Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modelling lactation curves of dairy cows with emphasis on individual variability

Five published equations were compared on their ability to adjust different patterns of lactation curves. The equation y(t) = a exp(b1t'2/2 + b2/t – c(l + t'/2)t') with t' = (t – 21·4)/l00 (i) was retained because of the quality of the adjustment and the absence of convergence problems when applied on individual curves. Including an effect of season (SE) and an effect of pregnancy (PE) improved the quality of individual adjustments (no. = 339). The final equation was equal to (i) + SE + PE with SE = a + b cos (2π(wc + w - l)/52) + c sin(2n(wc + w - 1)/52), with wc= week of the year at calving, w = week after calving and a = 0·0065, b = -1·26 and c = 0·374, and PE = a (wp –18) e-bwp, with w p = week of pregnancy and a, b fixed parameters. Individual cow characteristics were used to analyse equation (i) parameters. The predictions obtained with this equation and several predictive functions of the equation (i) parameters, which differed in the way they included or not the potential of production, were compared. With no indication of this potential, the prediction was very poor. With the initial production (mean production of the 4th, 5th and 6th days of lactation) as an estimate of this potential, 75% of the lactations had the median of absolute values of errors less than 2·95 kg/day. The results were highly improved by using the yield during the 5th week of lactation. The threshold of 2·95 was reduced to about 2 kg/day. The quality of the individual prediction was better for primiparous than for multiparous cows, and for French Friesian and Montbeliarde cows than for pure or crossbred Holstein cows. Although individual predictions were not always satisfactory, they provided excellent agreement when averaged per group (20 cows).
Towards better prediction of seed dispersal by animals

Summary 1. Animals are the most important dispersal vector for a vast number of terrestrial plants. 2. Whereas our understanding of dispersal by wind has taken enormous conceptual strides in recent years, our ability to predict dispersal patterns by animals remains crude by comparison despite the large volume of research on this topic. 3. We review published models of dispersal by animals, discuss component processes that have been modelled in other contexts and indicate approaches that could usefully be taken in the future. 4. The current problem restricting progress is that few animal dispersal models include the processes most likely to cause dispersal to change over time or space. Thus, they are context-specific, predicting only under the conditions from which data were collected. 5. The key to deeper understanding is to ask ‘What determines the behaviour of the vector; and what determines the influence of the vector on the trajectory of a seed’ (rather than what is the behaviour of the vector in a case study and how far does it move seeds in that study). This leads naturally to process-based models with the ability to predict over a range of scenarios. 6. Priority processes for a more mechanistic approach include: animal movement within a landscape; linking gut throughput, defecation, feeding rate and other behaviours; and detachment from an animal’s surface. Models of gut throughput are probably already sufficient to include them in a dispersal model. Perhaps the best way to achieve progress would be to initiate an international working group of experts in modelling and the particular biological processes.
THE DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF LEPTOCHIRONOMUS STILIFER (DIPTERA: CHIRONOMIDAE) AND THE CHARACTERS OF THE GENUS LEPTOCHIRONOMUS

Abstract It is proposed to consider the taxon Leptochironomus Pagast as a genus which includes: L. tener (Kieffer), L. aegyptius (Kieffer), L. stilifer (Freeman), and L. deribae (Freeman). L. paraderibae La ville and Tourenq is regarded as a synonym of L. deribae.The juvenile stages of L. stilifer are described. The opinion is expressed that the juvenile stages described as Chironominae genuinae No. 4 (Lipina 1927), Microchironomus conjugens Kieffer (Lenz 1926), and Microchironomus No. 1 (Zavrel 1931) belong to Leptochironomus.
Molecular Cloning and Sequence Analysis of Bile Salt Hydrolase Gene (bsh) from Lactobacillus plantarum MBUL90 Strain of Human Origin

This study provided genetic information on a bile salt hydrolase (bsh) of a Lactobacillus plantarum strain of Indian origin, MBUL90. L. plantarum strains were screened by PCR for the determination of the bsh locus in their genome using specific primers. None of the lactobacilli strains produced the expected size of amplicon (∼ 1.0 kb) except L. plantarum strains, which proved the specificity of the primers. The bsh amplicon of L. plantarum MBUL90 was cloned into pDrive vector, and nucleotide sequences were determined. Sequence analysis of bsh genes revealed a high level of similarity within the species of L. plantarum as well as with other species of Lactobacillus. The resulting nucleotide sequence of an ORF of 975 bp encoded a predicted protein of 324 amino acids representing a theoretical molecular mass of 37 kDa with a pI of 4.92. The protein deduced from the complete ORF had high similarity with other Bsh proteins, and four highly conserved amino acid motifs (YFGRNXD, NEXGLXXAGLNF, VXVLTNNPXF, and SXSRFVRXAF) were located around the active site. Genetic data presented in this paper provide a sound foundation for better understanding the genetic diversity of bsh in Lactobacillus genus and may provide a new genetic marker for phylogenetic study.
Oviposition and survival of Schizotetranychus bam- busae females (Acari: Tetranychidae) feeding on young and old bamboo leaves

The effects of the age of moso bamboo (Phyllostaychs pubescens) leaves on the survival and oviposition of Schizotetranychus bambusae females were examined in the laboratory. The survival rate of mite females decreased much more rapidly when feeding on old leaves from old (second year or older) plants (OO) than feeding on young leaves, but this trend was stopped when the surviving females were transferred from OO to young leaves from young (first year) plants (YY) on days 11-13. These females quickly started oviposition on YY, although their ovipositional rate and fecundity was less and the duration of their oviposition period was shorter than mites feeding on young leaves from old plants (YO) or YY from the begining. These results confirm previous field observations that S. bambusae females were rarely found on old leaves and their damage was only observed on young leaves during spring and early summer in a big-harvest year when moso bamboo changes leaves.
Pharmacological effects of HR 375: A new potential antipsychotic agent

HR 375, a 3‐(4‐(3‐(4‐fluorobenzoyl)‐propyl‐piperazino‐l‐yl‐isoquinolino‐ hydrochloride is a new compound with marked effects in tests of predictive value for neuroleptic activity. Its pharmacological profile is different from classical neuroleptics. HR 375 has inhibitory activity in apomorphine‐induced climbing, amphetamine aggregation toxicity, Sidman avoidance, and amphetamine‐induced hypermotility. On the other hand, only weak activity is seen in antagonizing amphetamine‐induced stereotypy, apomorphine‐turning, and apomorphine emesis. It does not include catalepsy in rats and cynomolgus monkeys even in high doses. Also, its sedative or muscle relaxant properties are weak and short‐lasting. The psychopharmacological profile of HR 375 indicates a split between its effects on the mesolimbic and nigrostriatal system.
What Should a Clever Ungulate Eat?

An optimal foraging model applicable to large herbivores is developed. This transforms primary data on vegetation composition, defined in terms of the standing biomasses, nutrient contents, and eating rates offered by a range of food types, into an expression for nutrient ingestion and assimilation rates. A "clever ungulate" is defined as a short-term optimizer for foraging performance alone. An optimal dietary range is identified, which varies for different target nutrients and for time-minimizer versus profit-maximizer tactics. Foraging performance is more sensitive to changes in food quality and in bite sizes than to differences in overall quantitative food abundance. Model predictions are compared with the observed foraging behavior of kudus under natural conditions. Real kudus are both selective and responsive in their food choice, and a rough correlation exists between the acceptances shown for particular plant species and their leaf crude protein contents. However, discrepancies suggest that bite-size differences are also significant, and that energy rather than protein is the target nutrient. The effects of vegetation patch structure remain unresolved, but four patch scales may be operative. Key problem areas identified for further field research include the significance of bite-size differences, potential target nutrients and their rates of digestive assimilation, the effects of plant secondary chemicals, and the influence of varying scales of patch structure.
Channel Estimation for WiFi Prototype Systems with Super-Resolution Image Recovery

Channel estimation is crucial for modern WiFi system and becomes more and more challenging with the growth of user throughput in multiple input multiple output configuration. Plenty of literature spends great efforts in improving the estimation accuracy, while the interpolation schemes are overlooked. To deal with this challenge, we exploit the super-resolution image recovery scheme to model the non-linear interpolation mechanisms without pre-assumed channel characteristics in this paper. To make it more practical, we offline generate numerical channel coefficients according to the statistical channel models to train the neural networks, and directly apply them in some practical WiFi prototype systems. As shown in this paper, the proposed super-resolution based channel estimation scheme can outperform the conventional approaches in both LOS and NLOS scenarios, which we believe can significantly change the current channel estimation method in the near future.
Effects of temperature and pH on growth and photosynthesis of the thermophilic cyanobacterium Synechococcus lividus as measured by pulse‐amplitude modulated fluorometry

In this study, the effects of five different temperatures and pH conditions on growth and photosynthetic performance of Synechococcus lividus Copeland from Taiwan were monitored in the field and the laboratory by using an underwater pulse‐amplitude modulated (Diving‐PAM) fluorometer. In the field, the optimal growth temperature of S. lividus was found to be 57°C. Such a finding was congruent with the growth rate in the laboratory culture, in which the optimal growth temperatures ranged from 45 to 60°C. In photosynthetic performance, the light‐saturated maximum relative electron transport rate (ETRmax) and the light‐limited slope (αETR) exhibited highest values at 50°C. At five different pH conditions, higher ETRmax and αETR were observed from pH 7 to 9. In addition, regression analysis demonstrated a significant positive relationship between the growth rate and the ETRmax values (R2 = 0.9527), indicating that the growth of S. lividus was largely restricted to its photosynthetic performance. In conclusion, the photosynthetic performance and growth of the thermophilic cyanobacterium S. lividus were sensitive to fluctuations in temperature but not in pH. The present investigation offers a better understanding of the photosynthetic physiology.
CORALES, FORMACIONES ARRECIFALES Y BLANQUEAMIENTO DE 1987 EN BAHÍA PORTETE (GUAJIRA, COLOMBIA)

In order to describe and characterize reef formation in Bahia Portete, a survey was conducted between June 1987 and January 1988 in wich a total of 22 stations were visited. Acropora cervicornis, Agaricia agaricites, Montastrea cavernosa, Diploria clivosa and Isophyllia sinuosa, were recorded for the first time amounting to 18 the number of scleractinian species for the bay. The principal component of the coral formations was the hydrocoral Millepora alcicornis due to its abundance and morphological diversity. Reef formations in the area are concentrated on the west and southwest side, not massive enough, however, to be considered real framework reefs. Structuraly two kinds of formations were discriminated: type 1, reef patches, and type 2, seagrass beds with dispersed colonies. Density of colonies was estimated for this latler type, ranging between 6.6 and 35.5 colonies/m2. Additionally, an extensive bleaching phenomenon was observed in October-November 1987, that affected mainly Millepora alcicomis, Porites astreoides and Porites porites. At least six scleractinean species and one hydrocoral showed bleaching. In type 2 formations 25.9 % of colonies was affected. Exact causes for bleaching could not be determined but it is believed that high temperatures in those months together with normal turbid conditions in the area resulted in massive loss of simbionts zooxanthellae. Similar events were registred for most part of the Caribean sea in 1987.
Soil carbon stabilization in jack pine stands along the Boreal Forest Transect Case Study

Boreal forests, containing >20% of the total organic carbon (OC) present at the surface of the Earth, are expected to be highly vulnerable to global warming. The objective of this study was to compare soil OC stocks and chemistry in jack pine stands located along a latitudinal climatic transect in central Canada. Total OC stocks (0–1 m) increased with decreasing mean annual temperature (MAT). We used a combination of physical fractionation of soil OC pools, 13C isotopic determination and cross‐polarization, magic‐angle spinning 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to further characterize OC composition at all sites. Soil OC was dominated by labile pools. As illustrated by the C/N ratios, δ13C data and results from the 13C NMR analysis, the light fraction showed little alteration within the soil profiles. Instead, this fraction reflected the importance of fresh litter inputs and showed an increase in root contribution with depth. As opposed to the light fraction, the clay‐ and silt‐stabilized OC exhibited an increase in δ13C and a decrease in C/N with depth, indicating an increase in its degree of decomposition. These changes with depth were more marked at the southern than the northern sites. Results hence suggest that if the MAT were to increase in the northern boreal forest the overall jack pine soil OC stocks would decrease but the remaining OC would become more decomposed, and likely more stabilized than what is currently present within the soils.
Sampling requirements and the implications of reduced sampling effort for the estimation of annual zooplankton population and community dynamics in north temperate lakes

Detecting and understanding long‐term changes in zooplankton populations and communities requires sound sampling strategies and reliable estimates of annual abundance. We use a long‐term, highly resolved data set from four north‐temperate lakes to investigate the sampling requirements necessary to precisely quantify common zooplankton species and taxonomic aggregates as well as the influence that a reduced sampling regime has on our ability to investigate changes in community structure. Sample sizes required for estimating mean annual abundance (precision of 20%) ranged from 4–7 samples per year for total crustacean zooplankton abundance to as many as 34–86 samples per year for individual rotifer species, depending on the lake. Despite these often onerous sampling requirements for some taxa, patterns of population abundance were typically quite similar when compared using reduced (five samples per year) and extended (14 samples per year on average) data sets. The same 3‐fold reduction in sampling produced taxa‐specific shifts in community structure ranging between 6% to 20% for two‐dimensional solutions and between 9% to 21% in three dimensions, depending on the lake. Although community structure was not significantly different between reduced and extended sampling scenarios, we found that the correlations between taxa and ordination axes could change and that these differences increased with the dimensionality of the ordination. Although individual investigators need to determine acceptable boundaries of sampling precision based on the objectives of their study, it appears that enumerating 5–10 sample events per year may adequately document long‐term changes in populations and communities on an annual basis in many lakes.
Genetic diversity of Pakistani maize genotypes using chromosome specific simple sequence repeat (SSR) primer sets

For improvement of maize crop presence of genetic diversity in the germplasm is very important. This study was conducted to determine genetic diversity among 17 Pakistani maize genotypes using 10 simple sequence repeat (SSR) primer sets. All the amplification products were in the range of genetic distances were calculated. High degree of genetic polymorphism was observed among the maize genotypes with overall genetic distance ranged from 0 - 100% and average genetic distance ranged from 0 - 81%. A total of 196 alleles were amplified with an average of 1.56 alleles permicrosatellite/ genotypes locus. SSR primer sets p-umc1354, p-umc1984, p-umc1186, p-umc1325, pumc2281, p-umc1586, p-umc1824 and p-umc1154 amplified 2.90, 1.06, 2.00, 1.35, 1.50, 1.50, 1.00 and 1.18 loci per genotype, respectively. Two SSR primer sets p-mmc0411 and p-umc1184 amplified none of the genomic DNA of 17 genotypes. Two genetically most diverse comparisons (population 9804 vs pahari and population 9804 vs CGCW) were identified and recommendations have been made to use these comparisons of maize genotypes in further breeding programs.
Effect of dietary starch level and source on performance, caecal fermentation and meat quality in growing rabbits

To evaluate the effects of starch level and source on growth performance, caecal fermentation, and carcass and meat quality, six diets were formulated including different percentage of barley (B) or corn (C) or equal proportions of the two cereals (BC) to obtain moderate (M) or high (H) starch levels, and fed to 96 rabbits from 35 d of age until slaughter (73 d). Within starch level, B and C diets presented similar chemical composition and nutritive value while starch digestibility was higher in B diets. The starch source did not affect growth performance and meat quality and showed weak effects on caecal fermentation, apart from a higher proportion of valerate in rabbits fed diets C (P<0.05). According to cereal inclusion rate, M diets were lower in starch (17.0 vs 20.6% DM) and digestible energy concentration (12.1 vs 12.6 MJ/kg DM) and higher in fibre concentration (ADL: 4.7 vs 3.9% DM) than H diets. The starch level affected growth performance: H diets stimulated weight gain (41.7 vs 43.5 g/d; P<0.05) and improved feed conversion (P<0.001) in comparison with M diets but did not affect health status or caecal fermentation. High-starch diets also increased dressing percentage (60.9 vs 61.5%; P<0.05), and cooking losses and share press force of meat.
The Accumulation of α-Zein in Transgenic Tobacco Endosperm is Stabilized by Co-expression of β-Zein

;The cysteine-poor α-zein is the major prolamin storage protein fraction in maize endosperm and is localized in the interior of protein bodies with δ-zein, whereas the hydrophobic cysteine-rich β- and γ-zein are found on the exterior of the PB. In transgenic tobacco endosperm expressing zein genes, α-zein was unstable unless coexpressed with γ-zein. Here we showed that α-zein was also stabilized by β-zein. Small accretions of α- and β-zeins, similar in appearance to maize protein bodies, were localized to the endoplasmic reticulum within tobacco endosperm cells. The zein proteins were also localized to protein storage vacuoles in a more dispersed pattern, suggesting that they were transported there after they were post-translationally sequestered into the ER.
Effects of adding aluminum sulfate to different litters on selected trace elements and vitamins concentrations in broiler

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of adding aluminum sulfate to different litters on blood plasma concentrations of some principal microelements and some vitamins in broilers. In this experiment, 645 day old Ross 308 broiler chicks were randomly divided into 4 litter group (straw, sawdust, alum treated-straw and alum treated-sawdust). At the end of the experiment 10 birds (5 male + 5 female) from each of the groups were slaughtered by severing the jugular vein and sampled by taking the blood. Blood plasma concentrations of vitamin A (retinol), vitamin E (∝-tocoferol), Co, Zn and Cu were determined. Body weight measured at 6 week of age. Blood plasma Zn, Cu concentrations did not differ significantly (P≤ 0.05) among treatments, but the broilers reared in the control straw group showed lower Co concentration. The vitamin A and E levels in the serum of the broilers in the straw and saw dust groups were slightly lower than the other groups. The body weight of female in the alum treated groups at the end of the experiment was significantly higher than control groups. The body weight of male in the alum treated-sawdust group at the end of the experiment was significantly higher than the other groups. It could be concluded that amending aluminum sulfate to different litters adversely affected blood plasma concentrations and body weight of broiler.
Ulva shanxiensis (Ulvaceae), a New Species from Shanxi, China

Abstract. Ulva shanxiensis L. Chen, J. Feng & S. L. Xie (Ulvaceae), a new species from Shanxi Province in northern China, is described, illustrated, and compared with its closest relatives. The taxon may be confused with U. prolifera O. F. Müller and U. intestinalis L. , but is characterized by abundant spinal branches that end with a single-tier cell and more than one pyrenoid. A taxonomic key is provided to facilitate the identification of this new species and closely related freshwater species in China. Molecular studies also confirm the position of the new species among other green algal species of the Ulvaceae.
DaC‐Join: A join operator for improving database performance on modern hardware

The computer industry is moving toward the construction in large scale of chips with hundreds of cores to increase on‐chip parallelism. In parallel, computers with solid state memory, the so‐called solid state drive (SSD for short), providing petabytes of storage area, is emerging. Nonetheless, database systems (DBSs) were designed based upon two premises. The first is the usage of magnetic disks (HDDs). The second one is that distributed DBSs could scale beyond what a single‐node DBMS can support. However, the latter premise only holds for a small number of CPU cores per node and for a limited number of nodes. Thus, to fully exploit benefits of parallelism and high IOPS rates supported by many‐core machines with SSDs, database systems should be aware of upcoming CPU architecture and storage technology. In this paper, we present a new join algorithm, denoted DaC‐Join, whose key goal is to exploit on‐chip parallelism and high IOPS rates delivered by modern hardware. DaC‐Join is able to run on multiple cores in parallel, increasing this way intra‐operator parallelism. Furthermore, the proposed operator effectively decreases the activity of writing back join temporary results on SSDs, which minimizes the problem of write operation latency in SSDs. In order to validate the novel approach, simulations with a prototype have been conducted over TPC‐H benchmark database, scale factor 10. The achieved results evidence the suitability of DaC‐Join.
VIRTUALIZED INTELLIGENT HONEYPOT AGENT

A honeypot system is described that can expand to any attack surface as it learns and grows with the changing device landscape. The system also takes into account the human elements that originated the attack. By using adversarial training mechanisms, the system may be quickly trained to become a doppelganger and attract attacks. Moreover, a unique quantum cognitive framework provides a robust adaptivity to ever-changing attacker strategies. Virtualized intelligent honeypot agents may be introduced into the network, device