Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ectoparasites In Free-Ranging American Kestrels In Argentina: Implications for the Transmission of Viral Diseases

Abstract We described ectoparasitic species such as chewing lice, mites, and louse flies in free-ranging American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) in the semiarid forest of Argentina. From twenty-two adults and one juvenile American Kestrel captured (fourteen females and nine males) during four breeding seasons between 2005 and 2008, we found in seven birds (six females and one male) two louse species (Laemobothrion tinnunculi and Degeeriella carruthi), one mite species (Ornithonyssus bursa) and one louse fly (Icosta americana). Although the two louse species have been previously reported as parasites of American Kestrels, this is the first record for O. bursa in American Kestrels and the first for I. americana in Argentina. This finding is of particular interest because West Nile Virus (WNV) has been detected in I. americana, which suggests a potential role of this louse fly in the transmission of WNV in raptors in North America. Our results highlight the need for further studies on American Kestrel ectoparasites and also on host-parasite interactions for other neotropical raptors to better understand effects of parasitism on the health of those bird species and to detect possible vectors of infectious diseases. Ectoparásitos En Ejemplares Silvestres De Falco sparverius En Argentina: Implicancias Para La Transmisión De Enfermedades Virales Describimos especies de ectoparásitos, tales como piojos, ácaros y moscas hipobóscidas en ejemplares silvestres de Falco sparverius del bosque semiárido de Argentina. En 22 adultos y un juvenil de F. sparverius (14 hembras y nueve machos) capturados durante las épocas reproductivas correspondientes a los años 2005–08, hallamos en siete aves (seis hembras y un macho) dos especies de piojos (Laemobothrion tinnunculi y Degeeriella carruthi), una de ácaro (Ornithonyssus bursa) y una de mosca (Icosta americana). Mientras que las dos especies de piojos han sido ya previamente reportadas como parásitos de F. sparverius, este es el primer registro para O. bursa en la especie, y el primero de I. americana en Argentina. Este último hallazgo es de particular interés debido a que el Virus del Oeste del Nilo (VON) ha sido detectado recientemente en I. americana, sugiriendo un rol activo de esta mosca en la transmisión del VON en rapaces de Norteamérica. Nuestros resultados destacan la necesidad de realizar nuevos estudios sobre los ectoparásitos de F. sparverius así como también sobre las interacciones hospedador-parásito en otras rapaces neotropicales para no sólo dilucidar los efectos de las parasitosis sobre el estatus sanitario de dichas especies, sino también para detectar posibles vectores de enfermedades infecciosas.
A Cellular and Molecular Investigation of Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) in Dogs

A Cellular and Molecular Investigation of Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) in Dogs Elizabeth A. Sinclair Advisor: University of Guelph, 2012 Professor W. Glen Pyle We hypothesized that alterations in cardiac myofilaments are associated with hereditary canine DCM. DCM myofilaments demonstrated a reduction in EC50 and a modest decrease in maximum activity compared to nonfailing dog samples. Treatment of myofilaments with the calcium sensitizer, bepridil, showed a reduction in EC50. Desmin and tropomyosin phosphorylation was increased in DCM. Desmin protein levels were increased in DCM. Total troponin I phosphorylation was unchanged, but S23/S24 phosphorylation was reduced in DCM. Myofilament-associated PKC-δ and -ζ were elevated in DCM, PKCε was modestly reduced, and PKC-α showed no change. These data are the first investigation of cardiac myofilaments in naturally occurring canine DCM, and support the hypothesis that alterations in cardiac myofilaments are associated with DCM.
Time‐space modeling of the dynamics of Santorini volcano (Greece) during the 2011–2012 unrest

The 2011–2012 unrest of Santorini (Thera) volcano (Aegean Sea, Greece) was associated with microseismicity confined to the Kameni Line (KL), a major tectonovolcanic lineament, and has been regarded as a single magmatic episode, produced by a spherical source derived from inversion of GPS data. However, such a source is a few kilometers away from the KL and cannot explain observed microseismicity. For this reason, we divided the unrest episode into five periods based on the fluctuations of seismicity and deformation rates and investigated the connection between seismicity and two spherical magmatic point sources for each period. Based on a new inversion algorithm and consistent GPS data, we recognized during the volcano unrest episode an unstable pattern of intrusions correlating with both the KL and Columbo Line (CL), a second major tectonovolcanic lineament. Intrusions correlating with CL appear relatively persistent, aseismic, small, and shallow, which is consistent with marine geophysical evidence for arrested shallow dykes and geodetic evidence from a previous inflation episode. During the two periods of intense seismicity, sources close to the KL, explaining seismicity, were obtained. This unstable pattern of intrusions explains both the well‐observed location and timing of seismicity as well as ground deformation and is consistent with results of an Okada‐type inversion for a sill and a dyke. The stress interactions between the two sources agree with Coulomb failure stress models. Santorini appears to be affected by concurrent offset magma pulses, and only recent activity from a magma pulse below the KL produced microseismic swarms.
CUBIC POLYNOMIALS AND OPTIMAL CONTROL ON COMPACT LIE GROUPS

This paper analyzes the Riemannian cubic polynomials's problem from a Hamiltonian point of view. The description of the problem on compact Lie groups is particulary explored. The state space of the second order optimal control problem considered is the tangent bundle of the Lie group which also has a group structure. The dynamics of the problem is described by a presymplectic formalism associated with the canonical symplectic form on the cotangent bundle of the tangent bundle. Using these control geometrical tools, the equivalence between the Hamiltonian approach developed here and the known variational one is verified. Moreover, the equivalence allows us to deduce two invariants along the cubic polynomials which are in involution.
Using a probabilistic design process to maximize reliability and minimize cost in urban central business districts

In this dynamic market environment, utility managers are starting to search for new approaches to design and operate their systems. Their objectives in this search are to identify approaches and technologies that enable them to deliver an acceptable level of end-customer reliability and satisfaction, at reasonable costs, while managing the political and public relations risks that are an inevitable part of the regulated utility business. This paper will present the case for a new design process in a modern distribution utility based on probabilistic principles. In the past, it was common practice to ensure reliability and simplify engineering by designing to a deterministic standard such as N-1 or N-2 redundancy, regardless of the application or environment. The paper will examine the impact of deterministic standards on the design of the system, and discuss the potential deficiencies of this design process in a constrained and changing environment. The probabilistic design process will be explained and illustrated on an example sub-system and the cost, reliability and risk implications will be discussed. DESCRIPTION OF URBAN UTILITY SYSTEMS Utility systems that serve high population urban centers share unique characteristics that have evolved over time. In the US, they are typically underground systems and are often looped, or configured as secondary grids or spot networks. The primary motivation for the selection of this architecture was the belief that it provided the lowest cost approach to serving high-density, relatively uniform urban loads while satisfying the increased reliability expectations of urban load centers.
Review and classification of vision-based localisation techniques in unknown environments

This study presents a review of the state-of-the-art and a novel classification of current vision-based localisation techniques in unknown environments. Indeed, because of progresses made in computer vision, it is now possible to consider vision-based systems as promising navigation means that can complement traditional navigation sensors like global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) and inertial navigation systems. This study aims to review techniques employing a camera as a localisation sensor, provide a classification of techniques and introduce schemes that exploit the use of video information within a multi-sensor system. In fact, a general model is needed to better compare existing techniques in order to decide which approach is appropriate and which are the innovation axes. In addition, existing classifications only consider techniques based on vision as a standalone tool and do not consider video as a sensor among others. The focus is addressed to scenarios where no a priori knowledge of the environment is provided. In fact, these scenarios are the most challenging since the system has to cope with objects as they appear in the scene without any prior information about their expected position.
Optimising 4D Approaches to Surface Change Detection: Improving Understanding of Rockfall Magnitude-Frequency

We present a monitoring technique tailored to analysing change from near-continuously collected, high-resolution 3D data. Our aim is to fully characterise geomorphological change typified by an event magnitude frequency relationship that adheres to an inverse power law or similar. While recent advances in monitoring have enabled changes in volume across more than seven orders of magnitude to be captured, event frequency is commonly assumed to be interchangeable with the time-averaged event numbers between successive surveys. Where events coincide, or coalesce, or where the mechanisms driving change are not spatially independent, apparent event frequency must be partially determined by survey interval. The data reported has been obtained from a permanently installed terrestrial laser scanner, which permits an increased frequency of surveys. Surveying from a single position raises challenges, given the single viewpoint onto a complex surface and the need for computational efficiency associated with handling a large time series of 3D data. A workflow is presented that optimises the detection of change by filtering and aligning scans to improve repeatability. An adaptation of the M3C2 algorithm is used to detect 3D change, to overcome data inconsistencies between scans. Individual rockfall geometries are then extracted and the associated volumetric errors modelled. The utility of this approach is demonstrated using a dataset of ~ 9 × 10 3 surveys acquired at ~ 1 hour intervals over 10 months. The magnitude-frequency distribution of rockfall volumes generated is shown to be sensitive to monitoring frequency. Using a 1 h interval between surveys, rather than 30 days, the volume contribution from small ( 3 ) rockfall increases from 67 % to 98 % of the total, and the number of individual rockfall observed increases by over three orders of magnitude. High frequency monitoring therefore holds considerable implications for magnitude-frequency derivatives, such as hazard return intervals and erosion rates. As such, while high frequency monitoring has potential to describe short-term controls on geomorphological change and more realistic magnitude-frequency relationships, the assessment of longer-term erosion rates may be more suited to less frequent data collection with lower accumulative errors.
Does Foreign Ownership Influence Firm Profitability? Evidence from the Tunisian Context

The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of foreign ownership on the profitability of Tunisian financial institutions. Empirical evidence shows (i) that the foreign ownership has a positive and significant effect on firm profitability as measured by return on assets and return on equity. (ii) The presence of foreign directors in the board causes also an increase in return on assets. (iii) However, contrary to previous studies, state-owned firms seem to perform better than fully privatized companies.
Reducing equifinality using isotopes in a process‐based stream nitrogen model highlights the flux of algal nitrogen from agricultural streams

The fate of bioavailable nitrogen species transported through agricultural landscapes remains highly uncertain given complexities of measuring fluxes impacting the fluvial N cycle. We present and test a new numerical model named Technology for Removable Annual Nitrogen in Streams For Ecosystem Restoration (TRANSFER), which aims to reduce model uncertainty due to erroneous parameterization, i.e., equifinality, in stream nitrogen cycle assessment and quantify the significance of transient and permanent removal pathways. TRANSFER couples nitrogen elemental and stable isotope mass‐balance equations with existing hydrologic, hydraulic, sediment transport, algal biomass, and sediment organic matter mass‐balance subroutines and a robust GLUE‐like uncertainty analysis. We test the model in an agriculturally impacted, third‐order stream reach located in the Bluegrass Region of Central Kentucky. Results of the multiobjective model evaluation for the model application highlight the ability of sediment nitrogen fingerprints including elemental concentrations and stable N isotope signatures to reduce equifinality of the stream N model. Advancements in the numerical simulations allow for illumination of the significance of algal sloughing fluxes for the first time in relation to denitrification. Broadly, model estimates suggest that denitrification is slightly greater than algal N sloughing (10.7% and 6.3% of dissolved N load on average), highlighting the potential for overestimation of denitrification by 37%. We highlight the significance of the transient N pool given the potential for the N store to be regenerated to the water column in downstream reaches, leading to harmful and nuisance algal bloom development.
All-optical endoscopic probe for high resolution 3D photoacoustic tomography

A novel all-optical forward-viewing photoacoustic probe using a flexible coherent fibre-optic bundle and a Fabry- Perot (FP) ultrasound sensor has been developed. The fibre bundle, along with the FP sensor at its distal end, synthesizes a high density 2D array of wideband ultrasound detectors. Photoacoustic waves arriving at the sensor are spatially mapped by optically scanning the proximal end face of the bundle in 2D with a CW wavelength-tunable interrogation laser. 3D images are formed from the detected signals using a time-reversal image reconstruction algorithm. The system has been characterized in terms of its PSF, noise-equivalent pressure and field of view. Finally, the high resolution 3D imaging capability has been demonstrated using arbitrary shaped phantoms and duck embryo.
Limit theorems for functionals of mixing processes with applications to U-statistics and dimension estimation

In this paper we develop a general approach for investigating the asymptotic distribution of functional Xn = f((Zn+k)k∈z) of absolutely regular stochastic processes (Zn)n∈z. Such functional occur naturally as orbits of chaotic dynamical systems, and thus our results can be used to study probabilistic aspects of dynamical systems. We first prove some moment inequalities that are analogous to those for mixing sequences. With their help, several limit theorems can be proved in a rather straightforward manner. We illustrate this by re-proving a central limit theorem of Ibragimov and Linnik. Then we apply our techniques to U-statistics Matrix Equation with symmetric kernel h : R × R → R. We prove a law of large numbers, extending results of Aaronson, Burton, Dehling, Gilat, Hill and Weiss for absolutely regular processes. We also prove a central limit theorem under a different set of conditions than the known results of Denker and Keller. As our main application, we establish an invariance principle for U-processes (Un(h))h, indexed by some class of functions. We finally apply these results to study the asymptotic distribution of estimators of the fractal dimension of the attractor of a dynamical system.
A SIMPLIFIED APPROACH FOR DETERMINING HYDROLOGIC BEHAVIOR AND DEPTH OF SOILS AT BASIN SCALE

Land-surface models at basin scale usually employ various combinations of land-use and soil class data to parameterize the major hydrologic processes. Even though soil exerts a major influence on hydrologic processes, soil hydraulic behavior is still difficult to quantify at relatively large scales. Recently soil hydraulic parameterization for hydrologic modeling can be conveniently carried out using pedotransfer rules, which are based on the knowledge of basic soil physical and chemical variables, such as bulk density, textural composition, and organic matter content. However, the availability of this basic information can be rather limited over large land areas. Therefore, in this work we explore the feasibility of employing morphological features to retrieve basic soil data being then used in pedotransfer functions (PTFs), as well as soil depth being viewed here as an indicator of the lower boundary condition. The proposed approach is applied in the Agri River basin (approximately 1770 km2), in Southern Italy (Basilicata Region), where we assessed relationships among soil depth and texture with morphological attributes, such as elevation, slope gradient, slope orientation (aspect), and surface curvature. Climatic conditions were defined using mean annual rainfall and climatic indices. The results show an enhanced correlation between soil depth and slope when accounting for the local vegetation types. As expected, texture can be conveniently linked to parent material obtained from lithology. We show an application of the method to derive soil parameters from morphological and vegetation coverage data (DEM, Corine Land Cover, etc.), which are actually available for almost all national basins.
Analytical model of wheel-rail contact force due to the passage of a railway vehicle on a curved track

The relationship between the displacements of the wheel contained within the plane of wheel-rail contact and present during the movement of a train on curved tracks is one of the most important problems of the dynamic railway, modeling through a complex and nonlinear physical phenomenon. In order to analyze the dynamics of a coach that moves along a curve, a global model has been developed which includes the characterization of the track and the fixations, stiffness and damping of the bogie and the identification of global conditions in the wheel-rail contact area. The present article describes an analytical formulation that allows the estimation of the dynamic state due to the passage of a railway vehicle, summarizing the results and simulations derived from the application of that model, under the consideration that the contact between wheel and rail is constant, and thus the turn of the wheelset is due to the path tread.
Development of a novel active targeting system for siRNA delivery to liver sinusoidal endothelial cell in vivo

Title Development of a novel active targeting system for siRNA delivery to liver sinusoidal endothelial cell in vivo [an abstract of dissertation and a summary of dissertation review] Author(s) Akhter, Afsana Citation 北海道大学. 博士(薬科学) 甲第11117号 Issue Date 2013-09-25 Doc URL http://hdl.handle. net/2115/53833 Rights(URL) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.1/jp/ Type theses (doctoral abstract and summary of review) Additional Information There are other files related to this item in HUSCAP. Check the above URL. File Information Afsana_Akhter_abstract. pdf (論文内容の要旨)
A Computational Model to Predict In Vivo Lower Limb Kinetics and Assess Total Knee Arthroplasty Design Parameters

Evaluating total knee arthroplasty implant design success generally requires many years of patient follow-up studies which are both inefficient and costly. Although computational modeling is utilized during the implant design phase, it has yet to be fully utilized in order to predict the post-implantation kinetics associated with various design parameters. The objective of this study was to construct a three-dimensional computational model of the human lower limb that could predict in vivo kinetics based upon input subject specific kinematics. The model was constructed utilizing Kane’s theory of dynamics and applied to two clinical sub-studies. Firstly, axial tibiofemoral forces were compared over a deep knee bend between normal knee subjects and those with implanted knees. Secondly, kinematics were obtained for a sample subject undergoing a deep knee bend, and the amount of femoral rollback experienced by the subject (-1.86 mm) was varied in order to evaluate the subsequent change in the axial tibiofemoral contact force and the quadriceps force. The mean axial tibiofemoral contact force was 1.35xBW and 2.99xBW for the normal and implanted subjects, respectively, which was a significant difference (p = 0.0023). The sample subject experienced a decrease in both the axial tibiofemoral contact force (-8.97%) and the quadriceps load (11.84%) with an increase of femoral rollback to -6 mm. A decrease in rollback to 6 mm led to increases in both the contact force (22.45%) and the quadriceps load (27.14%). These initial studies provide evidence that this model accurately predicts in vivo kinetics and that kinetics depend on implant design and patient kinematics.
Oceanic Rossby Waves over Eastern Tropical Pacific of Both Hemispheres Forced by Anomalous Surface Winds after Mature Phase of ENSO

AbstractThe present study examined ENSO-related wind forcing contribution to off-equatorial Rossby wave formations in the eastern tropical regions of the North and South Pacific using satellite altimeter data and atmospheric reanalysis data during the period of 1993–2013. After mature phases of ENSO events, the sea surface height anomaly fields showed that off-equatorial Rossby waves propagated westward along 11°N and 8°S from the eastern Pacific. Starting longitudes of the westward propagation were distant from the eastern coast, especially for weak El Nino events in the 2000s, in contrast to the strong 1997/98 El Nino event in which the propagations started from the coast. Based on observational data, it was hypothesized that the Rossby waves could be formed by off-equatorial zonal belts of wind stress curl anomalies (WSCAs) in 135°–90°W rather than by wave emissions from the eastern coast. A numerical model forced only by WSCAs, that is, without wave emissions from the coast, successfully reproduced ob.
Assessment of Maternal Plasma Homocysteine levels among Sudanese Pregnant Ladies with Preeclampsia

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate if there is association between preeclampsia and plasma homocysteine levels and moreover to investigate its association with the severity of the disease. Material and method: A case control study was performed on a total of 61 pregnant patients, classified to 31 preeclamptic ladies and 30 normotensive pregnant ladies. Homocysteine levels were assessed using A15 analyzer. Results: Plasma homocysteine levels were significantly higher in preeclamptic ladies than normotensive pregnant ladies (13.25±4.35) mol/L with significant difference (P.value: 0.000). Higher levels of plasma homocysteine with a mean (16.4585) mol/L were associated to the severity preeclampsia with significant difference (P.value: 0.000). Conclusion: Plasma homocysteine levels were significantly increased in preeclamptic ladies