Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biodiversity genomics of North American Dryobates woodpeckers reveals little gene flow across the D. nuttallii x D. scalaris contact zone

Evolutionary biologists have long used behavioral, ecological, and genetic data from contact zones between closely related species to study various phases of the speciation continuum. North America has several concentrations of avian contact zones, where multiple pairs of sister lineages meet, with or without hybridization. In a southern California contact zone, 2 species of woodpeckers, Nuttall’s Woodpecker (Dryobates nuttallii) and the Ladder-backed Woodpecker (D. scalaris), occasionally hybridize. We sampled these 2 species in a transect across this contact zone and included samples of their closest relative, the Downy Woodpecker (D. pubescens), to obtain large single nucleotide polymorphism panels using restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq). Furthermore, we used whole-genome resequencing data for 2 individuals per species to identify whether patterns of diversity inferred from RAD-seq were representative of whole-genome diversity. We found that these 3 woodpecker species are genomically distinct. Although low levels of gene flow occur between D. nuttallii and D. scalaris across the contact zone, there was no evidence for widespread genomic introgression between these 2 species. Overall patterns of genomic diversity from the RAD-seq and wholegenome datasets appear to be related to distributional range size and, by extension, are likely related to effective population sizes for each species.
Mining Newsgroups Using Ensemble Classifiers in Social Network Analysis

Internet is the rapidly growing information gallery that contains rich textual information. This rapid growth makes it difficult for the users to locate relevant information quickly on the web. Document retrieval, categorization, routing and filtering systems are often based on text classification. Text Classification means allocating a document to one or more categories or classes. The ability to accurately perform a classification task depends on the representations of documents to be classified. In this research work, new ensemble classification methods are proposed for homogeneous ensemble classifiers using bagging and heterogeneous ensemble classifiers using arcing classifier and their performances are analyzed in terms of accuracy. A Classifier ensemble is designed using Naive Bayes (NB), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) as base classifiers. The feasibility and the benefits of the proposed approaches are demonstrated by means of newsgroups dataset that is widely used in the field of sentiment classification. The main originality of the proposed approach is based on five main parts: preprocessing phase, document indexing phase, feature reduction phase, classification phase and combining phase to aggregate the best classification results. A wide range of comparative experiments are conducted for newsgroups dataset. The accuracy of base classifiers is compared with homogeneous and heterogeneous models for newsgroups dataset. The proposed ensemble methods provide significant improvement of accuracy compared to individual classifiers and also heterogeneous models exhibit better results than homogeneous models for newsgroups dataset.
Primate hippocampus size and organization are predicted by sociality but not diet

The hippocampus is well known for its roles in spatial navigation and memory, but it is organized into regions that have different connections and functional specializations. Notably, the region CA2 has a role in social and not spatial cognition, as is the case for the regions CA1 and CA3 that surround it. Here we investigated the evolution of the hippocampus in terms of its size and organization in relation to the evolution of social and ecological variables in primates, namely home range, diet and different measures of group size. We found that the volumes within the whole cornu ammonis coevolve with group size, while only the volume of CA1 and subiculum can also be predicted by home range. On the other hand, diet, expressed as a shift from folivory toward frugivory, was shown to not be related to hippocampal volume. Interestingly, CA2 was shown to exhibit phylogenetic signal only against certain measures of group size but not with ecological factors. We also found that sex differences in the hippocampus are related to body size sex dimorphism. This is in line with reports of sex differences in hippocampal volume in non-primates that are related to social structure and sex differences in behaviour. Our findings support the notion that in primates, the hippocampus is a mosaic structure evolving in line with social pressures, where certain subsections evolve in line with spatial ability too.
Platelets Aggregate With Neutrophils and Promote Skin Pathology in Psoriasis

Psoriasis is a frequent systemic inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized primarily by skin lesions with massive infiltration of leukocytes, but frequently also presents with cardiovascular comorbidities. Especially polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) abundantly infiltrate psoriatic skin but the cues that prompt PMNs to home to the skin are not well-defined. To identify PMN surface receptors that may explain PMN skin homing in psoriasis patients, we screened 332 surface antigens on primary human blood PMNs from healthy donors and psoriasis patients. We identified platelet surface antigens as a defining feature of psoriasis PMNs, due to a significantly increased aggregation of neutrophils and platelets in the blood of psoriasis patients. Similarly, in the imiquimod-induced experimental in vivo mouse model of psoriasis, disease induction promoted PMN-platelet aggregate formation. In psoriasis patients, disease incidence directly correlated with blood platelet counts and platelets were detected in direct contact with PMNs in psoriatic but not healthy skin. Importantly, depletion of circulating platelets in mice in vivo ameliorated disease severity significantly, indicating that both PMNs and platelets may be relevant for psoriasis pathology and disease severity.
Drawing to learn : investigating the role of contributing factors and instructional support for learner-generated drawing

Learning with visual representations has been the focus of research for the past decades. A robust finding is the multimedia effect (Butcher, 2014), that is, learning with a combination of text and pictures is more beneficial than learning with text alone. Three cognitive processes are assumed to be important for multimedia learning: selecting and organizing information from text and pictures, as well as integrating this information in order to build a coherent mental model of the learning content (Mayer, 2009, 2014a). Although integration is crucial for effective multimedia learning, learners show only few attempts to integrate (Hegarty & Just, 1993; Mason et al., 2013, 2015; Scheiter & Eitel, 2015). One way to foster integration of verbal and pictorial information is to instruct learners to self-generate the visual representations. This strategy is described as learner-generated drawing (van Meter & Firetto, 2013, van Meter & Garner, 2013). Learner-generated drawing requires learners to construct external pictorial representations that include the key concepts and their relations while learning from verbal instruction (Leutner & Schmeck, 2014). Drawing has been shown to promote learning in terms of higher-order knowledge (for overviews see Ainsworth et al., 2011; van Meter & Firetto, 2013; van Meter & Garner, 2005). Benefits of drawing seem to depend on the availability and type of support during drawing construction (e.g., van Meter, 2001, van Meter et al., 2006, Schwamborn et al., 2010, Schmeck et al., 2014). Moreover, the quality of drawings constructed during drawing (i.e., the number of key concepts correctly incorporated into the drawings) is positively associated with learning outcomes; a finding that can be described as the prognostic drawing effect (Schwamborn et al., 2010). The main goal of the present thesis was to investigate which of three factors – generation, visualization, and externalization – mainly contributes to benefits of drawing. Second, it was examined how several boundary conditions would affect benefits of drawing – namely, the type of posttest, the quality of drawings constructed during learning, test delay as well as type of instructional support. Third, it was of interest how a drawing strategy instruction influences learners’ perceived difficulty of learning. The first study investigated the influence of generation and visualization. Drawing was compared with a multimedia condition, a summary condition, and a text-only condition. After learning, learning outcomes were assessed with an immediate and delayed posttest, whereby the time of assessment was manipulated within subjects. The results indicate that visualization is the factor contributing most to benefits of drawing. Because the results regarding time of testing likely were confounded with benefits of retrieval practice (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006), time of testing was included as a between-subjects factor in the second study. The second study examined the influence of generation and externalization on benefits of drawing. …
Osteology, phylogeny, and biogeography of the marine fish family Ephippidae (Perciformes, Acanthuroidei), with comments on sister group relationships

The m arine fish family Ephippidae com prises eight genera and 15 species of extant fishes. Spadefishes or batfishes inhabit nearshore tropical to tem perate waters. They are alm ost circumglobal in distribution, with the highest diversity in the Indo-west Pacific and the lowest diversity in the east Pacific and w est Atlantic. Fifty-nine potentially informative morphological characters , 10 outgroup taxa. and eight ingroup taxa (i.e. genera) were used to explore sister group hypotheses to the Ephippidae, as well as generate a phylogeny of the Ephippidae. Seven constraint tree analyses were utilized to examine various sister group hypotheses based on previous morphological and m olecular analyses by o ther researchers. These analyses resulted in maximally parsim onious trees ranging from 184 to 197 steps. As in previous analyses, both the suborder A canthuroidei and the family Ephippidae were found to be monophyletic. Sim ilar to the resu lts from previous molecular and total evidence analyses, the exact placem ent of Scatophagidae within the Acanthuroidei could not be determ ined with th is d a ta set. However, in contrast to those results, Drepaneidae was found no t to be the sister taxon to Scatophagidae. A single m ost-parsim onious tree of 187 steps (Cl = 0.412) w as chosen as the best hypothesis of relationships utilizing all taxa. However, few additional steps are needed to produce very different topologies. The phylogeny of the Ephippidae was invariant for all constraint tree analyses. Hom oplastic evolution is prevalent within the family (Cl = 0.687; Bremer Total S upport Index = 0.22). The phylogenetic hypothesis depicts two distinct clades: (C haetodipterus (E phippus {Tripterodon {Platax. Zabidius)))) + [P roteracanthus [P arapsettus, Rhinoprenes)). One new synapom orphy is proposed for the Ephippidae: posterior processes of the pelvic-fin girdle elongate, pointed, separate from one another, and parallel to the long axis of the body. Another new synapom orphy, the possession of an elongate fourth pharyngobranchial tha t completely overlays the dorsal surface of the upper toothplate of the fourth branchial arch, is hom oplastically shared with Zanclidae. Ancestral area analysis determ ined tha t the ancestor to the Ephippidae m ost likely had an east Indian/west Pacific distribution. Omnivory is plesiomorphic within the Ephippidae and confirmed to be plesiom orphic for the Acanthuroidei.
Lycopene – a bioactive carotenoid offering multiple health benefits: a review

Lycopene is a natural red tomato pigment whose presence in the diet is beneficial to human health. It is believed to modify the course of chronic conditions, including neoplastic diseases. Clinical research results confirm its protective effects on the cardiovascular system. It lowers the risk of myocardial infarction, reduces blood pressure and prevents LDL cholesterol oxidation. High blood lycopene concentrations are also associated with lower risks of developing prostate, lung, uterine and breast cancer. Lycopene does not only inhibit proliferation of neoplastic cells, but it also induces their apoptosis and prevents metastasis. The health effects attributed to this compound are mostly derived from its antioxidant properties. It is a strong singlet oxygen quencher, and it thwarts lipid oxidation. Experimental and clinical studies have also confirmed lycopene's positive effects on the skeletal system and on neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
Assessment of Technical Efficiency and Its Potential Determinants among Small-Scale Coffee Farmers in Rwanda

Coffee production is the main economic activity for smallholder farmers in Rwanda; it is also a major export crop. However, Rwandan coffee production has been facing structural changes with a significant decline in production. Considering the importance of the coffee sector to rural livelihoods and its potential role in export earnings, there is a need to ensure that small-scale coffee farmers efficiently use scarce resources in their production activities. Thus, this study estimates the technical efficiency and possible sources of inefficiency in small-scale coffee farming in the Northern Province of Rwanda. Three hundred and twenty coffee farmers are sampled to carry out a simultaneous estimation of the stochastic production frontier and technical inefficiency model. The results indicate that the mean technical efficiency among small-scale coffee farmers is 82 percent, implying a potential to increase coffee production by 18 percent with the current level of resources and technology. Coffee production displays increasing returns to scale and factors such as education, access to credit, extension services, improved variety of coffee trees, cropping system, and land consolidation have a positive and significant effect on technical efficiency. Thus, development policies in the coffee sector might focus more on enhancing the accessibility of farmers to extension services and credit facilities. In addition, adoption of high-yielding and disease-resistant coffee varieties, better cropping systems, and management of coffee plantations in land consolidation might reduce technical inefficiency among coffee farmers in the Northern Province of Rwanda.
The use of fluensulfone for the control of root-knot nematodes in greenhouse cultivated crops: Efficacy and phytotoxicity effects

Abstract A recently released non-fumigant nematicide, fluensulfone, belonging to the fluoroalkenyl chemical group, fluensulfone, was tested against field populations of root-knot nematodes Meloidogyne sp. in commercial cucumber and tomato greenhouses. It was delivered through the drip irrigation system at doses from 12 to 72 ml 100 m−1. The application of fluensulfone substantially reduced nematode multiplication either in tomato or cucumber cultivation at all doses above 24 ml 100 m−1. Plants cultivated in plots treated with fluensulfone produced significantly more fruits throughout the cropping season for both crops. However, in tomato cultivation, doses higher than 36 ml 100 m−1 have shown a high number of dead plants a fact which was not recorded in cucumber cultivation. Laboratory experiments were conducted to evaluate any possible phytotoxicity of fluensulfone. Three solanaceous (tomato, pepper, and eggplant) and three cucurbitaceous (cucumber, squash and melon) plants were used. The root growth and the seed germination were affected when the recommended dose of fluensulfone was used.
A Review on Therapeutic Potential of Protease Inhibitors from Medicinal Plants

Most of the currently available therapeutic agents, particularly for cardiovascular disorders and cancers are very expensive and induce some serious side effects. Some of these drugs have also become less effective due to the emergence of antibiotic resistance. There is a necessity and great demand for the development of novel efficacious plant-based agents that are of pharmacologically effective. In this connection, this review focuses on therapeutic potential of plant protease inhibitors. Protease inhibitors are of a particular concern at present due to their potent ability to inhibit protease enzymes that are involved in pathogenesis of various human diseases. In addition to their function as protein-degrading enzymes, protease inhibitors are now well-known for their capability to involve in many biological activities as signaling molecules. Plant protease inhibitors are also engaged in several physiological and pathological processes, such as blood clotting, inflammation, immune regulation, apoptosis and carcinogenesis. Therefore, isolation of plant protease inhibitors and evaluation of their therapeutic capacity against chronic human diseases have become a major research interest. Nevertheless, protease inhibitor content and protease specificity vary significantly even in the same plant species depending on the geographical location and environmental factors. Consequently, it is important to identify potent therapeutic potential of each plant protease inhibitor on human health individually.
Poor management in protected areas is associated with lowered tropical mammal diversity

Numerous protected areas (PAs) have been created worldwide to safeguard wildlife and other natural resources from anthropogenic threats such as habitat destruction and bushmeat hunting. However, conservation efforts in many tropical PAs are still inadequate, revealing deficiencies in management effectiveness. It is therefore important to quantify how different protection regimes impact wildlife within PAs. We investigated the differences between forest mammal communities in two ecologically comparable PAs in the Udzungwa Mountains (Tanzania) with contrasting management regimes. One is a well‐protected national park with efficient law enforcement; the other has suffered decades of inadequate protection, mainly resulting in high levels of illegal hunting. Using camera‐trapping data, we assessed the target communities in terms of species richness, functional composition (i.e. proportions of trophic guilds) and species‐specific occurrences, all while accounting for imperfect detection. We found striking differences between the two mammal communities: lower species richness, alteration in the trophic structure and reduced occurrence probabilities for most species in the forest with high disturbance. The difference in occurrence probability between the two PAs tended to be highest for larger‐bodied species. Our results show that strictly enforced legal protection is required to maintain diverse mammal communities in tropical forests under ever‐increasing anthropogenic threats. While PAs are the cornerstone of efforts to conserve tropical biodiversity, the future of biodiversity within them is closely tied to the effectiveness of enforcement.
Tenure security, investment and the productivity of agricultural farms in the communal area of Kavango West Region of Namibia: Any evidence of causality

The study determines whether there are causal influences amongst the decision to apply for leasehold land right, investment, and livestock farm productivity in the Kavango West Region of Namibia. Various econometrics models have been used to model these relationships in the literature. However, there is a growing concern that methods which do not explicitly account for the endogeneity of regressors and which are used to investigate the relationship between property rights and the economic activities on agricultural farms often produce bias estimates that are inefficient and inconsistent. This study applied an instrumental variable (IV) regression to a survey data of 510 farmers to correct for endogeneity. A test of endogeneity of tenure security, investment, and farm productivity in the various models show that tenure security is exogenous to farm investment decision and farm productivity. On the other hand, farm investment decision was found to be exogenous to farm productivity, which implies that farmers make investment decisions given a secure tenure right that enhances their productivity on the farm. Overall, there was no evidence to support reverse causality in any of the tests. These findings highlight the importance of secure property rights as being a stimulus for increased agricultural investment and productivity. Key words: Property right, tenure security, endogenous, exogenous, investment.
Anti-cytoskeleton Immunoscreening of Trypanosoma brucei Expression Library Reveals Novel Immunogenic Conserved Putative Proteins

Background: The overall shape of the trypanosome is defined by an internal cytoskeleton consisting of a network of microtubules that are cross linked both to each other and the inner face of the plasma membrane. However, the total compliment and identity of the trypanosome cytoskeleton proteins are not yet fully determined despite the fact that some of them may be good targets for diagnostics, drugs and/or vaccines discovery. Methods: In this study, rabbit anti-Trypanosoma brucei detergent insoluble cytoskeleton sera were produced in vivo and used to probe a T. brucei expression library. The picked plaques were made clonal by a series of library screening followed by PCR amplification, cDNA sequencing and identification of the proteins coded by these sequences using BLAST. Results: The previously well-known cytoskeleton proteins (paraflagella rod protein and histone H2B), putative cytoskeleton proteins (Dynein light chain and nucleoporin), conserved hypothetical protein (Tb10.61.2430) and novel cytoskeleton protein coding cDNA sequences (not in the sequenced and published T. brucei genome) were identified in this study. Conclusion: This approach is therefore, useable in the search for novel proteins whose utility in the design and development of diagnostics, drugs and/or vaccines can further be studied.
Deeper insight into the morphological features of sunflower stalk as Biorefining criteria for sustainable production

Abstract Effective utilization of fibrous materials plays a major role in techno-economic viability of the resources. Sunflower stalk (SS) as one of highest bio-fibrous waste was assessed respect to fiber features in biorefinery approach. The lumen diameter, wall thickness and fiber length were measured as (∼12 µm), (5.25 µm) and (1.58 mm), respectively. The wider lumen diameter makes its suitable for chemical treatments and purification. The applied Pulping conditions decreased the fiber length and wall thickness, with the least reduction by soda-anthraquinone. Derived indices involved rigidity and flexibility coefficients, aspect and Runkel ratios, solid and Luce’s shape factors were also calculated based on the measured values. The aspect ratio (77.5) put SS fibers as very good resources for lignocellulosic products and composites. The flexibility coefficient (57) belongs to the elastic category and was not altered by pulping. The Runkel ratio was lesser than 1 (>0.9) but decreased by the pulping, to some extent. The Luceʼs shape factor was nearly calculated 0.5, near to the bagasse and eucalyptus species. Solid factor (0.17) and rigidity coefficient (0.51) were considered to be good fiber resource. Totally due to the SS fiber characteristics, the agricultural waste suitability for value adding bio-based production could be reported.