Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of elevated CO2, temperature and N fertilization on nitrogen fluxes in a temperate grassland ecosystem

The soil nitrogen cycle was investigated in a pre‐established Lolium perenne sward on a loamy soil and exposed to ambient and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations (350 and 700 μL L−1) and, at elevated [CO2], to a 3 °C temperature increase. At two levels of mineral nitrogen supply, N– (150 kgN ha−1 y−1) and N+ (533 kgN ha−1 y−1), 15N‐labelled ammonium nitrate was supplied in split applications over a 2.5‐y period. The recovery of the labelled fertilizer N was measured in the harvests, in the stubble and roots, in the macro‐organic matter fractions above 200 μm in size (MOM) and in the aggregated organic matter below 200 μM (AOM). Elevated [CO2] reduced the total amount of N harvested in the clipped parts of the sward. The harvested N derived from soil was reduced to a greater extent than that derived from fertilizer. At both N supplies, elevated [CO2] modified the allocation of the fertilizer N in the sward, in favour of the stubble and roots and significantly increased the recovery of fertilizer N in the soil macro‐organic matter fractions. The increase of fertilizer N immobilization in the MOM was associated with a decline of fertilizer N uptake by the grass sward, which supported the hypothesis of a negative feedback of elevated [CO2] on the sward N yield and uptake. Similar and even more pronounced effects were observed for the native N mineralized in the soil. At N–, a greater part of the fertilizer N organized in the root phytomass resulted in an underestimation of N immobilized in dead roots and, in turn, an underestimation of N immobilization in the MOM. The 3 °C temperature increase alleviated the [CO2] effect throughout much of the N cycle, increasing soil N mineralization, N derived from soil in the harvests, and the partitioning of the assimilated fertilizer N to shoots. In conclusion, at ambient temperature, the N cycle was slowed down under elevated [CO2], which restricted the increase in the aboveground production of the grass sward, and apparently contributed to the sequestration of carbon belowground. In contrast, a temperature increase under elevated [CO2] stimulated the soil nitrogen cycle, improved the N nutrition of the sward and restricted the magnitude of the soil C sequestration.
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Toolbox: Assessing Person Throughput to Measure Transportation Impacts for BRT Projects

This report studied person throughput as an impact metric for proposed BRT routes under Caltrans jurisdiction, given the agency’s specific interest in preserving or improving the performance of particular state-owned corridors. It also introduces a simple spreadsheet tool to estimate a BRT project’s traffic impact and show how improved bus service can boost corridor performance. Representatives of Caltrans D4, D7, and D11 were interviewed after tentative development of the tool, expressed support of a transition towards person throughput, and offered feedback on how the tool might best suit most district employees’ needs.
Multispectral Image Processing for Navigation Using Low Performance Computing

Space debris represents a growing threat for both current spacecraft and future launches. This is exceptionally alarming in the case of low Earth orbits, where chain impacts of existing debris generate even more fragments, increasing the probability of further collisions. The now defunct satellite Envisat represents one of the largest objects classified as space debris. The e.Deorbit mission will demonstrate active debris removal (ADR) technology to successfully decommission Envisat and other non-functional target spacecraft in orbit. Relative navigation solutions shall be achieved using image processing algorithms, which implies the detection and matching of two-dimensional regions of interest. In this work, multiple pattern recognition techniques are investigated for the detection and description of these features. This analysis of feature perception is achieved for the first time in the context of space non-cooperative rendezvous (NCRV) across two different modalities: the visible (0.39-0.70 µm) and the thermal infrared (8-14 µm). The assessed algorithms are implemented in a dedicated, space-appropriate hardware processor to benchmark their real-time capabilities.
Root rot caused by Pythium irregulare Buisman, an important factor in the decline of established subterranean clover pastures

The problem of poor re-establishment and poor seasonal production in long-term subterranean clover pastures has been recognized for some time, particularly on the Southern Tableland and Slopes regions of New South Wales. Field and laboratory investigations showed that rotting of the lateral feeder roots was a common disease of subterranean clover during the cool part of the growing season. Isolations made from diseased roots yielded a predominance of Pythium spp. of which Pythiurn irregulare was the most common. Pathogenicity tests demonstrated that P. irregulare consistently caused damping-off of germinating subterranean clover. This fungus also infected established plants and at low temperatures caused severe reduction of dry matter production. Symptoms produced on artificially inoculated plants were identical with those observed on plants infected in the field. Soil moisture and the level of fungal inoculum added did not have a critical effect on the severity of root disease. A range of other important pasture and crop species were also artificially infected with P. irregulare, with resulting necrosis of feeder roots. In vitro studies of factors affecting the growth of P. irregulare showed that this pathogen was well adapted to survive and cause disease in cold wet soils, the conditions most favourable for root rot in the field. The importance of P. irregulare as a pathogen of established plants and possible means of reducing its effect on the growth of subterranean clover are discussed.
Using demographic methods to construct Bayesian priors for the intrinsic rate of increase in the Schaefer model and implications for stock rebuilding

Even though Bayesian methods can provide statistically rigorous assessments of the biological status of fish - eries resources, uninformative data (e.g., declining catch rate series with little variation in fishing effort) can produce highly imprecise parameter estimates. This can be counteracted with the use of informative Bayesian prior distributions (priors) for model parameters. We develop priors for the intrinsic rate of increase ( r) in the Schaefer surplus production model using demographic methods and illustrate the utility of this with an application to large coastal sharks in the Atlantic. In 1996, a U.S. stock assessment obtained a point estimate for r of 0.26. For such long-lived and low-fecund organisms, this could potentially be too high. Yet it was used to predict that within about 10 years, a 50% reduction in the 1995 catch level should result in >50% chance of increasing the population to the abundance required to produce maximum sustainable yield. In contrast, a Bayesian assessment that used demographic analysis to construct a prior for r with a median of 0.07 and coefficient of variation (CV) of 0.7 indicated that within 30 years, this policy would have only a very small chance of increasing the population to maximum sustainable yield. Resume : Bien que les techniques bayesiennes puissent fournir des estimations statistiquement rigoureuses du statut biologique des ressources halieuthiques, des donnees pauvres en information (e.g., un serie de taux de capture associee a un effort de peche peu variable) peuvent produire des estimations de parametres tres imprecises. Ce probleme peut etre contrecarre par l'utilisation de distributions bayesiennes a priori (priors) pour les parametres du modele. Nous avons developpe des distributions a priori pour le taux intrinseque de croissance ( r) dans le modele de production excedentaire de Schaefer a l'aide de methodes demographiques et nous illustrons l'utilite de cette approche en l'appliquant aux grands requins cotiers de l'Atlantique. En 1996, une evaluation de stock faite aux Etats-Unis a donne une estimation ponctuelle de r de 0,26. Pour des organismes a grande longevite et a faible fecondite, cette valeur est potentiellement trop elevee. Neanmoins, elle a servi a predire que, dans a peu pres 10 ans, une reduction de 50% dans le taux de capture de 1995 aurait pour consequence une probabilite de >50% de faire croitre la population suffisam- ment pour atteindre le niveau de rendement maximal soutenu. En revanche, une estimation de type bayesien qui a utilise une analyse demographique pour etablir une distribution a priori de r avec une mediane de 0,07 et un coefficient de variation de 0,7 indique qu'une telle politique de capture n'aurait, au bout de 30 ans, qu'une tres faible probabilite de permettre a la population d'atteindre le rendement maximal soutenu. (Traduit par la Redaction) Perspectives 1890
Physical influences on recruitment to California Current invertebrate populations on multiple scales

Studies of recruitment to Dungeness crab (Cancer magister) and red sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus franciscanus) populations have focused on recruitment variability on interannual, 1000-km scales. These studies have identified correlations between recruitment and variables indicating ENSO conditions and wind-forced larval transport. On longer scales, our understanding of biologically important physical variability in the California Current has recently been enhanced by an appreciation of semi-basin, decadal changes. Intensification of the Aleutian low-pressure zone in the mid-1970s had a clear positive effect of biological productivity in the Gulf of Alaska, and less obvious negative effects on productivity in the California Current. On shorter scales, an increasing appreciation of the effect of dispersal patterns on population dynamics and the potential of spatially explicit management schemes provide the impetus for studying processes such as alongshore spatial variability in recruitment and the underlying daily variability in circulation over 100-km distances. In the 1980s, physical studies of coastal circulation in response to daily fluctuations in upwelling winds identified brief periods of northward, onshore flow interrupting the offshore, southward flows associated with active upwelling. In the 1990s, concurrent monitoring of biological and physical conditions revealed that these flows transport late-stage invertebrate larvae from a retention zone in the lee of a local promontory to settlement locations, producing specific spatial patterns of recruitment. Variability in recruitment of both crabs and sea urchins is thus driven by daily temporal variability in upwelling winds and 100-km spatial variability in coastal topography. Interannual recruitment variability appears to depend on ENSO-related biological productivity and larval transport in ways that vary among species, but are not completely understood. Observations are consistent with coastwide, interannual variability being driven by biological productivity (i.e. ENSO/non-ENSO conditions), while the upwelling relaxation mechanism sets the spatial scale, and decadal, semi-basin variability modulates the frequency of ENSO conditions.
La mémoire musicale à long terme au cours de l’évolution de la maladie d’Alzheimer

Quelques cas cliniques presentes dans la litterature ont mis en evidence la preservation de remarquables capacites musicales chez des patients Alzheimer anciennement musiciens, cette preservation contrastant avec des difficultes mnesiques et langagieres. Ces observations ont naturellement conduit les chercheurs a proposer des etudes plus systematiques permettant d’evaluer reellement les competences en memoire musicale de patients Alzheimer non-musiciens. Ces travaux, actuellement peu nombreux, ne semblent pas apporter des reponses claires quant a une preservation des capacites en memoire musicale chez ces patients. La synthese de la litterature que nous proposons ici nous permet de faire le point sur le sujet, et de proposer une explication possible aux divergences de resultats. Ainsi, de cette revue de la litterature, nous pouvons constater que les processus de memoire evalues varient selon les stades de la maladie. Aux stades precoces, une evaluation majoritaire de la memoire episodique musicale est proposee et apparait deficitaire chez ces patients alors qu’a partir des stades moderes de la maladie, les travaux axent leur evaluation sur la memoire semantique et les apprentissages implicites qui se revelent resister plus longtemps a la pathologie. Ces resultats nous amenent a reflechir sur les systemes mnesiques engages et sur l’importance, pour mettre en evidence des capacites musicales preservees, d’adapter les outils d’evaluation a la severite des troubles rencontres au cours de la maladie.
Evaluation of Potential Skin Sensitization of Humans Receiving Proteoglycan Facial Mask

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate potential skin sensitization of the proteoglycan (PG) facial mask. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 140 volunteers were recruited. The human repeated insult patch test (HRIPT) was used to assess skin sensitization and the potential of the proteoglycan (PG) facial mask. The test article material was 0.3 ml and the size was 1x1 cm2 per patch test. The placebo patch tests were applied on normal skin at left scapula area and applied PG facial mask patch tests on the right scapula area. In the induction phase, healthy volunteers applied patch tests on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for three consecutive weeks. All of the patch tests were removed 24 hours (h) after having been applied and HRIPT scoring was evaluated. After the induction phase, a single challenge patch was applied to a naive site of normal skin. The challenge phase is scored 24, 48, and 72 h after having been applied and the experiment monitor presented at the 72 h reading of the HRIPT score. RESULTS: All 140 volunteers completed the study. Age of subjects ranged from 19 to 26 years old (mean age 21.59 ± 1.90 years). The HRIPT scoring scale of induction phase and challenge phase, edema, papules, vesicles, and bullae of healthy volunteers applied with the PG facial mask were not significantly different when compared to the placebo patch test group. CONCLUSION: This study has demonstrated that PG facial mask has low skin sensitization potential among healthy volunteers. Keywords: proteoglycan, potential skin sensitization, human repeated insult patch test DOI: 10.31524/bkkmedj.2019. 02.002
Global Review of Social Science Integration with Natural Resource Management: Research report to the North Pacific Research Board

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TWO NEW SPECIES OF PHYSALAEMUS (ANURA: LEPTODACTYLIDAE) FROM WESTERN ECUADOR

We describe two new species of the leptodactylid frog genus Physalaemus from the lowlands of western Ecuador. Both species belong to the P. pustulosus species group. They differ from other group members, except P. coloradorum, in their smaller size. They can be distinguished from P. coloradorum by their less tuberculate dorsal skin and a more depressed loreal region. The new species differ from each other markedly in advertisement call. Although the ranges overlap, body size, flank gland length, and parotoid gland length (relative to snout-vent length) are also significantly different. Overall the new species are similar in color patterns and body shape; they are difficult to diagnose from each other with morphological characters.
SMART: a service-oriented architecture for monitoring and assessing Brazil’s Telehealth outcomes

Introduction : Brazilian Telehealth Program was instituted by the Ministry of Health in 2007. Its initial structure was composed by nine telehealth centers administered by public higher education institutions. No standards, processes, applications or quality indicators had been defined since its creation. All this, combined with the decentralization of the centers, led each one of them to develop their own system, with different programming languages and architectures. The lack of regulation and integration of the information with the Ministry of Health made it difficult to evaluate the program. In this context, this paper describes the specification, implementation and validation of an architecture, entitled SMART, to integrate the various telehealth platforms developed by the centers. Such architecture aims to standardize information so that the Ministry of Health can monitor and evaluate the results of Telehealth actions. Methods : SMART’s architecture consists of four main components: a web tool for data manipulation; a web service to receive the center’s production data; a component responsible for converting the received data into decision support data; and a component that collects data from external sources to compose the data warehouse. Results : The architecture was validated with performance tests, which were executed under extreme workloads. The results of the experiments were summarized in order to attest SMART’s effectiveness. Conclusion: The analysis of the results obtained on real data shows that the project’s performance remained stable under the workloads and its high quality was proven due to the absence of errors during the experiments.
Semiclassical Limits of Eigenfunctions on Flat n -Dimensional Tori

We provide a proof of the conjecture formulated in \cite{Jak97,JNT01} which states that on a $n$-dimensional flat torus $\T^{n}$, the Fourier transform of squares of the eigenfunctions $|\phi_\lambda|^2$ of the Laplacian have uniform $l^n$ bounds that do not depend on the eigenvalue $\lambda$. The proof is a generalization of the argument by Jakobson, {\it et al}. for the lower dimensional cases. These results imply uniform bounds for semiclassical limits on $\TT^{n+2}$. We also prove a geometric lemma that bounds the number of codimension-one simplices which satisfy a certain restriction on an $n$-dimensional sphere $S^n(\lambda)$ of radius $\sqrt{\lambda}$ and use it in the proof.
Distributional and Ecological Records of the Mexican Hairy Dwarf Porcupine (Sphiggurus mexicanus) from Michoacán, Mexico

Abstract We report seven new records of the threatened Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine Sphiggurus mexicanus (formerly Coendou mexicanus) in southwestern Michoacán, Mexico. These records extend northwardly the known distribution of S. mexicanus along the Pacific coast into Michoacán, and constitute the first known occurrences in temperate pine and pine-oak forests. Although additional distributional data are needed, populations of S. mexicanus in western Michoacán may prove important for conservation planning and management of this threatened species.
Evaluating the potential for trophodynamic control of fish by the longfin inshore squid (Loligo pealeii) in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Many marine apex predator populations have been depleted via targeted fishing, potentially enhancing the productivity of lower trophic-level species such as squid. Squid may be predators of juvenile stages of fish stocks, so fishing could induce depensatory juvenile mortality. Here we evaluate the energetic potential of the longfin inshore squid (Loligo pealeii) to exert trophodynamic control on recruitment of several commercially important fish populations. We estimated the population prey consumption of L. pealeii by developing bioenergetics and population models based on previously published data. Our predictions of population consumption showed that squid consume high quantities of prey on daily and seasonal time scales. Further, comparisons between our estimates of population consumption and fish recruitment biomass indicate that L. pealeii may potentially exert a trophodynamic control on the recruitment success of commercially exploited fish species even if these species are only a minor prey item o.
Separable Codes for the Symmetric Multiple-Access Channel

A binary matrix is called an <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${s}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-<italic>separable code</italic> for the <italic>disjunctive multiple-access channel</italic> (<italic>disj-MAC</italic>) if Boolean sums of sets of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${s}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> columns are all distinct. The well-known issue of the combinatorial coding theory is to obtain upper and lower bounds on the rate of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${s}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-separable codes for the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${disj}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-MAC. In our paper, we generalize the problem and discuss upper and lower bounds on the rate of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${q}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-ary <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${s}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-separable codes for the models of noiseless <italic>symmetric</italic> MAC, i.e., at each time instant the output signal of MAC is a symmetric function of its <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${s}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> input signals.
Evaluation of the learning curve of transanal total mesorectal excision: single-centre experience

Introduction Transanal total mesorectal excision (TaTME) has been recently proposed to overcome the difficulties of the standard TME approach, allowing better visualization and dissection of the mesorectal fascia. Although TaTME seems very promising, the evidence and body of knowledge on achieving proficiency in performing it are still sparse. Aim To evaluate the learning curve of TaTME based on a single centre’s experience. Material and methods Consecutive patients undergoing TaTME since 2014 in a tertiary referral department were included in the study. All procedures were performed by one experienced surgeon. CUSUM curve analyses were performed to evaluate learning curves. Results Sixty-six patients underwent TaTME. After analysis of postoperative morbidity rate, intraoperative adverse effects and operative time, we estimated that 40 cases are needed to achieve TaTME proficiency. Subsequently, patients were divided into two groups: before (40 patients) and after overcoming the learning curve (26 patients). Group 1 had higher readmission (p = 0.041) and complication rates (p = 0.019). There were no statistically significant differences in terms of intraoperative adverse effects, length of stay or pathological quality of the specimen. Conclusions Transanal total mesorectal excision is a promising yet technically demanding procedure and requires at least 40 cases to complete the learning curve. More data are needed to introduce it as a standard procedure for low rectal cancer treatment.
Does Ledipasvir-Sofosbuvir Teatment Prevent Hepatocellular Cancer in Hepatitis C Patients? Single Center Real Life Data

The frequency of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in our country is around 1% (1). HCV can lead to chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Chronic hepatitis C is the leading cause of end-stage liver disease, HCC and liver related death. In cirrhotic patients there is a 1-5% annual risk of HCC and a 3-6% annual risk of hepatic decompensation. In decompensated cirrhotic patients the risk of death in a year is 15-20 %. Eradication of HCV with antiviral therapy reduces the risk of HCC in patients with chronic hepatitis C, but the risk is not eliminated (2).