Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Yeast, not fruit volatiles mediate Drosophila melanogaster attraction, oviposition and development

1.In nature, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is attracted to fermenting fruit. Micro-organisms like Saccharomyces yeasts growing on fruit occupy a commonly overlooked trophic level between fruit and insects. Although the dietary quality of yeast is well established for D.melanogaster, the individual contribution of fruit and yeast on host finding and reproductive success has not been established. 2.Here, we show that baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae on its own is sufficient for fruit fly attraction, oviposition and larval development. In contrast, attraction and oviposition were significantly lower if non-fermented grape juice or growth media were used, and yeast-free grapes did not support larval development either. 3.Despite a strong preference for fermented substrates, moderate attraction to and oviposition on unfermented fruit might be adaptive in view of the fly's capacity to vector yeast. 4.Signals emitted by fruit were only of secondary importance because fermenting yeast without fruit induced the same fly behaviour as yeast fermenting on fruit. We identified a synthetic mimic of yeast odour, comprising ethanol, acetic acid, acetoin, 2-phenyl ethanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol, which was as attractive for the fly as fermenting grape juice or fermenting yeast minimal medium. 5.Yeast odours represent the critical signal to establish the flyfruityeast relationship. The traditional plantherbivore niche concept needs to be updated, to accommodate for the role of micro-organisms in insectplant interactions. (Less)
Predicting distribution changes of a mire ecosystem under future climates

Mire ecosystems are threatened by global climate change but have important roles in biodiversity conservation, carbon storage, landscape‐scale hydrological function and in providing ecosystem services. We aimed to: (1) estimate change in areas environmentally suitable for mires under future climates; (2) evaluate the sensitivities of projected change to uncertainties in future climate and model structure; (3) evaluate the effect of global mitigation actions on distribution change; (4) identify potential climate refuges for future adaptation actions.
Microfinance Banks and Financial Inclusion: Empirical Investigation of Women Entrepreneurs in Kwara State, Nigeria

The study investigates the pattern of products/services made available by microfinance banks and rendered to women and the degree of accessibility of microfinance banks’ products/services by women entrepreneurs in Kwara State, Nigeria. Study also examines the daunting challenges confronting microfinance banks in financing women entrepreneurs and also identifies the obstacles preventing women entrepreneurs from having access to microfinance products/services in Kwara State, Nigeria. The study establishes that majority of financial products/services, such as local purchase order, assets financing, hire purchase, emergency loan and cheque discounting, that were made available to customers were not accessible by women entrepreneurs in Kwara State. Descriptive cross-sectional research design was employed to collect data by means of structured questionnaire from total number of forty (40) microfinance managers and forty (65) registered women entrepreneurs through purposive technique as a sample size for the study. Data were analyzed with the aid of descriptive statistics. Results reveal that majority of financial products/services, such as local purchase order, assets financing, hire purchase, emergency loan and cheque discounting, that were made available to customers were not accessible by women entrepreneurs in Kwara State. Results also show that diversion of the loan granted, delay in repayment of loans, patriarchal bias and lack of business plan are the most daunting challenges confronting microfinance institutions in financing women entrepreneurs, while interest rate charged by MFBs, conditions of loans, frauds and forgeries, payback period, regulatory and supervisory loopholes and non-\availability of microfinance banks in rural areas of Kwara State are major obstacles preventing women entrepreneurs from being financially inclusive. The study therefore recommends that Central Bank of Nigeria should recapitalized microfinance banks and encourages them to relax the conditions of loans, reduce interest rate, to bring MFBs to closer to the people and to sensitize more women about its products / services.
Integrated Supply Chain Management: A Key to Enhance Manufacturing Performance

The role of Supply Chain Management (SCM) as an integral part in corporate strategy has been discussed in previous research [1]. The increase in global competition has given managers the impetus to develop innovative relationships in the distribution channel. The evolution of SCM has been changed radically with regard to customer orientation, organizational and infrastructure changes. As production processes continue to evolve and outsourcing increases, SCM has become critical to the development of manufacturing systems [2]. Competition today is in fact typified more as supply chain versus supply chain, rather than firm versus firm. The strength of SCM is driven by its integrative management approach [3]. This strategic integration of trading partners is covered in the treatment of SCM concepts [4], [5]. There are, in practice, few examples of truly integrated supply chains [6] and it is not always clear what that integration implies and how it is implemented [7]. Little empirical evidence exists of the relationship between supply chain management practice and performance [8] and how deeply the concepts have become ingrained in manufacturing operations. Researchers are just beginning to investigate the tactical and operational linkages among the functional elements of the SCM. Using data from the 1996 Australian Manufacturing Futures Project, this paper attempts to analyze the steps necessary for integration of SCM in a diverse group of Australian manufacturers. The first step is developing a classification scheme or taxonomy of supply chain strategy (SCS) using the core processes of manufacturing. The second goal is to empirically test integrated supply chain management (ISCM) initiatives according to different SCS groups. The third goal is to differentiate members of these unique supply chain groups by various manufacturing competitive priorities and analyze resulting overall performance.
A New Cryptic Species of Stenocercus (Squamata: Iguanidae) from the Andes of Ecuador

Abstract We describe a new species of Stenocercus from the Andes of Ecuador that previously was erroneously assigned to S. guentheri due to its general phenotypic similarity with this species. Based on phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequence data, we show that the new species is not nested within S. guentheri but is actually sister to S. festae. The new species can be distinguished from other Stenocercus by the combination of the following characters: imbricate scales on posterior surface of thighs, smooth ventrals, a posthumeral mite pocket consisting of a shallow depression with a wide opening (more distinct in adult specimens), small scales on occipitoparietal region, supraoculars of similar size, 62–83 scales around midbody, and no black midventral stripe or black transverse band on the ventral surface of neck in adult males. Resumen Describimos una especie nueva de Stenocercus de los Andes de Ecuador, que debido a similitud morfológica estaba erróneamente asignada a S. guentheri. En base a análisis filogenéticos de datos de secuencias de ADN mitocondrial, demostramos que la especie nueva no está anidada dentro de S. guentheri y es la especie hermana de S. festae. La especie nueva se puede diferenciar de otras especies de Stenocercus por la combinación de los siguientes caracteres morfológicos: escamas imbricadas en la superficie posterior de los muslos, ventrales lisas, bolsillo posthumeral poco profundo con una abertura ancha (más marcado en adultos), región occipitoparietal con escamas pequeñas, supraoculares de tamaño homogéneo, 62–83 escamas alrededor del cuerpo, franja medio ventral negra o banda transversal negra en el cuello ausentes.
Modelling Preference and Diet Selection Patterns by Grazing Ruminants: A Development in a Mechanistic Model of a Grazing Dairy Cow, MINDY

The work presented here represents additions to the mechanistic and dynamic model of a grazing dairy cow (MINDY). The additions include a module representing preference and selection, based on two theories, namely, post-ingestive feedback and discomfort. The model was evaluated by assessing its ability to simulate patterns of preference and selection in response to a variety of feeding management. The improvements detailed here enable a realistic simulation of patterns of food selection by grazing ruminants, based on a range of feeding situations from different studies with cattle and sheep. These simulations indicate that the concepts encoded in MINDY capture several of the underlying biological mechanisms that drive preferences and selective behaviour. Thus, simulations using MINDY allow prediction of daily and diurnal patterns of selection based on preference, derived from some post-ingestive feedbacks and total discomfort. Estimates of herbage intake and parallel measurements of ingestive behaviour, rumen function and metabolism in grazing ruminants pose experimental and technical difficulties, and matching these processes to animal preference and selective behaviour is a greater challenge. As a consequence, advances in knowledge of foraging behaviour and dietary choice are slow and costly. On completion of more thorough testing, MINDY can be used as a tool for exploratory mechanistic research, to design and organise experimental programs to address a range of factors that control intake and its ecology, helping advance knowledge faster and at a low cost.
Evaluation of lipolysis and proteolysis in commercial bovine and caprine milk yogurts compared with those of a university manufactured caprine milk yogurt during 4 weeks refrigerated storage Lipolysis and proteolysis in goat and cow milk yogurts

Absract- Yogurt has been a popular cultured dairy food in many parts of the world because of its nutritional and therapeutic values in human health, while few studies have been reported on caprine milk yogurt products. The present study was conducted to determine s torage stability of caprine milk yogurt compared to bovine milk counterpart in relation to lipolysis and proteolysis. Commercial cow milk yogurt (CCY) and commercial goat milk yogurt (CGY) were purchased from local retail stores, and a plain goat milk yogurt (FVGY) were manufactured at Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA, using a direct vat set (DVS) lactic yogurt culture (YC-180, Chr. Hansen, Inc., Hoersholm, Denmark). All three varieties of experimental yogurt samples were subjected to refrigeration storage at 4 o C for 0, 2 and 4 weeks. Acid degree value (ADV), pH, water soluble nitrogen (WSN) and basic nutrient contents of all yogurt samples were analyzed to compare lipolytic and proteolytic changes among the products during the storage. Results showed that the CGY contained higher mean fat, ash, carbohydrates and total solids but lower protein contents than CCY and FVG Y products, which was mainly due to the addition of tapioca and p ectin as stabilizer in the CGY. The respective mean carbohydrate contents (%) of CCY, CGY and FVGY at 0 week were 3.56, 5.42 and 2.91. The initial and final ADVs of CCY, CGY and FVGY were 0.503, 1.008; 0.756, 0.689; 0.707, 1.094, respectively, indicating that significant lipolysis occurred in the CCY and FVGY during 4 weeks refrigeration storage, whereas a minimal lipolytic change occurred in CGY, which may be attributed to the supplemented gum stabilizers. The pHs of CCY and FVG Y were declined significantly (P<0.01), while pH changes in CGY were marginal. Storage periods did not have any influence on WSN, while yogurt types revealed some differences in WSN, suggesting that marginal proteolysis occurred during the storage periods. It was concluded that the commercial caprine milk yogurt had less lipolysis than the CCY and FVGY, probably due to the added stabilizers to the CGY, whereas proteolysis of all three experimental yogurt products was slightly but inconsistently increased during the 4 weeks refrigerated storage.
Dynamic Replication for Secure Mobile Caching: A Control Theoretic Approach

This paper proposes a reliable and self-adaptive reliability maximization policy for virtual machine replication in distributed cloud servers. In order to guarantee reliable virtual machine services, cloud computing service providers are operating virtual machine replication into multiple servers in order to provide seamless services even though several servers are out of order. In this replication-based cloud server system, our proposed algorithm controls the number of virtual machine replications for time-average maximization of reliability under server storage capacity limits based on the theory of Lyapunov optimization. As veriﬁed through simulation-based data intensive performance evaluation, our proposed algorithm presents desired results.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CORE STRENGTH AND STABILITY, WITH DYNAMIC BALANCE AND JUMPING PERFORMANCE IN YOUNG ADULTS

The aim of the current study was to understand the relationship between core strength and core stability with dynamic balance and jumping performance; respectively, in young adults. It is an observational-correlation one time study.30 young adults fulfilling the inclusion criteria were taken as subjects for the study by convenience sampling. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated by measuring the weight and height using the formula kg/ m. Core strength was assessed using the Bent knee lowering test (BKLT) and core stability was assessed using the time to failure prone plank test. The assessment of dynamic balance was done by using Star excursion balance test (SEBT) and measuring the limb length to normalize excursion distances. Jumping performance was assessed by the Vertical jump test. Results show that no significant correlation was found between core strength and dynamic balance (Dominant leg; r=-0.2710, p=0.1474. Non dominant leg; r= -0.1658, p=0.3813), neither between core stability and dynamic balance (Dominant leg, r=0.1589, p=0.4015. Non dominant leg; r=0.1344, p=0.4789). However, significant correlation was seen between core strength and jumping performance(r= -0.4748,p=0.0080) and between core stability and jumping performance (r=0.5884, p=0.0006). Hence, we can infer that jumping performance can be significantly improved by improving the core strength and stability. Dynamic balance correlates poorly with core strength and stability and therefore, needs other factors to be evaluated.
Isolated Resonance Inverter with Ability of Producing Variable AC Output Voltage in Wireless Power Transfer Technology

This paper presents new design, analyses, and simulation for an isolated resonance inverter. This inverter produces adjustable AC output voltage at fixed switching frequency based on magnetic resonant coupling in wireless power transfer (WPT) technology. It consists of a new design for resonance inverter circuit based on class-E inverter and a high-frequency transformer with tap-changer. Steady-state output voltage waveforms of are obtained via PSPICE simulation. The results illustrate up to 3 times increase in output voltage level. The state-ofthe-art of class-E resonant inverter is discussed in this paper called class-E T resonant inverter afterwards. Steady-state output voltage waveforms equations validate the simulation results. Finally, th results are compared with waveforms produced by conventional class-E inverter in order to confirm the trust ability of suggested design for class-E T inverter.
EXPERIMENTAL G LOMERULONEPHRIT IS II. ImamoLoolc EVENTS IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF NEPttROTOXIC SERUM NEPHRITIS IN TttE RAT

The possibility of an immunologic basis for human glomerulonephrifis is supported by a number of imrnunologieally induced forms of experimental glomerulonephfitis. One of the most thoroughly studied of these experimental models is nephrotox~c serum nephritis (NTN) (I). In this disease, hetero]ogous antikidney, or more predsely, anfi-glomerular basement membrane antibody, injected into a recipient reacts with the glomeruli, and may produce immediate structural and functional damage. Superimposed upon this initial immunologic insult by heterologous antibody is an antibody response of the host to the heterologous gamma globulin, result~ in a host antibody interaction with the heterologous gamma globulin fixed in the glomeruIL This second immunologic insult to the glomeruli usually causes further glomerulax damage which may be sustained or even increased during the remainder of the life of the animal.
MODELLING OF A SMIB POWER SYSTEM-A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH OF PSO WITH THE DUAL INPUT POWER SYSTEM STABILIZER

The use of Power System Stabilizers has become increasingly important to provide improved stabilization of the system. The power system stabilizers are mainly designed to stabilize the local and inter areamode power oscillations. A PSS detects the changing of generator output power, controls the excitation value and reduces the power swing rapidly,(i.e.),power system stabilizer (pss) is used to provide damping to the rotor oscillations of the synchronous machine by controlling its excitation. The design problem of the proposed controller is formulated as an optimization problem and PSO is employed to search for optimal controller parameters. Here this paper deals with application of Particle swarm optimization for the dual input power system stabilizer (pss) in a single machine infinite bus(SMIB)system and it is compared with conventional pss. Simulation results are presented under wide range of operating Conditions. Simulation results show that proposed pss has a significantly better performance as compared to conventional pss.
Utilization of Instructional Materials and Students’ Academic Performance in Junior Secondary Schools in Selected Local Government Areas, Rivers State

This study examined the Utilization of Instructional Materials and Students Academic Performance in junior public secondary Schools in selected Local Government Areas, Rivers State. The study was guided by five research questions and three hypotheses. The correlational research design was adopted in the study with a population of 9,368 students in Junior Public Schools in Ikwerre and Emohua Local Government Areas. The sample for the study is 956. The instrument for data collection was a self-designed questionnaire. The instrument was validated by the researcher’s supervisor and two other experts from the Department of Measurement and Evaluation. The reliability of the instrument was determined using test retest method. A reliability coefficient of 0.84 was obtained through Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient Method. Collected data were analyzed using the mean statistics in answering the research questions while the hypotheses were tested using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that the utilization of graphic materials relate to students’ academic performance. The findings also revealed that the utilization of computer (hardware and software) relate to students’ academic performance. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that the government and other stakeholders should make adequate provision of instructional materials such as computers, graphic materials, still picture and print media to teaching and learning in public schools.
How do primates affect seed germination? A meta‐analysis of gut passage effects on neotropical plants

Biotic seed dispersal is a key process maintaining biodiversity in tropical forests where most trees produce vertebrate-dispersed seeds. Existing meta-analyses suggest an overall positive effect of vertebrate gut passage on seed germination, but no significant effects for non-flying mammals. However, previous meta-analyses combined rodents (seed predators) and primates (seed dispersers) into the non-flying mammals category, which may confound specific effects of each group on seed germination. However positive effects of monkeys on germination had previously been found in some studies. Here we disentangle the role of Neotropical primates as contributors to seed dispersal in tropical forests by running a meta-analysis to determine the overall magnitude of gut passage effects on seed germination percentage and mean time to germination. We also compare effect sizes as a function of different feeding guilds, gut complexities, and seed size. Our results show a strong, positive effect of primates on seed germination percentage and on the number of days to first germination. Strictly frugivorous monkeys, the group most threatened by extinction, showed the highest dispersal quality, increasing germination percentage by 75%. Primates that include insects in their diets had no average effect on germination percentage or time. Gut passage had different outcomes on seeds with different sizes; both large and small seeds showed similar increases in germination percentages after gut passage, but only large seeds germinated faster than control seeds after gut passage. Our results show a relevant role for primates in providing high seed dispersal quality and as drivers of forest regeneration. The combined effects of defaunation and forest fragmentation may result in decreased regeneration of trees, which has the potential to affect negatively both forest structure and ecosystem processes. Finally, we provide general guidelines for standardizing research on seed dispersal by primates.
Eclosion of Physocephala tibialis (say) (Diptera: Cnopidae) from a Bombus (Apidae: Hymenoptera) host: A video record

Some members of Conopidae and other families of flies require development within hymenopteran hosts. Rearing of parasitized Apoidea provides valuable life history and ecological data but is rarely documented. Greater emphasis on gathering and analyzing rearing data is required. Analysis of a new video record of Physocephala tibialis (Say) reared from Bombus impatiens Cresson provides detailed evidence of the use of the ptilinum, mouthparts, and legs for eclosion within Conopidae. The previous literature on Conopidae/Apoidea rearing is reviewed.
OPTIMAL FREQUENCY SELECTION FOR DESIGNING A SUPERCONDUCTING RIM-DRIVEN PROPULSION MOTOR

Electrical propulsion systems have been developed in marine transportation in recent decades. Generally, an electric propulsion system consists of an induction, permanent magnet or conventional synchronous motor that is supplied by a DC batteries set and inverterbased drive system. Therefore, the working frequency of the propulsion motor and drive system can be considered as an arbitrary parameter. This paper deals with selecting the best rated frequency to minimize the losses of a superconducting rim-driven propulsion system. Several loss components of a case study motor are analyzed in rather wide-range of possible rated frequencies. The optimum frequency for designing the case study motor is then determined, and the motor is redesigned. Comparing the main performance characteristics of the new motor and original one shows a considerable decrement in total losses of the propulsion motor and drive system.