Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Larval Release Rhythms and Larval Behavior of Palinurid Lobsters: a Comparative Study

LARVAL RELEASE RHYTHMS AND LARVAL BEHAVIOR OF PALINURID LOBSTERS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY by Tracy Ann Ziegler Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Richard B. Forward, Jr., Supervisor ___________________________ Daniel Rittschof ___________________________ William W. Kirby-Smith ___________________________ Richard T. Barber ___________________________ Michael S. Grace An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Environment in the Nicholas School of Duke University 2007 Copyright by Tracy Ann Ziegler 2007
Influência da raça e estação em aspectos de qualidade do leite e na ocorrência de mastites

The aims of the present study were to evaluate the performance of Jersey and Holstein cows under different rainfall conditions (dry and rainy seasons) by monitoring aspects related to subclinical mastitis (somatic cell count, microbiological isolation, type of isolated pathogen), milk quality (lactose, protein, fat, total solids) and production (mean milk production) of both breeds. The study was carried out in a dairy farm located in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Eight visitations were done to the farm, four in a period of high rainfall and four in a period of low rainfall. Milk samples were collected from 79 Holstein cows and 37 Jersey cows for electronic somatic cell count and determination of the main milk components (protein, fat, total solids, lactose). Milk fat, protein, total solids and production were influenced by breed and the season, with similar tendencies for both breeds in both seasons. Somatic cell count (SCC) showed similar results for both breeds. Holstein cows with intramammary infections (IMI) presented a higher increase in SCC when compared to Jersey cows (P<0.001). In the dry season, 53 animals had IMI in at least one month during the study, which 32 were Holstein and 21 were Jersey cows. In the rainy season, 65 animals had intramammary infection, being 43 Holstein and 22 Jersey cows. The frequency of IMI cases was larger in the rainy season than in the dry season. Jersey cows had a lower chance of showing IMI signs and symptoms than Holstein cows in the rainy season (odds ratio=0.52). The larger number of IMI cases in the rainy season may have led to a lower milk lactose rate for both breeds, thus milk lactose rate can be considered an indicator of IMI status. There was prevalence of contagious pathogens overall in the study. The applied model showed that environmental pathogens were more frequently isolated from the breed Jersey, regardless of the study season. There seems to be differences in the immune response of Jersey and Holstein breeds.
Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of crude extracted insecticidal crystal proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis and Brevibacillus laterosporus

Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was conducted to determine the number and size of the insecticidal crystal proteins (ICPs) synthesized by four isolates of entomopathogenic spore-forming bacteria. Only three of the four bacteria produced ICPs with SDSPAGE profiles, of which two were strains of Bacillus thuringiensis and one was a strain of Brevibacillus laterosporus . Large sized proteins bands were present in the range of 73 kDa to 135 kDa for the B. thuringiensis strains. All the three isolates had smaller proteins in the range of 13 kDa to 44 kDa. One strain of B. thuringiensis , NDR11, produced an unusual large protein of 200 kDa. Small proteins in the range of 24 kDa to 40 kDa were produced by B. laterosporus. The Cry ICPs of isolate NDR3 did not produce any electrophoretic bands, indicating that its ICP did not dissolve under the conditions used. Key words: Insecticidal crystal proteins, entomopathogenic bacteria.
Named Entity Recognition in Chemical Patents using Ensemble of Contextual Language Models

Chemical patent documents describe a broad range of applications holding key reaction and compound information, such as chemical structure, reaction formulas, and molecular properties. These informational entities should be first identified in text passages to be utilized in downstream tasks. Text mining provides means to extract relevant information from chemical patents through information extraction techniques. As part of the Information Extraction task of the Cheminformatics Elsevier Melbourne University challenge, in this work we study the effectiveness of contextualized language models to extract reaction information in chemical patents. We assess transformer architectures trained on a generic and specialised corpora to propose a new ensemble model. Our best model, based on a majority ensemble approach, achieves an exact F1-score of 92.30% and a relaxed F1-score of 96.24%. The results show that ensemble of contextualized language models can provide an effective method to extract information from chemical patents.
Population diversity of Pseudomonas syringae subsp. savastanoi on olive and oleander.

Twenty-one strains of Pseudomonas syringae subsp. savastanoi, isolated from knots on olive and oleander trees growing in close proximity to or in physical contact with one another, were evaluated for knot induction and for bacteriocin production. In addition, DNA preparations from the bacterial strains were tested for hybridization to probes containing the tryptophan monooxygenase (iaaM) and isopentenyl transferase (ipt) genes, which are involved in indole-3-acetic acid and cytokinin biosynthesis, respectively, in P.s. subsp. savastanoi. The strains showed features characteristic of strains usually isolated from their respective host plants. For example, all 10 oleander strains were virulent both to oleander and olive, did not produce bacteriocins and harboured the iaaM gene on plasmids. In contrast, all 11 olive strains were virulent only to olive, 10 strains produced bacteriocins, and nine strains carried the iaaM gene on the chromosome. Two olive strains (OAll, OD21) harboured the gene coding for iaaM on plasmids. Furthermore, strain OD21 carried the iaaM gene on the same plasmid as the ipt gene. This is the first report both of a plasmid-borne iaaM in typical olive strains (virulent only to olive and bacteriocin producers), and of the presence of the ipt gene on the same plasmid. In olive and oleander strains the ipt gene was located either on plasmids or on the chromosome. These results suggest that under natural conditions the pathogen does not appear to spread from oleander to olive even when trees are growing in close proximity or in physical contact. The location of the phytohormone genes on plasmids or on the chromosome is discussed in relationship to bacteriocin-production and knot-induction on the host species.
Adaptive Energy Management for Real Driving Conditions via Transfer Reinforcement Learning

This article proposes a transfer reinforcement learning (RL) based adaptive energy managing approach for a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) with parallel topology. This approach is bi-level. The up-level characterizes how to transform the Q-value tables in the RL framework via driving cycle transformation (DCT). Especially, transition probability matrices (TPMs) of power request are computed for different cycles, and induced matrix norm (IMN) is employed as a critical criterion to identify the transformation differences and to determine the alteration of the control strategy. The lower-level determines how to set the corresponding control strategies with the transformed Q-value tables and TPMs by using model-free reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm. Numerical tests illustrate that the transferred performance can be tuned by IMN value and the transfer RL controller could receive a higher fuel economy. The comparison demonstrates that the proposed strategy exceeds the conventional RL approach in both calculation speed and control performance.
Fisherian and "good genes" benefits of mate choice: how (not) to distinguish between them

“Good genes” models of mate choice are commonly tested by examining whether attractive males sire offspring with improved survival. If offspring do not survive better (or indeed survive less well), but instead inherit the attractiveness of their father, results are typically interpreted to support the Fisherian process, which allows the evolution of preferences for arbitrary traits. Here, I show that the above view is mistaken. Because of life-history trade-offs, an attractive male may perform less well in other components of fitness. A female obtains a “good genes” benefit whenever males show heritable variation in quality, even if high-quality males invest so much in sexual advertisement that attractiveness has no positive correlation with any other life-history trait than male mating success itself. Therefore, a negative correlation between attractiveness and viability does not falsify good genes, if mating with a high-quality male results on average in superior offspring performance (mating success of sons included). The heritable “good genes” benefit can be sustained even if sexually antagonistic genes cause female offspring sired by high-quality males to survive and reproduce less well. Neglecting the component of male mating success from measurements of fitness returns from sons and daughters will bias the advantage of mating with a high-quality male downwards. This result may partly account for the rather weak “good genes” effects found in a recent meta-analysis.
Diapause and polyphenism of life‐history of Lagria hirta

This paper is focused on diapause and polyphenism of development of Lagria hirta L. and tries to unravel its mechanism of life‐history adaptation. Lagria hirta, distributed widely in Europe, has a strictly univoltine life cycle. The results showed that larval diapause and moulting polymorphism were the deciding factors that made L. hirta maintain its univoltinism and keep a flexible relation between seasonal changes and life‐history phases. In the laboratory, larvae of this species were not able to pupate if kept at constant temperatures of 5 °, 10 °, 15 °, 20 °, 25 ° or 30 °C combined with a photoperiod of either LD (L16:D8) or SD (L8:L16). Pupation only occurred if larvae were reared at 15 °–25 °C when intervened by a three‐month chilling at 5 °C in stages L3, L4, L5 or L6. A chilling treatment was shown to be obligatory for the termination of its larval diapause and had an accelerating and synchronizing effect on larval development. Larval diapause of L. hirta was characterized by no pupation and more moulting in advanced instars, longer duration of each single stage, and moulting desynchronization. Larval development was found to be variable with respect to the total number of instars: most larvae underwent a total of seven or eight moults; some larvae might even moult once or twice more, but they seldom pupated. It seemed that the choice for the 7‐instar or the 8‐instar development did not directly relate to any of the external conditions, such as temperature, photoperiod, and stages with chilling treatment. This polyphenism was observed in the same group under identical conditions and even in a single egg clutch. In L. hirta, overwintering in different stages of L3–L6, and choosing the 7‐ or 8‐instar pathway of development are two features that increase the plasticity and flexibility in coordinating its life cycle with seasonal change, that varies unpredictably from year to year.
Conventional stimulation protocol failed to produce mature oocytes : rescue ivm resulted in six pregnancies after invitro fertilization and embryo transfer

When conventional stimulation protocol in IVF cycle fails to produce mature oocytes, many a times, the cycle is cancelled and the patient is disappointed. Â Now that in-vitro maturation of oocyte is possible in view of commercial availability of media, perhaps it may be mandatory to retrieve immature oocytes and mature them in-vitro, freeze them if necessary and fertilize, develop embryos for transfer in order to help couples to achieve pregnancy. Â Thus maturation in-vitro of GVs has become an important adjuvant for treating PCOS and in particular poor responders to gonadotrophin stimulation. Â Our study is interesting because in spite of conventional stimulation protocol, we failed to recover any mature oocytes in eleven women when the average follicles size being 17mm at the time of hCG. Â However, maturing these oocytes in-vitro, as a rescue measure, resulted in 50% of these women becoming pregnant after embryo transfer.
Distribution of Two Western Clapper Rail Races as Determined by Responses to Taped Calls

Seven races of the Clapper Rail (RaZZus Zongirostris) are presently recognized from the western United States and the Pacific coast of Mexico (Oberholser 1937; Friedmann et al. 1950; A.O.U. Check-list 1957). Two of these races, the “Yuma” Clapper Rail (R. 1. yumanensis) and the “Sonora” Clapper Rail (R. 1. rhizophorae), were studied through observations and surveys conducted by the authors and others during the period 1968-70. The information was gathered as part of a joint research study of yumanensis by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, and the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Unlike most Clapper Rails, members of the Yuma race can be found, during the breeding season, in freshwater habitat inland from coastal areas. The birds are very secretive by nature and inhabit dense marsh habitat where they are seldom seen. Few documented sight observations had been made of yumunensis prior to 1968, and only 16 specimens of the subspecies are known to have been taken (Tomlinson, unpubl. data). This race is listed “endangered” in the Bureau of Sport gsheries and Wildlife Redbook (1968). The Yuma Clapper Rail was first described by Dickey (1923) from one of three specimens collected for him along the Colorado River near Laguna Dam, California (fig. 1). Moffitt (1932) observed that the same form inhabited the southern part of the Salton Sea, and Sechrist (Abbott 1940) confirmed that the bird nested there. Oberholser (1937) and Ridgway and Friedmann ( 1941) summarized the known range to that time as the freshwater marshes and adjacent irrigation canals along the Colorado River above Yuma north to Laguna Dam and west to the Salton Sea. Phillips et al. (1964) updated the distribution of yumanensis in Arizona. Using 19 sight
Molecular identification of Giardia lamblia isolates from adult human cases in southwest of Iran

patients who had been tested positive to G. lamblia. The samples were analyzed by semi-nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) using the gdh gene. Our results indicate 38 and 16% assemblages of BIII and AII, respectively. Mixed infections with both assemblages AII and BIII were also detected in 46% of the positive samples. This higher rate of mixed infection in the region may be explained by the common occurrence of repeated and cumulative infection by the parasite in the study area or may reflect environmental contamination of water resources. Therefore, it seems further studies are needed to clarify the route of infection in the study area.
Nutrition of the grazing ruminant.

Ruminants grazing pasture rarely approach their genetic potential for meat, milk or wool production. There are wide differences also between plant species and betweenleaf, stem and inflorescencefractions in their capacity to sustain animal production. The relatively low productivity of grazing ruminants and the differences between plant components in nutritional value can be explained from an understanding of the factors that determine nutrient supply to the animal’s tissues and the efficiency of metabolism. Nutrient supply to the tissues depends on (i) the nutrient contents of the forage available, which varies between plant species, their component parts, their stage of maturity and the growing conditions; (ii) the pasture components actually selected by the animal which am intluenced by ease of eating, taste, odour and tactile characteristics of the plant material available, its water content, the structure of the sward, the dimensions of the animal’s incisor arcade and its previous experience; (iii)the amount of each selected component eaten, whichisinfluenced bythepotentialof theanimal to utilizenutrients,the capacity of the retl (iv) modifications of consumed nutrients by rumen microbes, particularly the extent of breakdown of plant protein and the relative proportions of volatile fatty acids produced, (v) the efficiency of biochemical reactions metabolising the absorbed nutrients. Although a great deal is known about the way each of these factors influence nutrient supply to grazing animals, the complexity of the interactions&tweenthemoftenmakesitextremelydifficulttoidentifythespecificreasonsforreducedperformanceinanyparticularsituation. However, by integrating current concepts and knowledge using computer simulation techniques, the factors limiting nutrient supply to the animal’s tissues can be determined and the value of alternative management strategies for improving animal productivity assessed.
Investigating the fit between phonological feature systems and brain responses to speech using EEG

ABSTRACT This paper describes a technique to assess the correspondence between patterns of similarity in the brain's response to speech sounds and the patterns of similarity encoded in phonological feature systems, by quantifying the recoverability of phonological features from the neural data using supervised learning. The technique is applied to EEG recordings collected during passive listening to consonant-vowel syllables. Three published phonological feature systems are compared, and are shown to differ in their ability to recover certain speech sound contrasts from the neural data. For the phonological feature system that best reflects patterns of similarity in the neural data, a leave-one-out analysis indicates some consistency across subjects in which features have greatest impact on the fit, but considerable across-subject heterogeneity remains in the rank ordering of features in this regard.
Improving human activity recognition with neural translator models.

Multiple sensor modalities provide more accurate Human Activity Recognition (HAR) compared to using a single modality, yet the latter is more convenient and less intrusive. It is advantages to create a model which learns from all available sensors; although it is challenging to deploy such model in an environment with fewer sensors, while maintaining reliable performance levels. We address this challenge with Neural Translator, capable of generating missing modalities from available modalities. These can be used to generate missing or 'privileged' modalities at deployment to improve HAR. We evaluate the translator with k-NN classifiers on the SelfBACK HAR dataset and achieve up-to 4.28% performance improvements with generated modalities. This suggests that non-intrusive modalities suited for deployment benefit from translators that generate missing modalities at deployment.
THE HERPETOFAUNA OF THE CAPE PROVINCE, SOUTH AFRICA: NEW DISTRIBUTION RECORDS AND ZOOGEOGRAPHY

ABSTRACT Numerous new distribution records are given for 19 amphibian, 3 tortoise, 32 lizard, and 15 snake species and subspecies in the Cape Province, particularly in the eastern and central karroid regions. Many species are shown to have much wider distributions than previously believed. The importance of the mountains of the inland escarpment as a refugium for temperate species, the presence of isolated populations of western arid species in the karroid valleys of the northern Cape Fold Mountains, and the possible vicariant effects caused by sea level fluctuations on species inhabiting the southern Cape coastal plain, are briefly discussed.
The Very Early Stages of Biological Evolution and the Nature of the Last Common Ancestor of the Three Major Cell Domains

Quantitative estimates of the gene complement of the last common ancestor of all extant organisms, that is, the cenancestor, may be hindered by ancient horizontal gene transfer events and polyphyletic gene losses, as well as by biases in genome databases and methodological artifacts. Nevertheless, most reports agree that the last common ancestor resembled extant prokaryotes. A significant number of the highly conserved genes are sequences involved in the synthesis, degradation, and binding of RNA, including transcription and translation. Although the gene complement of the cenancestor includes sequences that may have originated in different epochs, the extraordinary conservation of RNA-related sequences supports the hypothesis that the last common ancestor was an evolutionary outcome of the so-called RNA/protein world. The available evidence suggests that the cenancestor was not a hyperthermophile, but it is currently not possible to assess its ecological niche or its mode of energy acquisition and carbon sources.
A New and Tuberous Species of Genlisea (Lentibulariaceae) from the Campos Rupestres of Brazil

Abstract A new species, Genlisea tuberosa, is described from the campos rupestres of central and eastern Brazil. A detailed description, line drawings, photographs and SEM photomicrographs of the seeds are provided for the new species, together with remarks on ecology, distribution and habitat. The characters distinguishing G. tuberosa from similar taxa are discussed.
On Extraction and Quantitation of Plant Peroxidase Isoenzymes

Peroxidase in tobacco callus tissue differed in extract-ability depending on the subcellular distribution of the enzyme. Based on extractability it consisted of four fractions: freely soluble and less freely soluble in phosphate buffer, KCl-soluble, and insoluble. The latter two fractions were un-extractable by a phosphate buffer alone. The different fractions contained varied proportions of peroxidase isoenzymes. The extractability of indoleacetic acid oxidase was similar. A medium of high ionic strength is essential for quantitative extraction of peroxidase and indoleacetic acid oxidase isoenzymes. For quantitation of isoperoxidase activity on polyacryl-amide gel following electrophoretic separation, benzidine and o-dianisidine were better hydrogen donors than guaiacol and pyrogallol. The optimum pH was 4.5, but a citrate buffer was inhibitory. The optimum conditions included an acetate buffer at pH 4.5, a substrate concentration of 0.03 %, benzidine as the hydrogen donor, and a 3-minute treatment with 7 % acetic acid after staining. The color intensity of the bands remained unchanged for at least three days. With appropriate sample size and reaction time there was a linear relationship between enzyme concentration and activity.