Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sharing data on the activities of multinational enterprise groups: Innovations to redesign statistical practices and processes

The professional discussion on “The future of economic statistics” has a practical driver: Economic statistics, produced by national statistical offices, face severe difficulties in describing the national and global economic development in a relevant and coherent manner. This is not only our perception as statisticians – there is a growing criticism towards traditional economic statistics among researchers, policymakers and other users. In this article, we reflect on the factors that have caused the current situation and propose solutions to improving the situation by data sharing. One aspect of the solution relates to the role of national statistical offices. Instead of being solely national institutions, dealing with national data only, they should exploit the possibilities of using statistical data, collected by statistical authorities of other countries, to produce better quality economic statistics. The other aspect of the solution is the sharing of innovative practices to understand and correctly record the activities of multinational enterprise groups (MNEs). The proposals we make in this article are not restricted to MNEs but are applicable to any type of economic activity with a cross-border dimension. The observations we make here are based on the work done when preparing the UNECE Guide to Sharing Economic Data.
Evaluation of Chloride Diffusion Behavior and Analysis of Probabilistic Service Life in Long Term Aged GGBFS Concrete

In this study, three levels of W/B(Water to Binder) ratio (0.37, 0.42, 0.47) and substitution ratio of GGBFS (Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag) rate (0 %, 30 %, 50 %) were considered to perform RCPT (Rapid Chloride Diffusion Test) at the 1,095 aged day. Accelerated chloride diffusion coefficient and passed charge of each concrete mixture were assessed according to Tang's method and ASTM C 1202, and improving behaviors of durability performance with increasing aged days are analyzed based on the test results of previous aged days from the preceding study. As the age of concrete increases, the passed charge and diffusion coefficient have been significantly reduced, and especially the concrete specimens containing GGBFS showed a significantly more reduction than OPC(Ordinary Portland Cement) concrete specimen by latent hydraulic activity. In the case of OPC concrete’s results of passed charge, at the 1,095 days, two of them were still in the "Moderate" class. So, if only OPC is used as the binder of concrete, the resistance performance for chloride attack is weak. In this study, the time-parameters ( ) were derived based on the results of the accelerated chloride diffusion coefficient, and the deterministic and probabilistic analysis for service life were performed by assuming the design variable as a probability function. For probabilistic service life analysis, durability failure probabilities were calculated using Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) to evaluate service life. The service life of probabilistic method were lower than that of deterministic method, since the target value of PDF (Probability of Durability Failure) was set very low at 10 %. If the target value of PDF suitable for the purpose of using structure can be set and proper variability can be considered for each design variable, it is believed that more economical durability design can be made.
Molecular characterization of nodule worm in a community of Bornean primates

Abstract Strongyles are commonly reported parasites in studies of primate parasite biodiversity. Among them, nodule worm species are often overlooked as a serious concern despite having been observed to cause serious disease in nonhuman primates and humans. In this study, we investigated whether strongyles found in Bornean primates are the nodule worm Oesophagostomum spp. , and to what extent these parasites are shared among members of the community. To test this, we propose two hypotheses that use the parasite genetic structure to infer transmission processes within the community. In the first scenario, the absence of parasite genetic substructuring would reflect high levels of parasite transmission among primate hosts, as primates’ home ranges overlap in the study area. In the second scenario, the presence of parasite substructuring would suggest cryptic diversity within the parasite genus and the existence of phylogenetic barriers to cross‐species transmission. By using molecular markers, we identify strongyles infecting this primate community as O. aculeatum, the only species of nodule worm currently known to infect Asian nonhuman primates. Furthermore, the little to no genetic substructuring supports a scenario with no phylogenetic barriers to transmission and where host movements across the landscape would enable gene flow between host populations. This work shows that the parasite's high adaptability could act as a buffer against local parasite extinctions. Surveys targeting human populations living in close proximity to nonhuman primates could help clarify whether this species of nodule worm presents the zoonotic potential found in the other two species infecting African nonhuman primates.
Cytogenetic alterations in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with methotrexate and dry olive leaf extract

Oxidative stress and inflammation are DNA instability factors for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. The aims of this study were to evaluate cytogenetic alterations in Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes (PBL) in two groups of RA patients: the early and the long-term RA group; and to examine potential of concomitant treatment with Methotrexate (MTX) and Dry olive leaf extract (DOLE) against cytogenetic damage in RA patients after a 3-weeks treatment. A total of 32 RA patients and 10healthy individuals were included. RA patients were equally divided into four groups: two groups with early phase RA (one treated with MTX alone, the other in combination with DOLE); and two long-term phase RA groups (group with active disease and group with low disease activity)-both treated with MTX and DOLE combination. PBL cultures were screened for chromosome aberrations and micronuclei frequencies. Significantly increased frequencies of micronuclei were shown in active phase RA disease (both early and long-term) but not in the group with low disease activity, as compared to controls. Chromosome aberrations were detected for all 4 RA groups. The highest frequencies of micronuclei and chromosome aberrations were found in the long-termactive RA group. After 3 weeks-treatment, there were no significant decrease of the micronuclei frequencies compared to baseline, although they were reduced in all RA groups, except for the group with the long-term active disease. High level of cytogenetic damage in RA patients was concordant with duration and activity of the RA disease. At 3 weeks of therapy, neither the combined treatment (MTX+DOLE), nor MTX alone did not affect the frequency of micronuclei formation.
Revision of the group previously known as Panicum L. (Poaceae: Panicoideae) in Madagascar

Abstract Vorontsova, M.S. (2018). Revision of the group previously known as Panicum L. (Poaceae: Panicoideae) in Madagascar. Candollea 73: 143–186. In English, English and French abstracts. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.15553/c2018v732a1 Panicoid grasses are ubiquitous across Madagascar, yet no complete and modern taxonomic framework has so far been attempted. This paper aims to establish and record species boundaries in the group previously recognised as the genus Panicum L. (Poaceace, Panicoideae), with simple panicoid spikelets and open panicle-like inflorescences. All specimens held at the K, P, and TAN herbaria were revised in addition to field work throughout the island. Species concepts were reconciled with those in tropical Africa. Recent phylogenetic research in Panicum s.l. has been incorporated and several species have been placed in Adenochloa Zuloaga, Trichanthecium Zuloaga & Morrone, and Urochloa maxima (Jacq.) R.D. Webster. Further species outside the Panicum s.s. clade will be ultimately transferred to other genera pending further research. A treatment of 32 species is presented, including an identification key, synonymy and typification for all names applied to specimens collected in Madagascar, species descriptions, illustrations, distribution maps, and full specimen citations. Twenty species (63%) are endemic to Madagascar and the nearby islands. Data on natural occurrence in Madagascar are presented but these are still tentative. Nineteen names are placed in synonymy for the first time; 38 lectotypes are designated.
New paroxyclaenid mammals from the early Eocene of the Paris Basin (France) shed light on the origin and evolution of these endemic European cimolestans

We present new species of an enigmatic family of mammals, which is endemic to Europe, the Paroxyclaenidae: Merialus bruneti sp. nov., Fratrodon tresvauxi gen. et sp. nov., Paraspaniella gunnelli gen. et sp. nov., and Sororodon tresvauxae gen. et sp. nov. The fossils described come from six localities of the Ypresian of the Paris Basin (France): Pourcy (MP7), Mutigny, Avenay, Condé-en-Brie (MP8 + 9), Grauves and Prémontré (MP10). They allow the description of three new genera and four new species belonging to the subfamilies Merialinae and Paroxyclaeninae. Two of these new species represent the earliest occurrence of each subfamily. Fossils from Mutigny, Avenay and Condé-en-Brie indicate that merialines were more abundant than paroxyclaenines during the Ypresian. Surprisingly, merialines disappeared from the fossil record at the end of the Ypresian – the youngest records are close to MP10 – while the paroxyclaenines were present in Europe until the end of the middle Eocene. Based on comparison with the data presently available for European mammals during the Ypresian, we suggest the existence of two periods of faunal turnover that must be more extensively studied in the future in order to be fully characterized: the ‘Intra-Ypresian Mammal Turnover’ and the ‘Ypresian–Lutetian Mammal Turnover’. Finally, because the oldest paroxyclaenids appear morphologically closer to cimolestids such as Procerberus than to pantolestans, it is suggested that similarities between paroxyclaenids and pantolestans could be due to convergence. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8A3B21A0-6945-4CE4-975C-402736E92C51
Quality Control of Compact High-Frequency Radar-Retrieved Wave Data

Based on the sea surface scattering mechanism of radio wave, compact high-frequency surface wave radar that employs the direction finding technology also shows promising potential for remotely mapping of ocean wave parameters. However, due to the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of scattered echoes, the diverse external interference and clutter signals, other unresolved measurement uncertainties, the quality (such as accuracy, temporal, and spatial coverage rates) of wave maps are often limited. In this article, a novel, real-time, data quality control method is proposed to alleviate these issues. A comprehensive three-stage processing scheme is established, including the range-Doppler spectral processing, the spatial-grid processing, and the temporal-scale Kalman filtering. The first two stages aim to improve the echo signal quality and reduce the spatial gaps, respectively. The third stage is designed to mitigate the estimation error using an autoregression prediction model and to relate the observation error variance to the SNR of second-order Doppler spectral peak. A detailed verification and performance analysis between the field radar data and in situ ground truth data over one-month period is carried out, indicating that the proposed method can improve the reliability of wave maps with respect to the conventional Doppler spectral smoothing or averaging method, particularly in low sea state (i.e., low SNR) scenarios.
Urbanization erodes niche segregation in Darwin's finches

Urbanization is influencing patterns of biological evolution in ways that are only beginning to be explored. One potential effect of urbanization is in modifying ecological resource distributions that underlie niche differences and that thus promote and maintain species diversification. Few studies have assessed such modifications, or their potential evolutionary consequences, in the context of ongoing adaptive radiation. We study this effect in Darwin's finches on the Galápagos Islands, by quantifying feeding preferences and diet niche partitioning across sites with different degrees of urbanization. We found higher finch density in urban sites and that feeding preferences and diets at urban sites skew heavily toward human food items. Furthermore, we show that finches at urban sites appear to be accustomed to the presence of people, compared with birds at sites with few people. In addition, we found that human behavior via the tendency to feed birds at non‐urban but tourist sites is likely an important driver of finch preferences for human foods. Site differences in diet and feeding behavior have resulted in larger niche breadth within finch species and wider niche overlap between species at the urban sites. Both factors effectively minimize niche differences that would otherwise facilitate interspecies coexistence. These findings suggest that both human behavior and ongoing urbanization in Galápagos are starting to erode ecological differences that promote and maintain adaptive radiation in Darwin's finches. Smoothing of adaptive landscapes underlying diversification represents a potentially important yet underappreciated consequence of urbanization. Overall, our findings accentuate the fragility of the initial stages of adaptive radiation in Darwin's finches and raise concerns about the fate of the Galápagos ecosystems in the face of increasing urbanization.
A Tutorial on Joint Radar and Communication Transmission for Vehicular Networks—Part I: Background and Fundamentals

This letter is part of a three-part tutorial that focuses on joint radar-communication system design for vehicular networks. As Part I of the tutorial, this letter reviews the fundamental principles of dual-functional radar-communication from a technical perspective. First of all, we briefly introduce the background and the emerging applications of the technique. We then revisit the preliminaries of both radar and communication systems, with emphasis on the system modeling and key performance metrics. We then present the general design criteria and representative methodologies for joint radar-communication transmission in general settings, before finally focusing our study to the vehicular network which is the scope of Part II and III of this tutorial.
A comparison of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 in assessing flooded area and built-up land use: A case study of selected coastal districts in Andra Pradesh, India

In tropical climatic conditions, floods occur during heavy rainfall. Floods during this thick cloud cover partially stops the optical imagery to pass through the atmosphere and record the surface reflectance. Another kind of satellite imagery that is available is microwave remote sensing data that can pass through the clouds. However, the exploration of this microwave remote sensing began recently for earth observation applications. So, the algorithms and methods available for exploiting advantages from microwave data is still under research. The current part of the work is to explore the methods available to differentiate between the microwave data (Sentinel-1) and Optical imagery (Sentinel-2) in flooded and built-up area estimation. The ultimate aim is to conclude with most suitable datasets and fast computing methods in estimating the built-up area and flooded area during the emergency disaster time. Two case studies taken up for the study are August 2019 East Godavari floods and October 2019 Titli cyclone. So, the adopted method to estimate the flooded areas and built-up areas from the Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-2B was RGB clustering (Red, Green and Blue clustering) using the derived RGB colour combinations in snap 7.0 software. The datasets were classified into built-up, flooded area and vegetation areas using Random Forest supervised classification, a machine learning technique Validation of estimated built-up and flooded areas estimated from Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-2B was done using the random pixel distribution technique. Since the de-centralisation of estimated flooded areas and built-up area helps in fast distribution of the response forces to the affected area, estimation of built-up and flooded area was also taken up for the sub-districts of East Godavari district, India. Finally, the study estimates the damaged built-up and vegetation due to August 2019 East Godavari floods from Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-2B. Flooded area due to ‘Titli’ cyclone 2018 was estimated in East Godavari, Visakhapatnam and Vijianagaram districts of Andhra Pradesh state.
Effect of cylinders on the characteristics of a fine-bubble plume

The characteristics of a fine-bubble plume passing through two tandem cylinders are investigated. Fine-bubbles with a mean diameter of 0.055 mm are released by water electrolysis from electrodes placed at the bottom of a tank. They induce an upward water flow around them with rising due to buoyancy. Orthogonally to the axis of such fine–bubble plume, two cylinders with a diameter D of 30 mm are arranged in tandem. The distance between the cylinders, L, ranges between 1.5D and 3D. This study visualizes the bubbles and water flow around the cylinders. It also measures the bubble velocity distribution. The experiments reveal the water and bubble shear layers originating at the sides of the lower cylinder and make clear their behavior around the upper cylinder. This study elucidates the effects of L on the characteristics of the fine-bubble plume, such as the stagnant bubbly flow and the bubbly wake around the cylinders.
The impact of sweet basil plant additive on biochemical parameters and organoleptic quality of meat of chicken

This study aimed to evaluate chicken meat features after frozen when using sweet basil (SB) plant additive to work as an antioxidant. A 120 1-day old broiler unsex chicks were distributed in two groups (60 chicks for each group) and held for 42 days. The first group was control and the second group was feed additive 0.5 % SB. The study investigated some freshness, extend shelf-life and, sensory evaluation (pH, water holding capacity (WHC), thawing losses, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) during freezing of broiler meat. There were non-significant differences in TVB-N value of breast and thigh meat in treatment and control groups. The TBARS values for treated and control breast pieces were the same, while in relation to thigh samples the treated values were significantly (P < 0.01) lower than control. The pH values were shown non-significant differences among all groups. The percentage of thaw loss of treated samples (thigh and chest) progressively decreases with a significant (P < 0.01) difference compared to control groups at the same storage time of storage (45 days). The Addition of SB improved WHC.
LysGH15 Effectively Control Murine Mastitis Caused by Staphylococcus aureus

Bovine mastitis is an inflammatory response mainly caused by Staphylococcus aureus. Lysin is a cell wall hydrolase encoded and synthesized by a bacteriophage, which can kill specific Gram-positive bacteria. In this study, phage lysin “LysGH15” is used to treat the mice mastitis caused by S. aureus. The purified lysGH15 showed strong bactericidal activity in vitro. When treated with 25μg/mL of the LysGH15, the bacterial counts of S. aureus dropped approximately 5 log units within 10 min. In the in vivo experiments, the administration of LysGH15 significantly (P<0.05) reduced the colonies of S. aureus and alleviated damage to the breast tissue. Also, the levels of IL-6 and TNF-α in breast tissue were significantly decreased. It indicates that the LysGH15 can effectively treat the murine mastitis caused by S. aureus. This study demonstrated the potential of LysGH15 as an alternative to antibiotics for treating bovine mastitis caused by S. aureus
Effects of acute and chronic hypoxia on the locomotion and enzyme of energy metabolism in Chinese shrimp Fenneropenaeus chinensis

ABSTRACT To characterize the locomotor behaviors and their relation with physiological regulation in Chinese shrimp Fenneropenaeus chinensis, animals were held at approximately 6.0 (normoxia), 4.5, and 3.0 mg L-1 dissolved oxygen (DO) for 1 day (acute) and 15 days (chronic), after which the swimming and tail-flipping abilities, and the activities of key enzymes involved in anaerobic and aerobic metabolism in hepatopancreas and pleopod and abdominal muscles were determined. Results showed that hepatopancreas was preferentially powered compared with pleopod and abdominal muscles during hypoxia. Physiological differences in muscles resulted in locomotion differences. F. chinensis presented reduced reliance on anaerobic glycolysis to conserve energy during chronic hypoxia at 3.0 mg L-1 DO, but this physiological regulation reduce the survival of shrimp in the wild due to a reduction in tail-flipping. These findings suggested that when assessing the survival strategy of shrimp during hypoxia, both physiological regulation and behavioral changes should be considered.
Testing of a culture protocol for converting mouse embryonic stem cells into neurons

BACKGROUND: Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are pluripotent cells that are present in the inner cell mass of blastocyst-stage embryos. They are pluripotent in that they are able to differentiate into all derivatives of the primary germ layers, including ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm, thus generating every cell type in the body. Directed differentiation of ESCs into the cell line of interest can help to replace cells lost due to injury or disease. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to culture mouse embryonic stem cells with retinoic acid to achieve neuronal differentiation and to confirm neural conversion using immunocytochemistry. METHODS: This protocol, referred to as the 4-/4+ protocol, involves spontaneous differentiation of mESCs into embryoid bodies in suspension culture for 4 days and addition of 0.5 μM RA on the 4th day. The cells were allowed to aggregate in the presence of RA for another four days and then plated on laminin-coated dishes on the 8th day. They were plated both as intact aggregates and post-disassociation with trypsin. In both cases, it was found that they gave out flat cells tightly adherent to the surface with an initial spindle shaped bipolar morphology that gradually progressed to pyramidal shaped cells with multiple neurites. Immunocytochemistry was used to confirm the presence of neurons by using a neuron specific isoform of monoclonal βIII-Tubulin. RESULTS: The results indicate that mouse embryonic stem cells in the presence of retinoic acid differentiate into cells that phenotypically resemble neurons. These cells express the neuronal marker, βIII-Tubulin, confirming that they are neurons. CONCLUSION: Mouse embryonic stem cells placed in suspension culture formed aggregates called embryoid bodies. This when exposed to retinoic acid differentiated into cells phenotypically resembling neurons. These neuron-like cells expressed βIII-Tubulin which is a marker for neurons. Thus RA induces differentiation of stem cells into neurons.
A STUDY OF THE INITIATION OF NUCLEATE BOILING IN THE LIQUID METALS

An analysis has been conducted to predict the liquid superheats that will be required to initiate nucleate boiling in the alkali metals. The classical two-phase mechanical and thermal equilibrium equation is solved by applying a modeling of the behavior of the pressure in the liquid for water and the alkali metals. Curves are presented showing the liquid superheats required for nucleate boiling in sodium and potassiunn.