Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Exogenous Cortisol and Progesterone on Metallothionein Expression and Tolerance to Waterborne Cadmium in Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus)

Su-Mei Wu, Yi-Ying Chou and Am-Ni Deng (2002) Effects of exogenous cortisol and progesterone on metallothionein expression and tolerance to waterborne cadmium in tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus). Zoological Studies 41(1): 111-118. The object of the present study was to test the hypothesis that glucocorticoids can induce the expression of metallothionein (MT) which consequently enhances the tolerance to metal toxicity in tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus). Adult tilapia (4-5 cm in total length and 5.0-6.0 g in body weight) and larval tilapia (0.5-0.7 cm in total length and 0.012-0.017 g in body weight) were reared with artificial feed containing 0 (control), 50 (low dose), 125 (medium dose), or 250 mg/kg (high dose) of cortisol or progesterone for 10 d. Liver and whole-body contents of MT and mortality in tilapia upon Cd 2 + exposure were examined after the steroid-rearing experiments. Both cortisol and progesterone significantly increased survival rates in adult fish after Cd 2 + challenge. Treatment with middle and high doses of progesterone significantly stimulated the expression of MT in adult fish, but stimulation by cortisol showed no significant effect on MT expression. More MT was expressed after Cd 2 + challenge in both cortisol- and progesterone-treated groups. However, exogenous steroids caused no significant effect on MT contents or survival upon Cd 2 + challenge in tilapia larvae. This suggests that cortisol and progesterone are involved in metal-detoxification mechanisms in adult tilapia via regulating the expression of MT, but the occurrence of this pathway in developing fish is unclear.
Geomagnetic Storms and Acute Myocardial Infarctions Morbidity in Middle Latitudes

Results of collaborative studies on revealing a possible relationship between solar activity (SA) and geomagnetic activity (GMA) and pre-hospital acute myocardial infarction (AMI) morbidity are presented. Studies were based on medical data from Bulgaria and Azerbaijan. Bulgarian data, covering the period from 01.12. 1995 to 31.12. 2004, concerned daily distribution of number of patients with AMI diagnose (in total 1192 cases) from Sofia Region on the day of admission at the hospital. Azerbaijani data contained 4479 pre-hospital AMI incidence cases for the period 01.01. 2003-31.12. 2005 and were collected from 21 emergency and first medical aid stations in Grand Baku Area (including Absheron Economical Region with several millions of inhabitants). Data were "cleaned" as much as possible from social and other factors and were subjected to medical and mathematical/statistical analysis. Medical analysis showed reliability of the used data. Method of ANalysis Of VAriance (ANOVA) was applied to check the significance of GMA intensity effect and the type of geomagnetic storms - those caused by magnetic clouds (MC) and by high speed solar wind streams (HSSWS) - on AMI incidences. Relevant correlation coefficients were calculated. Results were outlined for both considered data. Results obtained for the Sofia data showed statistically significant positive correlation between considered GMA indices and AMI occurrence. ANOVA revealed that AMI incidence number was significantly increased from the day before till the day after geomagnetic storms with different intensities. Geomagnetic storms caused by MC were related to significant increase of AMI number in comparison with the storms caused by HSSWS. There was a trend for such different effects even on -1st and +1st day for the period 1995-2004. Results obtained for the Baku data revealed trends similar to those obtained for Sofia data. AMI morbidity increment was observed on the days with higher GMA intensity and after these days as well as on the days of geomagnetic storms caused by MC and after these days.
Underwater Optical Imaging: Status and Prospects

Introduction As any backyard stargazer knows, one simply has to look up at the sky on a cloudless night to see light whose origin was quite a long time ago. Here, due to the fact that the mean scattering and absorption lengths are greater in size than the observable universe, one can record light from stars whose origin occurred around the time of the big bang. Unfortunately for oceanographers, the opacity of sea water to light far exceeds these intergalactic limits, making the job of collecting optical images in the ocean a difficult task. Although recent advances in optical imaging technology have permitted researchers working in this area to accomplish projects which could only be dreamed of in years past, it makes sense to have a humble attitude and to realize that it is likely that the most sophisticated imaging systems in the sea are those of the animals, who depend upon their visual receptors in order to find prey, to mate, and to escape harm. Nevertheless, the recent decade has witnessed a large increase in our abilities to image objects in the sea. This is due to the current revolution in electronics and sensing technology coupled with advances in signal and image processing. In this article, we intend to provide a brief history of underwater optical imaging and a brief summary of its relationship to other fields of ocean optics. However, our major task is to inform the reader about advances in underwater imaging that have occurred in the last decade. Without doubt, the bulk of our roots trace back to the work of Seibert Q. Duntley who was first at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and then at the Scripps Institution of Oceanograph~ where the Visibility Laboratory of the University of California San Diego was established. Duntley's classic article, "Light in the Sea" (Duntley, 1963), created a baseline of understanding which drew upon 20 years of studying light propagation for many uses including "photosynthesis, vision, and photography". Subsequent to that, there have been several books which have summarized a technical understanding of underwater imaging such as Merten's book entitled "In Water Photography" (Mertens, 1970) and a monograph edited by Ferris Smith (Smith, 1984). An interesting conference which took place in 1970 resulted in the publication of several papers on optics of the sea, including the air water interface and the in water transmission and imaging of objects (Agard, 1973). In this decade, several books by Russian authors have appeared which treat these problems either in the context of underwater vision theory (Dolin and Levin, 1991) or imaging through scattering media (Zege et al., 1991). Recent years have also seen the development of many new types of imaging systems. The desire to image underwater objects is a goal shared (among others) by pelagic and benthic ecologists, geomorphologists and marine resources management personnel.
Assessment and Selection of Superior Genotypes among Elite Cassava Genotypes by Farmers and Scientists in Southern Tanzania.

A participatory genotype/variety selection involving farmers in three agro ecological zones in Southern Tanzania and scientists from Naliendele Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) and Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) to select superior cassava genotypes is described. Initial situation analyses of the communities indicated that cassava is increasing in importance both as a food and a cash crop. Most farmers utilized landraces of cassava; improved varieties were scarcely mentioned. Nine newly improved cassava genotypes obtained from advanced yield trial at NARI were planted in each agro ecological in a randomized complete block design. During cropping season (2011/2012) the genotypes selected by farmers were almost the same as those selected by scientists after analysis. This selection process has identified four superior genotypes from amongst nine elite genotypes; namely Kiroba, NDL 2006/487, NDL 2006/438 and Naliendele. Farmers were relatively consistent in their selection from different stages of crop growth, and their selections corresponded with their stated selection criteria. Official variety release requires additional multilocational and inspection trials and postharvest assays but otherwise seems harmonious with a participatory breeding approach; involvement of farmers in this stage may facilitate early variety release, an important factor in cost-effectiveness. Adoption of a participatory approach, with farmers and scientists taking on new roles and decentralization of activities, implies a concomitant transfer of influence and resources. Keywords: Participatory Variety Selection, Farmer selection criteria, Variety release.
Transient knockout of photosynthesis mediated by electrical signals.

• In the sensitive species Mimosa pudica electric signals arise when the leaves are stimulated by touching or wounding. Experiments reported here provide information about a photosynthetic response that results from heat-induced electrical signalling in leaves. • Electric potential measurements, combined with chlorophyll fluorescence, as well as gas exchange measurements showed that wounding evokes an electrical signal that travels rapidly into the neighbouring leaf pinna to eliminate the net-CO2 uptake rate. At the same time the PSII quantum yield of electron transport is reduced from c. 0.6 to 0.2. Two-dimensional imaging analysis of the chlorophyll fluorescence signal revealed that the yield reduction spreads acropetally through the pinna and via the veins through the leaflets. • To determine the speed of a chemical signal, a part of a pinna was exposed to 14 CO2 . The remaining parts of the leaf were provided with label only when the translocation was extended to 12 h, indicating that a chemical signal is much too slow to account for the photosynthetic response after heat stimulation. • The results provide evidence for a role of the electrical signal in the regulation of photosynthesis because the high speed of the signal transduction rules out the involvement of a chemical signal, and the photosynthetic response occurs after the arrival of the electrical signal in the leaf pinna.
Concentrations of 17 elements in muscle, gills, liver and gonads of five economically important fish species from the Danube River

The Danube River in the vicinity of the city of Belgrade receives large amounts of untreated or poorly treated communal and industrial waste waters. The aim of this study was to assess elemental accumulation patterns in a number of economically important fish species in this area that belong to different trophic levels. Concentrations of 17 elements (Al, As, B, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Se, Sr and Zn) were assessed in liver, muscle, gills and gonads of silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix ), freshwater bream (Abramis brama ), white bream (Blicca bjoerkna ), common carp (Cyprinus carpio ) and wels catfish (Silurus glanis ) from the Danube River in Serbia by the use of ICP-OES. Silver carp specimens were differentiated from the other four species by high concentrations of Al and Fe in the liver. Common carp specimens were differentiated by high concentrations of Zn in gills, muscle and liver. Distribution of elements among different tissues had a consistent pattern among the species. Concentrations of Pb, Cd, As, Zn, Cu and Fe in muscle were at acceptable levels for human consumption, while concentrations of Fe and Zn were above maximum acceptable concentrations in liver and gonads.
Instrumental seismic catalogue of Mt. Etna earthquakes (Sicily, Italy): ten years (2000-2010) of instrumental recordings

Instrumental seismic catalogues are an essential tool for the zonation of the territory and the production of seismic hazard maps. They are also a valuable instrument for detailed seismological studies regarding active volcanoes and, above all, for interpreting the magma dynamics and the evolution of eruptive phenomena. In this paper, we show the first instrumental earthquake catalogue of Mt. Etna, for the period 2000-2010, with the purpose of producing a homogeneous dataset of 10 years of seismological observations. During this period, 16,845 earthquakes have been recorded by the seismic network run by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica and Vulcanologia, Osservatorio Etneo, in Catania. A total of 6,330 events, corresponding to approximately 40% of all earthquakes recorded, were located by using a one-dimensional VP velocity model. The magnitude completeness of the catalogue is equal to about 1.5 for the whole period, except for some short periods in 2001 and 2002-2003 and at the end of 2009. The reliability of the data collected is supported by the good values of the main hypocentral parameters through the time. The spatial distribution of seismicity allowed the highlighting of several seismogenetic areas characterized by different seismic rates and focal depths. This seismic catalogue represents a fundamental tool for several research aiming to a better understanding of the behavior of an active volcano such as Mt. Etna.
Central Bank Preferences, Distribution Forecasts and Economic Stability in a Small Open-economy

This paper relates the central bank's preferences on the inflation index and on the degree of smoothness of the interest rate to the quality of its forecasts and the expected perturbing impact of several shocks. The framework is a Markov jump-linear-quadratic system for optimal policy with model uncertainty in a timeless perspective. Comparing CPI and domestic inflation targeting, the latter implies considerably less variability in the distribution forecast of the economic dynamics. Furthermore, domestic inflation targeting stands out for much less sensitiveness to interest rate smoothing, and for resulting in more expected economic stability. Importantly, domestic inflation targeting allows significantly improving the prediction accuracy of the interest rate behaviour.
Do yellow-pine chipmunks prefer to recover their own caches

Abstract Many rodent species scatter hoard seeds within a home range shared with other seed-caching animals. An animal foraging for cached food is likely to encounter the caches of other animals, as well as its own. This study asks the following question: do animals recover primarily their own caches, do they conserve their own caches and search for the caches of other animals, or do they search indiscriminately for cached seeds regardless of who buried them? We tested these ideas using 8 yellow-pine chipmunks inside rodent-proof enclosures. We allowed each subject to cache radioactive seeds, we located the seed caches, and then we paired each rodent cache with an artificial cache in a similar microsite. During search trials, 7 subjects removed mostly their own caches, and 1 subject removed similar numbers of its own caches and paired artificial caches. These results suggest that most yellow-pine chipmunks actively search for food that they have stored, apparently using spatial memory rather than relying on olfaction. However, previous studies have established that chipmunks also are very effective pilferers of caches made by other animals. This apparent discrepancy may result from a difference between enclosures and field sites in the proportion of “own” caches to total caches.
Delamination and ultra‐deep subduction of continental crust: constraints from elastic wave velocity and density measurement in ultrahigh‐pressure metamorphic rocks

Thirty‐three samples, including 22 eclogites, collected from the Dabie ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) metamorphic belt in eastern China, have been studied for seismic properties. Compressional (Vp) and shear wave (Vs) velocities in three mutually perpendicular directions under hydrostatic pressures up to 1.0 GPa were measured for each sample. At 1.0 GPa, Vp (7.5–8.4 km s−1), Vs (4.2–4.8 km s−1), and densities (3.2–3.6 g cm−3) in the UHP eclogites are higher than those of UHP orthopyroxenite (7.3–7.5 km s−1, 4.1–4.3 km s−1, 3.2–3.3 g cm−3, respectively) and HP eclogites (7.1–7.9 km s−1, 4.0–4.5 km s−1, 3.1–3.5 g cm−3, respectively). Kyanitites (with 99.5% kyanite) show extremely high velocities and density (9.37 km s−1, 5.437 km s−1, 3.581 g cm−3, respectively). The eclogites show variation of Vp‐ and Vs‐anisotropy up to 9.70% and 9.17%, respectively. Poisson’s ratio (σ) ranges from 0.218 to 0.278 (with a mean of 0.255) for eclogites, 0.281–0.298 for granulites and 0.248 to 0.255 for amphibolites. The σ values for serpentinite (0.341) and marble (0.321) are higher than for other lithologies. The elastic moduli K, G, E of kyanitite were obtained as 163, 102 and 253 GPa, respectively. The Vp and density of representative UHP metamorphic rocks (eclogite & kyanitite) were extrapolated to mantle depth (15 GPa) following a reasonable geotherm, and compared to the one dimension mantle velocity and density model. The comparison shows that Vp and density in eclogite and kyanitite are greater than those of the ambient mantle, with differences of up to ΔVp > 0.3 km s−1 and Δρ > 0.3–0.4 g cm−3, respectively. This result favours the density‐induced delamination model and also provides evidence in support of distinguishing subducted high velocity materials in the upper mantle by means of seismic tomography. Such ultra‐deep subduction and delamination processes have been recognized by seismic tomography and geochemical tracing in the postcollisional magmatism in the Dabie region.
Genre : 'Something New Based on Something Familiar'

This chapter defines and overviews the concept of 'genre' in the context of contemporary screen studies. Using recent examples from film and television, including a case study of popular US television series Grey's Anatomy, the chapter is divided into two main parts. The first part discusses what genre is, how it operates (in theory and in practice), and the roles of the different stake-holders throughout the life cycle of a genre text; the second part overviews six key approaches to studying genre, namely structuralist, aesthetic, political economy, socio-cultural, family resemblances, and discursive approaches. Ultimately, the chapter discusses 'genre' as an intuitive category negotiated between audiences and the screen media industries and demonstrates this negotiation with a new diagram of genre.
Internet use and academic success in university students

The use of technology is changing the way things are done, including the work in universities where the teaching and learning process are changing, and it is required to know the effect of technology on student achievement. In this research work, we present the influence of Internet use on academic success of students from five universities in Ecuador. A random sample of 4,697 people was got up and categorized in two groups: the use of Internet in academic activities and entertainment, using factor analysis and cluster analysis; the resulting categories were used as independent variables in multinomial logistic regression model which are seeking to determine if the use of Internet has impacted on academic success. The results show that people who perform interactive activities with peers and teachers or use in a balanced way the different internet tools tend to have more academic success than those who only seeks information. Regarding to the use of Internet in entertainment, a positive impact was found on academic achievement. Students who download audio, video and software, and students who use all the entertainment possibilities show less likely to fail than who using minimally Internet. In terms of gender, it has different effects for entertainment and academic purposes. RESUMEN El uso de la tecnología provoca cambios sociales. Esto incluye el trabajo en el ámbito universitario en donde está cambiando tanto la forma de ejercer la docencia como la forma de aprender y se requiere conocer el efecto del uso de la tecnología sobre el rendimiento del alumnado. En este trabajo se investigó la incidencia del uso de Internet sobre el éxito académico del alumnado de cinco universidades de Ecuador. Se levantó una muestra aleatoria de 4.697 personas y se las categorizó en perfiles de uso de Internet para actividades académicas y para entretenimiento, utilizando análisis factorial y análisis clúster. Las categorías resultantes se utilizaron como variables independientes en modelos de regresión logística multinomial que buscaban determinar si el uso de Internet tenía incidencia sobre el éxito académico. Los resultados muestran que quienes realizan actividades interactivas con pares y profesores o quienes utilizan de forma balanceada las distintas herramientas de Internet tienden a un mayor éxito académico que aquellos que solo buscan información. En lo referente al entretenimiento, se encontró una incidencia positiva del uso de Internet sobre el éxito académico. Los estudiantes que realizan descargas de contenido de audio, video y software, y quienes utilizan todas las posibilidades de entretenimiento, presentan menor tendencia a suspender que los estudiantes que utilizan mínimamente Internet. En cuanto al género se presentan diferencias en los usos académicos y de entretenimiento.
Romanian Entrepreneurship In European Context: Origins And Future

Starting and developing a business is no longer a challenge as booth an adventure. Wold (economic, social, cultural) today differs fundamentally from that of a century ago and half of the United States of America or Europe, when there were first a family business or individual as the predecessor of today’s small and medium enterprises. Reality economic, social and European policy today requires more than ever to create a business environment to highlight the private initiative, entrepreneurship, competitiveness and innovation. Most of the characteristics of small and medium-sized private business in Romania are similar to those in countries where such organizations is encouraged. A small portion of them are influenced by specific factors, however, when presenting a comparative analysis of certain elements of differentiation. The current phase they go through private small and medium enterprises in Romania, which began with ongoing EU accession prospects have the seeds of Romanian entrepreneurship in the coming years. How real economic integration efforts are consistent on both sides, the focus of political attention is warranted and is intended to be a sustainable.
scheme to construct MLE for the lifetime performance index CL based on progressively first-failure censoring from Weibull distribution

In this article, we consider a new life test scheme called a progressively first-failure censoring scheme introduced by Wu and Kus [1]. Based on this type of censoring, the maximum likelihood, approximate maximum likelihood and the least squares method estimators for the unknown parameters of the inverse Weibull distribution are derived. A comparison between these estimators is provided by using extensive simulation and two criteria, namely, absolute bias and mean squared error. It is concluded that the estimators based on the least squares method are superior compared to the maximum likelihood and the approximate maximum likelihood estimators. Real life data example is provided to illustrate our proposed estimators.