Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rays and Skates of Devon and Cornwall. II. A Study of the Fishery; with Notes on the Occurrence, Migrations and Habits of the Species

1. Until the beginning of the present century there was little demand in this country for Rays and Skates. This fishery is now of major importance both nationally and within the Devon and Cornwall area. 2. Of the eleven species of Raia present in the western area of the Channel, R. clavata makes the greatest numerical contribution (37%) to the total landings in Devon and Cornwall. The composition of the catches obtained by different methods of fishing varies greatly. 3. R. clavata is the most widely distributed species in the Channel area at all depths and on all kinds of sea bottom. 4. In a series of trawl hauls off the west coast of Ireland R. clavata was most numerous in the catches down to about 100 fm. From that depth down to about 170 fm. (the greatest depth fished) R. fullonica was most numerous. 5. Unispecific and even unisexual shoals of at least three species of Raia—R. clavata, R. brachyura, R. fullonica—occur. 6. When more than one species of Raia is present within the same area at the same time, the members of the different species have been found not to mix indiscriminately. 7. R. clavata appears to hatch out in shallow water close inshore and gradually move seawards into deeper water as it grows. 8. Adult R. clavata show definite migratory movements, though the full extent of their wanderings is not yet known. There is an inshore migration in early spring of adult fish to a small part of the coast near Plymouth. The first fish to appear are females, males appearing later. 9. There is evidence of somewhat similar migratory movements by R. brachyura. 10. R. clavata—and possibly also R. brachyura and R. batis—at times may feed almost entirely on Herrings. 11. Large R. batis feed to no inconsiderable extent on other species of Eaia. 12. In foraging for their food Rays and Skates depend upon some sense other than sight. 13. There has been in recent years a steady decline in the landings of Rays and Skates from the English Channel—probably due to depletion of the available stock of fish.
Age validation and growth of three commercially important hemiramphids in south‐eastern Australia

The method of using sectioned otoliths to estimate age in three species of garfishes (family Hemiramphidae) was validated by: (1) staining fishes with the vital stain alizarin complexone (ALC) and periodically examining their otolith growth, and (2) marginal increment analyses. Staining fishes with ALC indicated that opaque zones were formed during winter and spring, but did not become visible on the otolith edge until late spring and summer. Hyporhamphus australis were found to be similar to the hemiramphids of the Atlantic in having fast growth rates and a maximum observed age of 4+ years old. Hyporhamphus regularis ardelio and Arrhamphus sclerolepis krefftii were found to be more similar to the southern sea garfish, Hyporhamphus melanochir, in being moderately long-lived, with maximum observed ages of 7+ years old for both species. Females grew faster and attained greater fork lengths than males for each species. Sectioned otoliths showed large variation in the appearance of opaque zones between the three species studied, with those from the wide-ranging, oceanic H. australis appearing inconsistent and diffuse when compared to the estuarine H. r. ardelio and A. s. krefftii. This variation was also apparent from fishes kept in aquaria, suggesting that the appearance of opaque zones in otoliths of these species is largely influenced by physiology, rather than by environmental conditions.
Summer habitat preferences of GPS-collared reindeer Rangifer tarandus tarandus

Abstract Reindeer Rangifer tarandus tarandus husbandry in Sweden commonly uses the Scandinavian mountain chain as grazing area during the snow-free season and the coniferous forests in the east during winter. Current knowledge of habitat use by reindeer is primarily based on traditional or local knowledge, or on investigations carried out on wild reindeer and caribou in other parts of the world. We identified spatial and temporal habitat use of free-ranging semi-domesticated reindeer by following 48 GPS-equipped reindeer in three summer ranges in the Swedish reindeer herding area. The GPS equipment registered positions every hour or every second hour, during two snow-free seasons. The GPS-collared reindeer were randomly chosen from herds with several thousand animals. Estimated home-range utilisation distributions were used to fit resource utilisation functions (RUFs) including various topographical features, vegetation types, and the vicinity to water and hiking trails. The GPS-equipped reindeer used different parts of the range throughout the snow-free season. Preferred vegetation types were consistently meadows, grass heaths, and other heaths. Avoided vegetation types were all types of forests, sparsely vegetated areas, and bare rocks. The reindeer were seemingly indifferent to hiking trails within their home ranges, which, however, usually coincided with preferred vegetation types, but they avoided areas with houses and holiday huts during early summer. Later in the season, the reindeer preferred higher elevated areas where human constructions were sparse. The home ranges of the GPS-equipped reindeer overlapped considerably during early parts of the season, indicating a dense use of the range by the entire herds. Crowding within the herds appeared to make individual reindeer select non-optimal habitats. However, in our study, we found a non-significant tendency of less predictable individual home ranges when there were large range overlaps. Vegetation types, direction of slopes, time within the season and the possibilities of avoiding insect harassment appear to be key factors for predicting valuable reindeer habitats in novel areas in a land management context.
?-lactamase gene blaSHV detected in bacteria isolated from retail sushi inKampar, Malaysia.

Increasing prevalence of multi-antibiotic resistant bacteria in humans is a major concern for public health. The widespread use of antimicrobial agents in plant production, animals and food production has created a reservoir of resistant bacteria with resistance genes that can be transmitted to humans through foodborne route. Hence, the priority of this study was to isolate and characterize multi-antibiotic resistant bacteria from retail sushi in Kampar. Twenty sushi samples consisting of egg, shrimp, cucumber, raw salmon, and fish roe were sampled. A total of 22 bacteria colonies were isolated on nutrient agar supplemented with ampicillin. Gram staining, biochemical tests and Kirby-Bauer antibiotic susceptibility tests were carried out to investigate characteristics of bacterial isolates. From the 22 bacterial isolates, 45% (10/22) were found to be multi-antibiotic resistant. All bacterial isolates were then cultured overnight with ampicillin-supplemented nutrient broth and total DNA was extracted from each using the rapid boil method. The extracted DNA was used as a template for PCR amplification of β-lactamase gene using blaSHV and blaTEM specific primers. Surprisingly, 9% (2/22) of the multi-antibiotic isolates were tested positive for blaSHV gene, while none carried blaTEM gene. The bacteria harboring blaSHV was identified to be Raoultella ornithinolytica through API 20E test. The presence of β-lactamase gene blaSHV in the bacteria isolates from sushi may be a source of transmission of antibiotic resistance traits in human via the food chain.
Genetics of Powdery Mildew Resistance in Barley

Abstract A comprehensive, critical review on the present knowledge regarding the genetics of resistance of barley to the powdery mildew fungus is presented. The review deals with six kinds of resistance: Race-specific resistance; Mlo resistance; partial resistance; induced resistance; passive resistance; and non-host resistance. Most of the sections are subdivided into: phenotype of the interaction; resistance mechanisms; and genetics. A distinction is made between three groups of genes involved in the defense of plants to diseases: those that serve exclusively to mediate resistance; those that are mobilized to strengthen the plants' defense; and those that serve exclusively functions other than disease defense, but may bring about resistance. The more than 200 gene symbols assigned to race-specific mildew resistance genes over time are summarized and revised to 85 symbols that may be considered valid.
Past and future of poultry meat harvesting technologies

The poultry industry has seen significant changes in the methods used to harvest fresh poultry meat over the past four decades. Some of the major changes include a more than four-fold increase in line speed (new plants are designed to process 12,000 broilers per hour), a large increase in the proportion of cut up and deboned meat produced, as well as substantial improvements in sanitation. These advancements have been possible by gaining knowledge in areas such as computer science (e.g. image analysis, on line weighing and tracking), live bird handling (transportation, unloading, stunning), muscle biology (post mortem processes), heat and mass transfer (scalding, chilling), and engineering (machine building, metallurgy). This article includes a general overview of the different steps involved in primary poultry processing and focuses on some of the principles that have been used to achieve greater efficiencies in mechanising the whole process. The focus areas include stunning, electrical stimulation, chilling, and mechanical filleting. These topics will be used to demonstrate the importance of obtaining high meat quality (e.g. fewer downgrades, high water holding, acceptable tenderness and colour) currently demanded by processors as well as consumers. The advantages of in-line-processing will also be highlighted, where improved efficiencies have been achieved by incorporating real-time computerised monitoring and tracking systems. Overall, a comprehensive understanding of the whole process and the integration of the different steps is a challenge that must be met by both the equipment manufacturer and processing plant personnel. Because of the increased complexity of the whole integrated process, it is highly recommended that the processor team up with a very knowledgeable equipment manufacturer who has the technical understanding and experience within all stages of the process (farm gate to fork), to effectively optimise quality, yield, and speed.
상상 움직임에 대한 실시간 뇌전도 뇌 컴퓨터 상호작용, 큐 없는 상상움직임에서의 뇌 신호 분류 Real-time BCI for imagery movement and Classification for uncued EEG signal

Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is a communication pathway between devices (computers) and human brain. It treats brain signals in real-time basis and discriminates some information of what human brain is doing. In this work, we develop a EEG BCI system using a feature extraction such as common spatial pattern (CSP) and a classifier using Fisher linear discriminant analysis (FLDA). Two-class EEG motor imagery movement datasets with both cued and uncued are tested to verify its feasibility
Regulation of Protein Kinase Mζ Synthesis by Multiple Kinases in Long-Term Potentiation

The persistent activity of protein kinase Mζ (PKMζ) maintains synaptic long-term potentiation (LTP) and spatial memory, but the interactions between PKMζ and the other protein kinases implicated in synaptic plasticity are unknown. During LTP, PKMζ is rapidly synthesized from a PKMζ mRNA that encodes a protein kinase Cζ (PKCζ) catalytic domain without a regulatory domain; thus, second messengers that activate full-length PKC isoforms are not required to stimulate PKMζ. Like other PKCs, however, PKMζ must be phosphorylated on its activation loop by phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1 (PDK1) for optimal catalytic activity. Thus, two sequential steps are required for the persistent increased PKMζ activity that maintains LTP: de novo synthesis of PKMζ and phosphorylation of its activation loop. Here, using a panel of antisera to phosphorylated and nonphosphorylated sites on PKMζ, we show that PI3-kinase (phosphoinositide 3-kinase), CaMKII (Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II), MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase), PKA (protein kinase A), mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin), all important for LTP induction, as well as preexisting PKMζ, regulate the new synthesis of PKMζ during LTP. In contrast, PDK1 forms a complex with PKMζ and maintains maximal phosphorylation of its activation loop. Thus, the two steps of PKMζ formation serve separate functions in LTP: the initial regulated synthesis of PKMζ is the site of convergence and integration for multiple kinases of induction, whereas the constitutive phosphorylation of PKMζ by PDK1 initiates the persistent autonomous activity that sustains maintenance.
Adaptive Convergence and Divergence of Subterranean Mammals

Evolutionary theory should ideally specify the necessary and sufficient determinants of the convergent and divergent patterns that have evolved in subterranean mammals (i.e. mammals that have radiated over space and time into the subterranean ecological zone). These include fossorial species that spend most of their lives in sealed burrows and come to the surface only incidentally (Table 1). The physical and biotic uniqueness of subterranean ecology provides an excellent evolutionary theater where adaptive conver­ gent evolution molds populations, species, and communities in similar but geographically distinct environments throughout the world on all levels of organization: genetic, biochemical, physiological, anatomical, behavioral, populational, life-historical, and speciational. The objective of this paper is to compare and contrast the evolutionary patterns and adaptive strategies of completely subterranean mammals and to suggest a theory specifying the selective forces operating in this unique environment. Which mammals radiated underground? Three of the 19 orders of mam­ mals have completely subterranean representatives: the rodents, the insec­ tivores, and the marsupials. Distribution patterns, geographical and paleontological, are given in the Table and Figures. The taxonomic distribution of subterranean mammals is extensive: 10 of 132 mammali­ an families (�7.5%), comprising some 35 of 1004 mammalian genera (�3.5%), and 144 of 4060 mammalian species (�3.5%), based on classical taxonomy (2). The new discoveries of widespread chromosomal sibling species in mammals may increase manyfold the number of subterranean
Genetic parameters of production and reproduetive traits in on a farm tested Danish Large White and Landrace swine in Greece

Abstract. Production and reproduetive traits in Danish Landrace (LD) and Large White (LW) swine were analysed by restricted maximum likelihood methods to obtain heritabilities as well as genetic and phenotypic correlations. Production traits were: age, backfat thickness (BT), muscle depth (MD) and the ratio BT/MD, adjusted to Standard bodyweight of 85 kg. Reproduction traits were: number of pigs born (NB) and number of pigs weaned (NW) per sow and parity. Heritabilities for age, BT, MD and BT/MD were 0.60, 0.44, 0.51 and 0.42 for LD and 0.36, 0.44, 0.37 and 0.45 for LW, respectively. Genetic correlations between age and BT were −0.22 in LD and – 0.44 in LW. The genetic correlation between age and MD was close to zero in both breeds. Genetic correlation between BT and MD were −0.36 and −0.25 in LD and LW, respectively. Heritabilities for NB were 0.25 in LD and 0.13 in LW while heritabilities for NW were close to zero in both breeds. Genetic correlation between NB and NW was 0.46 and 0.70 in LD and LW, respectively.
Age of primiparity and implications of early reproduction on life history in female Columbian ground squirrels

Summary 1. Factors leading to differences in age of primiparity and possible life-history implications arising from these differences were studied in a population of Columbian ground squirrels ( Spermophilus columbianus ; Ord, 1815). We used data collected from 1992 to 2000 on two neighbouring colonies of ground squirrels in south-eastern Alberta, Canada. 2. Earlier born females were more likely to wean successfully a litter at the age of 2. Among 2-year-old females, those who emerged earlier and heavier from hibernation were more likely to wean offspring than those females who emerged later and lighter from hibernation. The presence of the mother had a significant positive impact on reproductive output in 2-year-old females. 3. Although there was a positive correlation between lifetime reproductive success and age at death, there was no difference in lifetime reproductive success or in age at death, depending on age of primiparity. For individual females, litter size at weaning at 2 years old did not differ from that at 3 years old. 4. We conclude that body condition, presence or absence of the mother and environmental conditions are the main factors leading to differences in age of first successful reproduction in Columbian ground squirrels. Previous breeding experience does not seem to play a role in determining reproductive success. Finally, differences in age of first successful reproduction do not seem to have an effect on lifetime reproductive success or longevity.
Cadmium-induced plant stress investigated by scanning electron microscopy in Cajanus cajan

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic and non-essential heavy metal that can be harmful even at low concentrations to plants. Cajanus cajan is an important pulse crop of India. The effect of CdCl 2 (0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06 mM) on three cultivars LRG30, LRG41, ICPL85063 of pigeonpea plants growth and function of stomata was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. In the growth, root and shoot lengths were more affected and a significance decrease with increasing Cd concentration was noticed when compared to their controls. The stomatal structure and behaviour of the primary leaves of the pigeonpea were studied. Among the three cultivars ICPL85063 was sensitive and affected more than the two resistant cultivars LRG30 and LRG41.
THE NEARLY NEUTRAL THEORY OF MOLECULAR EVOLUTION

For a long time the study of evolution has been based on morphology; the long neck of a giraffe, the human brain, a bird’s wing, and so on. Morphological change in evolution is explained by Darwin’s theory of natural selection, but this theory is largely qualitative rather than quantitative. Population genetics started more than half a century ago as an attempt to understand evolutionary change quantitatively. Because evolution must take place in all individuals of a species, the change of gene frequency in the population has been analyzed. However, so long as the facts of evolution are based on morphological traits, evolutionary change is very difficult to connect with gene frequency change except in relatively few circumstances. The remarkable progress of molecular biology has made it possible to apply population genetics theory to real data. We now know that genetic information is stored in linear sequences of DNA which are stably transmitted from generation to generation, and we can compare the linear sequences of DNA and amino acids among species. It is also possible to compare secondary and tertiary structures of proteins and nucleic acids from various sources. Because of such progress, some aspects of traditional neo-Darwinism are beginning to need revision. The first step in such a revision is the neutral mutation-random drift hypothesis put forward by Kimura (47) in 1968. In the next year, King & Jukes (53a) published a similar idea, though from a more biochemical point of view than that of Kimura. This theory states that most evolutionary changes at the molecular level are caused by random genetic drift of selectively neutral or nearly neutral mutations rather than by natural selection. Because this theory was contrary to the neo-Darwinian view at that time, it provoked much controversy. A complete review of the theory is found
Divergent responses to long-term grazing exclusion among three plant communities in a flood pulsing wetland in eastern Australia.

We examined the effects of grazing exclusion over a period of 14 years on the species richness and community composition of three plant communities with different dominant species and water regimes in the Gwydir Wetlands in eastern Australia. Responses to grazing exclusion varied among the three plant communities, and were most likely to be evident during dry periods rather than during periods of inundation. In frequently flooded plant communities, there was an increase in phytomass following exclusion of domestic livestock, but changes in plant community composition and species richness due to livestock exclusion varied depending on the morphological attributes of the dominant plant species. In a plant community where tall sedge species were dominant, livestock exclusion further increased their dominance and overall species richness declined. In contrast, where a prostrate grass species such as Paspalum distichum was dominant, species richness increased following livestock exclusion, due to an increase in the abundance of taller dicotyledon species. However, livestock exclusion in a community where flooding was less frequent and native grass species have been largely replaced with the introduced species Phyla canescens, resulted in no significant changes to phytomass, species richness or community composition among the grazing exclusion treatments over time. Our results indicate responses to exclusion of domestic livestock are dependent upon the dominant species within the plant community and will likely vary over time with the extent of wetland inundation. Grazing exclusion alone, without increased flooding, is unlikely to restore floristically degraded floodplain plant communities.
Developmental Competence of Bovine Oocytes Selected by Brilliant Cresyl Blue Staining: Effect of the Presence of Corpus Luteum on Embryo Development

ABSTRACT The local circumstances of the ovary may influenced by the presence of corpus luteum (CL). We investigated the cleavage rate and blastocyst development of bovine oocytes collected from ovaries with or without CL. Oocytes were incubated with brilliant cresyl blue (BCB) for 90 min and separated on the basis of low (BCB+) or high (BCB–) activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. For both types of ovaries, the embryo cleavage rates in the case of BCB+ oocytes were significantly higher than those in the case of BCB– oocytes, but were not higher than the rates in the control group. The percentage of blastocysts developing from BCB+ and BCB– oocytes from the ovaries with CL did not significantly differ. However, in the case of ovaries without CL, a significantly higher (P<0.05) percentage of blastocysts developed from BCB+ oocytes than from BCB– and control group oocytes. The presence or absence of CL did not significantly influence the cleavage rate and blastocyst development. Based on our results, we conclude that BCB staining facilitates the selection of competent oocytes that will develop into blastocysts for IVF better than conventional morphological selection methods. We also conclude that the CL does not significantly influence blastocyst development.