Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Linking behavioural ecology and oceanography: larval behaviour determines growth, mortality and dispersal

Highly resolved general circulation models (GCMs) now generate realistic flow fields, and have revealed how sensitive larval drift routes are to vertical positioning in the water column. Sensible representation of behavioural processes then becomes essential to generate reliable pat- terns of environmental exposure (growth and survival), larval drift trajectories and dispersal. Existing individual-based models involving larval fish allow individuals to vary only in their attributes such as spatial coordinates, and not in their inherited behavioural strategies or phenotypes. We illustrate the interaction between short-term behaviour and longer-term dispersal consequences applying a model of larval cod Gadus morhua drifting in a GCM, and show how variations in swimming behaviour influence growth and dispersal. We recommend a deep integration of oceanography and behavioural ecology. First, we need to understand the causes and survival value of behaviours of larval fish, framed in terms of behavioural ecology. Second, we need practices to address how drift and disper- sal of offspring are generating spawning strategies (timing and location) of adults, using life history theory. Third, the relative importance of local growth and mortality versus the need to drift to partic- ular areas depend strongly on the mobility of organisms at the time of settling, or the spatial fitness- landscape. The field of 'individual-based ecology' provides sound methods to approach this interface between evolutionary theory and physical oceanography.
A Note on the MDCT/MDST and Pseudoinverse Matrix

The modiﬁed discrete cosine transform (MDCT) and modiﬁed discrete sine transform (MDST) both for the evenly and oddly stacked systems are perfect reconstruction cosine/sine–modulated ﬁlter banks based on time domain aliasing cancellation (TDAC) employed in the current international audio coding standards and commercial audio compression products. Based on the matrix representation of MDCTs and MDSTs it is shown that the transposed MDCT and MDST matrices are actually the pseudoinverses of their corresponding forward transform matrices. The pseudoinverse matrix and its properties provide an elegant mathematical tool to characterize the MDCT/MDST as the analysis/synthesis ﬁlter banks in the matrix representation.
Compliance with safety practices among dairy farmers in Bihar, India: Do smallholders benefit?

The demand for compliance with food safety measures (FSM) at farm level, an integral component of food security, is increasing. Yet, literature on the assessment of FSM at the farm level is scarce, especially for developing countries. To bridge the gap, this study investigates the status, estimates the cost, identifies the determinants, and analyzes the impact of compliance with food safety measures (FSM), using cross-sectional data from a survey of 684 dairy farmers in India. We use an ordinary least square (OLS) regression to examine the drivers of FSM adoption and we use the dose response function (DRF) technique to estimate the impact of FSM adoption on milk yield and profitability. The empirical results reveal that compliance with FSM at the farm level is low, with wide variations among milk producers. Drivers of FSM adoption include education, income, training, herd size, landholding, proportion of self-consumed milk, and households' perception of food safety. The DRF estimates reveal the positive impact of FSM adoption on milk yield and milk profitability. Keywords: food safety, compliance cost, dairy profitability, dose response function, Bihar, India Acknowledgement : We are grateful to the United States Agency for International Development for extending financial support to conduct this study through the Policy Reform Initiative Project (PRIP) in Nepal. We express our sincere thanks to all the dairy farmers who provided the needed information for the accomplishment of this study.
From Hawks and Doves to Self‐Consistent Games of Territorial Behavior

Explaining the “prior‐residence effect” (automatic owner status of individuals who arrived first in an area) was one of the very first applications of game theory in animal behavior. These models, however, predict paradoxical solutions where intruders always win, with no satisfactory explanation for the absence of such cases in nature. We propose a solution based on new developments in evolutionary game theory. A self‐consistent model with feedbacks between individual behavior and population dynamics produces qualitatively different frequency‐dependent selection on intruders (floaters) than on territory owners. Starting with an ancestral population with no respect for ownership, the most likely evolutionary end point is complete or partial respect. Conventional rules of conflict resolution thus can rely on “uncorrelated asymmetries” without differences in resource‐holding power or territory value, although they will be strengthened by such differences. We also review the empirical literature on animal contests, testing whether asymmetries in resource‐holding power are required to explain the observations. Despite much empirical effort, results remain inconclusive, because experiments are often unable to distinguish between the motivation of individuals to fight and the behavioral outcome of a contest. To help arrive at conclusive answers, we suggest a standardized empirical approach to quantify prior‐residence effects.
Immunohistochemical Study of Somatotrophs in Pituitary Pars Distalis of Male Viscacha (Lagostomus maximus maximus) in Relation to the Gonadal Activity

Somatotrophs were identified and quantified in pituitary pars distalis of male viscachas (Lagostomus maximus maximus) during the annual reproductive cycle, after the administration of melatonin, after castration and in different growth stages by immunohistochemistry and morphometric analysis. In adult male viscachas, the somatotrophs were distributed throughout the pars distalis during the reproductive cycle. They were oval, pyramidal or round in shape with a large round nucleus. The percentage immunopositive area, the major cellular diameter and the number of cells decreased during the gonadal regression period in relation to the values found in the reproductive period. The administration of melatonin did not provoke any variations of the morphometric parameters studied. On the contrary, a significant decrease in the percentage immunopositive area, in the major cellular diameter and in the number of somatotrophs in castrated viscachas was observed. The study of different growth stages showed that these morphometric parameters increased from immature to adult animals in the reproductive period. The results obtained suggested that the variations of the morphometric parameters of somatotrophs are more related to the gonadal development and activity than to a direct effect of melatonin.
Intracellular Staphylococcus aureus eludes selective autophagy by activating a host cell kinase

ABSTRACT Autophagy, a catabolic pathway of lysosomal degradation, acts not only as an efficient recycle and survival mechanism during cellular stress, but also as an anti-infective machinery. The human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) was originally considered solely as an extracellular bacterium, but is now recognized additionally to invade host cells, which might be crucial for persistence. However, the intracellular fate of S. aureus is incompletely understood. Here, we show for the first time induction of selective autophagy by S. aureus infection, its escape from autophagosomes and proliferation in the cytoplasm using live cell imaging. After invasion, S. aureus becomes ubiquitinated and recognized by receptor proteins such as SQSTM1/p62 leading to phagophore recruitment. Yet, S. aureus evades phagophores and prevents further degradation by a MAPK14/p38α MAP kinase-mediated blockade of autophagy. Our study demonstrates a novel bacterial strategy to block autophagy and secure survival inside the host cell.
Effects of imperfect automation and individual differences on concurrent performance of military and robotics tasks in a simulated multitasking environment

This study investigated the performance and workload of the combined position of gunner and robotics operator in a simulated military multitasking environment. Specifically, the study investigated how aided target recognition (AiTR) capabilities for the gunnery task with imperfect reliability (false-alarm-prone vs. miss-prone) might affect the concurrent robotics and communication tasks. Additionally, the study examined whether performance was affected by individual differences in spatial ability and attentional control. Results showed that when the robotics task was simply monitoring the video, participants had the best performance in their gunnery and communication tasks and the lowest perceived workload, compared with the other robotics tasking conditions. There was a strong interaction between the type of AiTR unreliability and participants' perceived attentional control. Overall, for participants with higher perceived attentional control, false-alarm-prone alerts were more detrimental; for low attentional control participants, conversely, miss-prone automation was more harmful. Low spatial ability participants preferred visual cueing and high spatial ability participants favoured tactile cueing. Potential applications of the findings include personnel selection for robotics operation, robotics user interface designs and training development. The present results will provide further understanding of the interplays among automation reliability, multitasking performance and individual differences in military tasking environments. These results will also facilitate the implementation of robots in military settings and will provide useful data to military system designs.
Schema matching based on Ant Colony Optimization

Schema matching is widely used in many database applications, such as ontology merging, data integration, data warehouse and dataspaces. The problem of schema matching is essentially to find the semantic correspondences between attributes of schemas to be matched. The query logs imply lots of valuable information about the schemas to be matched. Thus, we propose to employ Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) to solve the problem of schema matching based on the information implied in query logs. Our main idea is to firstly extract the features about schemas from the query logs, then, use the scoring function to measure the similarity of these features, finally employ the ant colony optimization to find the optimal matching result. We validate our approach with an experimental study, the results of which demonstrate that our approach is effective and has good performance.
Biological control of AFB1-producing Aspergillus section Flavi strains isolated from brewer's grains, alternative feed intended for swine production in Argentina

ABSTRACT The aim of the present study was to investigate the inhibitory activity of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from brewer's grains on Aspergillus section Flavi growth and aflatoxin B1 production. The Aspergillus strains tested were inhibited by all the LAB strains assayed. The isolates Lactobacillus brevis B20, P. pentosaceus B86, Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis B87, L. brevis B131, and Lactobacillus sp. B144 completely suppressed the fungal growth and reduced aflatoxin B1 production. In conclusion, LAB isolated from brewer's grains show a high inhibitory activity on fungal growth and aflatoxin biosynthesis by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. Further studies must be conducted to evaluate the success of in vitro assays under food environment conditions and to elucidate the antifungal mechanism of these strains.
Razonamiento con los signos y los síntomas

El razonamiento consiste en relacionar datos para obtener conclusiones definitivas o provisionales. El clinico utiliza varias estrategias en el proceso diagnostico. Estas requieren un metodo estructurado que permita un razonamiento adecuado con la informacion recabada por el medico (signos, sintomas, pruebas diagnosticas). Los signos y los sintomas nos ayudan a ofrecer una mejor atencion a los pacientes en lo referente al diagnostico, pronostico y tratamiento. La herramienta que nos ayuda a identificar el peso que tienen los signos y los sintomas es la razon de verosimilitud (likelihood ratio, LR) que nos dice que tan probable es que, habiendo el signo o sintoma “A”, el paciente tenga la enfermedad “X” en comparacion con el paciente “Y” que no tiene el signo o sintoma “A”. Muchos de los signos y sintomas son subjetivos y dependen de la capacidad de observacion, comparacion y clasificacion del clinico. Esta subjetividad se presta a diferentes interpretaciones inter e intrapersonales. Para evitar esas variaciones se requieren herramientas como el indice Kappa. El uso de la razon de verosimilitud y de los indices Kappa permite incrementar la probabilidad diagnostica con menos subjetividad, apoyado siempre en la mejor evidencia disponible
An NIRS matrix for detecting and correcting cerebral oxygen desaturation events during surgery and neuroendovascular procedures

Abstract Background: Transcranial cerebral oximetry was developed for early detection of cerebral hypoxia to avoid cerebral dysfunctions. However, near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) data obtained during surgery are subject to intrinsic and extrinsic influences that have to be accounted for when interpreting the recordings. Methods: We developed an NIRS matrix to provide brief information for a specific intervention to correct changes of cerebral oxygen saturation (COS). Selected vital data and the descriptors of cerebrovascular and neurofunctional status were linked to logistic chains. Results: The matrix is horizontally and vertically grouped and contains five descriptors: 1. change of COS; 2. key variable (parameter related to the change of COS); 3. associated parameters (vital data that do not cause COS alterations); 4. interpretation of values or preconditions most probably due to COS changes; and 5. the intervention most likely to normalize the COS or return it to baseline. The descriptors are grouped horizontally to a logistics chain. Conclusion: The modular expandable NIRS matrix we describe has promise for clinical use in surgical, neurointerventional and anaesthesiological contexts.
Length-weight allometries in lizards

Body shape and body size are hugely important for the understanding of multiple ecological phenomena. In order to study and compare sizes across taxa and to understand the ecological significance of shape differences, there is a need for ways to ‘translate’ different size measurements to a common metric. Body mass is the most useful such common index for size across taxa. Based on a large (4900 species in 28 families) dataset of lizard and amphisbaenian weights, I generate equations to estimate weights from the common size index used in lizard morphometrics (snout–vent length). I then use a species-level phylogenetic hypothesis to examine the ecological factors that affect the variation in weight–length relationships. Legless and leg-reduced lizards are characterized by shallower allometric slopes, and thus long-bodied legless species are lighter than legged lizards of comparable length. Among legged species, the foraging strategy strongly influences the weights, with sitand-wait species being bulkier at comparable lengths than active foraging species. Environmental productivity (positively related to mass) and activity times (diurnal species being heavier) are only significant when using non-phylogenetic models. The need for effective locomotion is a major factor affecting lizard shape. Previously used allometric equations are inaccurate.
E-Commerce for Development: Prospects and Policy Issues

In this paper, we analyse the potential contribution of the Internet and its commercial application to the development process in poor countries. In historical perspective, the Internet has diffused at a far faster rate than earlier generations of communications technology: from 1990 to early 2000, the estimated number of Internet users grew more than tenfold to roughly 300 million, affecting the way in which people communicate with each other, acquire information, learn, do business, and interact culturally. Our particular focus is on the opportunities e-commerce offers to small-scale entrepreneurs in developing countries and the challenges they face in exploiting e-commerce’s potential.There is a risk that a “digital divide” will emerge, reinforcing existing income and wealth inequalities within and between countries. Yet, a major potential benefit of globalisation is the freer movement of technology, including information and communication technology (ICT), across borders. In . Ce Document technique analyse la possible contribution d’Internet et de ses utilisations commerciales au developpement des pays pauvres. D’un point de vue historique, Internet s’est repandu a un rythme extraordinairement plus rapide que les precedentes technologies de communication : entre 1990 et le debut de 2000, le nombre estime d’utilisateurs d’Internet a ete multiplie par plus de dix, atteignant pres de 300 millions, et modifiant la maniere dont les gens communiquent entre eux, trouvent de l’information, apprennent, font des affaires et interagissent sur le plan culturel. Nous etudions plus particulierement les opportunites que le commerce electronique offre aux petits entrepreneurs des pays en developpement et les defis qu’ils doivent relever pour tirer parti de ce potentiel.Le risque de creation d’un « fosse numerique » — qui renforcerait encore les inegalites de richesse et de revenu existantes — est bien reel. Pourtant, l’un des principaux avantages possibles de la .
Une simulation fonctionnelle d'un système monopuce dédié au traitement du signal intensif : une approche dirigée par les modèles

Ces quelques dernieres annees, le monde de la conception des systemes monopuces a subi un tres grand bouleversement. D'une part, la puissance des nouvelles applications fait que les nouveaux systemes doivent incorporer de nombreuses ressources heterogenes. D'autre part, les nouvelles technologies permettent d'incorporer de plus en plus de composants sur une meme surface de silicium. Les methodes de conception actuelles, basees sur l'experience des concepteurs pour choisir les differentes architectures, ne permettent plus de suivre l'evolution des technologies, d'autant plus que la duree de vie des systemes est de plus en plus courte, alors que le temps de mise sur le marche et le cout de conception ne font qu'augmenter. L'approche adoptee dans cette these s'inscrit dans un projet global de co-modelisation et co-conception appele Gaspard. Elle vise a remedier, meme partiellement a ces nouvelles exigences. La methodologie est basee sur les principes de l'architecture dirigee sur les modeles (MDA), et plus particulierement la partie traitant de la simulation et de l'analyse de performances a un haut niveau d'abstraction. Dans cette these, un metamodele, permettant la modelisation des systemes, est decrit. Ensuite, une methodologie de generation de code, utilisant des moteurs de transformations, est utilisee afin de generer le code necessaire a la simulation du systeme modelise. Enfin, une presentation des differents criteres retenus pour l'estimation du systeme est faite.
High Prevalence of Gestational Diabetes in Women from Ethnic Minority Groups

The influence of ethnic origin, body mass index, and parity on the frequency of gestational diabetes was assessed in 11205 consecutive women attending a multiracial antenatal clinic in London, where all women were screened for gestational diabetes. Logistic regression was used to model the relationship between gestational diabetes and ethnic origin, age, body mass index (BMI), and parity. Results were presented as adjusted odds ratios, where the reference categories are White women, age < 25 years, BMI < 27, and parity < 3. Ethnic origin was the dominant influence on the prevalence of gestational diabetes. Women from ethnic groups other than White had a higher frequency of gestational diabetes than White women (2.9% vs 0.4%, p < 0.001). Compared to White women the relative risk of gestational diabetes in the other ethnic groups was: Black 3.1 (95% confidence limits 1.8–5.5), South East Asian 7.6 (4.1–14.1), Indian 11.3 (6.8–18.8), and miscellaneous 5.9 (3.5–9.9). Increasing age was an independent risk factor. The relative risk was higher in women ≥ 35 years in all ethnic groups other than in South East Asian women. Obesity (BMI ≥ 27) was a further independent risk factor in all ethnic groups except in the Indian and South East Asian women. Parity ≥ 3 increased the relative risk of gestational diabetes in the White, Black, and South East Asian women only. Age and obesity were factors of particular importance in Black women in whom the risk was 4.1 fold greater in those ≥ 35 years compared with women ≥ 35 years, and 5.0 fold higher if the BMI was ≥ 27 compared with ≥ 27. Ethnic origin has a major influence on the prevalence of gestational diabetes and the importance of other risk factors varies between ethnic groups. These findings have important implications for the screening of women in pregnancy.
Host fidelity is an effective premating barrier between sympatric races of the apple maggot fly.

Models of sympatric speciation for phytophagous insects posit a central role for host plant-associated mating as a premating isolating mechanism in lieu of geographic barriers to gene flow. Here, by means of three mark-and-recapture studies, we confirm that host fidelity (i.e., the tendency of an insect to reproduce on the same host species that it used in earlier life-history stages) restricts gene flow between sympatric apple- and hawthorn-infesting races of Rhagoletis pomonella (Diptera: Tephritidae) to approximately 6% per generation. Genetically based differences in host preference, adult eclosion under the "correct" host species, and allochronic isolation contribute to host fidelity in various degrees in the races. The results verify that host-associated adaptation can produce reproductive isolation as a correlated character (a key premise of sympatric speciation). The study also represents one of the few or perhaps only example in animals where the intra-specific isolating effects of specific phenotypes have been quantified in nature.