Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fermentation du glycérol chez des propionibactéries et optimisation de la production d'acide propionique

La fermentation du glycerol en acide propionique a ete etudiee comparativement a celle du glucose chez deux propionibacteries: P. acidipropionici et P. freudenreichii ssp sherrnanii. P. acidipropionici a montre un rendement tres eleve en acide propionique (0,79 mol/mol) et sa capacite a produire une forte concentration en acide propionique (42 g/I) en fermentation batch. Parallelement, la tres faible production d'acide acetique a ete mise en evidence au cours de la fermentation du glycerol. Le ratio molaire acide propionique/acide acetique (P/A) qui est particulierement eleve au cours de la fermentation du glycerol par P. acidipropionici : P/A= 88 en fermentation continue et 5,5 en fermentation batch, a suggere l'hypothese de l'orientation homopropionique de la fermentation du glycerol. L'etude en fermentation continue par cellules immobilisees (alginate de calcium) a permis d'obtenir une tres forte productivite en acide propionique (3 g/l,h) avec un rendement de 0,78 mol/mol. Ces tres hautes performances soulignent les nouvelles perspectives d'optimisation de la production d'acide propionique par fermentation.
Sex of Pouch Young Related to Maternal Weight in Macropus eugenii and M. parma (Marsupialia: Macropodidae)

Competing theories of sex allocation in mammals may best be reconciled in the light of data from diverse species. The tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii) is potentially a particularly interesting study animal because females wean only one young per year, and exhibit extreme synchronicity in the annual onset of breeding. By contrast, reproduction in the closely related parma wallaby (M. parma) is almost asynchronous. These two Australian species are found sympatrically only on Kawau Island, New Zealand, where they were introduced in about 1870. We sampled wallabies on Kawau Island in April of 1996, when both species were breeding. Although the sex ratios in both species were not significantly different from unity, offspring of M. eugenii were very significantly more likely to be male with increasing maternal weight (logistic regression χ2 = 16.8, P < 0.0001), and the fewer M. parma data showed a non-significant trend in the same direction (χ2 = 1.9, P= 0.16). These data, at least for M. eugenii, are consistent with the Trivers–Willard hypothesis, and warrant further investigation in wild and captive populations under different measured or manipulated ecological conditions. We suggest an approach utilising the characteristics of M. eugenii which might help determine whether the sex bias is determined close to conception, or is effected later in the reproductive cycle by differential survival of the sexes.
Infection of Blissus antillus (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae) Eggs by the Entomopathogenic Fungi Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana

Abstract This study determined the pathogenicity and virulence of Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae to eggs of the chinch bug Blissus antillus (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae). Eggs were inoculated under laboratory conditions by immersion in concentrations of 1 × 10 4 and 5 × 10 6 conidia/ml. Inoculated eggs were kept under controlled conditions. Evaluations were carried out daily for 20 days. M. anisopliae isolates were highly virulent to eggs, even at 1 × 10 4 conidia/ml. All B. bassiana isolates tested were considered to be of low virulence or avirulent. The most virulent isolate tested was ESALQ 818 ( M. anisopliae ), which caused 96.7% infection, when eggs were immersed in suspensions of 1 × 10 4 conidia/ml. Conidial production on infected eggs was observed to be highest for M. anisopliae isolate CG144, with a mean value of 11.6 × 10 5 conidia/ml/egg. Infection of Blissus eggs oviposited on plant stems was greater when M. anisopliae isolate CG144 was formulated in mineral oil (63.5% mortality) than when formulated in Tween 80 (27.1% mortality).
The termination of the afferent nerve fibre in the muscle spindle of the frog

1. The sensory nerve contacts in the muscle spindle of the frog were examined in the electron microscope. 2. The terminal branches of the sensory axon form long beaded chains, i.e. bulbous expansions up to 2 to 3 ix thick connected in series by thin cylinders of as little as 0.15 ju. diameter. Many nerve bulbs are seated in cup-like depressions of the intrafusal muscle fibres forming close contact with them. There is a residual gap between nerve and muscle surfaces of about 150 Å, but the gap is bridged here and there by fine filaments or processes of one cell closely approaching or touching the other. 3. The region of sensory contacts along the intrafusal fibres extends over several hundred microns and is divided into two morphologically distinct types of zones: (a) two ‘compact’ zones at either end, each about 300 /u. long, in which the fibre retains approximately the same size and number of myofilaments as in the remote, extracapsular, region; (b) a ‘reticular’ zone in the centre, about 100 /rlong, in which the fibre loses some 85 % of its content of filaments and splays out into several fins and branches held together by slender membrane connexions. The interstices between the splayed-out parts are filled with a dense network of fine connective tissue fibrils (about 50 Å thick). A minority of the intrafusal fibres does not show this differentiation in the sensory region and retains most of its myofilaments throughout. 4. Several characteristic differences are described between motor and sensory nerve endings on intrafusal muscle fibres. Among them are (a) that the motor terminal forms an ‘epectolemmal’, the sensory ending a ‘ hypectolemmaP contact (referring to the external basement membrane of the cells as the ‘ectolemma’) ; (b) the motor ending remains invested by a covering Schwann cell layer, while the sensory endings are not closely associated with satellite cells; (c) the cytoplasm of motor endings is characterized by an accumulation of 500 Å vesicles near the synaptic surface, that of sensory endings by an accumulation of small mitochondria. 5. A structure of unusual periodicity (a longitudinal ‘micro-ladder with rungs about 1600 Å apart) was observed in the interior of intrafusal muscle fibres, located generally in the neighbourhood of sensory nerve contacts. 6. The functional significance of some of the observed morphological features is discussed. It is suggested that mechanical stimulation and depolarization of the sensory nerve endings occurs at the points of adhesion between the intrafusal muscle fibre and the terminal nerve bulbs. The differentiation between ‘dynamic’ and ‘static’ components of the sensory stretch response may arise from different visco-elastic properties of the ‘compact’ and ‘reticular’ zones. Motor activation of the intrafusal muscle fibres would lead to intense stimulation of the sensory endings mainly within the ‘reticular’ zone. This zone is protected against overstretching by a feltwork of connective tissue fibrils.
Introduction of an Effective Method for Separating Conjugating Pairs of Paramecium

For the studies on the ciliate conjugation, it is indispensable to prepare a large number of conjugating (mating) pairs. In the last twenty years, we have done some studies on the conjugation of several species of Paramecium, and an effective method for separating mating pairs of Paramecium has been established, which will be introduced here.
VII.—Report on the Reptilian Fossils of South Africa.: Part II.—Description of the Skull of a large species of Dicynodon (D. tigriceps, Ow.), transmitted from South Africa by A. G. Bain, Esq.

Plates XXIX. to XXXII. Of the extinct Reptilia hitherto discovered in different regions of the globe, the fossil skulls of some species have exhibited combinations of characters now peculiar to distinct orders of the class, or even to distinct classes of Vertebrate animals. The Ichthyosaurus, for example, shows the piscine proportions of the premaxillaries in the upper jaw : the Rynchosaurus shows the chelonian absence of teeth in both jaws : but the Dicynodon seems to have borrowed its peculiarities from a higher class, and to have engrafted some mammalian characteristics upon the upper jaw, whilst it combined a chelonian edentulous under jaw, and a crocodilian occiput, with a cranium essentially constructed after the lacertian type. These and most of the minor peculiarities of the cranial organization of the Dicynodont reptiles have been pointed out in my former account of some of the smaller species of the genus*. There were, however, in Mr. Bain’s first collection some fragments indicative of a Dicynodon, with subcompressed tusks (D. Bainii), as large as a Walrus, but these were too scanty to deserve more than a reference to their indication of the size to which some species of that peculiar genus of reptile had attained during the mesozoic period in South Africa. In a subsequent transmission of fossils from the Graaf Reinet district and Kafraria by Mr. Bain, two almost entire skulls of a still larger species of Dicynodon with circular tusks were included. They have been ably relieved from their extremely hard matrix
Partial purification and characterization of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase from the plant growth promoting rhizobacterium Pseudomonas putida GR12-2

The plant growth promoting rhizobacterium Pseudomonas putida GR12-2 can utilize 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) as a sole nitrogen source because it possess the unusual enzyme ACC deaminase, which hydrolyzes ACC to ammonia and α-ketobutyrate. This enzyme, which is thought to be intimately involved in the mechanism that the bacterium uses to promote root elongation in developing canola seedlings, was partially purified and characterized. The native form of the enzyme is a trimer with a molecular mass of 105 kDa and a subunit molecular mass of 35 kDa. ACC deaminase activity is found in the cytoplasm of the bacterium, is induced by low levels (i.e., 100 nM) of ACC, and has a temperature optimum at approximately 30 °C and a pH optimum of 8.5. These properties are very similar to those reported for ACC deaminase from another soil bacterium, Pseudomonas sp. strain APC.Key words: 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate, ACC, plant growth promoting rhizobacteria, PGPR, ACC deaminase, bacterial fertilizer.
Bacterioplankton distribution and production in deep Pacific waters: Large–scale geographic variations and possible coupling with sinking particle fluxes

Bacterial abundance and leucine incorporation rate were measured throughout the water column (depth, 4,000– 6,000 m) at stations occupied in the equatorial, subtropical, and subarctic Pacific as well as in the Bering Sea during three cruises conducted between 1993 and 1997. In general, depth‐dependent decreases of bacterial abundance and leucine incorporation in the bathypelagic layer (depth, >1,000 m) were well described by a power function with remarkably uniform exponents among distant locations: average exponents were –0.900 and –1.33 for abundance and leucine incorporation, respectively. Depth profiles of bacterial properties were complex at some subarctic stations, suggesting lateral transport of organic carbon by local eddies. Organic carbon fluxes from abyssal sediment to overlying water would explain increases in bacterial abundance and leucine incorporation in near‐bottom layers. Biomass was twofold to fourfold and the production was threefold to sevenfold greater in subarctic than in subtropical regions. This latitudinal pattern was consistent with the basin‐scale distribution of sinking fluxes of particulate organic carbon (POC) reported in the literature. Rates of bacterial carbon uptake accounted for 51% (range, 31–153) and 23% (14–58) of deep sinking POC fluxes in subarctic and subtropical regions, respectively. Average turnover time of deep bacterial assemblages was estimated to be 1–30 yr. These results suggest that deep bacterial biomass and production are generally coupled with sinking POC fluxes and that organic carbon is substantially transformed within bathypelagic environments via a sinking POC → dissolved organic carbon → bacteria pathway, as previously suggested in the mesopelagic zone.
Towards a Categorization of Natural Language Variability in Data for Spoken Dialog Systems

With the move towards more natural human-machine interfaces, recent spoken dialog systems are expected to understand all utterances that are associated with a speciﬁc semantic meaning. However, hard criteria which would deﬁne this set of utterances are lacking. In this paper, we address this point by contributing a set of language-independent criteria which can be used for quantifying the degree of natural language variability in a data set. We validate the suitability of the criteria with a real-world data set from the automotive domain.
Secagem e armazenamento de sementes de juçara

The objective of this research was to verify the effects of partial drying and storage duration on the germination and vigor of three E. edulis seed lots developed under different weather conditions. Mature fruits were harvested in the palm collection from the Instituto Agronomico, located in Ubatuba, SP. , forming three seed lots. Seeds from ten plants were harvested on 02/99 and constituted the Seed lot 1; seed lot 2 was composed of seeds of fifteen plants collected in 04/00, whereas seeds from eleven plants harvested on 08/00 composed seed lot 3. The fruits were depulped and the seeds were dried for 0, 20 and 40 hours, using a drying chamber regulated at 27o C of temperature and 35% of relative humidity. The seeds were stored at 10o C, in closed plastic bags (20 mm thick). During storage, seed quality was evaluated every six weeks, using the following traits: seed water content (105±3oC/24h), germination (%) and vigor (first germination counting and index of the velocity of germination (IVG). Seed drying prior to storage decreased the seed water content in 14 - 21% of the initial values. Germination and vigor were hampered by partial drying and by the storage duration in a differential mode, and both traits depended on the climatic conditions observed during seed developing and maturation.
La culture de ligneux in vitro au service du phytopathologiste

ResumeL'auteur developpe les premiers cas d'assainissement obtenus chez les especes ligneuses par culture de meristemes, microgreffes d'apex et culture de cals. Les mecanismes d'assainissement, l'action de la temperature sont discutes.Les cultures in vitro permettent une conservation et une multiplication a l'abri des contaminations. De plus, elles offrent des perspectives interessantes sur le plan selection et etudes des interactions hotes-parasites, les mecanismes d'infection, la culture des parasites obligatoires, les etudes de premunition.
The in-sourced experts

The Commission, empowered by Treaty with the exclusive monopoly of drafting EU legislation, is clearly under-resourced and particularly understaffed. The average size of its almost 20 Directorates-General (DGs) is about 700 policy-related people (not including technical, secretarial and language staff) and that of a policy unit of about 20 persons. Taking all staff together, the Commission has a smaller apparatus than the local government of Rotterdam and only two per cent of that of the US federal government. At the same time it is overloaded with demands coming from the numerous interest groups, including the other EU bodies and the member-state governments, all lobbying the Commission for their desired outcomes. The overload is not only one of volume but, due to the frequently conflicting demands, also of content. The resulting issues represent the politically ‘irritating’ differences of Europe. In many different ways the Commission might restore the balance between work and capacity – in short, manage the overload. One major alternative is to reduce the work by selecting a few priorities, by combining single issues to a package and/or by postponing them. To a small degree the Commission does all this, but both external and internal pressures limit the room for manoeuvre. Many public and private interest groups established in the member countries and elsewhere urge it to draft measures to settle their issues. The Commission itself has a strong ambition to act as the integrator of Europe and therefore dislikes reducing the stream of work coming to it. It prefers to consider the other major alternative, namely the increase of its capacity. It might do so by hiring in more personnel, by contracting out some amount of work and/or by attracting volunteers. The first two options it uses modestly, as the member state governments are reluctant to provide the financial means for more personnel and contracts. Free of costs, however, the Commission ‘outsources’ the implementation of directives and much of the monitoring of policies to particularly national civil servants. The third option is to attract and use volunteers.
Altitudinal distribution of leaf litter ants along a transect in primary forests on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

The ant communities of the leaf litter were studied along an elevational gradient on Mount Kinabalu in primary rain forest systems ranging from dipterocarp hill forest to dwarf forest of the highest altitudes (560, 800, 1130, 1360, 1530, 1740, 1930, 2025, 2300, 2600 m a.s.l.). The litter ant fauna along the gradient included 283 species of 55 genera. The number of ant species in the leaf litter decreased exponentially without evidence of a peak in species richness at mid-elevations. This result is in contrast to many findings on altitudinal gradients in ants and other animal groups. Most ant species have a very limited altitudinal range leading to high turnover values when comparing communities of different altitudes. Of the ant species, 74% were even restricted to one site. As evident from this study, altitudinal ranges of species are very narrow. Elevational gradients are therefore extremely species-rich and might serve as a prime example of hot spots of biodiversity. This fact is of great concern when implementing conservation strategies.
Nodule Function and Regulation in the Gunnera: Nostoc Symbioses

Cyanobacterial symbioses combine the metabolism of a range of plant species with the unique features of the heterocystous cyanobacteria, which can fix CO2 and N2 using cellular differentiation and a complex electron transport system. In most sym bioses, the ability to fix CO2 is not utilised, whereas the machinery for N2 fixation, in the form of heterocysts, respiratory electron transport systems and nitrogenase activity, is enhanced. A key feature of the heterocyst is its laminated wall with reduced permeability to O2. This cell wall, when combined with the sink for 02 created by the activity of terminal oxidases within the heterocyst, permits rapid rates of N2 fixation irrespective of the location of the symbiont within the plant. High rates of N2 fixation demand a high availability of carbon, which is obtained ultimately from photosynthesis by the host plant in cyanobacterial symbioses.
Introduction

This issue contains 10 papers. The paper by Fisher and McPhail offers a comparative study of the use of internal labour markets (ILM) as a strategic tool by the global hotel chain Marico. The study aims at testing the impact of traditional ILM measures of security, training, and opportunities for advancement on a range of employee attitudes and behaviours. Hotels from China and the UK analysed in this research have achieved high levels of job satisfaction and commitment, while minimising staff turnover through the use of ILMs. Strong HRM strategies applied in Marico hotels have contributed to the creation of an effective ILM within the organisation. Jing and Li examine the impact of culture on the regulation of bank entry and consider the entry decision as one that is critical to a firm to start-up, especially in a foreign country. They emphasise the effect of cultural values when discussing a regulatory policy in a global context. Data are taken from 53 countries in order to out forward empirical estimations about the relationship between regulatory behaviour and culture. The competing notions of ‘public choice’ and ‘social choice’ are also discussed in this study. Wang uses Beijing as a case study to provide information on the evolution of retail formats in Chinese cities. The paper aims at identifying the major changes that have taken place in the past 15 years in an attempt to explain what factors contribute to such changes and to assess the consequences and implications of the changes for the market, competition, and consumers. A key part of the paper is devoted to outlining the evolution of individual retail formats and the impacts of changing environment, especially government policies and regulations as they have been a major influence on the development of retail formats. Corporate law firms have experienced rapid globalisation relatively recently. While large law firms had been international for decades, the shift from an international law firm to becoming a global law firm is more recent. Thus, Segal-Horn and Dean discuss a set of powerful determinants of global industry structure and explain why global strategies make sense for the emerging super elite firms, despite the regulatory differences and lack of global legal products. This paper also addresses and explores questions such as how global the corporate legal sector is, and how global the business strategies of law firms should be. It also discusses whether corporate law firms should pursue global strategies. The paper by Tsai, Hsu, and Lin states that every financial service firm must take a systematic approach to analysing customer expectations and needs to improve an existing financial service or to develop a new service, as proposed in the service gap model which deals with differences between customer expectations and perceptions. They also suggest
Factors affecting the energy value of wheat for poultry

Because wheat comprises such a large component of poultry diets, its nutritional characteristics and, in particular, its metabolizable energy (ME) content are critically important. This paper examines the popularly held view that the ME of wheat is variable by seeking out compositional factors which could account for the variation. The bioassays which have been applied to the derivation of the ME of wheat have also been appraised and it has been concluded that substitution techniques which are used in apparent ME studies may have contributed to the uncertainty which has been attributed to the ME value of wheat. Neither the variety nor the site of its cultivation appeared to affect the ME of wheat, but both density (positively) and α-amylase activity (negatively) were correlated with ME; however, neither effect was large and the commercial significance is doubtful. Attention has recently focused on the non-starch polysaccharides in wheat, specifically water-soluble arabinoxylan, and response experiments after xylanase addition to wheat-based diets have produced evidence that the viscosity of the digesta is a factor resulting in poor performance; the mechanisms involved have not, however, been elucidated.