Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hydraulic resistance of plants. III. Effects of NaCl in barley and lupin

Barley (salt-tolerant) and white lupin (salt-sensitive) were grown in sand in pots designed to fit within a pressure chamber. The sand was irrigated with a nutrient solution to which increasing amounts of NaCl were added daily in increments of 10-25 mol m-3. For a range of transpiration rates (Q), the hydrostatic pressure of the leaf xylem sap of an intact plant was measured by applying sufficient air pressure (p) to the root system to raise the pressure of this sap to zero. The relation between p and Q was linear, i.e. of the form p = po + rQ. Po, the intercept on the p axis, reflects the difference in osmotic pressure across the root, and it is assumed that r, the slope of this relation, gives the hydraulic resistance of the plant. In NaCl-treated barley, r remained constant as the NaCl in the soil solution was increased to 200 mol m-3 over 10 days, and differed little from that of the controls. Po increased by about the same amount as the increase in osmotic pressure of the soil solution. This indicates near-perfect osmotic behaviour by the roots, and consistent with this, osmotic pressure of sap expressed from the cut shoot base generally changed little with increasing NaCl, for a given transpiration rate. In NaCl-treated lupin, by contrast, r increased continually from 25 to 150 mol m-3 NaCI, when it was four times that of the controls. Beyond 75 mol m-3, po increased less than increases in the osmotic pressure of the soil solution, which suggests that salts were then leaking into the root xylem. However, the osmotic pressure of the xylem sap flowing through the petiole did not start to increase until 3 days later when the external solution was over 120 mol m-3, suggesting that substantial amounts of NaCl were being removed from the xylem sap before it reached the petiole.
A New Clustering Ensemble Framework by Employing Modified Clustering Algorithm Based on Swarm Intelligence

: Ensemble-based learning is a trustworthy option to reach a strong partition. In order to making up for the faults of each other, the classifiers in the ensemble can do the classification task more reliable than each of them. There is a straight way to induce a set of primary partitions that vary from each other, and then to gather the partitions through a gratifying functions to induce the final partition. Another option in the ensemble learning is to turn to fusion of different information from genuinely various sources. This article introduces a new clustering ensemble learning based on the Ant Colony clustering algorithm. Ensemble needs variability and swarm which is involved in randomness. Various runnings of ant colony clustering cause a number of diverse partitions. Considering these consequences as a new space datasets we make a final clustering by a simple partitioning algorithm to gather them in a gratifying partition. Experimental consequences on some real-world datasets are shown to present the effectiveness of the proposed method in inducing the final partition.
Ctenuchina and Euchromiina (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae) of Three Biological Research Stations of México's Ecosur

ABSTRACT. Two hundred and seventy one adult specimens representing 58 species in the subtribes Ctenuchina and Euchromiina (Arctiinae) were found at the entomological collections of ECOSUR (Southern Border College). The collections are based at three research stations: San Cristóbal de las Casas and Tapachula, located in the state of Chiapas, and Chetumal, in the state of Quintana Roo. They respectively contained 191 specimens representing 49 species, 54 specimens representing 15 species, and 26 specimens representing 6 species. The species Correbidia fana (Druce, 1900) was found within the collections and as far as we know this is a first record for Mexico.
A temporal study of mycosporine-like amino acids in surface water phytoplankton from the English Channel and correlation with solar irradiation

A seasonal survey was undertaken, over a year, of phytoplankton from surface water in the western English Channel (Station L4) measuring mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs), photosynthetic pigments and microscopic counts. Ground level solar radiation (ultraviolet-B, ultraviolet-A and photosynthetically active radiation; UV-B, UV-A and PAR) was measured at a nearby site. From this we estimated in situ solar irradiance received by phytoplankton using measurements of the mixed layer depth and calculations of the 50% light level cut-off. The MAAs occurred year round, with concentrations increasing rapidly during spring and summer (maximum 8·5 μg l−1) to levels exceeding those of chlorophyll-a (chl-a maximum 3·6 μg l−1). On two occasions, increases in specific MAAs coincide with algal blooms. In spring, increases in mycosporine-glycine (λmax 310 nm in the UV-B) coincide with a bloom of the prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis pouchetii and in July and August increases in an unidentified MAA (λmax 328 nm) match a bloom of the diatom, Guinardia striata (=Rhizosolenia stolterfothii). Concentration of MAAs, but not chlorophyll, correlate with in situ irradiance. The ratio of MAA to chl-a increases linearily with in situ irradiance received by phytoplankton reaching 13·9 nmol MAA (nmol chl-a)−1 at 101 W m−2. Evidence of photoinduction is observed during the P. pouchetii bloom with a four fold increase in the concentration of mycosporine-glycine (maximum 2 pg cell−1) as UV-B:PAR ratio increases from 0·0011 to 0·0014. Dinoflagellates, although contributing to <10% of biomass, are found through the correlation of MAAs to the biomarker peridinin, to contribute to baseline levels of MAAs throughout the year. Our MAA:chl-a values for the English Channel are similar to those measured in coastal areas of southern USA. Similarities with studies on Antarctic phytoplankton are also found with the dominance of porphra-334 and the presence of mycosporine-glycine in P. pouchetti.
Disability and quality of life in spina bifida and hydrocephalus

This study examined the impact of severity and type of condition and family resources on quality of life in children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus. A national UK sample of children aged between 6 and 13 years with spina bifida (n=62), hydrocephalus (n=354), and spina bifida plus hydrocephalus (n=128) were identified via the register of the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (ASBAH). Parents completed standardized measures of Child Health Related Quality Of Life (CQOL), family needs survey (FNS), and caregiving self‐efficacy scale (CSES) as well as questions on children's health and physical ability. Results showed there were no significant differences in the overall quality of life for the three disability conditions. The overall CQOL was over 1 SD lower for those with spina bifida and hydrocephalus than for children with other physical conditions. Sex and age were not related to overall CQOL. Specific aspects of CQOL differentiated the three groups. Children with spina bifida had poorer CQOL scores on self‐care, continence, and mobility/activities whilst those with hydrocephalus had poorer scores on school activities, worries, sight, and communication. Severity of condition and family resources, i.e. CSES and FNS, predicted 32% of the variance in CQOL. Associations were also found between overall CQOL and problems discernible at birth as well as epilepsy. Other factors, including those related to shunts, were not significantly related to CQOL. It was concluded that hydrocephalus is just as great a threat to CQOL as spina bifida. Beyond the general effect of condition severity on CQOL, family resources (as measured by the CSES and FNS) represent an additional influence on CQOL.
Supplement to Causal Strategic Linear Regression

Proof of Theorem 1. Let’s walk through the steps of the algorithm, bounding the error that accumulates along the way. In the first round we set ω = 0 in order to obtain an estimate for E[ω∗x]. Since ω∗ is a unit vector, the variance of ω∗x is at most λmax plus a constant (from the 1−subgaussian noise). This means that O( dλmax) samples suffice for the empirical estimator of E[ω∗x] to have no more than 4d error with failure probability Ω( 1 2d ). We call the output of this estimator μ̂ and let μ̂d be the r-dimensional vector with μ̂ in every coordinate.
University of Groningen Therapeutic perspectives of Angiotensin-(1-7) in heart failure Loot,

Background The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is a key-player in the progression of heart failure. Angiotensin-(1-7) is thought to modulate the activity of the RAS. Furthermore, this peptide may play a part in the beneficial effects of ACE inhibitors in cardiovascular disease. We assessed the effects of angiotensin-(1-7) on the progression of heart failure. Methods and Results Male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent either coronary ligation or sham surgery. Two weeks after induction of myocardial infarction, intravenous infusion of angiotensin-(1-7) (24 μg/kg per hr) or saline was started by minipump. After eight weeks of treatment, hemodynamic parameters were measured, endothelial function was assessed in isolated aortic rings, and plasma angiotensin-(1-7) levels were determined. Myocardial infarction resulted in a significant deterioration of left ventricular systolic and diastolic pressure and dP/dt, and coronary flow. Raising plasma levels 40-fold, angiotensin-(1-7) infusion attenuated this impairment to a non-significant level, markedly illustrated by a 40% reduction in left ventricular end-diastolic pressure. Furthermore, angiotensin-(1-7) completely preserved aortic endothelial function, whereas endothelium-dependent relaxation in aortas of saline-treated infarcted rats was significantly decreased. Conclusions Angiotensin-(1-7) preserved cardiac function, coronary perfusion, and aortic endothelial function in a rat model for heart failure.
The raw material for coevolution

Our current understanding of the coevolutionary process has been based upon studies of six aspects of the biology of organisms that shape the potential for ongoing reciprocal evolutionary change in natural communities. These include analyses of the phylogenetic context of coevolving interactions, patterns of specialization of species to one another, the genetic architecture of coevolution and its ecological consequences, the distributed outcomes of interspecific interactions, the rates and forms of selection on interactions within biological communities, and the geographic dynamics of interacting species. These studies of the raw material for coevolution are helping replace the general concept of diffuse coevolution with more testable hypotheses on the structure and ongoing dynamics of reciprocal evolutionary change within natural communities.
Monetary Integration In The Presence Of Heterogeneous Countries: How Much Does It Cost For Maghreb Countries?

This paper tries to evaluate the likely consequences of creating a hypothetical monetary union between various Maghreb Countries † . More specifically, basing on an optimization exercise and giving the economic, financial and institutional structures in these countries, it attempt to assess the cost of implementing a common monetary policy conducted by a potential supranational central bank in terms of inflation and output variability. The results show that the implementation of a common monetary policy is not beneficial, especially for Algeria where the variability of inflation and activity is more important than in Morocco and Tunisia. Thus, the creation of a monetary union would not be useful and the heterogeneity of these economies could be costly.
Mechanisms of neurodegeneration in Huntington’s disease

In the second paragraph of section 1. Huntington’s disease, ‘(4p16.3)’ was misspelled as ‘(4p63)’. The corrected sentence is as follows. ‘This is an unstable expansion of CAG repeats within the coding region of the HD gene, which is located on the short arm of chromosome 4 (4p16.3) and encodes the protein huntingtin, whose proposed functions will be discussed on Section 2.1 of this review. ’ In the second and third paragraphs of section 1.3. Genetics, ‘paternal’ was misspelled as ‘parental’. The corrected sentences are as follows. ‘The mutant allele is unstable during meiosis, changing in length in the majority of intergenerational transmissions, with either slight increases of 1–4 units or decreases of 1–2 units. In rare occasions, larger-sized increases occur in paternal transmissions, reflecting a particularly high mutation rate during spermatogenesis (The Huntington’s Disease Collaborative Research Group, 1993). ’ ‘Alleles of 40–50 units give rise to the most common adult-onset form of the disease, whereas the longest repeats (normally associated with high allele instability during paternal transmission) are responsible for the severe juvenile and infantile cases (The Huntington’s Disease Collaborative Research Group, 1993). ’
How Costly was Canadian Protectionism: 1875-1910?

A common view among Canadian economic historians is that at the end of the 19th century, Canada’s trade policy was protectionist and extremely costly. The empirical work supporting this view is predominantly based on average tariff measures, and as a result, may not be capturing the true levels of protection nor its true welfare costs. In this paper, we construct a partial-equilibrium version of the Anderson-Neary Trade Restrictiveness Index using Canadian trade data from 1875 to 1910 to examine the veracity of previous measurements. We find that trade policy was more protectionist than previously understood, but created less welfare loss than previously believed. ∗The authors would like to thank Herb Emery and participants at the "Globalization and the Making of Canada Conference" in Waterloo Ontario, for helpful comments and suggestions. 1
Feeding Pattern of Australian Heliothis on Cotton

The feeding patterns of Australian and North American Heliothis species on cotton are very similar. Field observations show that the later stages of larvae fed selectively on older fruit. In addition, there was a seasonal change which can be accounted to the shift in available fruit to the older age classes. Although H. punctigera and H. armigera are considered to prefer terminals and squares, and bolls, respectively, differences between them in feeding patterns can for the most part be attributed to the change in abundance of fruit in each age class as the season progresses. Heliothis larval feeding information has proven useful in simulation modeling of cotton- Heliothis interactions and is essential for assessing the relevance of current Heliothis thresholds.
A QUANTITATIVE APPROACH TO A PROBLEM IN CLASSIFICATION†

The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to determine whether certain statistical procedures might aid persons interested in the relationships among organisms. The objectives of our study were to investigate numerous characters simultaneously in a considerable group of species; to quantify the relations shown among the species, using objective methods; and to indicate these relationships. The organisms selected as an example for use in this study are solitary bees in the family Megachilidae. This choice was made because one of us (C. D. M.) has made recent systematic studies of these insects, so that conclusions as to the relationships obtained by usual systematic procedures could be compared
Editorial

The concept that biodiversity and healthy functioning ecosystems provide goods and services of benefit and value to human wellbeing has been accepted for decades, but it was the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), which cemented the concept of ‘ecosystem services’ into today’s environmental policies and management. The concept is a useful tool for linking ecosystem functions with human wellbeing in a range of decision-making contexts, although it can over-simplify the complexity of ecological systems (Norgaard, 2010). For insects, their role in regulating pest populations in agriculture and plant pollination has been recognised for many years, but in Schulze and Mooney’s (1994) seminal book Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function, it is notable and surprising that the contribution of insects to ecosystem services barely received a mention. A decade later, Insects and Ecosystem Function appeared (Weisser & Siemann, 2004), which opened with the following statement: ‘In contrast [to plants], our understanding of the role of insects in ecosystem processes is relatively primitive. Because insects are a dominant component of biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems, this state of knowledge is unsatisfactory’. In the last decade, since the publication of this book, there has been a notable increase in articles on insect ecosystem service provision published (Fig. 1), and the concept is clearly gaining traction as a useful mechanism to illustrate the ecological and economic value of insects. In particular, the role of insects in providing ecosystem services in agricultural contexts has been recognised, largely in terms of their influence on provisioning services, such as crop yields. Herbivorous insects and the damage they inflict both directly through consumption of plant material, and indirectly through the transmission of plant pathogens, have attracted the majority of research attention from ecological entomologists. However, at all trophic levels, insects provide services which can be fundamental to crop production, including pollination of entomophilous crops to ensure seed and/or fruit production, population regulation of pests by natural enemies (biocontrol) to prevent crop damage/loss, and the decomposition of dead and waste material to recycle nutrients required for crop growth. This focus on services that contribute to yield, however, has meant that the contribution of these services to the wider agricultural ecosystem has been largely ignored. For example, insects are important pollinators of wild hedgerow plants and rare agricultural weeds (Jacobs et al., 2009), which not only provide seeds and berries for farmland birds and other wildlife, but also other supporting, regulating, and cultural services (Hinsley & Bellamy, 2000). Thus, perturbations to insect populations in agricultural systems can affect rates of herbivory, pollination, predation, and decomposition. In turn, such perturbations could have profound consequences for the structure and composition of 0 50 100 150 200 250
The Continuum of HIV Care in Peru - Where Are We Now? Key Lessons from an Estimation in the Context of Very Limited Data

soap, and helminth treatment could prevent most of these AEs. Contraception (FP) was provided and there were no pregancies. In the TasP trial, the majority of participants will have a spouse. Voluntary HIV Testing and Counseling (VTC) is a trial procedure and Couples’ VCT (CVCT) should also be, as recommended by WHO. The protocol refers to ‘family testing’ but this is not a prevention strategy. CVCT is associated with a reduction in new HIV infections and should be explicitly included in protocols and procedures. HIA for TasP should be compared with HIA CVCT, MC, and FP. Conclusions: Both trials and participants would benefit from low-cost screening and treatment services for endemic diseases such as bed nets, routine deworming, soap and chlorine as well as provision of contraceptives. TasP trials should analyze costs and have a rationale for testing interventions with HIA >PPP. Excluding locally affordable HIV prevention services including CVCT from trial SOC is unethical.
A Case for Security-Aware Design-Space Exploration of Embedded Systems

As modern embedded systems are becoming more and more ubiquitous and interconnected, they attract a world-wide attention of attackers and the security aspect is more important than ever during the design of those systems. Moreover, given the ever-increasing complexity of the applications that run on these systems, it becomes increasingly difficult to meet all security criteria. While extra-functional design objectives such as performance and power/energy consumption are typically taken into account already during the very early stages of embedded systems design, system security is still mostly considered as an afterthought. That is, security is usually not regarded in the process of (early) design-space exploration of embedded systems, which is the critical process of multi-objective optimization that aims at optimizing the extra-functional behavior of a design. This position paper argues for the development of techniques for quantifying the ’degree of secureness’ of embedded system design instances such that these can be incorporated in a multi-objective optimization process. Such technology would allow for the optimization of security aspects of embedded systems during the earliest design phases as well as for studying the trade-offs between security and the other design objectives such as performance, power consumption and cost.
Coordination of suck‐ swallow‐respiration in infants born to mothers with drug‐abuse problems

To delineate quantitatively differences in suck‐swallow‐ respiration coordination during feeding in term infants exposed to drugs in utero, 16 control infants (10 females, six males; mean birthweight 3209g, standard error of the mean [SEM] 103g) and 15 drug‐exposed infants (seven females, eight males; seven cocaine, eight opiates; neonatal abstinence [Finnegan] scores less than 10; mean birthweight 3001g, SEM 93g) were studied in the first three days of life and again at one month of age. Coefficients of variation (COVs) of suck‐suck, swallow‐swallow, and breath‐breath intervals were used as measures of stability of individual rhythms. COVs of suck‐swallow and swallow‐breath intervals were used to determine stability of multiply integrated rhythms. In the first three days of life, a significantly higher percentage of‘apneic swallows’(runs of three or more swallows not associated with breathing movements, divided by total run‐swallows) was noted during feeding in the drug‐exposed infants (mean 5.3% SEM 1.7%) compared with controls (mean 0.9%, SEM 0.4%; p<0.02), who also had less breath‐breath rhythmic stability (higher COV) and shorter swallow‐breath intervals. These differences were no longer evident at one month of age. Opiate‐exposed infants were generally more affected than the cocaine‐exposed infants. Swallowing was less rhythmic in the drug‐exposed cohort, especially in opiate‐exposed infants, but this difference also disappeared by one month. In the first days of life, drug‐exposed infants were less efficient feeders, ingesting less volume per run‐swallow than controls (mean 0.31ml, SEM 0.05ml, versus 0.45ml, SEM 0.05ml; p<0.05). The decreased efficiency appeared to be compensated for by a slightly faster swallow rate (mean 53 swallows per minute SEM 2 versus 47 swallows per min, SEM 1, in controls; p<0.005). By one month of age these differences between groups had disappeared as well. Intrauterine drug exposure, even in infants with relatively mild symptoms of withdrawal, may adversely impact development of brainstem respiratory and swallow centers, thus affecting, albeit transiently, the underlying biorhythms of feeding.