Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Applying a conceptual framework to rhinoceros conservation on private lands in South Africa

Although there is a large body of literature on rhinoceros (‘rhino’) conservation, a comprehensive analysis of the challenges inherent in rhino conservation is missing. In particular, the role of private landowners in rhino conservation has been insufficiently addressed, even though private landowners manage a third of the rhino population in South Africa. In this paper we apply a conceptual framework to the issue of rhino conservation on private lands in South Africa. The framework (1) visually illustrates the political and economic complexity of rhino conservation; (2) reveals how financial decision-making drives rhino conservation among private landowners; and (3) demonstrates how the costs that poaching imposes on private landowners (e.g. security costs) undermines their willingness to conserve rhinos on their land. We argue that current anti-poaching actions are insufficient to attain rhino conservation on private lands because these actions fail to address key components of the private landowners’ decision-making process. New actions that incentivize rhino management and conservation on private lands are required. To safeguard their family, clients, employees and rhinos from armed poachers, land owners require access to improved, lower cost security systems and technologies. To offset the costs of rhino protection and management (including acquiring and managing sufficient habitat to support rhinos), landowners require a renewable income stream that is directly linked to rhino conservation. We consider how legal trade in rhino horn may attain this second objective.
Drug targets identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by metabolic pathway analysis: insilico process

Tuberculosis (TB) has been declared as a global health emergency by the World Health Organization(WHO). This has been mainly due to the emergence of multiple drug resistant strains and the synergy between tubercle bacilli and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is a pathogenic bacteria species in the genus Mycobacterium and the causative agent of most cases of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death in the world from a bacterial infectious disease. This antibiotic resistance strain lead to development of the new antibiotics or drug molecules which can kill or suppress the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.The need for new antiTB is persistent due to the emergence of drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Here we aimto identify new drug targets in Mycobacterium tuberculosis by phylogenomics among the Mycobacterium tuberculosisandcomparative genomics to Homo sapiens. The proposed target discovery pipeline is largely independent of experimental data and based on the assumption that Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteins are likely to be essential if (i) there are no similar proteins in the same proteome and (ii) they are highly conserved across the Mycobacterium tuberculosisof mammals. We have performed an in silicocomparative analysis of metabolic pathways of the host Homo sapiens and the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (H37Rv). Novel efforts in developing drugs that target the intracellular metabolismof M. tuberculosis often focus on metabolic pathways that are specific to M. tuberculosis. We have identified five unique pathwaysfor Mycobacterium tuberculosis having a number of 60 enzymes, which are nonhomologous to Homo sapiens protein sequences,and among them there were 55 enzymes, which are nonhomologous to Homo sapiens protein sequences.These enzymes were alsofound to be essential for survival of theMycobacteriumtuberculosisaccording to the DEG database. Further, the functional analysis using Uniprot showed involvement of all the unique enzymes in the different cellular components.
Soil Spatial Variability Effect on Soil Structure Interaction Studies: Enveloping Uncertainties in Structural Response

An apparatus and method for producing mail pieces. The apparatus includes a first printer for printing documents and a second printer for printing envelopes and a mail finishing unit for receiving the printed documents from the first printer and the envelopes printed with corresponding addresses from the second printer and inserting the documents into the envelope to form and frank a mail piece. The apparatus operates under the control of a single stream of job data from a host computer, where the job data includes a job header defining default mail piece attributes and mail piece records which include document data and address data, and which may include specific mail piece attribute data for each corresponding mail piece. The apparatus control mechanism partitions the data stream and controls the first printer to print the documents while controlling the second printer to separately print the envelopes which are moved along a separate path to an insert station where the mail piece is formed. The apparatus also includes data stores of postal rates and of per item rating characteristics of items of materials used to form mail pieces.
Vulnerability Assessment of Objective Function of RPL Protocol for Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) can be described as the ever-growing global network of objects with built-in sensing and communication interfaces such as sensors, Global Positioning devices (GPS) and Local Area Network (LAN) interfaces. Security is by far one of the biggest challenges in IoT networks. This includes secure routing which involves the secure creation of traffic routes and secure transmission of routed packets from a source to a destination. The Routing Protocol for Low-power and Lossy network (RPL) is one of the popular IoT's routing protocol that supports IPv6 communication. However, it suffers from having a basic system for supporting secure routing procedure which makes the RPL vulnerable to many attacks. This includes rank attack manipulation. Objective Function (OF) is one of the extreme importance features of RPL which influences an IoT network in terms of routing strategies as well as network topology. However, current literature lacks study of vulnerability analysis of OFs. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the vulnerability assessment of OF of RPL protocol. For this, we focus on the rank attack manipulation and two popular OFs: Objective Function Zero (OF0) and the Minimum Rank with Hysteresis Objective Function (MRHOF).
FORAMINIFERAL RECORD OF CHANGES IN SUMMER MONSOON PRECIPI- TATION AT THE SOUTHEASTERN BRAZILIAN CONTINENTAL MARGIN SINCE THE LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM

Changes in the oxygen isotopic composition of the planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber and in the foraminifera faunal composition in a core retrieved from the southeastern Brazilian continental margin were used to infer past changes in the hydrological balance and monsoon precipitation in the western South Atlantic since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The results suggest a first-order orbital (precessional) control on the South American Monsoon precipitation. This agrees with previous studies based on continental proxies except for LGM estimates provided by pollen records. The causes for this disagreement are discussed.
Age-Related Increases in the Shoulder Strength of High School Wrestlers

The purpose of this investigation was to examine age-related differences in absolute and relative isokinetic shoulder strength of high school wrestlers. A total of 122 high school wrestlers (M age = 16.31±1.18 yrs) volunteered to be measured for arm flexion and extension strength at the shoulder joint using a Cybex II dynamometer at 30, 180, and 300°·s−1. The sample was divided into four age groups: 13.75−15.00 (n = 22), 15.08−16.00 (n = 27), 16.08−17.00 (n = 34), and 17.08−18.83 years (n = 39). The results of this study indicated significant increases in absolute and relative arm flexion and extension strength across age when covaried for BW and FFW. In addition, comparisons with previously published data indicated differences between muscle groups in the pattern of strength gains that were dependent upon the speed of muscular contraction and may have been influenced by fiber type distribution characteristics.
Intracellular Modelling of Cell-Matrix Adhesion during Cancer Cell Invasion

When invading the tissue, malignant tumour cells (i.e. cancer cells) need to detach from neighbouring cells, degrade the basement membrane, and migrate through the extracellular matrix. These processes require loss of cell-cell adhesion and enhancement of cell-matrix adhe- sion. In this paper we present a mathematical model of an intracellular pathway for the interactions between a cancer cell and the extracellular matrix. Cancer cells use similar mechanisms as with normal cells for their interactions with the extracellular matrix. We develop a model of cell-matrix adhesion that accounts for reactions between the cell surface receptor integrins, the matrix glyco- protein fibronectin, and the actin filaments in the cytoskeleton. Each represents components for an intermediate compartment, the extracellular compartment, and the intracellular compartment, re- spectively. Binding of fibronectin with integrins triggers a clustering of protein complexes, which then activates and phosphorylates regulatory proteins that are involved in actin reorganisation caus- ing actin polymerization and stress fibre assembly. Rearrangement of actin filaments with inte- grin/fibronectin complexes near adhesion sites and interaction with fibrillar fibronectin produces the force necessary for cell migration, accounting for cell-matrix adhesion.
Spray drying as a method for preparing concentrated cultures of Lactobacillus bulgaricus

P. TEIXEIRA, H. CASTRO AND R. KIRBY. 1995. Spray drying and freeze drying as methods for concentration of Lactobacillus bulgaricus starter cultures were compared in terms of viability, lag phase until onset of pH decrease and total acid production. For the experimental conditions used, no significant differences were detected between the methods. The effect of spray drying on the cell membrane of Lactobacillus bulgaricus was studied. Five separate methods were used to study the theory that spray drying causes cell membrane damage; three relating to leakage of intracellular components from the cell into the surrounding environment (260 and 280 nm absorbing materials, potassium ions and proteins); and two relating to increased cell permeability (increased sensitivity to NaCl and increased permeability to o-nitrophenyl-β-D-galactopyranoside (ONPG). Partial loss of some cytoplasmic material from the damaged cells was observed. The dried cells also became sensitive to NaCl and permeable to ONPG. Heat shock increased the survival of exponential cells as compared to controls but did not result in normal levels found with unshocked stationary phase cells. Heat shock had no effect on stationary phase cells. Different rehydration methods and media were investigated: slow rehydration increased survival.
Lateralized Behavior of Bottlenose Dolphins Using an Underwater Maze

Behavior is lateralized when it is performed preferentially by one side of the body, and this phenomenon is seen across a wide range of vertebrate taxa. Furthermore the brain and body are contralateral in many animals, meaning that the left brain hemisphere most dominantly controls the right side of the body and vice versa. Lateralized behavior in humans and nonhuman primates reveals a population right-hand bias. Recent studies in primates have also begun to link differences in lateralized behavior to task complexity, and responses to novel versus familiar stimuli. Parallel research on cetaceans is sparse although evidence accrued over the last decade suggests captive dolphins have a preference for swimming counter-clockwise, a right-eye advantage in spatio-cognitive tasks and a right-eye preference for viewing novel objects. This eye preference in dolphins is the reverse of the general vertebrate pattern. Lateralized behavior was examined in a group of six male bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus ) in response to a novel underwater maze, and compared to behavior during a baseline phase (no maze present). Dolphins were significantly more likely to swim counterclockwise round their pool during both the baseline and challenge phase, interpreted as significant right eye lateralization. This eye lateralization was also present during the challenge phase but was not significantly different from baseline. There was no clear preference for using the left or right side of the maze at the group level; however two high maze-using subjects had a strong right side lateralization. Modifications and extensions to the methods are discussed.
Georeferencing Facts in Road Networks

Work on multiscale issues presents countless challenges th at have been long attacked by GIScience researchers. Most results e ither concentrate on modeling or on data structures/database aspects. Soluti ons go either towards generalization (and/or virtualization of distinct sc ales) or towards linking entities of interest across scales. However, researcher s s ldom take into account the fact that multiscale scenarios are increasingl y constructed cooperatively, and require distinct perspectives of the world. T he combination of multiscale and multiple perspectives per scale constitute s what we callmultifocusresearch. This paper presents our solution to these issues. It builds upon a specific database version model – the multiversion MVBD – whi ch has already been successfully implemented in several geospatial scena rios, being extended here to support multi-focus research.
EnergyNet: Energy-Efficient Dynamic Inference

The prohibitive energy cost of running high-performance Convolutional Neural 1 Networks (CNNs) has been limiting their deployment on resource-constrained plat2 forms including mobile and wearable devices. We propose a CNN for energy-aware 3 dynamic routing, called EnergyNet, that achieves adaptive-complexity inference 4 based on the inputs, leading to an overall reduction of run time energy cost while 5 actually improving accuracy. This is achieved by proposing an energy loss that 6 captures both computational and data movement costs. We combine it with the 7 accuracy-oriented loss, and learn a dynamic routing policy for skipping certain 8 layers in the networks that optimizes the hybrid loss. Our empirical results demon9 strate that, compared to the baseline CNNs, EnergyNet can trim down the energy 10 cost by up to 40% and 65%, during inference on the CIFAR10 and Tiny ImageNet 11 testing sets, respectively, while maintaining the same testing accuracy. It is fur12 ther encouraging to observe that the energy awareness might serve as a training 13 regularization that can improve the prediction accuracy: our models can achieve 14 0.7% higher top-1 testing accuracy than the baseline on CIFAR-10 when saving up 15 to 27% energy, and 1.0% higher top-5 testing accuracy on Tiny ImageNet when 16 saving up to 50% energy, respectively. 17
Germination and Seedling Growth of Wheat as Affected by Seed Priming and its Duration

Insufficient seedling emergence and inappropriate stand establishment are the main restraints in areas receiving less rainfall [1]. One of the important aspects of quality grain production is a speedy emergence and beneficial seedlings establishment in the field. Thus, quick and uniform field emergence is the necessity to attain high yield in annual crops [2]. One of the most important strategies to accelerate germination, to produce high-quality seedling and plant optimal establishment seed priming is used. The beneficial effect of priming has been demonstrated for many crops such as wheat, soybean, maize, and sunflower [3]. Seed priming has been mostly used to reduce the time between seed sowing and seedling emergence and to synchronize emergence [4]. It is reported that seed priming is one of the most important developments to help rapid and uniform germination and the emergence of seeds and to increase tolerance to adverse and environmental conditions [5,6]. The mean time for 50% germination at 20 °C of 12 Indian wheat cultivars was nearly halved, from 51h to 27h, by soaking seed in water for 8h prior to sowing. A delay of 24h without further soaking, intended to simulate postponement of sowing, reduced the time saved by priming to 16%. Priming had no effect on the final germination percentage [7]. Moringa leaf extracts improve seedling vigor, growth, and productivity of wheat crop [8]. Polyethylene glycol and KNO3 solutions increased the fresh and dry weight of roots in maize at 2% and 5% concentration primed for 12h and 18h and it also increased the vigor index [9]. Therefore, the aim of this trial was to find out the effect of seed different priming techniques with 6 and 12hrs priming duration on emergence, vigor, and growth of wheat. It has also been reported that seed priming improves emergence, stand establishment, Germination index, Shoot length, Root length, Shoot fresh and dry weight, and Root fresh and dry weight. Keeping in view the desirable effect of seed priming on seed germination and further establishment, the experiment was planned to evaluate the effect of different seed priming with different time duration.
The impact of academic stress on medical students attending college in the Inner Mongolia Area of China

The aim of this study was to examine whether student characteristics affect the risk of health conditions, and explore whether the degree of academic stress affects the level of distress. We surveyed medical students in the Inner Mongolia Medical College China using a questionnaire. A logistic regression analysis was used to ascertain factors associated with distress. The Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney test was used to determine the relationship between distress and different academic stress levels. Of the 6044 students completing questionnaires, 47.5% self-reported distressing body symptoms induced by academic stress. Chi square tests showed statistically significant associations between distress and gender, academic stress, and residence; feeling academic stress caused a more than 1.5 times risk of distress. Gender and academic stress were significantly associated with distress in non-conditional binary logistic regression models. Compared with male students, female students was more likely to feel distress. The Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney test also showed that the distress rate increased with academic stress and a dose-response relationship between the distress rate and stress level was found. The present study indicates that it is important to reduce academic stress and manage it in order that better outcomes be achieved in regard to distress, especially in females.
How to break the density-anisotropy degeneracy in spherical stellar systems

We present a new non-parametric Jeans code, GravSphere, that recovers the density ρ(r) and velocity anisotropy β(r) of spherical stellar systems, assuming only that they are in a steady-state. Using a large suite of mock data, we confirm that with only line-of-sight velocity data, GravSphere provides a good estimate of the density at the projected stellar half mass radius, ρ(R1/2), but is not able to measure ρ(r) or β(r), even with 10,000 tracer stars. We then test three popular methods for breaking this ρ − β degeneracy: using multiple populations with different R1/2; using higher order ‘Virial Shape Parameters’ (VSPs); and including proper motion data. We find that two populations provide an excellent recovery of ρ(r) in-between their respective R1/2. However, even with a total of ∼7, 000 tracers, we are not able to well-constrain β(r) for either population. By contrast, using 1000 tracers with higher order VSPs we are able to measure ρ(r) over the range 0.5 < r/R1/2 < 2 and broadly constrain β(r). Including proper motion data for all stars gives an even better performance, with ρ and β well-measured over the range 0.25 < r/R1/2 < 4. Finally, we test GravSphere on a triaxial mock galaxy that has axis ratios typical of a merger remnant, [1: 0.8: 0.6]. In this case, GravSphere can become slightly biased. However, we find that when this occurs the data are poorly fit, allowing us to detect when such departures from spherical symmetry become problematic.
MC3R and MC4R Knockdown via RNA Interference

Melanocortins (MCs) play an important role in feeding, metabolism, and energy expenditure. While melanocortin receptor (MCR) mRNA has been found in the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) pathway, the ability of melanocortins to regulate feeding and other behaviors through actions on the mesolimbic DA system have not been examined. Short-hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) were created targeting MC3R and MC4R and were tested via in vitro studies for their ability to knockdown their target receptor. A total of three shRNAs were created targeting each receptor, and each shRNA caused successful knockdown. These shRNAs are tools that can be used for future in vivo studies to examine the various behavioral effects of melanocortins on the mesolimbic DA pathway. INDEX WORDS: Melanocortin, Dopamine, Food intake, RNA interference, Short-hairpin, Mesolimbic dopamine pathway MC3R AND MC4R KNOCKDOWN VIA RNA INTERFERENCE
ISO 9000 Registration's Impact on Sales and Profitability: A Longitudinal Analysis of Performance Before and After Accreditation

Although there is a plethora of research articles that study ISO 9000 quality management systems and their association with business success, there is little empirical research that can attribute causality to certification. Contributes to the question of causality, through a comparison against a control group of the actual sales and profitability of 400 certified companies pre and post registration. Using a longitudinal methodology finds that, although the performance of certified companies is superior to that of 400 non‐certified firms, there is no evidence of improved performance after registration in the 400 certified firms studied. Concludes, from these findings, that the superior performance of certified firms is due to firms with superior performance having a greater propensity to pursue ISO 9000 registration. Illustrates the potential dangers in inferring that ISO 9000 certification leads to superior business performance. Additionally the findings should give pause for thought for decision‐makers. Certification is a major investment yet the findings show that inflated expectations of performance improvement after ISO 9000 accreditation may be unfounded.
White Blood Cell Count versus Temperature as Predictors of Pediatric Bacteremia

The differential diagnosis list for infants three to thirty-six months with fever is quite extensive and bacteremia should always be considered due to the dire consequences of delaying treatment. The discovery of the Hib and pneumococcal vaccines have substantially decreased the prevalence of bacteremia from 3-5% to 1.6% in the pediatric population. Even with the decline in bacteremia, it remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children. Early recognition of bacteremia and distinction from other illnesses is key to the successful treatment of the disease. Clinical signs and symptoms are used more often to diagnose sepsis than laboratory measures. However, there is a large variation between providers for which parameters are used to diagnose sepsis. Traditionally, WBC count and temperature have been used as objective predictors of bacteremia and are used as guideposts to determine the necessity of further investigation and possible empiric antimicrobial treatment. The utilization of WBC count and temperature have been studied and proven effective in older populations, but the accuracy of these criteria in infants has yet to be evaluated.