Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chaos in a Three‐Species Food Chain with a Lower Bound on the Bottom Population

Hastings and Powell (1991) present a simple, differential-equation model of a food chain where a predator population (P), feeds on a consumer population (C), which in turn feeds on a resource population (R). They observe that this model can exhibit chaotic dynamics. McCann and Yodzis (1994a), reformulate the model and use the method of Yodzis and Innes (1992) in order to produce "plausible" combinations of parameter values. They conclude that the parameters chosen by Hastings and Powell (1991) are "biologically extreme. " Moreover, they suggest that the chaos shown by the model with these parameter values is unlikely to be persistent in a real system because it involves the predator population (P) dropping to very low levels. However, McCann and Yodzis (1994a) produce a range of more "plausible" parameter values and demonstrate the existence of chaos for a wide range of these values. This chaos is shown to persist, with P being bounded comfortably away from zero. Simple, difference-equation models of single populations have frequently been shown to be capable of exhibiting chaotic behavior (e.g., May 1976). However, McCallum (1992) demonstrates that the addition of a small immigration term, or a refuge that sets a nonzero minimum level for the population, greatly reduces the propensity of such models to behave chaotically. This work has been expanded by others (e.g., GonzalezAndujar and Perry 1993a, b, Hastings 1993, Stone 1993, Ruxton 1994). McCallum (1992) speculates that similar avoidance of chaos could occur in differentialequation models. However this has not yet been shown. Here, I use a modification of the model of McCann and Yodzis (1994a) to investigate if the imposition of a population floor affects continuous-time population models in a way similar to that of discrete-time models, namely by reducing the propensity to exhibit chaos. If such an effect is found, then this would suggest that
The Geographical Spread of Avian Influenza A (H5N1): Panzootic Transmission (December 2003–May 2006), Pandemic Potential, and Implications

The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that the advent of highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) has moved the world closer to a further global pandemic of human influenza than at any time since the Hong Kong (H3N2) pandemic of 1968–1969. The immediacy of the perceived threat is underscored by the current classification of the world at Phase 3 of WHO's operative six-phase system of pandemic alert, with H5N1 having met all the prerequisites for the onset of a human pandemic but one: the efficient and sustained person-to-person transmission of the virus. With preparations for an anticipated pandemic now recognized as a global health priority, the purpose of this article is to provide a foundation for geographical research on avian influenza A (H5N1). The article introduces geographers to the complex nature and ecology of H5N1, the principal data sources available to analyze the global occurrence of the virus in birds and humans, and evidence regarding its geographical origins and international dispersal during the first thirty months of the ongoing panzootic in wild birds and poultry, from December 2003 through May 2006. Key epidemiological facets of the disease in humans are examined. We conclude with a review of the incurred and projected economic costs of H5N1, global plans for pandemic aversion and mitigation, and prospects for the future geographical expansion of the virus. Areas in which geographers can make an effective contribution to knowledge about the virus and the disease are considered.
A supernodulating mutant isolated from soybean cultivar enrei

Abstract Symbiotic nitrogen fixation in nodules of legumes depends on the complex interaction between the legume plant and (Brady)Rhizobium bacteria. Nodule formation and nitrogen fixation are closely regulated by both the host plant and the microsymbiont. Plant mutants with altered symbiotic performance are considered to be useful to gain a better understanding of the plant—microbe interactions in the legume—(Brady)Rhizobium symbiosis (Jacobsen 1984; Carroll et al 1985a, b; Park and Buttery 1988; Duc and Messager 1989; Gremaud and Harper 1989). Recently, Carroll et al. (1985a, b) have isolated the supernodulating mutants of the soybean cv. “Bragg,” which display a very large number of nodules and “nitrate-tolerant-symbiotic” (nts) characteristics. More recently, Gremaud and Harper (1989) have also isolated similar mutants from the soybean cv. “Williams. ” These mutants not only provide materials that are useful for investigatings on the interaction in the nodule formation processes but also for agricultur.
Visualization and regulation of intermediate filament kinase activities

Abstract Intermediate filaments (IFs), major components of the cytoskeleton, undergo dramatic reorganization of their structure during cell signaling and the cell division cycle. This IF reorganization is accompanied by site-specific phosphorylation of IF proteins on serine and threonine residues. Several protein kinases act as IF kinases and regulate spatial and temporal distribution of site-specific IF phosphorylation. Site- and phosphorylation-specific anti-IF antibodies can enable site-specific IF phosphorylation and thereby IF kinase activitiesin vivoto be visualized by immunocytochemistry. Thus, elaborate mechanisms regulating IF phosphorylation together with IF kinase activities are becoming better understood.
Current approaches to developing sediment quality criteria

Current approaches to developing sediment quality criteria are reviewed and separated into two major groups: those approaches that provide only chemical-by-chemical criteria and those that provide criteria for chemical mixtures also. The individual approaches include background sediment chemistry, water quality criteria, sediment/water equilibrium partitioning, sediment bioas-say, screening level concentration, apparent effects threshold and sediment quality triad. Based on the evaluation of the two groups and seven individual approaches, it is concluded that, for chemical-by-chemical criteria, the equilibrium partitioning method shows promise; for criteria that are also applicable to chemical mixtures, the apparent effects threshold/sediment quality triad approaches appear to be most appropriate. Recommendations are made concerning specific immediate research needs, related to developing effective, usable sediment quality criteria.
Do Weather and Lunar Cycle Influence the Decision of Juvenile Reed Warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus to Perform Post-Fledging Nocturnal Flights Over the Natal Area?

Abstract. Many juvenile Reed Warblers perform nocturnal flights before the onset of the autumn migration. In our study we tested the hypothesis that the decision by juvenile Reed Warblers to perform such flights over the natal area during the post-fledging period depends on weather conditions and the phase of the lunar cycle. We analysed the data on nocturnal movements of 26 birds radio-tagged near their natal site on the Courish Spit (SE Baltic coast). We infer from our results that the decision in juvenile Reed Warblers to take off on a nocturnal flight over the natal area is triggered by intrinsic stimuli and depends only very slightly on environmental conditions. Comparison of these data with a previous study of the effect of weather and the lunar cycle on long-distance nocturnal pre-migratory flights by juvenile Reed Warblers suggests that the motivation to leave the natal area at night increases under good visibility and conditions favourable for flight.
Anti-inflammatory Effects of Allium victorialis Extract in Lipopolysaccharide Exposed Rats and Raw 264.7 Cells

This study examined the inflammatory reaction effects of Allium victorialis var. platyphyllum in vivo at the time of a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) shock in rats, and in vitro in cultured Raw 264.7 cells, with the aim of facilitating the development of a new anti-inflammatory medicine. Plasma concentrations of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), and IL-10 in rats peaked 5 h after LPS treatment in all experimental groups, with those of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α being significantly lower in all animals treated with A. victorialis than in the control group at that time point. Conversely, the plasma concentration of IL-10 was higher in the rats treated with 300 ㎎/㎏ A. victorialis extract than in the control group at both 2 and 5 h after LPS treatment. Concentrations of IL-1β and IL-6 in the liver of rats treated with A. victorialis extract were significantly lower than those of the saline-treated control group. However, the liver concentrations of TNF-α and IL-10 did not vary significantly between the four animal groups. Similarly, concentrations of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α obtained from cultured Raw 264.7 macrophages were lower in all of the A. -victorialis-extract-treated groups than in the control group. Although the concentration of IL-10 in the A. -victorialis-extract-treated groups tended to be greater than in the control group, the differences between groups were not statistically significant. Together the findings of this study suggest that A. victorialis var. platyphyllum contains functional substances that are involved in inflammatory reactions.
Review on safety of the entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria bassiana and Beauveria brongniartii

Abstract The commercial use of entomopathogenic fungi and their products as mycoinsecticides necessitates their registration. Worldwide, several registration guidelines are available, however, most of them focus on similar or even the same safety issues. With respect to the two entomopathogenic fungi, Beauveria bassiana (Bals.-Criv.) Vuill. and Beauveria brongniartii (Sacc.) Petch, many commercial products have been developed, and numerous papers on different biological, environmental, toxicological and other safety aspects have been published during the past 30–40 years. The aim of the present review is to summarise these data. The following safety issues are presented: (1) identity of Beauveria spp. ; (2) biological properties of Beauveria spp. (history, natural occurrence and geographical distribution, host range, mode of action, production of metabolites/toxins, effect of environmental factors); (3) analytical methods to determine and quantify residues; (4) fate and behaviour in the environment (mobility and persistence in air, water and soil); (5) effects on non-target organisms (non-target microorganisms, plants, soil organisms, aquatic organisms, predators, parasitoids, honey bees, earth worms and nontarget arthropods); (6) effects on vertebrates (fish, amphibia, reptiles and birds); and (7) effects on mammals and human health. Based on the present knowledge it is concluded that both Beauveria species are considered to be safe.
Editorial

A few days ago a colleague and I were discussing the format of a conference we will be holding in Perth in 2007. Her opinion was that there was no real purpose in holding a conference specifically on mental health promotion, as health promotion in general encompasses mental health promotion. As the discussion moved ahead, I agreed with many of her sentiments but the reality is that mental health promotion does not often have a meaningful place on the agenda of health promotion conferences. Yet there is much synergy between these two fields of study and much that each can learn from the other. As readers will no doubt appreciate, health promotion strategies have traditionally been directed towards behaviour modification and social marketing strategies, with further emphasis on health education to encourage individuals to address unhealthy conditions (Walker & Rowling, 2002). This concept is taken further by VicHealth (1999) and Secker (1997) who call for a focus on approaches that combat the unhealthy conditions at source. The Ottawa Charter (1986) also endorses such a perspective, and calls for a health-orientated public policy built upon strengthening community action to create supportive environments. Such environments would direct health services towards a promotion rather than treatment/intervention orientation, while developing personal skills and empowering the individual. In essence, the Charter draws attention to health determinants that are beyond individual, behavioural or social factors and which are located in all dimensions of both the micro and macro environment of people (Anderson & Jenkins, 2002) by highlighting five main strategies for action:
THE LIGHT PROMOTED GERMINATION OF THE SEEDS OF CHENOPODIUM ALBUM L.; II. EFFECTS OF (RS) – ABSCISIC ACID

SUMMARY The visible germination phenomena of Chenopodium album seeds can be divided into two stages. The first stage, being light-dependent in these seeds, consists of the splitting of the outer testa layer only and the extending of the radicle from within the seed. This stage is not prevented by incubation in (RS)-abscisic acid (ABA). Only the protrusion of the radicle through the inner testa layer and the underlying endosperm layer (the second stage) is prevented by ABA. This effect is more pronounced in darkness than in light. After 2 weeks of incubation the inhibition can be released by transfer to water. After 4 weeks in most of the seeds only scarification of the inner layers enables the start of rootlet growth. It is assumed that ABA inhibits one or some components of the cell expansion of the embryo.
Genetic diversity and population structure of Picea glauca on an altitudinal gradient in interior Alaska.

Allozyme variation at 13 loci for 11 enzyme systems was studied in four white spruce (Piceaglauca (Moench) Voss) populations extending from a floodplain at 120 m above sea level to the altitudinal tree limit at 750 m above sea level in interior Alaska. Although 97% of the total genetic diversity was among trees within stands and 1% was among stands within populations, frequencies of several allozymes and allozyme genotypes were significantly different (P < 0.05) among populations. Ninety-two percent of the loci were polymorphic. Total heterozygosity was 0.276. Heterozygosity and allozyme frequencies were not related to altitude. The population at the tree limit was as genetically diverse as populations at low elevations and contained four of seven rare alleles observed in all populations. These observations suggested that white spruce is genetically diverse in interior Alaska and the tree-limit population will continue to colonize new habitats. Genetic distance was not related to altitude and geographic d.
RELATIONSHIP OF TOTAL COLI FORM, FAECAL COLIFORM AND ORGANIC POLLUTION LEVELS IN TAMAGAWA RIVER

Total coliform (TC) and fecal coliform (FC) organisms were enumerated and isolated from water samples from several stations on the Tamagawas River and its tributaries in Tokyo. The level of these indicator bacteria and biochemical oxygen demand(BOD) markedly increased from the upper streams towards the lower reaches of this river system. There were statistically significant positive correlations (p<0.01) among TCs, FCs, and BOD. Also the FC/TC ratios were highly correlated with BOD (p<0.01). The proportion of thermotolearant coliforms and Escherichia coli constituting the TC population increased with increasing BOD levels. whereas the relative concentration of E. coli to the FC population decreased with increasing BOD levels. These results suggest that the population densities of FCs or thermotolearnt coliforms in the river environment are directly proportional to the degree of sewage and human waste pollution, which is reflected by BOD levels, but their occurrence in polluted river and esturay waters is due in part to regrowth of some FC members such as Klebsiella pneumoniae.
A water-renewal system that accurately delivers small volumes of water to exposure chambers

This paper describes a system that can accurately deliver small volumes of water (50 ml per cycle) to eight 300-ml beakers. The system is inexpensive <$100), easy to build (<8 h), and easy to calibrate (<15 min), and accurately delivers small volumes of water (<5% variability).
Characterizing the wood attributes of Canadian tree species: a thirty-year chronicle.

In 2007 Forintek Canada Corp merged with the other forest research institutes—Paprican, FERIC and the newly formed Canadian Wood Fibre Centre (CWFC)—to become FPInnovations. This merger offers opportunities for synergies across a range of research activities from the forest to final product markets, and the first step to achieving these synergies is to provide a better understanding of past and current research roles. This paper chronicles delivered results from the Resource Program in response to Forintek member priorities. Of necessity due to limited resources, the Resource Assessment Program at Forintek was built on both internal and external collaboration. It was also built on a legacy of wood quality research inherited from the Eastern and Western Wood Product Laboratories of the Canadian Forest Service from which it was formed through privatization in 1979. FPInnovations now has custody of this legacy. This paper was prepared as a contribution to a workshop organized by the CWFC to promote better un.
Application of expression genomics in drug development and genomic medicine

Expressed sequence tags and genome sequencing have virtually uncovered all the genes and transcripts in the human genome. Functional genomic analysis of these genes will undoubtedly reveal their physiological roles in cells in the near future. Coupled with the advent of DNA microarray, cellular response to perturbation can now be examined at genome‐wide levels in a single analysis, yielding clues to the network of pathways and interacting pathways that underlie a comprehensive systems response to exposure to small molecule perturbants. This post‐genomic information will be the foundation for knowledge‐based in silico systems biology. It is envisioned that querying such relational databases will generate testable hypotheses as well as revealing information on networks of regulatory genes and pathways that could further fuel and shape molecular and drug target discovery, and ushering in a new era in genomic medicine. In this review, we will first discuss examples of laboratory results generated from high‐throughput microarray analyses that illuminated previously unrecognized networks of regulatory genes and pathways that point to the mechanisms of action for the tumor promoter 12‐O‐tetradecanoyl‐phorbol‐13‐acetate, and the green tea polyphenol, epi‐gallocatechin gallate. We will then focus on the application of gene expression profiles in genomic medicine for predicting treatment response in cancer, using clinical specimens obtained from patients. These studies and others point to an increasing trend in modern biology in which high‐throughput genome scale comprehensive biological information is incorporated into databases for constructing and reconstructing pathways and networks of interacting pathways that constitute a physiological response to environmental perturbation at the organism or systems levels. Drug Dev. Res. 62:124–133, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Second Nonsecretor Allele of the Blood Group α(1,2)Fucosyl‐transferase Gene (FUT2)

While screening Le(a+b+) Polynesian DN A samples for a candidate Sew allele, a point mutation (C571→T) resulting in a new stop codon (Arg191→stop) in the α(1,2)fucosyltransferase gene (FUT2) was identified. This point mutation resulted in the gaining of a new restriction enzyme cleavage site (DdeI), which allowed restriction enzyme cleavage screening of 40 selected Polynesians and 42 random Caucasians. The nonsecretor phenotype in two of the three nonsecretor Polynesians analyzed was due to homozygosity for the ‘new’ mutation, whereas the third Polynesian nonsecretor (with Caucasian ancestors) was due to homozygosity of the ‘old’ (Trp143→stop) mutation. The nonsecretor phenotype in all Caucasians analyzed was a consequence of homozygosity for the ‘old’ mutation. Both the new and the old nonsecretor mutations were identified in the heterozygous state in some secretor‐positive Polynesians, while only the old mutation was found in the heterozygous state in Caucasians of the same phenotype.
Daily activity patterns of Whiptail Lizards (Squamata: Teiidae: Aspidoscelis): a proximate response to environmental conditions or an endogenous rhythm?

Summary 1The hypothesis that high soil temperatures are required to induce both initiation and cessation of daily activity in Whiptail Lizards (Aspidoscelis; formerly Cnemidophorus), as well as the hypotheses that hunger thresholds and high rates of evaporative water loss influence daily activity patterns, were experimentally tested in A. inornata and A. gularis. 2Although a critical soil temperature was required to elicit the initiation of morning activity, high temperature was not a necessary stimulus for the cessation of activity. 3Access to prey did not influence the pattern of daily activity; moreover, evaporative water loss did not appear to explain the cessation of afternoon activity. 4Reversing the photoperiod during our experiments led only to a change in the time of initiation of daily activity (i.e. activity began 12 h later), not a significant change in the duration of daily activity. 5These results provide strong evidence that circadian cycles can play a critical role in not only the initiation but also the cessation of activity. 6While the ultimate cause (i.e. selective advantage, if any) of this unusual circadian rhythm may be related to extreme temperature, limited water supplies or some other exogenous factor, clearly, the rhythm persists in the absence of limiting environmental conditions.
A Feature Analysis for Multimodal News Retrieval

Content-based information retrieval is based on the information contained in documents rather than using metadata such as keywords. Most information retrieval methods are either based on text or image. In this paper, we investigate the usefulness of multimodal features for cross-lingual news search in various domains: politics, health, environment, sport, and finance. To this end, we consider five feature types for image and text and compare the performance of the retrieval system using different combinations. Experimental results show that retrieval results can be improved when considering both visual and textual information. In addition, it is observed that among textual features entity overlap outperforms word embeddings, while geolocation embeddings achieve better performance among visual features in the retrieval task.
Wage Trends in Czech Education and Healthcare Sectors

The rate of pay in education and health service is a permanently discussed topic in the Czech Republic. The present paper addresses the development of wages in the two sectors from the onset of the global financial crisis onwards. The research data are drawn from the website of the Czech Statistical Office and the variable investigated is an employee’s gross nominal monthly wage. The main objective of the study is to examine wage developments and compare them with the bestand worst-paying industries, the sectors being clustered together according to the average wage and selected variables. Another aim is the description of the trends in wage differentiation and diversification. Forecasts of wage levels and entire distributions in the two sectors by 2020 are also part of the research project. Key-Words: Education sector, healthcare sector, wage development, gross monthly wage, average wage, median wage, Gini coefficient, wage diversification, wage level prediction, wage distribution prediction