Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lifetime gains of host‐feeding in a synovigenic parasitic wasp

Abstract. Understanding behavioural decisions relative to host use for feeding or reproduction by foraging parasitoids requires not only the study of metabolic pathways followed by nutrients, but also the quantification of lifetime fitness gains of each alternative behaviour. By using a combination of observational and manipulative approaches, the lifetime host‐feeding gains are measured both in terms of fecundity and longevity in the parasitoid Eupelmus vuilletti. Host‐feeding increases both egg production and longevity. The increase in fecundity is mainly determined by the amount of lipids obtained whereas the lifespan extension is mainly determined by carbohydrates. Proteins obtained through host‐feeding have been implicated previously in egg production by parasitoids but protein intake has no effect on fecundity and longevity in E. vuilletti. The amount of nutrients gained through host‐feeding and invested in eggs is variable and changes over the lifetime of the animal. Therefore, lifetime feeding gains are best understood through the construction of dynamical budgets running over the entire lifespan of an insect.
Hematological Values of Healthy Roseringed Parakeets (Psittaculla krameri)

Abstract Nazifi, S. and Vesal, N. 2003. Hematological values of healthy roseringed parakeets (Psittaculla krameri). J. Appl. Anim. Res., 24: 165–168. Blood samples were collected from 16 apparently healthy adult roseringed parakeets (Psittaculla krameri) of both sexes and hematological values were estimated. The mean values of RBCs, Hb, PCV, MCV, MCH, MCHC and WBCs were 4.68±0.68x106/μl, 16.53±0.53g/dl, 48.24±1.24%, 103.51±19.17 fl, 35.44±6.98 pg, 34.29±4.56 g/dl and 4.02±0.88x108/μl, respectively. The leukocytes had 58.43, 38.18, 2.63, 0.43 and 0.32per cent lymphocytes, heterophils, monocytes, eosinophils and basophils, respectively. Sex of the birds did not affect these values.
The Clinical Relationship of the Immune and Antioxidant Systems in Chronic Obstructive Bronchitis in Young Men and Adolescents

Relevance. Respiratory diseases occupy a leading place in the pathology of childhood and adolescence, differing in their significant prevalence and tendency to recurrent course. The leading role in the formation of a protracted course of inflammatory diseases of the respiratory tract in young men and adolescents belongs to immunological mechanisms, in which a wide range of cytokines are involved, which are responsible for the activation, proliferation, and chemotaxis of various cells. The purpose of the study. The study of the clinical relationship between the production of IL-8, IL-1β and the antioxidant system in the serum of peripheral blood in chronic obstructive bronchitis in young men and adolescents. Materials and methods. The study involved 53 adolescents and youths suffering from chronic obstructive bronchitis aged 11 to 25 years. The control group consisted of 22 healthy individuals of adolescence. Verification patients with chronic obstructive bronchitis was carried out according to the international classification of WHO. Results and its discussion. The main symptoms of chronic obstructive bronchitis in young men and adolescents were coughing and sputum production for most days for at least three consecutive months for more than two years. The examination revealed symptoms of a general nature, such as sweating, weakness, fever, decreased mental and physical potential. Analysis parameter cytokine status in the studied patients with chronic obstructive bronchitis in adolescence found high production of IL-8 by immunocompetent cells. Conclusions. The data on the immunological mechanisms of the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive bronchitis in adolescence allow us to recommend a new differentiated approach to the diagnosis and thereby to the pathogenesis treatment of the disease, which prevents the development of inflammation in the respiratory tract in patients with chronic obstructive bronchitis.
Increased Output Corruption and Structural Attack Resilience for SAT Attack Secure Logic Locking

Current out-of-cone logic locking methodologies provide resilience against the satisfiability (SAT) attack with minimal corruption of the outputs when comparing an activated and locked integrated circuit (IC). In addition, the structure of the modifications to the original logic leaks functional information of the circuit, which allows an adversary to determine the correct key. A novel logic locking methodology, CORruption adaptable logic locking (CORALL), is introduced in this article that provides increased security against the SAT attack for modified logic cones that require a large corruption of the primary outputs of the circuit, where the corruption is quantified by comparing between an activated and locked state of the IC. In addition, the modifications to the logic cone utilized by CORALL provide increased resilience against structural attacks. The CORALL architecture increases the number of iterations required to successfully execute a SAT attack for a flip function with 20 inputs by $34.41\! {\times }$ over SFLL-HD n/4 and $82.36\! {\times }$ over SFLL-Flex. In addition, a protected-cube selection process based on iterative cofactors is introduced, which provides varying logical functions of the perturb unit and maps portions of the logic of the perturb unit into the look-up tables (LUTs) of the CORALL architecture. The variation in the logical functions implemented by the perturb unit and the mapped functionality of the perturb unit into a LUT provide resistance to all current structural attacks on out-of-cone logic locking techniques.
Two-Stage Optimization-Based Model Predictive Control of 5L-ANPC Converter-Fed PMSM Drives

Balancing the dc-link voltage and three flying-capacitor (FC) voltages while maintaining very fast control of the motor is always a challenging task in five-level active neutral-point-clamped (5L-ANPC) converter-fed permanent-magnet synchronous motor drives, especially when the FC is small. Besides, the fundamental-frequency operation of the low-frequency cell (LFC) is also required to reduce the losses of the converter. This article proposed a two-stage optimization-based model predictive control (MPC) scheme to achieve these goals. In the first stage, the switching states of the LFC are selected based on the sign of the desired output voltage through a deadbeat approach for its fundamental-frequency operation; in the second stage, the optimal duty cycles for the high-frequency cell are calculated by the multiple-vector MPC and generated by phase-shifted pulsewidth modulation for its fixed-switching frequency operation. The FC and dc-link capacitor voltage balance can be managed by the flexibility of the inherent redundancy in the 5L-ANPC converter. Instead of 512, only six switching vectors must be considered, which significantly simplifies the computational burden of MPC. A thorough experimental evaluation has been conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed MPC method.
Effects of initial enrichment of nitrogen and phosphorus on Bostrychia and Caloglossa (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta) growth using digital imaging

Growth experiments measured the effects of an initial starvation period followed by a single nutrient pulse. Nutrient pulses were conducted at four different N‐levels (65, 1514, 2900, and 6080 μg N L‐1) and four different P‐levels (84, 281, 639, and 849 μg P L‐1) using isolates of Bostrychia moritziana (Sonder ex Kutzing) J.Agardh and Caloglossa leprieurii (Mon‐tagne) G.Martens. Specific growth rates (% day‐1) in primary axis length (6. moritziana only) and surface area were measured using digital imaging. Results showed that the specific growth rates of both algae were highly dependent on the N‐levels of the seawater (P < 0.001–0.05). Specific growth rates for the B. moritziana were approximately 3.5% day‐1 at t = 7 days declining to approximately 1.0–1.5% day‐1 at t = 49 days for the primary axis length, and approximately 8–9% day‐1 declining to approximately 2–3% day‐1 for surface area. The specific growth rate declined more rapidly with decreasing N initially added to the medium. In C. leprieurii, the specific growth rates for all four conditions at t = 8 days were approximately 11–13% day‐1, but N/O declined to approximately 3% day‐1 whereas the others declined to only approximately 7–8% day‐1 by t = 49 days. The effects of initial P‐levels on growth varied, but generally indicated a direct relationship with specific growth rate. In C. leprieurii, the number of nodes and blades per plant was also measured via digital imaging and were found to increase with increasing N‐levels, whereas P‐levels had no influence. It was concluded that B. moritziana and C. leprieurii are prone to N‐limitation, but P‐limitation is less prone. Using digital imaging to measure the specific growth rate in total surface area and primary axis length provided a significantly more accurate depiction of the rate of growth than some of the more conventional means of measuring growth rate.
Avaliação da presença de coliformes, bolores e leveduras em amostras de mel orgânico de abelhas africanizadas das ilhas do alto rio Paraná

This research was carried out to characterize the microbial flora of the organic honey produced in Parana River islands. The honey was directly collected in the evaluated colonies, in three apiaries distributed at Floresta and Laranjeira Islands. The collection period was from November 2005 to February 2006. It was evaluated 24 organic honey samples produced by Africanized honeybees. Following the international standard Compendium method for the Microbiology Examination of Foods, the analyzed parameters used were: presence of coliforms at 35°C and 45°C, and molds and yeasts quantification. All samples were in conformity with the MERCOSUL Technical Regulation Identity and Quality for Honey (MERCOSUL/GMC/RES no. 15/94. The analyzed samples indicated excellent microbiologic honey quality.
Effect of feeding enzymatically detoxified aflatoxin‐B1 diet on liver function test of wistar rats

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate safety of the enzymatic treatment (garlic peroxidase) for removing aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) from foods.Design/methodology/approach – An in vivo study was carried out on male wistar rats for three weeks. Since AFB1 is a hepatotoxic; the effect of AFB1 and the enzymatic detoxification of AFB1 on the liver function was studied by determining the serum activities of various hepatic enzymes in different groups of experimental rats.Findings – The peroxidase (POD) isolated from garlic possess AFB1 degrading properties and the overall detoxification is safe to be used in various foods/feeds as the reaction products produced no toxicity in the adult male wistar rats. Rats fed with aflatoxin contaminated diet possessed increased activities of all the hepatic enzymes investigated; showing symptoms of liver damage compared to rats fed with enzyme treated diet.Practical implications – The results of this study can be utilized for commercialization of the garlic POD mediate.
Mechanical and Thermomechanical Properties of Films Based on Whey Proteins as Affected by Plasticizer and Crosslinking Agents

Abstract The plasticizing effect of glycerol and the crosslinking effect of formaldehyde and calcium chloride on the mechanical and thermomechanical properties of whey protein-based films were studied. Increased plasticizer content increased the percentage of solubility in water and decreased the mechanical resistance, apparent Young modulus, and glass transition temperature of the whey protein films. The incorporation of formaldehyde as a crosslinking agent enhanced the mechanical properties and insolubility behavior and increased the glass transition temperature. The addition of a low concentration of CaCl 2 in the film formulation did not significantly effect the functional properties of the films. These changes could be partially explained by the modifications in cohesion between the protein chains because of changes in type, intensity, and distribution of the intermolecular interactions.
Is the Relation Between the Solar Wind Dynamic Pressure and the Magnetopause Standoff Distance so Straightforward?

We present results of global magnetohydrodynamic simulations which reconsider the relationship between the solar wind dynamic pressure (Pd) and magnetopause standoff distance (RSUB). We simulate the magnetospheric response to increases in the dynamic pressure by varying separately the solar wind density or velocity for northward and southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). We obtain different values of the power law indices N in the relation RSUB∼Pd−1/N depending on which parameter, density, or velocity, has been varied and for which IMF orientation. The changes in the standoff distance are smaller (higher N) for a density increase for southward IMF and greater (smaller N) for a velocity increase. An enhancement of the solar wind velocity for a southward IMF increases the magnetopause reconnection rate and Region 1 current that move the magnetopause closer to the Earth than it appears in the case of density increase for the same dynamic pressure.
Parametric study of asymmetric thermoelectric devices for power generation

Thermoelectric devices are considered a promising technique for recycling waste heat. In the present work, a three‐dimensional numerical model is developed to study the output performance of thermoelectric devices. A comprehensive analysis is performed based on a conventional π‐type thermoelectric couple. The results indicate that the maximum power of thermoelectric devices generally increases with a decrease in height and an increase in cross‐sectional area; the maximum efficiency exhibits the opposite trends. The best way to reduce heat losses is by using ceramic plates with higher thermal conductivity. Moreover, the parasitic internal resistance exists in the thermoelements, and its influencing factors are studied. To minimize electric losses, an asymmetric structure is proposed for thermoelectric devices. The results exhibit that the optimal cross‐sectional area ratio of the p‐type and n‐type legs (Sp/Sn) is mainly contingent upon the thermoelectric material parameters; the greater the differences in the parameters of p‐type and n‐type thermoelectric materials, the greater the gains provided by the asymmetric structure. Furthermore, the experimental data present great consistency with the numerical results. The research results may help guide the design of thermoelectric devices with relatively lower power losses.
Task-Oriented Muscle Synergy Extraction Using An Autoencoder-Based Neural Model

The growing interest in wearable robots opens the challenge for developing intuitive and natural control strategies. Among several human–machine interaction approaches, myoelectric control consists of decoding the motor intention from muscular activity (or EMG signals) with the aim of driving prosthetic or assistive robotic devices accordingly, thus establishing an intimate human–machine connection. In this scenario, bio-inspired approaches, e.g., synergy-based controllers, are revealed to be the most robust. However, synergy-based myo-controllers already proposed in the literature consider muscle patterns that are computed considering only the total variance reconstruction rate of the EMG signals, without taking into account the performance of the controller in the task (or application) space. In this work, extending a previous study, the authors presented an autoencoder-based neural model able to extract muscles synergies for motion intention detection while optimizing the task performance in terms of force/moment reconstruction. The proposed neural topology has been validated with EMG signals acquired from the main upper limb muscles during planar isometric reaching tasks performed in a virtual environment while wearing an exoskeleton. The presented model has been compared with the non-negative matrix factorization algorithm (i.e., the most used approach in the literature) in terms of muscle synergy extraction quality, and with three techniques already presented in the literature in terms of goodness of shoulder and elbow predicted moments. The results of the experimental comparisons have showed that the proposed model outperforms the state-of-art synergy-based joint moment estimators at the expense of the quality of the EMG signals reconstruction. These findings demonstrate that a trade-off, between the capability of the extracted muscle synergies to better describe the EMG signals variability and the task performance in terms of force reconstruction, can be achieved. The results of this study might open new horizons on synergies extraction methodologies, optimized synergy-based myo-controllers and, perhaps, reveals useful hints about their origin.
A Single-Phase ac–dc–ac Unidirectional Three-Leg Converter

This article presents a single-phase ac–dc–ac unidirectional three-level three-leg converter. It is composed by a unidirectional T-type leg at the input side, a bidirectional T-type leg at the load side and a bidirectional T-type leg that is shared between the input and load. The proposed converter allows feeding the load voltage with a sinusoidal voltage that has both constant amplitude and frequency. It also keeps the well-known merits of a T-type leg, such as lower conduction losses and better power quality, associated with the reduced component count provided by the shared-leg. Therefore, the proposed converter is a good candidate for ac–dc–ac low-medium-voltage applications, in which efficiency and power quality are major selection criteria. A detailed analysis of the converter is provided, including the converter model, a complete control strategy and a space-vector pulsewidth modulation (PWM) technique. The space-vector PWM technique was developed aiming to reduce switching losses, while ensuring five-level multilevel voltages at both the grid and load sides, and equalizing the unbalance caused by the mid-point dc-link capacitor's connection. In order to validate the theoretical analysis, simulated and experimental results are presented and discussed.
Ubiquitination of Protein Kinase C-α and Degradation by the Proteasome*

Bryostatins and phorbol esters acutely activate and subsequently down-regulate protein kinase C (PKC) by inducing its proteolysis via an unknown pathway. Here we show that treatment of renal epithelial cells with bryostatin 1 (Bryo) produced novel PKC-α species, which were larger than the native protein (80 kDa). The >80 kDa PKC-α species contained Ubi as indicated by immunostaining and accumulated in the presence of lactacystin, a selective inhibitor of proteolysis by the proteasome. In vitro experiments with 125I-ubiquitin and membranes from Bryo-treated cells showed that PKC-α became ubiquitinated by a reaction that depended on ATP and a cytosolic fraction. Lactacystin or a peptidyl aldehyde, Bz-Gly-Leu-Ala-leucinal, which inhibits certain proteinase activities of the proteasome, inhibited Bryo-evoked disappearance of PKC-α protein from the cells. Lacta preserved Bryo-induced 32P-labeled PKC-α indicating that the proteasome inhibitor spared activated enzyme from down-regulation in vivo. These findings show that Bryo induces the degradation of PKC-α by the ubiquitin-proteasome complex.
Taxonomic distinctness and environmental assessment

The objectives of this paper are to test the performance of the taxonomic distinctness index, δ+, in a number of environmental impact scenarios, to examine its relationship with functional diversity and to examine the influence of habitat type and diversity on the index. The index was applied to data on free-living marine nematodes from the coasts of Britain and Chile. The taxonomic distinctness of nematodes from environmentally degraded locations was generally reduced in comparison with that of more pristine locations, often significantly so. Some habitat types may have naturally lower values of taxonomic distinctness than others. However, unless the habitats are degraded in some way the δ+ values do not generally fall below the lower 95% confidence limit of the simulated distribution under a null hypothesis that the assemblages behave as if they are a random selection from the regional species pool. This ameliorates the problem encountered with species richness measures of biodiversity, which are much more strongly affected by habitat type and complexity, thus making comparisons difficult between data sets from different habitats or where habitat type is uncontrolled. Taxonomic distinctness in marine nematodes is shown to be related to trophic diversity: a reduction in trophic diversity will lead to a reduction in taxonomic distinctness, although not necessarily to a reduction in species richness. Trophic composition itself is clearly affected by pollution, but is also strongly responsive to the major influence of habitat type. These features of the taxonomic distinctness index, coupled with its lack of dependence on sampling effort or differences in taxonomic rigour between workers and a statistical framework for the assessment of the significance of departure from expectation, suggest that it may prove to be a biologically and ecologically relevant measure of biodiversity. This paper demonstrates that the taxonomic distinctness index has a number of theoretical and logistical advantages over measures of species richness for the purposes of environmental assessment.
Aplikasi Media Pembelajaran Aksara Sunda Berbasis Android

The Sundanese script is the work of orthography of Sundanese people since around the 5th century AD until today. However, the lack of interesting and motivating media to learn scripts, both printed and electronic, makes the Sundanese script endangered. With the rapid development of technology and the era of digitalization as today, most Indonesian people have smartphones with Android operating systems that are easy to carry anywhere. Android is not only used as a communication and entertainment tool, but also as a method that can be developed as a learning medium that can convey learning material textually, and audio-visually. The purpose of this research is to design an easy-to-use Sundanese script learning media application and to implement an Android-based Sundanese script learning media application so that the public is interested in learning Sundanese script. The method used for application development is MDLC (Multimedia Development Life Cycle) multimedia application in education which consists of 6 stages, including Concept, Design, Material Collecting, Assembly, Testing and Distribution. The result obtained from this study is the Android-based application of Sundanese script learning media. The application has been tested with alpha test and from the results of the test, it can be concluded that the public can easily learn the Sundanese script with an attractive appearance because this application is equipped with audio pronunciation of the Sundanese script .
Heterotrophic growth of filamentous blue-green algae

A survey has been made of the growth response shown by 20 filamentous blue-green algal strains to the presence of organic substrates in the medium. Six strains showed no growth in the dark in the presence of any substrate. Among the other 14 strains, relative growth response to added substrates often fell in relation to the sequence: sucrose > fructose > glucose > maltose. The 20 strains can be classified according to their ability to make use of added 0·01 m sucrose. The different categories include: negligible increase in growth under any circumstances; photoheterotrophic growth only; photoheterotrophic growth + survival in dark; photo-heterotrophic + chemoheterotrophic growth. Three of the strains capable of chemoheterotrophic growth are more restricted in the dark than in the light with respect to the nitrogen sources they can use.