Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pentaschistis (Poaceae) diversity in the Cape mediterranean region: habitat heterogeneity and climate stability

Aim To evaluate the role of habitat heterogeneity on species richness and turnover in the mega species-rich Cape Floristic Region (Cape), the mediterranean region of southern Africa. Location The Cape and Drakensberg regions of southern Africa. Methods Bioclimatic data were used to estimate habitat amount and habitat heterogeneity in the Cape and Drakensberg regions; these data were then used to explain the patterns of species diversity in the Pentaschistis clade (Poaceae) in these two regions. Habitat variables were used to create ‘bioclimatic units’ to characterize 1 ′ × 1 ′ cells in southern Africa and to describe the niches of species. Using these bioclimatic units, the niche and range sizes of species in the two regions were compared. A phylogram was used to test for age and lineage effects. Results Pentaschistis species diversity and turnover are higher in the Cape than the Drakensberg. There is no significant difference in the habitat amount and heterogeneity between the two regions. Species occupy the same range of estimated niche sizes, yet there are significantly more range-restricted Pentaschistis species in the Cape. Main conclusions The roles of age- and lineage-related effects are rejected; biodiversity differences lie in the regions. Current macrohabitat does not explain the differences in biodiversity between the two regions. The larger number of range-restricted species in the Cape cannot be explained by dispersal mechanism or the occupation of range-restricted habitats. Species of Pentaschistis and other Cape clades share characteristics associated with species from historically climatically stable areas, and palaeoclimatic and palaeontological evidence indicates the Cape climate has been more stable than the Drakensberg climate throughout the Pleistocene. We conclude that the corresponding lack of extinction might have allowed an accumulation of species in the Cape. Similar climatic and biological evidence for the south-west Australian Floristic and Mediterranean regions indicate that the same mechanism might explain the high species richness of these mediterranean regions.
Training Data Generation Method for Deep Learning by Utilizing Computer Graphics

- In image recognition, deep learning has enabled innovative improvement in accuracy. As a result, its application has spread to various ﬁelds. However, in order to conduct deep learning, it is necessary to accumulate a large number of training data. And, this often becomes the obstacles to applying the deep learning to actual business systems. On the other hand, for computer graphics (CG), various tools have been developed and provided. And, currently, we can not only create a CG image easily but also execute various CG operations automatically by program control. So, in this study, we propose a method to generate the images of training data automatically by using CG. For example, in inventory management of parts, target objects are composed only of inventory shelves and parts with heavy but simple shapes. That is, although it is difﬁcult to accumulate a large number of their actual images, it is expected that these images can be easily generated by using CG. Furthermore, we create CG images for the experiments and automatically generate training data to conduct deep learning for inventory quantities. Then, we conduct experiments to evaluate the estimation accuracy with respect to the inventory quantity shown in the actual inventory photograph. Through this experiment, we show this method is effective in some ﬁelds where it is difﬁcult to accumulate a large number of the actual images for the deep learning.
ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURAL SHIFTS AND INFLATION IN PAKISTAN

The structural shifts and their impact on inflation in Pakistan were estimated in the research paper. The macroeconomic variables money supplies, income velocity of circulation, real income of the economy for the period of 1973 to 2007 and two structural shifts 1983 and 1998 in Pakistan were included as the main variables of the present study. The time series properties of data were checked through ADF test. The included variables were stationary at level. The relationship among these variables was estimated by OLS technique because all the variables were stationary at level. Impacts of structural breaks on inflation in Pakistan were observed by applying Chow Test. It was concluded that the structural shifts in 1983 and 1998 have impact upon the inflation in Pakistan.
Ecology of host-parasite relationships in boreal Europe : voles, food and infectious diseases

Forbes, Kristian M. Ecology of host-parasite relationships in boreal Europe: voles, food and infectious diseases Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2014, 35 p. (Jyväskylä Studies in Biological and Environmental Science ISSN 1456-9701; 277) ISBN 978-951-39-5654-7 (nid.) ISBN 978-951-39-5655-4 (PDF) Yhteenveto: Loisten ja isäntien ekologiset vuorovaikutukset boreaalisessa Euroopassa: myyrät, ravinto ja taudit Diss. Populations of many small mammal species exhibit cyclic density fluctuations in boreal Europe. Predation has long been considered a primary regulator of cyclic dynamics, while complementary limiting factors have received far less attention. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the individual and synergistic effects of food resources and circulating micro and macroparasites on populations of a boreal small mammal species, the field vole (Microtus agrestis). Specifically, I wanted to know whether these factors can cause changes in vole population growth, and through which mechanisms their effects occur. Diverse methods were employed, including extensive national vole monitoring and outdoor enclosure experiments. In the first study I assessed spatiotemporal variation in rodent-borne virus prevalence in field voles across Finland. Antibodies against cowpox virus were found localised to vole populations in the southeast of Finland, and their prevalence was positively associated with vole population density. Antibody prevalence to other rodent-borne viruses was low and likely to be due to spillover from sympatric species. I then experimentally demonstrated in the second study that diet quality, specifically protein content, restricted the summer growth of vole populations through effects on reproductive output. In the third study, winter food availability limited vole population growth, while intestinal macroparasites did not. Conversely, vole survival was impaired by infection with the bacterium Bordetella bronchiseptica in the final study, such that it negated the positive effects of winter food supplementation on population growth rates. Both of the latter two experiments found that the negative effects of parasites on voles were not enhanced by food deprivation. Overall, I conclude that food resources and parasites are both capable of limiting small mammal population growth in boreal Europe, and that the contribution of these factors to density fluctuations observed in natural populations warrants careful investigation.
P-Cresylsulfate, the Protein-Bound Uremic Toxin, Increased Endothelial Permeability Partly Mediated by Src-Induced Phosphorylation of VE-Cadherin

The goal of our study was to investigate the impact of p-cresylsulfate (PCS) on the barrier integrity in human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) monolayers and the renal artery of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. We measured changes in the transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) of HUVEC monolayers treated with PCS (0.1–0.2 mM) similar to serum levels of CKD patients. A PCS dose (0.2 mM) significantly decreased TEER over a 48-h period. Both PCS doses (0.1 and 0.2 mM) significantly decreased TEER over a 72-h period. Inter-endothelial gaps were observed in HUVECs following 48 h of PCS treatment by immunofluorescence microscopy. We also determined whether PCS induced the phosphorylation of VE-cadherin at tyrosine 658 (Y658) mediated by the phosphorylation of Src. Phosphorylated VE-cadherin (Y658) and phosphorylated Src levels were significantly higher when the cells were treated with 0.1 and 0.2 mM PCS, respectively, compared to the controls. The endothelial barrier dysfunction in the arterial intima in CKD patients was evaluated by endothelial leakage of immunoglobulin G (IgG). Increased endothelial leakage of IgG was related to the declining kidney function in CKD patients. Increased endothelial permeability induced by uremic toxins, including PCS, suggests that uremic toxins induce endothelial barrier dysfunction in CKD patients and Src-mediated phosphorylation of VE-cadherin is involved in increased endothelial permeability induced by PCS exposure.
ydrogen Peroxide nd Metabolic Coronary low Regulation *

yocardial perfusion is closely matched to increases in yocardial metabolism, because the extraction of oxygen is ear maximal at rest (1). The net vascular resistance to oronary blood flow represents the integration of systolic ompressive effects that vary throughout the cardiac cycle, ith microvascular resistance networks that adjust tone in esponse to local physical factors (intraluminal pressure and uminal shear stress), vasodilator metabolites, autocoids, and drenergic tone. The local microcirculatory resistance adustments overcome compressive forces to match transmural ariations in myocardial oxygen supply to demand in the teady state. Studies in conscious animals have demontrated considerable redundancy in the mediators responsile for integrative coronary flow regulation such that muliple pathways need to be impaired before flow is altered at ormal coronary pressures (2). In contrast, the importance f individual pathways (e.g., endothelial nitric oxide) can be nmasked by evaluating coronary regulation distal to a evere stenosis (3,4). Despite intensive study, however, the recise mediators responsible for initiating metabolic coroary vasodilation remain unknown (1).
Intermolecular Quenching of Edans/Dabcyl Donor–Acceptor FRET Pair

The intermolecular quenching between 5-(2′-aminoethyl)aminonaphthalene sulfonic acid (Edans) and 4-[[4′-(N,N-dimethylamino)phenyl]diazenyl]benzoic acid (Dabcyl) was studied by photometric and fluorimetric measurements at pH 7.5 in phosphate buffer. The spectral properties of the Edans/Dabcyl donor–acceptor pair were determined and Dabcyl exhibited an intense absorption band at 463 nm, contributing to the quenching efficiency. We also found the primary requirement for fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), the excellent overlap between the fluorescence emission spectrum of the donor molecule and the absorption spectrum of the acceptor molecule, resulting in efficient energy transfer. The quenching mechanism was studied using the Stern–Volmer plot, confirming that this FRET pair was involved in a dynamic quenching process.
Spatial Variation of Metallic Contamination and Its Ecological Risk in Sediment and Freshwater Mollusk: Melanoides tuberculata (Müller, 1774) (Gastropoda: Thiaridae)

Heavy metal pollution has been on the rise with serious implications for the wellbeing of aquatic ecosystems. Benthic sediments and freshwater mollusk (snail): Mellanoides tuberculata were sampled from five stations for determination of heavy metals concentrations and measurement of antioxidant enzyme activities. The spatial variation was studied using an enrichment factor, potential ecological risk index, and mean probable effect limit quotient (mPELq). From the results, Cu, Zn, Cd, Cr, Pb, Ni, and Co contamination levels were high at stations S3, S4, and S5 with an mPEL quotient of 94.40%. The variation of metal concentration and Enrichment factor were in the order S5 > S3 > S4 > S2 > S1, which was attributed to anthropogenic influences at the catchment due to industrial activities and atmospheric deposition of metals. Station five in this study is downstream and requires the most monitoring and management to prevent several ecological risks of metal pollutants in River Kaduna.
Low-Swing Signaling for FPGA Interconnect Power Reduction

Low-Swing Signaling for FPGA Interconnect Power Reduction Sayeh Sharifymoghaddam Master of Applied Science Graduate Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Toronto 2015 FPGAs are widely used in digital circuits implementation because of their lower non-recurring engineering cost and shorter time-to-market in comparison with ASICs. However, there are still area, performance, and energy efficiency gaps between FPGAs and ASICs. In this work, we propose a new FPGA architecture to narrow the energy efficiency gap. Since more than 60% of FPGA power is consumed in its interconnect, we focus on the global interconnect power reduction using low-swing signaling technique. To implement low-swing signaling, high-to-low and low-to-high voltage level converters are added to the basic architecture which consists of clusters with ten 6-input LUTs and uses single driver directional routing scheme. Simulation results on 20 largest MCNC circuits and 19 computational benchmarks confirm that the proposed architecture achieves an average of 13.5% total power reduction with the cost of less than 1% area and delay overhead.
Experimental and ab initio Computational Studies on Dimethyl-(4-{4-{3- methyl-3-phenyl-cyclobutyl)-thiazol-2-yl)-hydrazonomethyl}-phenyl)-amine

A new hydrazone derivative compound has been synthesized and characterized by IR, -NMR, -NMR and UV-vis. spectroscopy techniques, elemental analysis and single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD). The new compound crystallizes in monoclinic space group C2/c. In addition to the crystal structure from X-ray experiment, the molecular geometry, vibrational frequencies and frontier molecular orbitals analysis of the title compound in the ground state have been calculated by using the HF/6-31G(d, p), B3LYP/6-311G(d, p) and B3LYP/6-31G(d, p) methods. The computed vibrational frequencies are used to determine the types of molecular motions associated with each of the observed experimental bands. To determine conformational flexibility, molecular energy profile of (1) was obtained by semi-empirical (AM1) calculation with respect to a selected degree of torsional freedom, which was varied from to in steps of . Molecular electrostatic potential of the compound was also performed by the theoretical method.
The Association of Personality Traits and Spiritual Health with Job Burnout

The present survey aim is to study the association of personality traits and spiritual health with job burnout of employees. To achieve this objective, a multivariate correlative methodology is adopted. The statistical population of present study includes all employees of Management and Planning Organization and Governance of Fars Province working during 2016. In this case, accessibility sampling is adopted as the sampling method. Based on Krejcie-Morgan table for limited samples, the size of the sample is equal with 190 out of 500 participants who are included in the statistical population. Data collection is done through questionnaire distribution and collected data is analyzed through stepwise multivariate regressions in SPSS Software (version. 20). The results suggest that among five aspects of personality, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness do not play a significant role in the prediction of employees’ job burnout. However, neuroticism has a significant association with job burnout (B=0.21). In addition to neuroticism, the second step of regression analysis suggested that spiritual health and two items of religious health and existential health play a significant role in job burnout as regression coefficients of spiritual health, religious health, and existential health are -1.9, -2.77 and -1.25 respectively. Based on Beta values, one could state that total score of spiritual health (B=4.37) is the strongest predictor of job burnout. It should be noted that addition of spiritual health and its items into analysis reduces the influence of neuroticism. The reduction is due to the negative correlation of spiritual health with job burnout. Consequently, high spiritual health can reduce the effect of neuroticism on job burnout.
A Risk and Benefits Behavioral Model to Assess Intentions to Adopt Big Data

Everyday a constant stream of data is generated as a result of social interactions, Internet of things, e‐commerce and other business processes. This vast amount of data should be collected, stored, transformed, monitored and analyzed in a relatively brief period of time. Reason behind is data may contain the answer to business insights and new ideas fostering competitiveness and innovation. Big Data technologies/methodologies have emerged as the solution to this need. However, being a relatively new trend there is still much that remains unknown. This study, based on a risk and benefits perspective, uses the theory of planned behavior to develop a model that predicts the intention to adopt Big Data technologies.
Changes in agro-biodiversity as a result of sugarcane farming in mumias division, western Kenya

Sugarcane farming is a monocultural land use practice which often leads to reduction in agro-biodiversity. In Mumias division sugarcane is cultivated under small scale, large scale and nuclear estate. The study was carried out in Mumias division of western Kenya where 68% of the land is under commercial sugarcane cultivation while 32% is left for subsistence agriculture and other uses. The objectives of the study were to identify indigenous crops grown in Mumias division before the introduction of commercial sugarcane farming and to assess the effects of commercial sugarcane farming on indigenous crops. Ninety respondents were purposively selected. Data was collected using questionnaires, focus group discussion and interviews. Secondary data were obtained from documented materials. Data was analysed using means and percentages and was presented through discussions, tables and figures. With the introduction of commercial sugarcane farming in the 1970s, the land under indigenous crops declined. The research also established that sugarcane farming did not have an effect in the cultivation of groundnuts and bambara groundnuts. Our results imply that sugarcane farming is a major contributor to agro-biodiversity erosion. The results are expected to sensitize ministry of agriculture on the importance of good agricultural practices that can safeguard agro-biodiversity. Key words: Agro- biodiversity, monoculture, indigenous crops.
The Application of Data Mining Methods for Short Time Flows Prediction in Flood Warning Systems

: - Data mining is the intersection between statistics and computer science. At this point artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics, and database systems meet. Using data mining in hydrology is a logical step, because large volumes of data are continually being collected, processed and evaluated in this field of science and engineering. This article deals with an application of data mining methods while solving a selected hydrology task (a short-term flow prediction). The authors demonstrate various steps in the data mining process, which are formalized in the so-called CRISP-DM process and demonstrate selected methods for data pre-processing and prediction. The paper describes river flow predictions in the Kysuca River watershed. Regression is used to predict the values of the flow in cubic meters per second. An evaluation of these methods shows the usability of data mining in this field.
Pluralism, Institutionalism, and the Theories of BC Politics

The article examines theories of B.C. politics from the perspective of New Institutionalism. It argues that the contributions of Martin Robin's class-based theory, Ed Black's "politics of exploitation" theory and Mark Sproule-Jones's theory of sponsored conceptual ideology to explaining the distinctiveness of B.C.'s political culture and its ideologically polarized party system can best be understood in terms of their insights into temporal processes, especially path-dependent sequences of development. Although growing social and institutional pluralism are limiting the explanatory value of these theories today, paying close attention to the dynamics of institutional development at work in contemporary BC can help us to identify new reasons for thinking that the province's unique politics will continue into the future.
Plateau subduction, intraslab seismicity, and the Denali (Alaska) volcanic gap

Tectonic tremors in Alaska (USA) are associated with subduction of the Yakutat plateau, but their origins are unclear due to lack of depth constraints. We have processed tremor recordings to extract low-frequency earthquakes (LFEs), and generated a set of six LFE waveform templates via iterative network matched filtering and stacking. The timing of impulsive P (compressional) wave and S (shear) wave arrivals on template waveforms places LFEs at 40–58 km depth, near the upper envelope of intraslab seismicity and immediately updip of increased levels of intraslab seismicity. S waves at near-epicentral distances display polarities consistent with shear slip on the plate boundary. We compare characteristics of LFEs, seismicity, and tectonic structures in central Alaska with those in warm subduction zones, and propose a new model for the region’s unusual intraslab seismicity and the enigmatic Denali volcanic gap (i.e., an area of no volcanism where expected). We argue that fluids in the Yakutat plate are confined to its upper crust, and that shallow subduction leads to hydromechanical conditions at the slab interface in central Alaska akin to those in warm subduction zones where similar LFEs and tremor occur. These conditions lead to fluid expulsion at shallow depths, explaining strike-parallel alignment of tremor occurrence with the Denali volcanic gap. Moreover, the lack of double seismic zone and restriction of deep intraslab seismicity to a persistent low-velocity zone are simple consequences of anhydrous conditions prevailing in the lower crust and upper mantle of the Yakutat plate.
Cancer Biogenesis in Ribosomopathies

Ribosomopathies are congenital diseases with defects in ribosome assembly and are characterized by elevated cancer risks. Additionally, somatic mutations in ribosomal proteins have recently been linked to a variety of cancers. Despite a clear correlation between ribosome defects and cancer, the molecular mechanisms by which these defects promote tumorigenesis are unclear. In this review, we focus on the emerging mechanisms that link ribosomal defects in ribosomopathies to cancer progression. This includes functional “onco-specialization” of mutant ribosomes, extra-ribosomal consequences of mutations in ribosomal proteins and ribosome assembly factors, and effects of ribosomal mutations on cellular stress and metabolism. We integrate some of these recent findings in a single model that can partially explain the paradoxical transition from hypo- to hyperproliferation phenotypes, as observed in ribosomopathies. Finally, we discuss the current and potential strategies, and the associated challenges for therapeutic intervention in ribosome-mutant diseases.