Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Flora and fauna associated with the introduced red alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla

This paper presents the first detailed study of the spread of the introduced marine red alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla on the west coast of Sweden, and of the fauna and flora associated with this alga in Scandinavia and the western mid-Atlantic. G. vermiculophylla was discovered in the archipelago of Göteborg, Sweden, in the summer of 2003, and in 2005 its distribution range covered at least 150 km. The species is typically found as loose-lying thalli or attached to small stones and mollusc shells within low-energy bays and estuaries. Both gametophytic and tetrasporophytic specimens were found, as well as specimens with mixed reproductive stages. In order to assess the importance of this introduced alga as a habitat for native benthic organisms, attached and loose-lying individuals of G. vermiculophylla were sampled from invaded locations in Sweden, Denmark and Virginia (United States). In total we found 92 taxa associated with G. vermiculophylla. The dominant classes were Malacostraca, Gastropoda and Florideophyceae. The diversity of the associated taxa was not affected by attachment status, or G. vermiculophylla biomass. In Virginia and Sweden animal abundances were positively correlated with the biomass of algae and plants associated with G. vermiculophylla. If G. vermiculophylla primarily invades non-vegetated soft-sediment estuaries, the invasion may lead to an increase in abundances of small native invertebrates (e.g. gastropods and crustaceans) and epiphytic algae, with likely cascading effects on higher trophic levels.
The focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) in hypotensive injured patients frequently fails to identify the need for laparotomy: a multi-institutional pragmatic study

Background The ability of focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) to detect clinically significant hemorrhage in hypotensive injured patients remains unclear. We sought to describe the sensitivity and specificity of FAST using findings at laparotomy as the confirmatory test. Methods Patients from the Prospective Observational Multicenter Major Trauma Transfusion (PROMMTT) study that had a systolic blood pressure < 90mm Hg and underwent FAST were analysed. Results were compared with findings at laparotomy. A therapeutic laparotomy (T-LAP) was defined as an abdominal operation within 6 hours in which a definitive procedure was performed. The sensitivity and specificity of FAST were calculated. Results The cohort included 317 patients that underwent FAST (108 positive, 209 negative). T-LAP was performed in 69% (n=75) of FAST(+) patients and 22% (n=48) of FAST(−) patients. FAST had a sensitivity of 62% and specificity of 83%. Conclusions In our multicenter cohort, 22% of FAST(−) patients underwent T-LAP within 6 hours of admission. In hypotensive patients with a negative FAST, clinicians should still maintain a high index of suspicion for significant abdominal hemorrhage. Level of evidence Level IV.
Herbivore-specific induction of indirect and direct defensive responses in leaves and roots

Abstract Herbivory can induce both general and specific responses in plants that modify direct and indirect defence against subsequent herbivory. The type of induction (local versus systemic induction, single versus multiple defence induction) likely depends both on herbivore identity and relationships among different responses. We examined the effects of two above-ground chewing herbivores (caterpillar, weevil) and one sucking herbivore (aphid) on indirect defence responses in leaves and direct defence responses in both leaves and roots of tallow tree, Triadica sebifera. We also included foliar applications of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and salicylic acid (SA). We found that chewing herbivores and MeJA increased above-ground defence chemicals but SA only increased below-ground total flavonoids. Herbivory or MeJA increased above-ground indirect defence response (extrafloral nectar) but SA decreased it. Principal component analysis showed there was a trade-off between increasing total root phenolics and tannins (MeJA, chewing) versus latex and total root flavonoids (aphid, SA). For individual flavonoids, there was evidence for systemic induction (quercetin), trade-offs between compounds (quercetin versus kaempferitrin) and trade-offs between above-ground versus below-ground production (isoquercetin). Our results suggest that direct and indirect defence responses in leaves and roots depend on herbivore host range and specificity along with feeding mode. We detected relationships among some defence response types, while others were independent. Including multiple types of insects to examine defence inductions in leaves and roots may better elucidate the complexity and specificity of defence responses of plants.
Group contribution method for Henry's Law constant of aqueous hydrocarbons

A functional group contribution scheme based on a hydration model predicts Henry's Law constant of aqueous hydrocarbons as a function of temperature and pressure. It uses the direct link of Henry's Law constant with the Gibbs free energy of hydration, as well as its temperature and pressure derivatives accessible from calorimetric and volumetric data. A semitheoretic model inspired by the fluctuation solution theory with five adjustable parameters was used for expressing the temperature and pressure dependence of ten functional contributions. A consistent group contribution scheme for hydration properties at 298 K and 0.1 MPa was taken from literature to constrain the model at reference conditions. Parameters for hydrocarbon functional groups were adjusted by simultaneous correlation of over 1,000 data points on Henry's Law constant and about 550 values on derivative hydration properties (enthalpy, heat capacity, and volume) available in a wide range of temperature and pressure. The resulting group additivity scheme can be used for predicting Henry's Law constant for alkanes, alkenes, alkylcycloalkanes, and alkylbenzenes up to 570 K and up to 100 MPa. Average accuracy of the predictions varies from 20 to 40% at ambient to high temperatures, respectively, and semiquantitative estimates are possible up to the critical point of water.
Cooperation, only for high rewards – a solvable task-based study on free-ranging dogs

The benefits of group living mostly surpass the disadvantages like sharing of resources and competition over food, space and mates, driving the evolution of social organization. Group living can be facilitated by social tolerance and cooperation among the group members. Social canids (e.g. wolves) display cooperative breeding, hunting, and prosocial activities in different contexts. Unlike cooperative pack-living wolves (Canis lupus lupus), their descendants, domesticated dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), show varying levels of associations from solitary to stable social groups. Free-ranging dogs are group-living but prefer to forage solitarily, hence providing an excellent opportunity for investigating social tolerance and coordinated task performance among the members in various situations. We tested 113 adult-only groups of free-ranging dogs in three different tasks to investigate group responses and performance in problem-solving situations in the presence of an unfamiliar human. Task 1 (unfamiliar, single food reward) and 2 (familiar, single food reward) examined group responses and cooperation from the perspective of familiarity, while Task 3 (familiar, multiple food rewards) enabled us to test whether increased food rewards promote social tolerance and food sharing among the group members. Regardless of significantly higher performance in Task 2 compared to Task 1, cooperation and food sharing were significantly lower in both. Task 3 revealed a strong positive correlation between food sharing and social tolerance, but not between success and social tolerance, suggesting a tendency for cooperation. We conclude that context-dependent cooperation and tolerance among group members facilitate group-living in free-ranging dogs. Significance statement Group living is a common phenomenon in the animal world where the members of a group show social tolerance and co-operative behaviours towards each other. This need for cooperative intents increases manifolds while groups face different problem-solving situations in their day to day lives. Here, we tested a large number of free-ranging dog groups to understand general cooperative intents such as social tolerance and food sharing in different problem-solving conditions. We found shreds of evidence of context-dependent cooperation and social tolerance among group members with minimal display of aggression. It is not adaptive for the dogs to fight or display aggression over resources. Alternatively, use of subtle cues such as display of dominance and subordination seem to be more plausible mechanisms for the development of efficient scavenging strategies and maintaining hierarchy.
Improving and Harmonizing Professional Skills in Healthcare Sector: Organizational and Economical Aspects

The paper describes activities and results achieved together the organizational and economical aspects of the project EETAH-on-line (European Education, Training and Accreditation in Hematology on-line). The main goal is to improve and harmonize professional skills and competences in this medical field. The target groups are the following: students, physicians, nurses and technical staff involved in the hematological education and training; expert hematologists who need continuing training; all physicians of linked specialties who may take advantage of these scientific contents; institutions running certified programs in hematological education, training and accreditation.
Automotive international trade networks: A comparative analysis over the last two decades

Abstract This paper explores the structural changes in the international organization of automotive production since the early 1990s. We apply descriptive network measures to international trade data for the period 1993–2013 for three automotive component groups with different technological intensity, with the aim of understanding (1) how the automotive international trade network has changed since the beginning of the 1990s; (2) whether regionalization has increased over time; (3) how the role that rising powers play within and between regions interacts with regionalization patterns. Our findings suggest that the structure of trade has changed significantly over the last two decades in all components. The network for electric and electrical parts and engines has evolved to become more hierarchical, with a cohesive core tied to hangers-on in the periphery, while the opposite has happened for rubber and metal. Regionalization patterns also show important differences across components. Finally, we have found an apparent association between the strengthening of regionalization patterns and the role played by traditional players and rising powers.
TLS Measurement during Static Load Testing of a Railway Bridge

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) technology has become increasingly popular in investigating displacement and deformation of natural and anthropogenic objects. Regardless of the accuracy of deformation identification, TLS provides remote comprehensive information about the measured object in a short time. These features of TLS were why TLS measurement was used for a static load test of an old, steel railway bridge. The results of the measurement using the Z+F Imager 5010 scanner and traditional surveying methods (for improved georeferencing) were compared to results of precise reflectorless tacheometry and precise levelling. The analyses involved various procedures for the determination of displacement from 3D data (black & white target analysis, point cloud analysis, and mesh surface analysis) and the need to pre-process the 3D data was considered (georeferencing, automated filtering). The results demonstrate that TLS measurement can identify vertical displacement in line with the results of traditional measurements down to ±1 mm.
Coffee leaf miner trypsin inhibition with castor bean leaf extracts mediated by a non-protein agent

Trypsin inhibitors stand for a strategy of insect control and, therefore, the identification and characterization of these inhibitors are very important steps for new forms of pest control to be developed. Trypsin inhibitors act in the primary digestion of proteins and endanger the digestive process wholly, reducing the availability of aminoacids to the insect. The incorporation of trypsin inhibitors in the diet of pest insects is a control form whose efficacy was verified by different authors. In order to observe the efficiency of castor bean leaf extracts in inhibiting trypsin-like enzymes of the coffee leaf miner, an experiment was carried out with the purpose of observing an “in vitro” inhibition phenomenon. The results of the trypsin inhibition tests with normal and boiled with and without -mercaptoethanol 0.2% (v/v) castor bean leaf extracts and the results of the acetone precipitation process indicated that the inhibitor is a heat-resistant molecule and it is not a protein. This way, the purification process was made by adsorption chromatography with later analysis in mass spectrometer. The reached results indicated that the presence of a trypsin inhibitor of the coffee leaf miner in the castor bean leaf extracts is capable of inhibiting 2.48 + 0.15 UTI, which stands for about 40% of inhibition. Tests performed with bovine trypsin indicated that the castor bean leaf extract have no inhibiting power on this enzyme.
Local Labour Markets and the Interregional Mobility of Italian University Students

Abstract This paper looks at a little-explored role that universities can play: that of representing a channel for brain gain, enabling regions to attract bright students who may decide to stay after they have graduated. In this way, universities can be a source of selective migration processes and possibly of diverging development paths, by augmenting the capability of economically dynamic regions to attract bright people from the lagging regions. In this paper, we argue that student mobility behaviour is a function not only of the quality of universities, but also of local labour market conditions in the destination locations. The paper relies on a gravity model, and shows that graduate migrations respond to several determinants, among which graduate job vacancies (that is, the dynamism of the local labour market) appear to be essential.
Antioxidant Activity of Different Forms of Green Tea: Loose Leaf, Bagged and Matcha

Green tea is commercially available in three forms: loose leaf, bagged and powdered. The objective of this study was to compare the radical scavenging capacity of different forms of green tea like loose leaf (3), bagged (2) and powdered matcha (2) of various brands. The green tea forms were prepared at 95-100 °C for 5 min., to mimic conditions usually used for tea preparations at home. The comparison of combined IC50 values of different green tea forms (loose leaf, bagged and matcha) showed no significant difference in their radical scavenging activity except bagged tea that exhibited slightly more DPPH radical scavenging potential as compared to matcha. Individually, the Bud white loose leaf demonstrated highest antioxidant activity followed by Laplant bag, Lipton bag, Laplant loose, Gourmet matcha, Wow matcha and Lipton loose. These findings revealed that on the basis of form, it may not be possible to generalize which form of tea whether loose leaf, bagged or matcha, is more effective in scavenging free radicals. Current research in Nutrition and Food Science Journal Website:www.foodandnutritionjournal. org ISSN: 2347-467X, Vol. 06, No. (1) 2018, Pg. 35-40 CoNTACT Amit Sehgal sehgalamitres@gmail.com Department of Zoology, School of Bioengineering and Biosciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara 144411, India. © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Enviro Research Publishers This is an Open Access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ ), which permits unrestricted NonCommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To link to this article: http://dx.doi. org/10.12944/CRNFSJ.6. 1.04 Article history Received: 13 November 2017 Accepted: 20 March 2018
CHARACTER EDUCATION RE-CONCEPTUALIZED FOR PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION *

In this paper we explored conceptual ambiguities of character education within the present Ontario Ministry of Education initiative. Through the critical lens of moral development theories and theories of mind, social and cognitive domains and their affect on character development were examined. Based on these findings three shortcomings in implementation were identified: a lack of clarity in defining „character‟, a lack of recognition of the importance of cognitive and social processes in moral development, and a lack of clarity in effective strategies for character development. The recommendations for future implementation of character education were proposed.
An ecotoxicological assessment of the acute toxicity of anatoxin congeners on New Zealand Deleatidium species (mayflies)

ABSTRACT Toxic benthic cyanobacterial proliferations may pose a significant risk in freshwater ecosystems. In New Zealand, the only anatoxin-producing benthic species reported to date is Microcoleus autumnalis. Management of M. autumnalis proliferations has primarily focussed on mitigating the health risks associated with human and canine contact with the cyanobacteria. A major concern at the ecological level is the potential for lethal and sublethal effects on macroinvertebrates that may feed on toxic mats or use them as a refuge. In the present study, Deleatidium spp. (mayfly) larvae were exposed to different variants of purified anatoxins (anatoxin-a, dihydroanatoxin-a, and a mixture of homoanatoxin-a/dihydrohomoanatoxin-a). No significant mortality of Deleatidium spp. larvae occurred, even at doses far exceeding likely environmental exposures (300–600 μg L−1). Deleatidium spp. larvae exposed to high doses of dihydroanatoxin-a had measurable concentrations of the toxin in their tissues 24 h post-exposure. The results of this study indicate that anatoxins from benthic M. autumnalis proliferations are unlikely to result in mortality of Deleatidium spp. larvae, although the effect on all stages of the lifecycle and on crude extracts from M. autumnalis is unknown. Uptake of anatoxins in the tissues of macroinvertebrates may represent a pathway for anatoxin transfer up trophic levels, and further study is required.
Control of the symmetry of plume‐ridge interaction by spreading ridge geometry

The Iceland, Galápagos, and Azores plumes have previously been identified as interacting asymmetrically with adjacent spreading centers. We present evidence that the flow fields in these plume heads are radially symmetric, but the geometry of the mid‐ocean ridge systems imparts an asymmetric compositional structure on outflowing plume material. First, we quantify the degree of symmetry in geophysical and geochemical observables as a function of plume center location. For each plume, we find that bathymetry and crustal thickness observations can be explained using a single center of symmetry, with these calculated centers coinciding with independently inferred plume center locations. The existence of these centers of symmetry suggests that the flow fields and temperature structure of the three plume heads are radially symmetric. However, no centers of symmetry can be found for the incompatible trace element and isotopic observations. To explain this, we develop a simple kinematic model to predict the effect of mid‐ocean ridge geometry on the chemical composition of outflowing plume material. The model assumes radially symmetric outflow from a compositionally heterogeneous plume source, consisting of a depleted mantle component and enriched blebs. These blebs progressively melt out during flow through the melting regions under spreading centers. Asymmetry in trace element and isotopic profiles develops when ridges on either side of the plume center receive material that has been variably depleted according to the length of flow path under the ridge. This model can successfully explain compositional asymmetry around Iceland and Galápagos in terms of an axisymmetric plume interacting with an asymmetric ridge system.
Nutritional and antioxidant properties of Lentinula edodes (Shiitake) from various culture conditions

Lentinula edodes (Berk.) Pegler (Shiitake) is popular in Asia due to its medicinal properties, taste and high nutritional value. It is the second most widely cultivated mushrooms species in the world. Annual production is estimated of 900.000 tons worldwide distributed. This mushroom has been cultivated in Asia since the 13th century. Cultivation has now expanded wordlwide, i.e., in United State, South America, Australia and European countries including France. Shiitake was generally cultivated on logs, but to steep up production, blocks or bags are now used in Europe and America [1]. Shiitake is reported to have multiple bioactivities.Few studies concern the influence of cultivation conditions on chemical composition and biological activities. We presented here preliminary results of antioxidant properties of Shiitake sporophores harvested from different culture conditions were evaluated and compared
Herpes simplex viral nucleoprotein creates a competitive transcriptional environment facilitating robust viral transcription and host shut off

Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) replicates within the nucleus coopting the host’s RNA Polymerase II (Pol II) machinery for production of viral mRNAs culminating in host transcriptional shut off. The mechanism behind this rapid reprogramming of the host transcriptional environment is largely unknown. We identified ICP4 as responsible for preferential recruitment of the Pol II machinery to the viral genome. ICP4 is a viral nucleoprotein which binds double stranded DNA. We determined ICP4 discriminately binds the viral genome due to the absence of cellular nucleosomes and high density of cognate binding sites. We posit that ICP4’s ability to recruit not just Pol II, but also more limiting essential components, such as TBP and Mediator create a competitive transcriptional environment. These distinguishing characteristics ultimately result in a rapid and efficient reprogramming of the host’s transcriptional machinery, which does not occur in the absence of ICP4. Highlights HSV-1 ICP4 coats the viral genome promoting robust recruitment of Pol II transcription machinery. ICP4 prefers the viral genome due to the absence of nucleosomes and density of binding motifs. At high concentrations ICP4 promiscuously binds DNA including euchromatic host promoters. ICP4 is required for host transcriptional shut off, independent of genome replication.
Effects of Transplanting Time on 15-Nitrogen Utilization and Industrial Quality of Flue-Cured Tobacco

Abstract Nicotine concentration is a key index and directly affects the industrial quality and availability of flue-cured tobacco (FCT). Seedlings transplanted at different times were subjected to different climatic conditions, which were closely correlated with the growth, development, and nicotine synthesis of FCT. An appropriate transplanting time is imperative for ensuring high-quality tobaccos. Hence, a 15N tracing experiment in the field (which included three treatments: FCT seedlings transplanted on 5th, 15th, and 25th May) was carried out to evaluate the [. ]