse-Wishart distribution with harmonic mean so that observation noise is non-Gaussian. Besides, unscented transformation is utilized to handle the nonlinear system problem. The proposed algorithm is applied to the framework of stereo multi-state constraint Kalman filter system (S-MSCKF), which is a state-of-the-art VIO system with low computational cost and good robustness. Extensive experiments are performed on simulation data and open source datasets. The results demonstrate that our proposed algorithm is more robust and accurate compared with S-MSCKF.
AWARE-CNN: Automated Workflow for Application-Aware Real-Time Edge Acceleration of CNNs

This article presents the application-aware real-time edge acceleration of CNNs (AWARE-CNNs) accelerators, which is a novel architecture design methodology for real-time execution of deep learning algorithms on IoT devices. AWARE leverages the reconfigurability of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) to create application-specific architectures customized to match the inherent dataflow of targeted deep neural networks and user-specified real-time requirements. The customized datapath is combined with a customized memory path to guarantee deterministic latency-aware execution over streaming data. For results and evaluation, we have developed a Chisel-based implementation of AWARE-CNN with a full integrative framework for application-specific architecture generation and synthesis (AWARE-CNN architecture compiler). Our results demonstrate the ability to execute Tiny DarkNet and shallow MobileNet inference at 120 frames/s (FPS) and 75 FPS, using only 2.8 and 3.4 W, respectively, on a Xilinx XCZU9EG FPGA. In addition, AWARE-CNN framework’s flexibility with respect to the targeted convolutional neural networks and user constraints is validated by targeting additional design points for AlexNet (as a baseline network) and Tiny YOLOv2.
Queue and Channel-Based Aloha Algorithm in Multichannel Wireless Networks

Cross-layer Aloha protocols that exploit the channel diversity when accessing the spectrum became popular in recent years, due to their capability to increase the user rates as compared to classic Aloha-type protocols. Existing algorithms, however, suffer from significant performance degradation in terms of queue load balancing, which makes them inefficient in practical systems. In this letter, we develop a novel queue and channel based Aloha (QCA) algorithm to solve this issue. In QCA, each user trades off between the channel state and the queue state to increase the rate while keeping the queue load small. Strong performance of the algorithm is demonstrated theoretically and numerically.
Life Satisfaction in Later Life: The Interplay of Marital Condition and Income among Elderly Koreans

Although both marital status and economic conditions significantly contribute to life satisfaction in later life, the effect of their interaction (or moderating) on life satisfaction has been understudied. Our goal was to examine whether marriage buffers the negative consequences of low income among elderly people. Using two large national survey datasets, the Korean Community Health Survey (n = 126,936) and the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA) (n = 5687), we examined the relationship between household income, marital condition (marital status and marital satisfaction), and life satisfaction in Korean adults over 50. We found that increases in life satisfaction among individuals aged 50 and over were associated with higher income, marital status, and spousal satisfaction. We also determined that the beneficial effects of marriage, as well as marital quality, on life satisfaction are stronger in men. Moreover, separated/divorced status, but not bereavement or single status, moderated the effects of household income, such that the adverse effects of poverty were particularly pronounced among those who were separated/divorced. Furthermore, spousal satisfaction also moderated the effect of household income on life satisfaction among married men, indicating that marital satisfaction amplifies the effect of favorable economic conditions on life satisfaction. Because economic condition and relationship status are two key determinants of life satisfaction, understanding their interactions can improve overall predictions of life satisfaction.
Effect of Higher Levels of Dietary Vitamin E on Performance and Immune Response in Growing Japanese Quail

Abstract Biswas, A. , Mohan, J., Sastry, K.V. H. and Tyagi, J.S. 2008. Effect of higher levels of dietary vitamin E on performance and immune responses in growing Japanese quail. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 33: 61–64. To study the effect of increasing dietary vitamin E (VE) on performance and immune response, 240 day old chicks were randomly selected and divided into 12 groups with 20 chicks in each group (3 dietary treatments × 4 replicates). The basal diet contained 15 IU VE/kg and the two experimental diets were supplemented with 150 IU and 300 IU VE/kg. Body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and mortality were not affected by VE supplementation. Antibody titres, response to intradermally injected phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) and the relative weights of the bursa of Fabricius and thymus were significantly (P<0.05) higher after feeding the two VE-supplemented diets. It is concluded that VE supplementation improved immune response but not performance in growing Japanese quail.
Disseminated and sustained HIV infection in CD34+ cord blood cell-transplanted Rag2−/−γc−/− mice

Because of species selectivity, HIV research is largely restricted to in vitro or clinical studies, both limited in their ability to rapidly assess new strategies to fight the virus. To prospectively study some aspects of HIV in vivo, immunodeficient mice, transplanted with either human peripheral blood leukocytes or human fetal tissues, have been developed. Although these are susceptible to HIV infection, xenoreactivity, and short infection spans, resource and ethical constraints, as well as biased HIV coreceptor tropic strain infection, pose substantial problems in their use. Rag2−/−γc−/− mice, transplanted as newborns with human CD34+ cells, were recently shown to develop human B, T, and dendritic cells, constituting lymphoid organs in situ. Here we tested these mice as a model system for HIV-1 infection. HIV RNA levels peaked to up to 2 × 106 copies per milliliter of plasma early after infection, and viremia was observed for up to 190 days, the longest time followed. A marked relative CD4+ T cell depletion in peripheral blood occurred in CXCR4-tropic strain-infected mice, whereas this was less pronounced in CCR5-tropic strain-infected animals. Thymus infection was almost exclusively observed in CXCR4-tropic strain-infected mice, whereas spleen and lymph node HIV infection occurred irrespective of coreceptor selectivity, consistent with respective coreceptor expression on human CD4+ T cells. Thus, this straightforward to generate and cost-effective in vivo model closely resembles HIV infection in man and therefore should be valuable to study virus-induced pathology and to rapidly evaluate new approaches aiming to prevent or treat HIV infection.
A modeling framework for exploring the population‐level effects of endocrine disruptors

Methods are proposed for modeling the population‐level effects of endocrine‐disrupting chemicals on age‐structured populations. We present a framework for representing xenobiotic‐induced impacts to reproductive, life‐stage transition, and mortality rates. Numerical simulations are described addressing delayed disturbance and recovery dynamics and potential transgenerational effects.
IAA-Dependent Adjustment of the in vivo Wall-Yielding Properties of Hypocotyl Segments of Vigna unguiculata during Adaptive Growth Recovery from Osmotic Stress

Regulation of the in vivo yielding properties of the cell wall, namely cell wall extensibility ( ) and effective turgor (/*—10, of Vigna hypocotyl segments during adaptive recovery of growth after osmotic stress was investigated by successive measurements using the pressure-jump method. In the absence of IAA, cell wall extensibility ( ) showed no significant changes under osmotic stress but effective turgor (P—10 reduced to near zero, resulting in no growth recovery. In the presence of 10 //M IAA, the cell wall extensibility was slightly decreased even when distinct recovery of growth took place in response to osmotic stress caused by 60 mM sorbitol. The effective turgor, however, showed a characteristic increase in contrast to the wall extensibility. It is not wall extensibility but effective turgor that regulates the cell wall yielding during the adaptive recovery of growth. In excised hypocotyl segments, however, reduced turgor would not be expected to recover, as has been observed in hollow cylinders (Nakahori et al. 1990). The results presented here suggest that the IAA-dependent adjustment of the yield threshold plays an indispensable role in wall-yielding for rapid adaptive growth recovery under osmotic stress.
Activation of c-Raf-1 Kinase Signal Transduction Pathway in α7 Integrin-deficient Mice*

Integrin α7-deficient mice develop a novel form of muscular dystrophy. Here we report that deficiency of α7 integrin causes an activation of the c-Raf-1/mitogen-activated protein (MAP) 2 kinase signal transduction pathway in muscle cells. The observed activation of c-Raf-1/MAP2 kinases is a specific effect, because the α7 integrin deficiency does not cause unspecific stress as determined by measurement of the Hsp72/73 level and activity of the JNK2 kinase. Because an increased level of activated FAK was found in muscle of α7 integrin-deficient mice, the activation of c-Raf-1 kinase is triggered most likely by an integrin-dependent pathway. In accordance with this, in the integrin α7-deficient mice, part of the integrin β1Dvariant in muscle is replaced by the β1A variant, which permits the FAK activation. A recent report describes that integrin activity can be down-modulated by the c-Raf-1/MAP2 kinase pathway. Specific activation of the c-Raf-1/MAP2 kinases by cell-permeable peptides in skeletal muscle of rabbits causes degeneration of muscle fibers. Therefore, we conclude that in α7integrin-deficient mice, the continuous activation of c-Raf-1 kinase causes a permanent reduction of integrin activity diminishing integrin-dependent cell-matrix interactions and thereby contributing to the development of the dystrophic phenotype.
The Genotype Conception of Heredity

BIOLOGY has evidently borrowed the terms “heredity” and “inheritance” from everyday language, in which the meaning of these words is the “transmission” of money or things, rights or duties—or even ideas and knowledge —from one person to another or to some others: the “heirs” or “inheritors. ”
Defining an intrasexual male weapon polymorphism in a New Zealand harvestman (Opiliones: Neopilionidae) using traditional and geometric morphometrics

In many species, competition for mates has led to exaggerated male sexually-selected traits. Sexually-selected male weapons are used in male-male combat and include structures like horns, antlers and enlarged teeth. Weapons often vary intraspecifically in size, resulting in either a continuum of weapon sizes or in discrete male polymorphisms. More rarely, complex weapon polymorphisms can also include variation in weapon shape; however, these are difficult to quantify. Here we first use traditional linear morphometrics to describe a weapon trimorphism in the endemic New Zealand harvestman, Forsteropsalis pureoraTaylor, 2013. We identified three male morphs: a small-bodied gamma male with reduced chelicera, a large-bodied beta male with long, slender chelicerae, and a large-bodied alpha male with shorter, but very broad, robust chelicerae. Chelicera length alone failed to fully capture the variation in weapon investment. Using geometric morphometrics, we show that alpha males are different in weapon shape, whereas beta and gamma males have similar weapon shape, but vary in their body size and chelicera length. Additionally, we describe how the chelicerae function during male-male combat from observations of contests. This work demonstrates how combining linear and geometric morphometrics can help to elucidate complex polymorphism.
Probiotic Streptococcus salivarius Reduces Symptoms of Denture Stomatitis and Oral Colonization by Candida albicans

Denture stomatitis (DS) is an inflammatory status of oral mucosae frequently observed in denture wearers, and mainly associated with oral overgrowth of Candida albicans. DS is the cause of multiple visits to the dental office and is thought to enhance the risk of systemic infections. The treatment of DS mainly relies upon improvement of oral hygiene measures and prescription of topical or systemic antifungal agents, and disinfectants that, although effective, are not without drawbacks. Since, in recent years, some probiotics were investigated as a means to contrast oral colonization by Candida spp. , this study was designed to preliminarily evaluate the effects of probiotic strain Streptococcus salivarius K12, in subjects affected by DS, and the duration of these effects. Fifty adult denture wearers affected by DS were enrolled and randomly divided into two groups: the experimental group was instructed to perform careful oral and denture hygiene and to assume the probiotic preparation for 30 days; the control group received only oral hygiene instructions. Patients were evaluated for signs of DS at the beginning of the study, at the end of treatment and 30 days later. Microbiological samples were obtained at the beginning of the study and at the end of treatment to quantify Candida albicans cells. Experimental treatment reduced clinical signs and symptoms of DS and the count of C. albicans. The clinical effects of experimental treatment were still evident after 30 days, suggesting that administration of probiotic strain Streptococcus salivarius K12 could be a promising approach in the treatment of DS.
Cataract preventative role of mammalian blood meal, histidine, iron and zinc in diets for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) of different strains

In the period from winter 1996 to autumn 1999, three feeding trials were conducted to study the possible role of mammalian blood meal in preventing lens opacities in Atlantic salmon. In addition to blood meal supplemented feed, experimental diets were formulated, aiming to mimic the total concentrations of selected elements present in blood meal (BM) enriched diets; the amino acid histidine (His) and the mineral iron (Fe). In addition, these diets were supplemented with Zn. The trials included different rearing conditions, sizes and strains of Atlantic salmon; one small scale feeding experiment with pre-smolt of Strain A in fresh water (Trial 1) and two semi large trials with sub-yearling (S0s) and yearling (S1s) smolts of Strains A and B in seawater (Trials 2 and 3). The trials included duplicate or triplicate feeding groups and lasted 6–12 months. Standard commercial diets not supplemented with BM were used as controls. High prevalence of cataract developed over time in all three studies, with end point ranges as follows; Trial 1: 40–52 %; Trial 2: 51–83 %; Trial 3: 63–100%. The cataracts normally first appeared in the anterior and/or posterior cortical region and later affected the perinuclear region. In all the experiments, there was a significant cataract preventative effect of both the BM supplemented and experimental diets compared to the respective control diets. To some extent, cataract incidence was reduced, but primarily cataractogenesis was less severe in these groups. A concurrent positive effect on growth of both added BM and experimental diets was observed in the two seawater trials, probably related to maintaining vision and feed uptake ability. In one of the trials, there were significant differences in cataract susceptibility between the two strains, measured both as frequency and severity of cataractous changes. Our data suggest that elevated concentrations of dietary His and/or Fe mitigate cataract formation.