Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Study of common mitochondrial mutations in patients with nonsyndromic hearing loss

Hearing loss is the most common sensorineural disorder involving one out of 1000 people. Around 50% of hearing losses occur due to genetic causes. Three mitochondrial mutations, A1555G in MTRNR1, A3243G in MTTL1, and A7445G in MTTS1, are the most important non-syndromic sensorineural causes of hearing loss in some populations. The aim of this review was to study common mitochondrial mutations in people with hearing loss in Iran. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Google Scholar, PubMed (NLM), LISTA (EBSCO) and Web of Science were searched. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Studies have indicated that the mitochondrial mutations A3243G, A1555G, and A7445G play no significant part in the development of hearing loss in Iran. Different variants of A7445C and G3316A have been identified in Iran. CONCLUSIONS: Further studies on other ethnicities and with a larger sample size are necessary to elucidate the role of these genes in hearing loss development in Iran.
The exudation of solutes during senescence of oat leaves

Exudation of cations and of amino acids from detached oat seedling leaves (Avena sativa L. cv. Victory) floated on water or solutions was measured under varied conditions. A small amount of exudation in the first 4 h, greater in the dark than in white light, is followed, one to 8 days later, by a relatively great increase which approximately accompanies senescence. This second increase is delayed by kinetin and is accelerated by abscisic acid or methyl jasmonate. both of which accelerate senescence. A nitrogen atmosphere (in darkness) causes immediate large exudation, mainly of potassium ions, and this is effectively delayed by light. There are two exceptions to the parallel between exudation and senescence; n-pentanol, which strongly delays senescence in darkness, nevertheless increases exudation both of potassium and of amino acids, probably due to a direct effect on the plasmalemma. Cycloheximide, which also delays senescence, increases the exudation somewhat. Kinetin prevents or delays exudation under all conditions. Thus, the permeability of the plasmalemma increases greatly along with other criteria of senescence, but this change is probably not the principal cause of the senescence syndrome. Some of the effects are considered to result from reduction in available energy and others from a direct influence on plasmalemma permeability.
Vibrational alarm communication in the damp‐wood termite Zootermopsis nevadensis

Abstract. Vibrational alarm communication was studied in the New World, damp‐wood termite Zootermopsis nevadensis (Isoptera: Termopsidae). Workers and soldiers react to disturbance such as sudden bright light or air currents by drumming their heads against the substratum. This drumming has been described as alarm signalling; its functional significance and perception by the nest mates, however, remained unclear. In the present study we analysed spectral and temporal properties and absolute amplitudes of the vibrational signals and used behavioural responses of the termites to determine the thresholds of the sense of vibration and to find out if and how the termites discriminate the conspecific alarm signals from the background noise.
Reproduction and Development in Chondrichthyan Fishes

Patterns of chondrichthyan reproduction and development are diverse. Species either are reproductively active throughout the year, or have a poorly defined annual cycle with one or two peaks of activity, or have a well defined annual or biennial cycle. Based on embryological origin and adult morphology, their reproductive system is more similar to tetrapods than to teleosts. Primordial germ cells are of endodermal origin. The Wolffian ducts in males and Mullerian ducts in females become the functional urogenital ducts. Differentiation is under hormonal control. Unusual features of the reproductive system include an epigonal organ in males and females. It contains lymphoid and hemopoietic tissue. Leydig's gland, a modified region of the kidney, produces seminal fluid. In some species, sperm passing through the vas deferens, is enclosed in spermatophores. Rotating about their long axis, helical spermatozoa can move forward or reverse direction. Spermatogenesis often occurs in bicellular units, spermatocysts. These consist of a spermatogonium enclosed in a Sertoh cell. Fertilization is internal. Claspers, modified portions of the pelvic fins act as intromittent organs. In many viviparous sharks and rays, the female reproductive system is asymmetrical. Eggs of some sharks are the largest known cells. Yolk platelets contain lipovitellin. Oocytes have lampbrush chromosomes. Eggs released from the ovary into the body cavity are transported by ciliary action to the ostium of the oviduct. There they are fertilized. Physiological polyspermy is normal. The shell gland, a specialized region of the anterior oviduct, functions both in long term sperm storage and in egg case production. Egg cases of sharks and skates consist of unique collagenous protein with a 400 A period, organized as a cholesteric liquid crystal. Chimaeroid egg cases contain 550 A pseudotubules in orthogonal lattices. In small sharks, males copulate by coiling around the female. A parallel position is assumed by large sharks. Skates and rays copulate with ventral surfaces apposed or by a dorsal approach. Biting is a pre-copulatory release mechanism. Parental care, except for selective oviposition, is lacking. Heavily yolked eggs undergo meroblastic, discoidal cleavage. Development is lengthy, shortest (2–4 months) in rays, longer in skates (3–8 months) and longest (9–22 months) in sharks and chimaeras. Most sharks and all rays are viviparous. Chimaeras, skates, and some sharks are oviparous. Viviparity either involves a yolk sac placenta or is aplacental. If aplacental, the embryo derives nutrients either from yolk reserves, or by intra-uterine embryonic cannibalism, or from placental analogues which secrete “uterine milk. ” Phylogenetic position, geographical distribution, benthic vs. pelagic habitat, adult size, egg-embryo size, feeding ecology, and embryonic osmoregulation are factors in the retention of oviparity or the evolution of viviparity.
Typological thinking and the conservation of subspecies: the case of the San Clemente Island loggerhead shrike

Abstract. Hybridization with closely related taxa poses a significant threat to endangered subspecies (e.g. outbreeding depression, inbreeding) and confounds efforts to manage and conserve these taxa through a loss of taxonomic identity, in part because of the practical necessity of defining subspecies in a typological manner. We examined nine morphological characters in 167 post‐juvenile museum specimens to determine if loggerhead shrikes Lanius ludovicianus Linnaeus 1766 on San Clemente Island (off the coast of California) remain diagnosable as L. l. mearnsi Ridgway (1903); an island endemic listed as endangered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Four recent shrike specimens from the island were compared to historical specimens using a bivariate scatter plot and a discriminant function (the latter was used to classify recent specimens post hoc). The few recent specimens were not diagnosable as L. l. mearnsi, but instead appear to be intergrades between L. l. mearnsi and L. l. anthonyi Mearns 1898 (the subspecies endemic to Santa Cruz, Santa Catalina, Santa Rosa and Anacapa islands), and are perhaps closer to pure anthonyi. Our data and the species’ natural history and distribution suggest that shrikes currently on San Clemente Island are the result of genetic ‘swamping’ of mearnsi by anthonyi. Under a necessarily typological definition of a subspecies, it is evident that mearnsi is probably no longer diagnosable. However, we conclude that protection of the entire Channel Islands population of the loggerhead shrike would be the best management strategy, as the species has declined drastically throughout the islands.
Low level red laser therapy using wavelength 635nm for diabetic foot ulcers: a prospective study

Background: Diabetic foot ulcer is one of the important complications of diabetes. After effective debridement and antibiotic therapy, lasers are used to hasten the healing process. Red laser of wavelength 635nm promotes wound healing. This study will aid us to find out the efficacy of red laser wavelength 635nm in healing of diabetic foot ulcers.Methods: After obtaining informed consent, diabetic foot ulcer patients admitted to Rajiv Gandhi government hospital were selected based on non-probability convenience sampling. Necessary history obtained, clinical examination of the ulcer done, investigations done. Cases are given 30minutes of laser therapy by non-contact method before regular ulcer dressing. Controls are given saline dressing. Ulcer area measured before initiation of therapy and measured at 1st week, 2nd week and 3rd week after initiation of therapy.Results: Wound contraction rate was 39.65% with laser and 11.26% with saline dressing alone (p<0.001). The data were statistically significant; thus, laser have wound healing property.Conclusions: Cases have more mean contraction percentage than controls (37.99% versus 11.68%, p<0.001). So LLLT is an effective therapy to heal diabetic ulcers. Need for additional surgeries can be avoided by using LLLT.
Repression, political threats, and survival under autocracy

Along with the mobilization of political support, repression is one of the two basic instruments dictators use to stay in power. Yet, there is no systematic investigation analyzing whether repression actually helps dictators retain power. This article fills this gap by addressing the simultaneous relationship between survival and repression. The results reveal that repression certainly increases the likelihood of dictators’ survival. Furthermore, this article also analyzes different types of authoritarian leader exit and repression. The article distinguishes between, on the one hand, nonviolent and regular exits and, on the other hand, violent and irregular exits as well as between political terror and restrictions on civil liberties. It argues that terror is effective against threats from organized groups, while restrictions on civil liberties essentially serve to prevent collective action. The empirical evidence confirms that political terror only reduces the likelihood of nonviolent and regular exits. Instead, restrictions on civil liberties are effective in deterring both sorts of threats.
International variety

s 278 IFLA Journal Offi cial Journal of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions ISSN 0340-0352 [print] 1745-2651 [online] Published 4 times a year in March, June, October and December Editor: Stephen Parker, Apt. 1C, Edifício Rosa dos Ventos, Rua Rosa Parracho 27, Cascais 2750-778, Portugal. Email: zest@sapo.pt
Millennial‐scale relationships of diatom species richness and production in two prairie lakes

Insight into the causes and consequences of changes in aquatic biodiversity requires an improved understanding of the nature of the relationships between species richness and ecosystem function over a much longer temporal perspective than we currently possess. We used high‐resolution paleoecological records from two prairie lakes to show that diatom species richness (as fossil frustules) was negatively correlated (r2 = 0.09–0.24, p < 0.001) with diatom production (as fossil pigments) during the past 2,000 yr. By comparing analyses from intervals of fresh and saline waters, we demonstrate that these significant richness‐production relationships arose during freshwater periods (r2 = 0.13–0.45, p < 0.001) and could be eliminated (r2 < 0.02, p > 0.1) by abiotic disturbances such as droughts. Procrustes analyses of the concordance of species change within freshwater communities and the change in richness‐production relationships through time revealed that shifts in diatom community composition could have a large influence in determining the negative relationship between richness and production. Finally, significant correlations (r2 = 0.09–0.24, p < 0.0001) between past diatom species richness and ratios of stable isotopes (primarily δ15N) suggested that C and N biogeochemical cycles are also linked to changes in algal biodiversity. Taken together, these analyses suggest that the ongoing disruption of climate and biogeochemical systems by humans may obscure the relationship between aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem function in the future.
A novel regenerative snubber circuit for flyback topology converters

Switch mode power suppliers based on isolated flyback topology have voltage stresses on semiconductor switches caused by transformer leakage inductance. Those voltage stresses have to be mitigated by implementing active or passive clamp preferably with partial leakage energy recovery. In this paper a new integrated semi-active regenerative (lossless) snubber is proposed. The proposed snubber topology is featured by the snubber inductor integrated into the main transformer thus decreasing component count and saving the PCB space. Partial coupling of snubber inductor with a secondary side makes it possible to recover part of the transformer leakage energy directly to the secondary side with potential to increase snubber efficiency. The operation of the proposed snubber is analyzed and simulation results are presented. Interesting is that with the proposed snubber various side effects can be reached like reduction of RMS current in secondary side, ZCS and ZVS modes for secondary side rectifier and primary main switch along with achieved primary goal – voltage stress limitation and transformer leakage energy recovery.
Real-time Twitter data analysis using Hadoop ecosystem

Abstract In the era of the Internet, social media has become an integral part of modern society. People use social media to share their opinions and to have an up-to-date knowledge about the current trends on a daily basis. Twitter is one of the renowned social media that gets a huge amount of tweets each day. This information can be used for economic, industrial, social or government approaches by arranging and analyzing the tweets as per our demand. Since Twitter contains a huge volumeof data, storing and processing this data is a complex problem. Hadoop is a big data storage and processing tool for analyzing data with 3Vs, i.e. data with huge volume, variety and velocity. Hadoop is a framework which deals with Big data and it has its own family which supports processing of different things which are tied up in one umbrella called the Hadoop Ecosystem. In this paper, we will be analyzing tweets streamed in real time. We have used Apache Flume to capture real-time tweets. As an analysis, we have proposed a method for finding recent trends in tweets and performed sentiment analysis on real-time tweets. The analysis is done using Hadoop ecosystem tools such as Apache Hive and Apache Pig. Performance in terms of execution time is compared for analysis of real-time tweets using Pig and Hive. From the experimental results, conclusion can be drawn that Pig is more efficient than Hive as Pig takes less time for execution than Hive.
Microelectrode and Modelling Study of Oxygen Distribution in Roots

Abstract The use of polarographic microelectrodes to explore the radial distribution of oxygen in maize roots aerated chiefly via the shoot is described. Also given is a brief description of a mathematical model of root aeration which introduces two simultaneous oxygen sources (the shoot and the rooting medium), and mimicks more realistically than hitherto the diffusive characteristics of the non-porous epidermal/hypodermal shell. In keeping with modelling predictions, steep radial diffusion gradients were a characteristic of the non-porous epidermal/hypodermal shell and stele, while shallow profiles generally characterised the cortex. Stelar anoxia, previously forecast by earlier mathematical modelling, was inducible by manipulating the oxygen concentrations around the shoot. The stelar diffusion gradients always indicated an inward diffusion from the cortex. However, two-way gradients were sometimes evident in the epidermal/hypodermal annulus, and were also found in the sheathing extensions of the root cap. These indicated diffusion into these annuli simultaneously from both the cortex and the rooting medium. Elsewhere the gradients in the epidermis/hypodermal cylinder were either solely positive or negative depending upon the oxygen concentrations within the root cortex and surrounding agar. Examples of two-way and one-way diffusion in the epidermal/hypodermal cylinder were created satisfactorily by the model. Finally, the results indicate that with roots in stagnant anaerobic media, the bulk of the root cap proper is likely to be anoxic, and that some anoxia may be the norm within the basipetal extensions of the cap which ensheath the root apex.
Frequency analyses of human voice using fast Fourier transform

Quantitative analysis of human voice has been subject of interest and the subject gained momentum when human voice was identified as a modality for human authentication and identification. The main organ responsible for production of sound is larynx and the structure of larynx along with its physical properties and modes of vibration determine the nature and quality of sound produced. There has been lot of work from the point of view of fundamental frequency of sound and its characteristics. With the introduction of additional applications of human voice interest grew in other characteristics of sound and possibility of extracting useful features from human voice. We conducted a study using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) technique to analyze human voice to identify different frequencies present in the voice with their relative proportion while pronouncing selected words like numbers. Details of findings are presented
Exclusion or Coexistence and the Taxonomic or Ecological Relationship Between Species

The history of the "principle of competitive exclusion" is briefly reviewed. Next, it is shown that taxonomically closely related (carabid) species, i.e. species in the same genus, can indeed be considered to be also ecologically closely related. This opened the possibility to test whether or not exclusion plays a demonstrable role in the distribution of species belonging to the same or to different genera over different habitats. The method used was proposed by SIMPSON (1949) and applied for the first time by WILLIAMS (1951). With the help of the pitfall-catches of 149 carabid species during nine years and in 73 different habitats, and by using three, different "values" it could thus be shown that congeneric species coexist more frequently in the same habitats than could be expected from a random distribution of the available species over habitats. This "coexistence principle" was further illustrated by two examples from habitats studied during a number of years. It could also be shown that interaction groups of coexisting congeneric (carabid) species do not die out more frequently than those of species belonging to different genera, not even in the course of a century. These findings are thus in agreement with the conclusion of BIRCH (1979) from a review of the field evidence, that "competitive exclusion" must be considered an only exceptional outcome of the possible interactions between species. The most parsimonious hypothesis for understanding the findings discussed in this paper therefore is: Taxonomically closely related (carabid) species are also ecologically closely related, and will thus more often than not be found coexisting in the same habitats.
FACTORS AFFECTING WINTER ROOST DISPERSAL AND DAILY BEHAVIOUR OF COMMON RAVENS (CORVUS CORAX) IN SOUTHWESTERN ALBERTA

Abstract The common raven (Corvus corax) is a widely distributed and opportunistic scavenger and predator. In Calgary, Alberta, ravens were virtually absent in the early 1970s, but by 2000 this species was a regular breeder and common winter visitor. Numbers increased significantly during Christmas Bird Counts from 1970 to 2000. Most birds that occur in Calgary during the winter commute twice daily between a roost in the foothills and a refuse site in the city. The distance between these points is 57.5 km and results in a commute cost that does not appear to be endured by individuals remaining in the foothills. I estimated that refuse-bound birds expend 25% more energy than foothills birds when traveling to known food locations. Upon arrival at the refuse site, individuals compensated for this additional expense by spending more time walking and foraging, which are less-energy-demanding behaviours, and less time flying, which is a high-energy-demanding behavior, than birds in the foothills. The refuse site appears to act as an emergency resource when conditions in the foothills are unfavourable for meeting daily energy requirements. These conditions were mainly caused by decreasing temperature and increasing snow depth in the foothills. Decreasing day length and temperature were factors affecting roost site departure, while decreasing temperature and increasing snow depth resulted in greater numbers of birds commuting. Although the commute has a known cost, a balance is likely realized both in the short term through acquisition of food during stressful conditions and in the long term through increased overwinter survival. The commute may also be advantageous for population increases and range expansion because it exposes birds to new habitats, new food sources, and potential new nest sites along the way.
Mega Sport Events

The debates on whether to bid for organizing a mega sports event like the World Cup Soccer or the Olympic Games ignore either the bidding costs or the probability not to win the bid or both. In this short article, I discuss why the bidding costs and probabilities should be taken into account and I show for the Netherlands, which is currently discussing bidding for the Olympic Games of 2028, that the Net Present Value of organizing should be €557 million to €2.8 billion positive to compensate for the bidding costs and the probability of an unsuccessful bid.
Book Reviews

Boase-Beier, J. (1987) Poetic Compounds: The Principles of Poetic Language in Modern English Poetry. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Culpeper, J. (2001) Language and Characterization: People in Plays and Other Texts. London: Longman. Culpeper, J., Short, M. and Verdonk, P. (eds) (1998) Exploring the Language of Drama. London: Routledge. Short, M. (1996) Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose. London: Longman. Stockwell, P. (2002) Cognitive Poetics: An Introduction. London: Routledge. Tan, P.K. W. (1993) A Stylistics of Drama. Singapore: Singapore University Press.