Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anatomy of the underground system in Vernonia grandiflora Less. and V. brevifolia Less. (Asteraceae)

This work dealt with the anatomy of the underground system in Vernonia grandiflora Less. and V. brevifolia Less. (Vernonieae; Asteraceae), two perennial geophytes, to elucidate their ability to sprout in the Brazilian Cerrado conditions. V. grandiflora , a subshrubby species, possessed a thickened under ground system constituted by a xylopodium and many tuberous roots. The xylopodium had stem and root structure and its buds were axill ary or originated from the cortical parenchyma proliferati on. The tuberous roots produced by this organ were adventitious and accumulated inulin-type fructans mainly in the cortical parenchyma. The thickened underground syst em of V. brevifolia , an herbaceous species, was a tuberous primary roo t whose buds originated from the proliferated pericycle. The occurrence of these bud-forming unde rground systems, which stored reserve compounds, en abled these plants to survive throughout unfavourable env ironmental conditions in the Cerrado, such as dry s eason and frequent fires in the winter.
4 - Détection de défauts temps réel sur des objets à géométrie complexe : étude par svm, boosting et hyperrectangles

Nous presentons dans cet article une application complete des « Support Vector Machine » au controle qualite par vision artificielle de pieces a geometrie complexe. Nous precisons le cadre pratique dans lequel s'effectuent les operations, la nature des defauts a detecter ainsi que les techniques d'extraction des parametres discriminants. Nous presentons ensuite les trois methodes de classification utilisees. Nous definissons le protocole d'apprentissage, ainsi que la methode de recherche des parametres optimum du classifieur. Nous comparons les resultats obtenus a partir d'un espace de description defini a priori ainsi que ceux issus d'une selection de parametres via un algorithme sequentiel.
Synchrony and seasonality in bacterioplankton communities of two temperate rivers

The bacterioplankton community composition (measured with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 16S ribosomal DNA [rDNA]) of two nonintersecting temperate rivers was nearly identical and changed synchronously over 2.5 yr, suggesting that intrinsic controls on bacteria were similar in the two rivers and that seasonal changes were driven by extrinsic factors such as climate. Most potential controls on community composition also exhibited synchrony; these included bacterial production rate (leucine incorporation), water temperature, river flow rate, and a suite of chemical measurements. Temperature and river flow rate were the best predictors of temporal patterns in diversity. However, diversity patterns also correlated with bacterial production and concentrations of dissolved organic nitrogen and nitrate, suggesting that diversity is directly or indirectly influenced by complex seasonal shifts in environmental conditions. Winter and summer communities were somewhat predictable over 3 yr, although these communities were not identical. Two polymerase chain reaction (PCR)‐amplified clone libraries of 16S rDNA, constructed with summer samples from each river, were not significantly different and contained typical freshwater bacterioplankton of the beta‐Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria, including members of five new freshwater bacterioplankton clusters. However, libraries also included several phylotypes related to bacteria from soil and sediment, indicating the potential importance of allochthonous organisms in river diversity.
The importance of Vu Quang Nature Reserve, Vietnam, for bird conservation, in the context of the Annamese Lowlands Endemic Bird Area

Vu Quang Nature Reserve, Vietnam, was brought to the attention of the world scientific community following the discovery of two previously undescribed large mammal species in the early 1990s. In light of the identification of other sites of high biodiversity value in the Annamite mountains of Vietnam and Laos, the relative importance for biodiversity conservation of Vu Quang needs to be reassessed. In this paper we evaluate the importance of the site for bird conservation, in relation to 13 other protected areas in the Annamese Lowlands Endemic Bird Area (EBA) and present species lists for all 14 sites. Whilst Vu Quang supports one of the highest numbers of recorded bird species of all 14 protected areas, a complementarity analysis revealed that Vu Quang does not fall within the critical subset of sites necessary to conserve 95% of the avifaunal diversity of the EBA. The site should not, therefore, be considered a regional bird conservation priority. Furthermore, of the nine restricted-range species known from the Annamese Lowlands EBA, only three are known from Vu Quang, which is not, therefore, a priority site for the conservation of endemic bird species. We also evaluate the conservation status of the avifauna of Vu Quang, and propose potential conservation measures to enhance its importance for bird conservation.
ALTERNATIVES TO MUCUNA FOR SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENT IN SOUTHERN BÉNIN: FARMER PERCEPTION AND USE OF TRADITIONAL AND EXOTIC GRAIN LEGUMES

In southern Bénin, the legume cover crop Mucuna pruriens var. utilis has been widely promoted for soil fertility improvement. Recent findings have shown, however, that the majority of farmers have not adopted it, and that alternative technologies are needed that are both attractive to farmers and beneficial in terms of soil fertility. A survey was carried out in southern Bénin to determine farmer perception and use of traditional grain legumes and to assess the adoption potential of new low-harvest-index grain legumes. Grain legumes were shown to be integral components of traditional cropping systems and constituted farmers' most important technology for soil fertility maintenance. More than 80% of respondents expressed interest in testing new, low-harvest-index varieties. Preferred grain characteristics and farmers' culinary preferences for grain legumes varied between locations and need to be taken into account if new germplasm is to be introduced. It is argued that farmers' interest and experience in legume cultivation provide an opportunity for the introduction of alternative legume-based technologies such as low-harvest-index grain legumes and techniques for the detoxification of mucuna seed. In addition, efforts should be made to increase the productivity of current legume production systems and to develop mucuna cultivars with reduced L-dopa content.
Parallel Evolution of Nonfeeding Larvae in Echinoids

The switch from feeding to nonfeeding larvae is an ecologically important transfor- mation that has evolved on several separate occasions within the echinoids. In each case, this life history transformation has been accompanied by extensive changes in larval morphology. A phy- logenetic approach is used here to reconstruct these morphological changes, to begin asking why they have taken the particular forms observed, and to assess the degree of parallel transformation in separate cases. Both traditional character mapping and a less usual aggregate analysis indicate massively parallel transformations in larval morphology associated with, and only with, this par- ticular life history transformation. Some of these parallel morphological transformations may be due to relaxed functional constraints associated with the ancestral life history mode, but many are probably the result of new functional constraints associated with the derived mode. The com- parative data suggest a simple and testable model for the switch from feeding to nonfeeding larvae involving three sequential steps. (Larva; life history evolution; developmental evolution; disparity; Echinoidea.) One of the many interesting challenges facing an evolutionary biologist is under- standing why organisms have changed in particular ways during the history of a clade. Because the evolutionary transformations separating even closely related organisms are unique, distinguishing chance associa- tions from causal relationships can be dif- ficult (Lauder, 1982; Cracraft, 1990; Baum and Larson, 1991). Does a species possess a particular derived feature because of a habitat shift, utilization of a new food source, linkage disequilibrium with some other feature, or chance? Distinguishing among these and the many other possibil- ities is a problem whether one is interested in genes, morphology, behavior, physiol- ogy, development, or any other heritable feature of an organism.
Alleviating heat stress in domestic fowl: different strategies

During recent decades there has been significant improvement in genetic selection of broilers and turkeys for growth rate, which has coincided with dramatic increases in metabolic rate. A similar pattern is observed in the rate of egg production by laying hens. However, this selection has not been accompanied by comparable development of visceral systems, causing inferior thermotolerance response. In parallel, scientists expect that the average global surface temperature will rise by 0.6-2.5°C during the next 50 years. This situation, in which, from year to year, growth rate especially, but also egg production, improve (accompanied by increased heat production), and global surface temperature increases, demands an efficient means to improve the acquisition of thermotolerance by domestic fowl exposed to hot climatic conditions, and to do so economically. To develop thermotolerance three direct responses are employed: the rapid thermal stress response (RTSR), acclimation/acclimatization, and epigenetic temperature adaptation. This review will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of the different strategies used to reach the conflicting goals of production on the one hand and thermotolerance on the other hand.
Biological reference points for American lobster (Homarus americanus) populations: limits to exploitation and the precautionary approach

Large-scale changes in American lobster (Homarus americanus) landings and abundance have been documented in both Canada and the United States over the last several decades. The spatial coherence of these changes suggests the importance of common environmental and fishery-related factors operating over broad areas in the western North Atlantic. Changes in both biotic and abiotic factors have been hypothesized to underlie the recent increases in lobster production. Area expansion of lobsters to previously unoccupied or low-density areas appears to be an important element of the population increase. Here, we review biological reference points applied to American lobster populations in the United States and Canada. Egg production per recruit models have been used to specify limit reference points (F10% in the United States) or target reference points (increasing egg production per recruit to twice its 1995 level in Canada). Surplus production and yield-per-recruit models have also been employed to provide qua.
Effectiveness of Wildlife Underpasses and Fencing to Reduce Wildlife–Vehicle Collisions

Abstract Transportation planners are increasingly incorporating roadway design features to mitigate impacts of highways on wildlife and to increase driver safety. We used camera and track surveys to evaluate wildlife use before and after construction of 3 wildlife underpasses and associated fencing on a new section of United States Highway 64 in Washington County, North Carolina, USA. We recorded 242 occasions of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) use of underpass areas before highway construction began. Following completion of the highway, we collected 2,433 photographs of 9 species with deer representing 93% of all crossings. Adjusting for differences in number of monitoring days, white-tailed deer use of underpass areas averaged 6.7 times greater after the new highway and underpasses were completed. We recorded 3,614 wildlife crossings of ≥20 species based on track counts, representing most medium and large mammals known to occur in the area and several reptiles and birds. After completion of the highway, we documented wildlife mortality due to vehicle collisions during a 13-month period and recorded 128 incidences representing ≥24 species. Within fenced highway segments, mortalities were lowest near underpasses and increased with distance from the underpasses. However, we also documented more mortalities in fenced areas compared with unfenced areas. With greater distance from an underpass, animals with smaller home ranges seemed less likely to reach the underpass and instead attempted to climb over or crawl under fencing. Based on collision reports from adjacent highway sections, the new section of United States Highway 64 experienced approximately 58% fewer wildlife mortalities (primarily white-tailed deer), suggesting underpasses and fencing reduced the number of deer–vehicle collisions. Continuous fencing between underpasses may further reduce the number of vehicle collisions for deer but additional design features (e.g., buried fencing) should be considered for other wildlife species.
Protoplasmic Streaming and Nuclear Differentiation during Conjugation of Paramecium caudatum

Abstract It is known in Paramecium that the fate of the micronucleus is determined by the intracellular localization of the nucleus and that protoplasmic streaming named cyclosis is very active during vegetative phase. The active streaming, if it occurs during conjugation, may interfere with the correct positioning of micronuclei and/or cytoplasmic determinants in a cell. In the present work, the velocity of protoplasmic streaming was measured during conjugation of P. caudatum. The results showed that the velocity changed remarkably at 3 stages. (1) It increased with the expansion of its active area 3 to 5 minutes after the mating reaction and then decreased again to the ordinary speed within 3 hours. The results of micro- or macronuclear removal showed that the increase in the velocity was not mediated either by the micronucleus or by the macro-nucleus. Moreover, injection of the anti-α-tubulin antibody at the mating reaction did not suppress the protoplasmic streaming effectively, although a role of microtubules on the protoplasmic streaming is not ruled out completely. (2) At the stages of disintegration of meiotic products and the exchange of gametic nuclei, the cytoplasm ceased streaming and then resumed it soon after synkaryon formation. (3) The streaming ceased again at the critical stage of macro-and micronuclear differentiation after the separation of mating pair, although the streaming was very active before and after this stage. Both cessations of (2) and (3) were not influenced by removal of the micronucleus during conjugation. The velocity of protoplasmic streaming during conjugation does not directly correlated with the micronuclear behavior. The cessation seems to be very convenient for intracellular positioning of the cytoplasmic determinants and/or of the micronuclei for the nuclear differentiation.
Urban Public Buildings and Accessibility Challenges in Nigeria

The trends of public buildings accessibility and circulation challenges confronting persons with disability are contemporary concerns in the focus of environmental experts internationally. This is relevant given the restriction implications of disabled persons on public buildings. On the other hand, this seems not to be so in developed countries going by both practice and investigation consideration. The research consequently examined challenges for persons with disabilities across urban public buildings in Niger delta. The research considered environmental observation and designed questionnaire methods for data acquisition whereas standard deviation (STD) principal components analysis (PCA) and Pearson correlation coefficient were the methodical tools employed. The result established that school buildings (0.50), police station accounted for (0.72) and courthouses (0.62) etc with restriction factors for persons with disabilities in Niger delta urban environs of Nigeria. In furtherance, institutional buildings (20%), legal building (13%), transportation building (12%), medical building (10%) and banking/recreational buildings (7%) were the classified public buildings. However, The research demonstrated that there was a weak negative relationship between public buildings and wheelchair ramp at (r = -0.212, p<.05), elevators (r = -0.56, p<0.5) and modified toilet (r = -0.51, p<.05). The article settled with recommendations on approaches for including the necessary facilities that makes public buildings accessible for all the citizenry of Niger Delta and beyond through proper consultations, architectural and engineering designs.
Theft detection system

A wireless theft detection system comprises a device holder and a docking station. The device holder comprises a first wireless communication module adapted to establish a wireless connection with an external second wireless communication module, a first alarm module and a first processing module. The docking station comprises the second wireless communication module, a second alarm module and a second processing module. The first wireless communication module is adapted to generate a first link quality information or the second wireless communication module is adapted for generating a second link quality information. Both the first processing module and the second processing module adapted to control the first and the second alarm module in each case such that they generate the first and second alarm signal when a quality of the wireless link is below a predetermined limit value.
Economic values for milk production and quality traits in south and southeast regions of Brazil

The objective of this study was to calculate economic values for milk (MY), protein (PY) and fat productions (FY) and somatic cell count (SCC) which could be used to compose an economic index to rank animals involved in an international genetic evaluation program of Holstein cattle used in the commercial dairy population in Brazil. The main milk production systems (MPS) prevailing in the South and Southeast were defined based on the feeding management and production level of herds. To calculate feeding costs, energy requirements for the production of one kg of milk with the respective average protein and fat contents of each MPS were calculated. Feeding costs were obtained based on the regional prices of the diets' components. To calculate revenues, milk prices were obtained from the payment tables practiced by seven milk industries. Economic values were calculated from the marginal differences between revenues and costs, for the interest of maximizing the profit, assuming a fixed number of animals in the herd. The average economic values (R$) for MY, PY and FY were 0.51, 6.41 and 1.94, respectively. The economic impact of increasing the original SCC values in the individual records of cows in the population by 1% was -R$ 1.40 per cow, per year. Due to changes observed in the last years in the milk market in Brazil, selection for milk components became economically advantageous. As a result, the calculation of economic values and the proposition of an economic index based on these traits became feasible. Somatic cell count does have an economic impact on the final price of milk and consequently on the annual profit of herds. It has also been used in breeding programs as an indicator of mastitis resistance and should not be neglected in breeding programs of dairy cattle.
Constancy of Basic Pattern in the Songs of two Populations of Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). A Comparison of Song Variation between Sedentary and Migratory Populations

and Summary The comparison of local song variations between a migratory and a sedentary population of starlings shows the species-specificity of the basic categories and of their variation range. Local variations were studied for different themes in the repertoire, near Kaiserslautern (West Germany) during the reproductive season of 1982. Results were compared with those previously obtained in Brittany (France). In the study area in Germany, 80 % of the individuals migrate in autumn whereas the Breton starlings remain near the colony all year. To compare the whistles of individuals of different regions, by examing the important variations in their frequency modulation, it is necessary to know the general basic features of the whistles. Using sonograms, the whistles of starlings can be divided into 8 general classes according to particular criteria: rhythmicity, modulation etc. Five themes, among these 8 classes, are sung by all or most of the individuals (“specific themes”). The analyses of whistles give us the following results: 1 The songs of the migratory population studied in W. Germany contain basic features corresponding to those known in the sedentary French population. 2 Like the Breton starlings, those in Germany show a “theme-specific” dialect distribution: the rhythmic theme shows several variants in an area of a few km2, whereas the uniform simple theme presents only one variant over several 100 km2. For the five themes, the dialectal mosaic is totally different: two birds can have the same variant of one given theme and sing different dialects of another. 3 The themes which, in France, show a great number of variants over a small area present the same tendency towards strong subdivision in dialects in Germany. In the two study areas, no correlation could be found between dialectal boundaries and ecological factors. 4 Considering that two starling populations with very different characteristics show such similarities in their basic song structures and also in their pattern of local variation (in the parameters concerned and in the sizes of the dialect areas) we may suppose that the basic structure of the specific themes could be determined by a genetic program. Some characteristics, like the precise details of the frequency modulation, may be due more to learning and may conform to the local dialect.
A 1D Analytical Model for Slag Infiltration during Continuous Casting of Steel under Non-Sinusoidal Mold Oscillation

A 1D analytical model for slag infiltration during continuous casting of steel is developed to investigate the slag behavior in the mold–strand gap. The superposition principle and Fourier expansion are applied to obtain the analytical solution for transient slag flow under arbitrary mold oscillation including non-sinusoidal oscillation mode. The validated model using literature data partially explains several controversies such as slope of slag film channel, mechanism of non-sinusoidal mold oscillation, and timing of slag infiltration. The model shows that a converging slag film into the casting direction is required to open the mold–strand gap if compression is applied in between. Also, model calculations imply that higher slag consumption is achievable from non-sinusoidal mold oscillation by means of the increase of film thickness through longer positive pressure with higher peak pressure. The model demonstrates a time difference between slag flow and pressure near the meniscus and the discrepancy in timing of infiltration between previous works is attributed to the mismatch. The model provides a concise but reliable tool to understand slag infiltration behavior and design mold oscillation settings.