Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The distribution and characters of coagulase-negative staphylococci of the bovine udder

Summary Coagulase-negative staphyloccoci were isolated regularly over a period of 39 weeks from quarter milk samples of 18 cows belonging to one herd. They did not produce a leucocytosis in the milk or high anti-haemolysin titres in the blood of these cows, but such responses occurred in 2 cows infected with pathogenic staphylococci. The coagulase-negative variety was found to colonize the teat duct and surface of the teat in preference to the milk and possessed greater resistance than pathogenic staphylococci to certain long-chain fatty acids. Infection with coagulase-negative staphylococci was thought to antagonize the colonization of the udder by a pathogenic variety present in the herd; 23% of the coagulase-negative strains were found to elaborate an antibiotic substance inhibitory to the growth of a coagulase-positive staphylococcus. Coagulase-negative strains were characterized by the production of ɛ-toxin and could be divided into 3 main groups according to their effect on gelatin, mannitol and phenolphthalein diphosphate as substrates.
Responses of plant litter decomposition and nitrogen mineralisation to simulated environmental change in a high arctic polar semi-desert and a subarctic dwarf shrub heath

Impacts of climate change were simulated in two contrasting European arctic ecosystems, a high arctic polar semi-desert and a subarctic dwarf shrub heath, by increasing temperature (using polythene tents), precipitation and soil nutrient (NPK) availability. The effects of these treatments and their interactions on plant litter decomposition and soil nutrient fluxes were assessed. Polythene tents increased air, litter and soil temperatures but reduced litter and soil moisture contents. At both sites, litter decomposition was significantly retarded in the tent treatments due probably to reduced litter moisture contents. The tent treatment had no effect on extractable soil N pools or net total N mineralisation at either site, although the treatment significantly reduced net seasonal nitrification values at the subarctic site. The additional precipitation treatment significantly increased litter decomposition at the dwarf shrub heath site and the net amount of N mineralised at the polar semi-desert site. Litter decomposition was increased, as was net N mineralisation, by the application of nutrients. The results suggest that soil temperature increases of up to 1°C, which may occur by the end of the next century as an effect of a predicted 4°C rise in air temperature, have only small effects on total N mineralisation in the short term in arctic soils.
Spatial range shape drives the grain size effects in species distribution models

Species distribution models (SDMs) link species occurrences to environmental descriptors using species and environmental data that are often recorded at diff erent grain sizes. Th e upscaling process implied by grain size matching between species data and environmental data may aff ect the observed species distribution and thus might also modify the SDM-derived species distribution. Here we used fi ve virtual species with diff ering range sizes to determine the eff ects of grain size on SDM-derived distribution area. We showed that the increase of SDM-derived distribution area with grain size is mainly due to the geometric increase of the area of the observed distribution range used to build the SDMs. Models based on presence – absence data that were built using the initial prevalence in the calibration dataset and the maximization of TSS or Kappa as cut-off threshold accurately predicted the observed area whatever the grain size and species range size. In addition we found that the commonly used evaluation measures (AUC, TSS and Kappa) cannot be used to evaluate the accuracy of SDM-derived distribution areas. Th us, the grain size of the data used to feed SDMs has to be chosen carefully, depending on the data quality and the goals of the study.
Microsatellite analysis of genetic diversity in four populations of Populus tremuloides in Quebec

To determine overall genetic variability in aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) along the clay belt of northwestern Quebec, four populations were sampled at the transition zone between mixed-wood and conifer-dominated forests using a hierarchical strategy. Our objectives were (i) to estimate gene diversity among and within populations using microsatellite markers and (ii) to examine whether clonal structuring in aspen could be detected. For each population, three stands at least 1 km apart were sampled. Within each stand, five putative clones were sampled with a distance of 50 m between each clone. To examine potential genetic diversity within clones, for three of the putative clones sampled per stand, the three trees closest to this individual (potential ramets) were also sampled. All samples were analysed at four microsatellite loci. Measures of genetic variation all indicated that most of the variation occurred within rather than among the populations. Rst, based on a stepwise mutation model, was 0.0409.
Realised Kernels in Practice: Trades and Quotes

Realised kernels use high frequency data to estimate daily volatility of individual stock prices. They can be applied to either trade or quote data. Here we provide the details of how we suggest implementing them in practice. We compare the estimates based on trade and quote data for the same stock and find a remarkable level of agreement. We identify some features of the high frequency data which are challenging for realised kernels. They are when there are local trends in the data, over periods of around 10 minutes, where the prices and quotes are driven up or down. These can be associated with high volumes. One explanation for this is that they are due to non-trivial liquidity effects.
Endothelins Disperse Light-Scattering Organelles in Leucophores of the Medaka, Oryzias latipes

Abstract Mammalian endothelins (ETs: ET-1, -2 and -3) effectively disperse the light-scattering organelles (leucosomes) in leucophores of the medaka, Oryzias latipes, in a dose-dependent manner. They were almost equally effective, their minimal effective concentrations being less than 100 pM, with EC50 value about 8.3–8.4 nM. Endothelins act directly on the leucophores, since denervated cells responded to the peptides quite similarly. Phentolamine, an α-adrenergic blocker, propranolol, a β-adrenergic blocker, and BQ-123, an inhibitor of mammalian ETA receptor, did not interfere with the action of ETs. By contrast, BQ-788, an inhibitor of the mammalian ETB receptor, potently blocked the action of ETs. Sarafotoxin S6c and IRL 1620, both mammalian ETB receptor-selective agonists, were also found to disperse leucosomes effectively, mimicking the effect of ETs. Thus, ETs may act through the mediation of specific receptors existing in the leucophores. Along with their recently disclosed actions on light-absorbing chromatophores, ETs may play an important role in the delicate and exquisite control of integumentary hues and patterns.
LINKING FLOW CYTOMETRIC CELL SORTING AND COMPOUND‐SPECIFIC 13C‐ANALYSIS TO DETERMINE POPULATION‐SPECIFIC ISOTOPIC SIGNATURES AND GROWTH RATES IN CYANOBACTERIA‐DOMINATED LAKE PLANKTON 1

A novel methodology was applied to determine the δ13C signatures of natural cyanobacterial and algal populations by combined compound‐specific isotope ratio mass spectrometry and pyrolytic methylation‐gas chromatography (Py‐GC‐IRMS) of the fatty acids released from phytoplankton fractions collected using fluorescence‐activated cell sorting. Py‐GC‐IRMS provided direct analysis of the very small samples (<200 ng total C) derived from the cell sorting of individual phototrophic populations, while minimizing the chances on contamination and loss in sample handling. Despite trichome lengths exceeding the diameter of the sort droplets, filamentous cyanobacteria were amenable to population‐specific cell sorting. In concert with 13C‐CO2 labeling, the combined use of flow cytometric cell sorting and Py‐GC‐IRMS enabled both the assessment of standing stocks and of population‐specific growth rates of the predominant cyanobacterial and algal taxa in Lake Loosdrecht (The Netherlands). Filamentous prochlorophytes, formerly the dominant cyanobacterial taxon in the lake, appeared less abundant in recent years and exhibited growth rates 30%–40% lower than the rates recorded for oscillatorioid populations. Diatom and green algal populations grew at rates 4‐ to 10‐fold higher than filamentous cyanobacteria and are thus important for the lake's carbon budget. This approach offers new possibilities in studying plankton dynamics at a resolution not feasible in the past.
The Discovery of the Mammalian Egg and the Foundation of Modern Embryology

i. Early embryology. Though the embryological knowledge taught in our medical schools is relatively recent, a complete history of embryology would take us back to the earliest times. Indeed we may assume that every thinking man has asked himself some questions with regard to the formation and development of embryos, for such questions are continually forced upon him by life itself. Any attempt to answer them, however crude, was a contribution to embryology, and the elaborate treatises available to modern students have been gradually produced by the constant accumulation, selection, improvement, arrangement, and rearrangement of the answers. The medical schools of Cos, Cnidos, and of Sicily showed already much interest in the subject, and the earliest systematic treatment of it may be found in a group of Hippocratic treatises which are probably of Cnidian origin and date from the first quarter of the fourth century B. C. (i) Somewhat later appeared
Social overwintering and food distribution in the bank vole Clethrionomys glareolus

We studied overwintering in the bank vole Clethrionomys glareolus in four 0.5 ha enclosures in an abandoned field in central Finland in the winter 1987/88. In two of the enclosures food was offered evenly distributed over the whole enclosed area (Even Enclosures = EE), in the two others food was offered in one feeding patch with four feeding chambers 2 m apart (Patchy Enclosures = PE). Food was provided in about the same amount in both enclosures. The experiment commenced in early October, with 13 females and 11 males in EEs and 12 + 13 voles in PEs. After two months the voles in the PEs were concentrated around the feeding patches. Territoriality was not observed in EEs, instead the voles formed small exclusive overwintering groups consisting of 2-3 females and at least one male. The size of the home range of the females and males was identical during mid-winter as the voles were non-breeding. By the onset of breeding, range size increased in both sexes, but significantly more in males, however. The survival was about the same in all populations. Every population showed a mid-winter decline suggesting the effect of the mustelid predators observed in and around the enclosures. In the PEs the overwintering aggregations lasted until the maturation of the first litters. Food distribution affected the spatial distribution of the populations. We conclude that the patchiness of the habitat and especially the availability of food are the most important factors determining the social structure of overwintering populations.
Economic impacts of climate change: profitability of freshwater aquaculture in China

Aquaculture is threatened by the climate change which includes changes in temperature, precipitation, drought, storms and floods. The socio-economic impacts of climate change on aquaculture are difficult to assess due to the uncertainties regarding the extent and rate of predicted changes. By including bond indexes as climate change variables, this study constructed a provincial-level panel data set to estimate the profits and productivity of the Chinese aquaculture. Results indicate that aquaculture production has heterogeneous responses to climate change. However, the majority of climate variables, including extreme weather events and long-term climate changes, strongly affect aquaculture profits. Future research needs to focus on designing suitable adaptation measures in an interdisciplinary setting to address the challenges from natural risks and economic volatility.
Generation of Platelet-Activating Factor (PAF)-Like Phospholipids in Blood Circulation under Elevated Oxidative Stress: Its Pathological Significance on Atherosclerosi

Oxidative modification of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is known to be a critical factor for pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Several newly generated lipid components in the oxidatively modified LDL (oxLDL) have been shown to exert undesirable effects on various vascular cells. In particular, phosphatidylcholine (PC) having an oxidatively shortened fatty acyl group with a methyl, hydroxyl, oxo or carboxyl terminal attained interest, since they mimic diverse effects of platelet-activating factor (PAF), a mediator of inflammation, owing to their structural analogy to PAF. In this article, generation of PAF-like lipids in response to elevated oxidative stress due to cigarette smoking is documented, and its possible significance on atherogenesis is discussed.
Estimating the Production Function for the Brazilian Industrial Sector: A Bayesian Panel VAR Approach

The scope of this paper is to estimate the production function for the Brazilian industrial sector from a longitudinal panel of the industrial sector (Annual Industrial Survey produced by the Institute of Geography and Statistics – PIA/IBGE – and the Ministry of Labour and Employment’s Annual Relation of Social Information – RAIS/MTE – ranging from 1996 until 2005) through a Bayesian Vector Autoregressive (BVAR) approach. This new method adds to the empirical industrial organization another way to estimate the demand, avoiding cumbersome calculations such as Olley & Pakes (1996) and Leversohn & Petrin (2000). It gives the possibility of analyzing not only the dynamic relationships among the variables, but also the shocks through the impulse response function (IRF). Additionally, it gives the opportunity to analyze the industry sector’s productivity by minimizing the problem of endogeneity and therefore it also sheds some light on the trend of this variable throughout the period above mentioned.
The Role of Protons in the Auxin‐induced Root Growth Inhibition ‐ A Critical Reexamination

According to the acid growth theory of auxin action, it has been proposed that auxin decreases root growth by inhibiting the proton pump, thus causing an alkalinization of the apoplast. This paper critically tests this hypothesis with corn (Zea mays L.) roots. It was found that: i) the pH-growth curve for roots exhibits a broad optimum ranging from pH 4.5 to 9. ii) Any acid-induced growth is of very short duration, iii) The low sensitivity of root growth to external pH is independent of both the pump activity and the buffer capacity of the bathing solution, iv) Neither incubation in acidic buffer nor stimulation of the proton pump reverts the auxin-induced root growth inhibition. It is concluded that the auxin-induced root growth inhibition is not mediated by cell wall alkalinization.
The Effect of Hospital Mergers on Inpatient Prices: A Case Study of the New Hanover-Cape Fear Transaction

The Federal Trade Commission initiated a Hospital Merger Retrospective Project in 2002 to analyze the effects of consummated mergers. One of the mergers studied was the 1998 acquisition by New Hanover Regional Medical Center ("New Hanover") of Columbia Cape Fear Memorial Hospital ("Cape Fear") in Wilmington, North Carolina. In this paper, we employ patient-level claims data from four different insurers to estimate the effects of this merger on inpatient prices. Our results provide mixed evidence. Two of the insurers experienced substantial post-merger price increases relative to the control group of hospitals. The post-merger price changes for another insurer, however, were comparable to those for the control group, while the fourth insurer actually experienced a significant price decrease following the merger. Thus, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the impact of this merger on inpatient pricing.
Effect of Extrusion Temperature on Solubility and Molecular Weight Distribution of Wheat Flour Proteins

To study the molecular mechanism of protein interactions during extrusion processing, the changes in molecular weight distribution and quantity of soluble proteins in wheat extrudates as affected by extrusion temperature were investigated. Wheat flour was extruded at die temperatures of 160, 170, and 185 °C. After extrusion, the solubility of wheat proteins decreased dramatically in all tested solvents [water, 0.01 M sodium hydroxide, 0.5 M sodium chloride, 70% ethanol, 0.1 M hydrochloric acid, 0.05 M sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0 and 8.0), 6 M urea, 1% SDS, 2% mercaptoethanol] except for an aqueous solvent containing 1% SDS and 2% 2-mercaptoethanol, in which they were almost completely soluble. In the soluble-protein fractions of the extrudates, the content of disulfide bonds decreased dramatically and the content of sulfhydryl groups varied slightly. Both aggregation and fragmentation of wheat proteins occurred during extrusion processing as indicated by SDS−PAGE analysis. The synergistic effect betwe.
The Correlation Between Ecology and Morphology in Deciduous Forest Passerine Birds

We investigated the correspondence between feeding behavior and morphology among 19 species of passerine birds in the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, using data in Holmes et al. (1979). Fourteen categories of foraging behavior were ordinated by reciprocal aver- aging. The first and second derived axes accounted for 61% of the total variance, and distinguished foraging substrate and maneuver. A morphological space was defined by eight external measurements. The correspondence between the positions of species in spaces defined by reciprocal averaging and morphology was determined by canonical correlation analysis. This analysis revealed two strong correlations: the first (R2 = 0.94) related substrate utilization to the lengths of the tarsus and midtoe, and the second (R2 = 0.70) related foraging maneuver to midtoe length. The canonical correlation analysis accounted for 83 and 74% of the variation on reciprocal averaging axes I and II; of the morphological variables, only tarsus (76%) and midtoe (64%) contributed strongly to the correlations. Therefore, although morphology predicts foraging behavior in this data set, considerable morphological variation is not related to the foraging variables that characterize the species' ecological relationships.
Debt Specialization

This paper examines debt structure using a new and comprehensive database on types of debt employed by publicly listed U.S. firms. We find that specialization in a single debt type is a widespread phenomenon, and that the degree of specialization varies widely across different subsamples — large rated firms tend to diversify across multiple debt types, while small unrated firms specialize in fewer types. We examine possible explanations for this phenomenon and show that specialization is driven by its economic benefits in the forms of lower bankruptcy costs, economies in information collection costs, and enhanced incentives to monitor. We then examine the role of credit constraints as captured by firms’ not having a credit rating, and show that debt specialization is also driven by constrained access to public debt markets.
International Comparisons of Public Sector Performance: How to Move Ahead?

Measuring and comparing the overall performance of countries' public sectors requires agreement on definitions and objectives of government. I argue that such an agreement is about finding a consensus rather about finding better definitions. Measuring government requires a number of leaps of faith, where certain definitions, assumptions and statistics are accepted as good enough for measurement and comparison. The political science and economic research community have a different tradition of dealing with such agreements and leaps of faith, and this is reflected in their approaches to measuring and comparing the performance of public sectors. The implications of these traditions are particularly visible in the usefulness of measurement and indicators for policy makers.
On the Persistence of Income Shocks Over the Life Cycle: Evidence and Implications, Second Version

How does the persistence of earnings change over the life cycle? Do workers at different ages face the same variance of idiosyncratic shocks? This paper proposes a novel specification for residual earnings that allows for a lifetime profile in the persistence and variance of labor income shocks. We show that the statistical model is identified and estimate it using PSID data. We strongly reject the hypothesis of a at life-cycle profile for persistence and variance of persistent shocks, but not for the variance of transitory shocks. Shocks to earnings are only moderately persistent (around 0.75) for young individuals. Persistence rises with age up to unity until midway in life. On the other hand, the variance of persistent shocks exhibits a U-shaped profile over the life cycle (with a minimum of 0.01 and a maximum of 0.045). Our estimate of persistence, for most of the working life, is substantially lower than typical estimates in the literature. We investigate the implications of these profiles for consumption-savings behavior with a standard life-cycle model. The welfare cost of idiosyncratic risk implied by the age-dependent income process is 32% lower compared to an AR(1) process without age profiles. This is mostly due to a higher degree of consumption insurance for young workers, for whom persistence is moderate. We conclude that the welfare cost of idiosyncratic risk will be overstated if one does not account for the age profiles in the persistence and variance of shocks.
Exchange Rate Dynamics in a Target Zone - A Heterogeneous Expectations Approach

We present a simple behavioral model with chartists and fundamentalists and analyze their trading behavior in both a floating and a target zone exchange rate regime. When applied to the floating regime, the model replicates the well-known stylized facts, such as excess volatility, fat tails, volatility clustering and exchange rate disconnect. Our main result is that when applied to a credible target zone, our model predicts that the exchange rate remains in the center of the band for a considerable period, even though the fundamental exchange rate does not exhibit mean reversion tendencies. This is consistent with the empirical evidence and contrasts with the traditional target zone model based on Krugman (1991), which predicts that the exchange rate in a target zone clusters close to the edges of the band. The hump-shaped distribution of the exchange rate obtained in our model greatly reduces the frequency of central bank intervention. We also conclude that the introduction of a target zone regime significantly reduces exchange rate volatility by decreasing speculative activity in the FX market.