Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Unusual and very-long-chain fatty acids in Desulfotomaculum, a sulfate-reducing bacterium

Fatty acids of two strains of sulfate-reducing, sporeforming bacteria Desulfotomaculum ruminis 21 and D. species 43 were analysed. In addition, the common fatty acids, very-long-chain fatty acids up to C34, including saturated acids with straight chains were identified. α-Hydroxy and α,ω-dicarboxylic acids with more than 20 carbon atoms were also detected. None of the above-mentioned compounds have so far been described in sulfate-reducing bacteria and, therefore, their presence offers a new concept of biosynthesis of these compounds and chemotaxonomy of the sulfate-reducing bacteria.
Acorus calamus : An overview

Acorus calamus (Sweet flag) is a wetland perennial monocot plant, in which the scented leaves and rhizomes have been traditionally used medicinally against different ailments like,fever, asthma, bronchitis, cough and mainly for digestive problems such as gas, bloating, colic, and poor digestive function. Number of active constituents and essential oil were identified and characterized from the leaves and rhizomes of sweet flag. An over view of the pharmacological activities and insecticidal activities are summarized here. Key words: Acorus calamus, Acorus gramineus, Acoraceae, active constituents, pharmacology.
Effect of Different Feed Restriction Regimes During the Starter Stage on Productivity and Carcass Characteristics of Male and Female Ross 308 Broiler Chickens

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of different feed restriction regimes during the starter stage (14-21 days) on productivity and carcass characteristics of male and female Ross 308 chickens. A 3 (feeding levels: ad-libitum intake, 50% ad-libitum intake and 75% ad-libitum intake) × 2 (male and female chickens) factorial arrangement in a complete randomized design was used. Feed restriction affected (p<0.05) live weight of chickens at the age of 21 days and male chickens were heavier (p<0.05) than females at the same age. Chickens on 75% ad libitum feeding attained complete compensation in liv e weight at 42 days of age while those on 50% ad libitum feeding did not. However, male chickens attained higher (p<0.05) live weights than female chickens at 42 days of age. It is suggested that 75% ad libitum restriction feeding during the starter stage from 14 up to 21 days of age may offer some economic advantage over ad-libitum feeding regimen, mainly by enhancing feed utilization. It may, therefore, be a useful nutritional strategy to reduce the cost of commercial starter grain based-diets.
Replacement of Corn Silage with Wheat Middlings and Calcium Chloride or Sodium Bicarbonate for Lactating Dairy Cows

Abstract Five Holstein cows with ruminal cannulas were used in a 5×5 Latin square design in which one diet contained 50% corn silage (high forage control) and four diets contained 38 to 39% corn silage and 15% wheat middlings with or without addition of . 45% CaCl 2 or . 9% NaHCO 3 arranged in a 2×2 factorial. Diets averaged about 34% NDF. Addition of CaCl 2 to wheat middling diets generally doubled Ca concentration but decreased pH at 9h postfeeding and decreased acetate:propionate ratio in the rumen; thus, milk fat decreased from 3.70 to 3.50%. The acidic effects of CaCl 2 appeared to negate any beneficial responses of increased Ca concentration. Because few interactions were noted for the combination of CaCl 2 and NaHCO 3 , CaCl 2 would not likely be a more effective source of Ca than traditional sources. Cows fed wheat middling diets with NaHCO 3 had slightly higher ruminal acetate:propionate ratios, but milk fat percentage was unaffected compared with the ratios of cows fed wheat middling diets without NaHCO 3 . Ruminal pH was below 6.0 for all treatments for at least 9h postfeeding. Therefore, production of VFA probably exceeded buffering capacity for much of the feeding period and limited potential beneficial effects of addition of NaHCO 3 on fiber digestion and milk production. On average, cows fed wheat middling diets tended to have lower ruminal pH and acetate:propionate ratios but had higher DMI and FCM production than did those fed the high forage control diet. Results are interpreted to suggest that wheat middlings at 15% of DM are an effective substitute of corn silage for lactating cows.
Exploring the preferences of wildlife recreationists for features of boreal forest management: a choice experiment approach.

This study uses stated preference methods to determine how Saskatchewan moose hunters and wildlife view- ers would choose among hypothetical boreal forest management scenarios described by six attributes. The results sug- gest that preferences for these attributes differ between hunters and viewers and to a lesser extent among rural and urban residents participating in each activity. The preference models were applied to two management plans proposed by the Saskatchewan Forest Habitat Project to produce moose and woodland caribou habitat in a set of five areas vis- ited by the wildlife recreationists in central Saskatchewan. The results suggest that the hunters would benefit from these plans more than the viewers. This information indicates that passive-use values rather than use values may play an important role in justifying forest management schemes which benefit wildlife species. Resume : Cette etude utilise des methodes basees sur la preference exprimee pour determiner comment les chasseurs d'orignal et les observateurs d'especes sauvages choisiraient entre divers scenarios hypothetiques d'amenagement de la foret boreale caracterises par six attributs. Les resultats suggerent que les preferences pour ces attributs different entre les chasseurs et les observateurs et, dans une moindre mesure, entre les residents ruraux et urbains qui participent a chaque activite. Les modeles de preference ont ete appliques a deux plans d'amenagement proposes par le Saskatche- wan Forest Habitat Project dans le but de produire des habitats pour l'orignal et le caribou des bois dans cinq lieux vi- sites par les utilisateurs de la faune au centre de la Saskatchewan. Les resultats suggerent que les chasseurs beneficient davantage de ces plans que les observateurs. Cette information indique que les valeurs de l'usage passif plutot que cel- les de l'usage peuvent jouer un role important dans la justification de systemes d'amenagement forestier benefiques pour les especes sauvages. (Traduit par la Redaction) Boxall and Macnab 1941
Lipase‐catalyzed esterification of palmarosa oil

The present study was carried out with free lipase to study the conversion of geraniol of palmarosa oil to geranyl acetate using acetic acid as acyl donor. The significant factors such as temperature, enzyme concentration and molar ratio of the reactants were investigated for their effects on the ester conversion. A temperature of 60°C and 50 μL of the enzyme solution were found to give the best results for 75 mM of each substrate. The percentage of esterification estimated by both gas chromatographic analysis (which indicated product formation) and titrimetry (which showed acid consumption, i.e. ester formed) was found to be in good agreement. A mechanism for the reaction was proposed, involving nonlinear inhibition studies (inhibition by acid), validation of the reaction and prediction of the kinetic parameters using polymath. Substrate inhibition with dead end complex of acetic acid was found to represent the kinetic data.
Response of Radioactive Trace Metals to Acid–Base Titrations in Controlled Experimental Ecosystems: Evaluation of Transport Parameters for Application to Whole-Lake Radiotracer Experiments

Radiotracer experiments were carried out in 20 enclosures located in two lakes at the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), northwestern Ontario, to study pathways of trace metal removal from the water column of shallow lakes. Two removal mechanisms were characterized: (1) sorption to and subsequent transport with falling particles and (2) direct adsorption to surface sediments. Our approach was to measure independently the kinetics of radiotracer sorption, fluxes and concentrations for particles, particle settling velocities, and the "equivalent stagnant boundary film. " Our radiotracer results enabled us to test the sensitivity of the tracer removal rates on these rate-determining processes using a numerical transport model. Acid titrations of whole ecosystems revealed that some trace metals (e.g. Mn, Co, and Zn) can diffuse back to the water column as the pH is lowered from 6.5 to 4.8 after 18 d, while others remain tightly bound (e.g. Sn, Fe, Se, Cr, Ag, and Hg isotopes). Subsequent CaCO3 additions to bring b.
Sexual Dimorphism and Female Reproductive Characteristics in the Oriental Garden Lizard, Calotes versicolor, from Hainan, Southern China

Abstract Males and females of the oriental garden lizard (Calotes versicolor) from a population in Hainan, southern China, differed in head size at hatching: males had larger heads than females. This dimorphism was slightly more pronounced in adults than in hatchlings. Hatchlings had larger heads but shorter tails relative to snout–vent length (SVL) than subadults and adults. When SVL was held constant, tail length of subadults and adults of the same sex was similar. Adult lizards were not sexually dimorphic in body size (SVL), but males possessed longer tails than females at the same SVL throughout their size range. The smallest and largest reproductive females in our sample were 78.9 and 103.8 mm SVL, respectively. Females in our laboratory (Hangzhou, eastern China) laid multiple clutches from April to June. Clutch size, clutch mass, and egg mass varied from 3 to 14 (mean = 9.0) eggs, 1.58 to 6.47 (mean = 4.65) g, and 0.45 to 0.61 (mean = 0.52) g, respectively. Clutch size and clutch mass were both positively correlated with female SVL. Egg mass was not correlated with female SVL even when clutch size was held constant using a partial correlation analysis. Clutch size was not correlated with female condition when female SVL was held constant. Egg length, egg width, and clutch size were not correlated with each other when the remaining variable was held constant. Egg mass was not correlated with clutch size when female SVL was kept constant. Larger-sized C. versicolor females increased reproductive output primarily through production of more eggs (and hence heavier clutches).
Hepatoprotective Activity Of Sesamum Indicum Linn. Against Ccl4-Induced Hepatic Damage In Rats

ABSTRACT In present study, the hepatoprotective activity of ethanolic extracts of Sesamum indicum Linn. seeds were evaluated against carbon tetrachloride (CCL4) induced hepatic damage in rats. The extract at two different doses (400mg/kg and 700mg/kg) was administered orally once daily. The substantially elevated serum enzymatic level of Serum Glutamate Oxaloacetate Transaminase (SGOT), Serum Glutamate Pyurvate Transaminase (SGPT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Acid phosphatase (ACP), Total Protein, Albumin and Total Bilirubin were restored towards normalization significantly by the extract. The biochemical observations were supplemented with histopathological examination of rat liver sections. The results of this study strongly indicate the Sesamum indicum Linn. Seeds have potent hepatoprotective action against carbon tetrachloride induced hepatic damage in rats.
The ultrastructure and taxonomy of Diacronema vlkianum (Prymnesiophyceae) with special reference to the haptonema and flagellar apparatus

The taxonomic position of the golden-brown flagellate Diacronema vlkianum Prauser has hitherto been uncertain. It was first reported by Vlk (1938) from fresh water and a brief description given, particular interest being ascribed to the flagella which staining and light microscopy indicated to be without appendages. Because of this Vlk concluded that the organism, which he did not name, occupied a taxonomic niche somewhat apart from typical chrysophytes. In 1958, Prauser isolated, also from fresh water, a flagellate which he identified as Vlk's organism and he described it using both electron microscopy of shadow-cast cells and optical microscopy of living material. He confirmed the lack of flagellar hairs and discussed the taxonomy of Diacronema in relation to both the Ochromonadales with heterokont flagella and the genus Chrysochromulina Lackey with equal smooth flagella. He suggested that the genus could be thought of as representing a new family, the Diacronemataceae, arising from an ochromonad stock and possibly representing a unique line within the chrysomonads.
The China Economy Yearbook: Analysis and Forecast of China's Economy

This second English volume of The China Economy Yearbook provides an in-depth analysis of China’s economy during the initial year of China’s 11th 5-Year Plan. Written by leading economic researchers from China’s leading economic research institutions, the articles in the yearbook examine key aspects of China’s economic performance, including macroeconomic adjustment, inflation control, the financial system, public finance, foreign trade, agriculture, industry, and real estate.
Potential role of sweet potato to improve smallholder crop-livestock production systems.

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is grown for different purposes: human consumption, animal feeding, and industrial products (biofuel). Vines, foliage and un-saleable or damaged roots are frequently used to feed animals in Latin America, Africa and East Asia. Demand for feed, fodder, fuel, and traditional supplements are increasing and competing with human needs. Sweet potato (SP) offers a viable alternative to satisfy different demands by using it as a dual-purpose crop. Nineteen clones were selected on the basis of the roots/vines (R/F) ratio for animal feeding and human or industrial use. A modification of traditional crop management consisting in different cutting frequencies was evaluated. Results have shown that cuts at about 75 days of growth reduced root production by 27% while vine production was increased by 25.1%, increasing total biomass by 11-19.5%. This cutting regime provided biomass to be conserved as silage to be used alone or as a supplement for pig feeding as well as roots for different uses. The utilization of SP stands by grazing/foraging pigs caused no significant effect on soil structure or organic matter content, but brought about significant increments in soil nutrients: nitrogen (25%), phosphorus (50%) and potassium (41%). Grazing/foraging or confined swine fed on SP plus silage and a protein supplement showed no significant difference in weight gain between the grazing/foraging treatments but penned pigs gained 17.5% more weight (p<0.01).
Characterization of Genetic Diversity of Stone Fruit Rootstocks Used in Chile by Means of Microsatellite Markers

Stone fruit (Prunus L.) production in Chile covers '43,000 ha and includes a wide variety of soils and climates requiring a large diversity of rootstocks. The most commercially important rootstock cultivars are 26 genotypes from three different taxonomic groups belonging to the subgenera Amygdalus (L.) Benth. Hook. (peach group), Prunus Focke (= Prunophora (Neck.)) Focke (plum group), and Cerasus (Adans.) Focke (cherry group) with eight, seven, and 10 individuals, respectively. To determine their genetic diversity, characterization by microsatellite markers (simple sequence repeat (SSR)) was conducted. Of a total of 20 SSR markers evaluated, 12 generated amplified productsthat were consistent in the three taxonomicgroups. The number ofalleles per markerranged from 18 for PSM-3 to four in CPPCT-002. Clustering analysis, by both traditional hierarchical and model-based approaches, indicate that all genotypes are clustered in their respective taxonomic groups, including the interspecific hybrids. Genetic diversity, measured as the average distances (expected heterozygosity) between individuals in the same cluster, was higher in Cerasus (0.78) followed by Prunus (0.72) and Amygdalus (0.64). Total number of alleles observed was 133, of which 14, 33, and 35 from six, 10, and 10 loci were unique for the peach, plum, and cherry rootstock groups, respectively. Alleles shared among peach/plum, plum/cherry, and peach/cherry rootstock genotypes were 13, 14, and 18 from nine, seven, and seven loci, respectively. Only six alleles from five loci were common to the three taxonomic groups. In addition, to develop a rootstock identification system based on SSR markers, a minimum set of three markers (PMS-3, BPPCT-037, and BPPCT-036) able to differentiate the 26 genotypes was identified. This study is the first step toward establishing a stone fruit rootstock breeding program in Chile.
Effect of Syzygium aromaticum Cloves on Larvae of the Rhinoceros Beetle, Oryctes agamemnon (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

The susceptibility of rhinoceros beetle larvae, Oryctes agamemnon, to different concentrations of Syzygium aromaticum cloves was studied under laboratory conditions. Two forms of cloves were applied, first as finely powdered flower buds and later as an essential oil. The clove powder concentrations used against the larvae were 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 %, and the clove essential oil (CEO) was used at concentrations of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 %. The highest (68.5 %) and lowest (2 %) larval mortality were caused by 9 % and 1 % clove flower bud powder (CFBP), respectively. However, the CEO was more effective against the larvae of O. agamemnon than the powder. Mortalities ranged from 12.5 to 87.9 % at oil concentrations of 1 and 5 %, respectively. The results also showed that the two forms of cloves persist in the treated soil for 7 to 8 days. Additionally, the clove oil and powder have a residual effect in treated soil that provides sustainable protection for date palms against root borers. Accordingly, it was concluded that cloves in either powder or essential oil form are very promising for controlling Oryctes larvae. These results indicate that clove flower buds and essential oils are desirable tools for crop protection in the future, promoting environmentally friendly pest control strategies.
Beyond the jellyfish joyride and global oscillations: advancing jellyfish research

There has been debate in the literature recently about increases in jellyfish populations in response to anthropogenic change, and this has attracted widespread media interest. Despite an international collaborative initiative [National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) working group on jellyfish blooms] to investigate trends in global jellyfish numbers, interpretations from the data remain ambiguous. Although this is perhaps to be expected given the diversity of potential drivers, the debate has not been helped by a general lack of rigorous data and loose definitions. There is a need for the community to refocus its attention on understanding the implications of jellyfish blooms and managing them, because regardless of global trends, jellyfish are a problem in some coastal marine ecosystems. Here, we provide recommendations for advancing jellyfish research. These include directing research toward better managing jellyfish impacts, expanding research into socio-economic consequences to grow the money available for research, building more operational and ecosystem models for tactical and strategic management, filling in the gaps in our biological knowledge for supporting models, improving surveillance using observing systems and making jellyfish research more rigorous. Some vehicles to address these recommendations include international standardization of methods, a discipline-specific journal for jellyfish research and an international science program on the global ecology and oceanography of jellyfish.
Arity Fragments of Logics with Team Semantics

In this thesis we study the expressive power of various logics with team semantics; such as inclusion, exclusion, dependence and nondependence logics. Our main focus is on the arity fragments of these logics – especially the unary and binary fragments. By combining our results with previous work, we establish an interesting hierarchy between different arity fragments. One of the main findings in this thesis is that the k-ary fragment of inclusion-exclusion logic naturally corresponds to (relational) k-ary existential second order logic, ESO[k]. Moreover, when only sentences are considered, it suffices to use k-ary exclusion logic for capturing ESO[k]. We also introduce several new useful operators for the framework of team semantics. The most important of these are so-called value preserving disjunction, inclusion/exclusion quantifiers and relevant disjunction. We claim that these operators are natural and interesting in their own right, but they also prove to be helpful as technical tools for the framework of team semantics. By expressing these operators in the fragments of the logics that we study, we can use them in many of our proofs. For proving our theorems, we develop new proof techniques which we believe to be useful for future work in this area. We also illustrate our results by providing several concrete examples. These demonstrate how various natural properties of models and teams can be defined with simple formulas in the fragments of the logics that we study. This thesis consists of journal articles and previously unpublished work by the author. It is written in a form of a monograph in order to also serve as an introductory text for logics with team semantics.
Local adaptive weighted tracking via inverse structure sparse representation

Traditional sparse representation tracker use simple grayscale characteristics in calculating sparse coefficient, which is easily affected by the heavy occlusions and deformation. To this end, a local adaptive weighting algorithm is put forward to increase degree of differentiation between the candidate targets affected by shade, deformation, etc and not affected by the shade, deformation, etc. In addition, the general sparse representation algorithm use a small number of target templates to build a complete dictionary, which unable to get a better sparse coefficient. Inverse structure sparse representation algorithm, using the candidate target which contains rich target and background features to build a complete dictionary to reconstruct the target template under the condition of the same dimension target template better sparse coefficient can be obtained, is proposed. Experiments show that the proposed algorithm in the small differences between target and background or serious barrier, deformation, can better track the target.
Penalty and Augmented Lagrangian Methods to Solve Nonlinear Optimization Prob- lems

Penalty and augmented Lagrangian methods are procedures for approximating constrained optimization problems by unconstrained optimization problems to find the approximate solution of the given constrained problem. The idea of replacing a constrained optimization problem by a sequence of unconstrained problems parametrized by a scalar parameter has played a fundamental role in the formulation of algorithms. Even though, penalty methods are very natural and general; unfortunately, they suffer from a serious drawback: to approximate well the solution to constrained problem, we have to work with large penalty parameters, and this inevitably makes the problem of unconstrained minimization of the penalized objective very ill-conditioned. Their slow rates of convergence due to ill-conditioning of the associated Hessian led researchers to pursue other approaches, augmented Lagrangian methods. The main advantage of the augmented Lagrangian methods is that they allow to approximate well the solution to a constrained problem by solutions of unconstrained (and penalized) auxiliary problems without pushing the penalty parameter to infinity; as a result, the auxiliary problems remain reasonably conditioned even when we are seeking for high-accuracy solutions. In this paper we will see how all this works.