Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Song evolution in the coal tit Parus ater

Since in oscine birds song divergence often leads to premating reproductive isolation, we asked which factors drive the evolution of song in a widespread species, the coal tit Parus ater. Based on an almost taxon-complete phylogeny we correlated song divergence with morphometric (ecology), genetic (time), and geographic distances (separation). We found eight well-supported mitochondrial lineages, one of which consists of melanolophus (usually treated as a separate species) and whose relationships remain generally unresolved. Due to intense song variability even sophisticated sonametric analyses failed to separate sub-specific units. We tested for the role of song in reproductive isolation by playing songs from China and the Himalayas to Central European males. They recognize them as conspecific, but react to their playbacks less aggressively than to local songs. While morphological divergence is correlated with neither time nor separation, song divergence coincides more with geographic than genetic distance. This is mainly driven by differences along longitude and is especially prominent in the southern part of the species’ range, where six lineages persisted during the last glaciation while the north was subsequently re-occupied by two lineages.
Phenolic Contents and Antioxidant Activities of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Leaves

The antioxidant capacity and phenolic content of three varieties of Phoenix dactylifera leaves, namely Deglet Nour, Medjhoul, and Barhee, were studied. The antioxidant activities of extracts of different leaf varieties obtained with solvents of different polarity were investigated using assays of 2, 2-diphenyl-2-picrymhydrasyl hydrate radical-scavenging activity, total phenolics and flavonoids amount, condensed tannins, reducing power, and total antioxidant capacity. The results showed that all the extracts exhibited antioxidant and radical-scavenging activities at different magnitudes and potency. The decreasing order of antioxidant and radical-scavenging activities among the extracts assayed were found to be methanol (MeOH) fraction > ethyl acetate fraction > hexane fraction > water extract. Correlation analysis indicated that there is a linear relationship between antioxidant potency, free radical-scavenging ability, and the content of phenolic and flavonoids compounds of Phoenix dactylifera leaf extracts. These results showed that Phoenix dactylifera leaf extracts are a valuable natural antioxidant, which can be applied in both healthy medicine and food industry and biotechnology.
COX-2 Expression in Breast Cancer and Impact on Survival Outcomes

Purpose: The inducible inflammatory enzyme cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) favors carcinogenesis, but its expression in breast tumors presents great variability, with controversial prognostic impact. Here, we characterize COX-2 protein levels in breast tumors by immunohistochemistry according to gene polymorphisms, and evaluate if tumor COX-2 protein levels or mRNA are associated with survival outcomes. Methods: First, COX-2 protein levels were quantified by immunohistochemistry in selected tissue specimens (N=236) of excised breasts from a hospital-based cohort of breast cancer in Brazil, and evaluated for their association with gene polymorphisms and histopathological variables, as well as with survival outcomes. Secondly, an online gene array database compiling information from different breast cancer cohorts was used to analyze the association between tumor COX-2 mRNA and survival outcomes. Results: High COX-2 protein levels were associated with high tumor grade (OR=1.86; 95% CI=1.1-3.17), but not with gene variants or survival outcomes. In contrast, high COX-2 mRNA was associated with better disease-free survival when considering all cases (HR=0.82; 95%CI=0.72-0.92; N=3951) or only ER+ tumors (HR=0.62; 95%CI=0.49-0.79; N=2061), but with worse disease-free survival (HR=1.6; 95%CI=1.22-2.11; N=618) among patients with basal-like tumors. Conclusion: Gene polymorphisms do not account for the variability on COX-2 protein levels in breast tumors, and COX-2 mRNA seems to be a better candidate for prognostic evaluation of breast cancer survival, but its impact depends on breast cancer subtypes.
Observations of ovarian involution in the Australian grayling (Prototroctes mareana)

Abstract – A 2-year study of the threatened Australian grayling, Prototroctes mareana, was undertaken to investigate its reproductive strategy in relation to river flow. Monitoring of reproductive maturity in the Barwon River in south-eastern Australia indicated that no spawning occurred in the 2 years. In both years, ovarian involution was observed in a large proportion of the sampled population; flows during this period were less than the historical average. When coupled with the historical evidence, these observations suggest that spawning coincides with increased river discharge. River regulation may inhibit spawning.
The Picking of Wild Berries in Finland in 1997 and 1998

Nation-wide figures related to berry-picking in Finland were based on postal questionnaire surveys carried out in 1997 and 1998. The sample in 1997 consisted of 6849 households and the response rate was 60%. The questionnaire was concerned with the utilization of all non-wood forest products. In 1998, a subsample of 1858 households was taken and the new questionnaire focused solely on berries and mushrooms. The response rate was 69%. In 1997, Finnish households picked 56.5 million kg of wild berries (95% confidence limits were 52.3 and 60.4 million kg). In 1998, a total of 49.7 million kg (44.0, 55.3) was picked. In 1997 the proportion of products sold was 27%, harvested by 5% of households. It is possible that the quantity of wild berries picked in 1997 was higher than in any year previously, but because of a lack of reliable earlier data this cannot be verified.
Determining input‐to‐state and incremental input‐to‐state stability of nonpolynomial systems

In this study, we propose constructive ways to determine input‐to‐state stability (ISS) as well as incremental ISS (δISS) of nonpolynomial dynamical systems. The developed procedures are based on sums‐of‐square decomposition. This tool is only applicable to polynomial systems. Thus, a rational recast of the nonpolynomial system description is used. This recast generally leads to an increased system order and additional constraints. These constraints must be respected in the resulting formulations. The proposed approach gives a unique and constructive procedure to determine the ISS and the δISS property, which is normally nontrivial and needs a good understanding of the system's dynamics. The proposed approaches are illustrated on several examples.
Life cycle analysis of electrical motor-drive system based on electrical machine type

Nowadays a lot of attention is paid on the issues of global warming and climate change. Human impact on the environment is noticeable from the aspect of resource life cycles. Energy efficiency requirements have led to the research and development of alternative technologies for the rotating electrical machines. The life cycle assessment brings out important procedures which can help to reduce machines’ impact on the environment, being therefore an instrument for the assessment of the influence of particular products on the environment from cradle to grave – beginning with working out the materials, followed by manufacturing, transporting, marketing, use, and recycling. Three types of electrical machines have been chosen for comparison: synchronous reluctance motor, permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance motor and induction motor. The article presents a life cycle assessment case study based on experimental results of motors designed by the research group.
Effects of liming on ectomycorrhizal fungi infecting Pinus sylvestris L. 2. Growth-rates in pure culture at different ph values compared to growth-rates in symbiosis with the host plant

Growth rates of ectomycorrhizal fungi were measured in pure culture at pH 3-8 on MMN-agar and sterilized peat, with and without nutrients added. Mycorrhizas were synthesized with Pinus sylvestris L. seedlings and the growth rate of the external mycelium was measured in peat at pH 3.8 and 7.3. The fungi were three isolates of Piloderma croceum Erikss. & Hjorts. , two isolates of an unidentified (pink) mycorrhizal type and one isolate of another unidentified (white long) mycorrhizal type, all isolated from P. sylvestris roots. All three fungi showed much higher (2-5 times) growth rates when grown as symbionts than when grown in pure culture. The P. croceum isolates also grew as symbionts at pH 7.3, where no growth occurred in pure culture. These findings emphasize the danger of generalizing from data obtained in pure culture studies to explain what may happen when fungi grow in symbiosis with host plants. Generally, growth rates in pure culture were higher and the pH tolerance levels were wider on agar than on peat. The exceptions were one P. croceum isolate, which had the fastest pure culture growth rate on peat with MMN, and the pink isolates, which grew at higher pH on peat than on agar. There were no significant differences between growth on peat with and without MMN. (Less)
The Head Pattern in Amblystoma Studied by Vital Staining and Transplantation Methods

Local vital stains were applied to the prospective head region in the late yolk plug stage of Amblystoma punctatum by Vogt's 1 method. From the records obtained by making camera lucida drawings of the position and extent of the stained areas in the stages following, composite diagrams were constructed showing the arrangement of the parts of the prospective ectoderm involved in the formation of the nose, lens, ear, balancer, gills and stomodaeum. Two of these, Harrison stages 13 (slit blastopore) and 22 (shortly after closure of neural folds), are shown in the figures. The wheeling about of the head epidermis due to the dorsal convergence of the neural material which lies almost out at the equator of the embryo in the gastrula stage, takes place in Amblystoma punctatum in a manner similar to that observed by Vogt 2 and Goerttler 3 on European salamanders. There is a forward and downward growth of the ectoderm of the head region anteriorly in such a way that the material at the middle of the transverse fold comes to lie just in front of the stomodaeum and ventral to the eye—a shifting of the material nearest the dorsal midline in an anterior and ventral direction while that originally ventral moves caudally and dorsally. The results obtained for Amblystoma are much less diagrammatic than those Röhlich 4 gives for Triton but the arrangement of the anlagen is essentially the same in both forms. The position of the lens agrees with that given by both Manchot 5 and Röhlich for Triton. In Amblystoma however the nasal ectoderm seems to extend up on the outer side of the neural fold (stage 15) for a short distance and the ear ectoderm not quite to reach the fold. The latter may also be slightly farther anterior in Amblystoma than in Triton.
Le comportement de Cephalophus monticola Thunberg et C. dorsalis Gray, et la place des céphalophes au sein des ruminants

Etude comparative. Caracteristiques ethologiques de la vie en foret. Influence du rythme d'activite sur le comportement general. Considerations sur le niveau evolutif des cephalophines. Il ne semble pas logique de maintenir ce groupe dans les bovides les plus primitifs
Genetic variation of goat Y chromosome in the Sardinian population

Abstract Sardinian goat population is commonly considered a crossbred of autochthonous animals with improved Mediterranean breeds, mainly the Maltese. It has been demonstrated by using autosomal microsatellites that the Sardinian goats can be divided into three subpopulations: Sardinian, crossbred with Maltese, and Maltese. The aim of this study was to evaluate sequence variation at Y chromosome in Sardinian bucks and to integrate autosomal microsatellites data. Blood from 190 bucks from 68 farms spread in the main Sardinian goat farming areas was sampled. Three ECONOGENE project primer pairs plus an additional one corresponding to a total of 7 SNPs were used. For all common SNPs, the most frequent allele corresponded to the ECONOGENE one. The additional analysed SNP showed allelic frequencies similar to the other markers. The comparison with haplotypes based on the 6 common SNPs showed that the Sardinian most frequent haplotype corresponded to the predominant one in Central Europe. Results of this study showed that the Sardinian goat population has 8 haplotypes resulting in a large diversity of paternal lineages. The next step will be linking autosomal information to Y chromosome data. In fact, up to date, it seems unfeasible to detect recent upgrading breeds by using Y chromosome variation only.
Enhancement of marine bacterial growth by mineral surfaces

The effects of sorptive inert surfaces on growth of marine bacteria and metabolism, as well as partitioning of organic substrates, were examined in microcosms inoculated with bacterioplankton from a local salt marsh. Introduction of organic-free glass beads to a dilute seawater medium (tryptic soy broth) increased yields of ATP, a surrogate for bacterial biomass, by 187% within the entire microcosm (attached + free-living). Growth efficiencies (bacterial C/media C) were 30% for bacteria grown in microcosms with beads compared with 16% without beads. Surface enrichment increased rates of proteolytic enzyme activity and cell-specific [3H]leucine incorporation into protein by factors of 6.8 and 2.2, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy revealed obvious organic coatings on all beads after 2 h of exposure, but few strongly attached bacteria were evident, even after 40 h of exposure. Results support the hypothesis that mineral surfaces facilitate bacterial utilization of complex organic matter through phy.
The genetic structure of fish: differences in the intraspecific distribution of biochemical genetic variation between marine, anadromous, and freshwater species

Biochemical genetic markers have been increasingly used for inferences on the population genetic structure of various fish, but little attention has been paid to relative differences in the distribution of variability within species in different groups of fish. Nested gene diversity analyses of multiple locus electrophoretic data from the literature for 19 species (6 marine species, 4 anadromous salmonids, and 9 freshwater species (5 salmonids)), mainly from Scandinavia and North America, show that (i) average heterozygosity is higher in marine species than in freshwater species, (ii) the average fraction of the total gene diversity allocated between localities increases in the order marine (1.6%), anadromous (3.7%), and freshwater species (29.4%), and (iii) the fraction of the total gene diversity associated with differences between geographic clusters of localities is generally smaller than that between localities within clusters. This finding is consistent with that the differentiation observed in most species is of postglacial origin, and that the timespan available since deglaciation has been too short to result in the accumulation of substantial differences between clusters.
How Will Climate Change Affect the Provision and Value of Water from Public Lands in Southern California Through the 21st Century?

Abstract We estimate the ecosystem service value of water supplied by the San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California under climate change projections through the 21st century. We couple water flow projections from a dynamic vegetation model with an economic demand model for residential water originating from the San Bernardino National Forest. Application of the method demonstrates how estimates of consumer welfare changes due to variation in water supply from public lands in Southern California can inform policy and land management decisions. Results suggest variations in welfare changes over time due to alterations in the projected water supply surpluses, shifting demand limited by water supply shortages or surpluses, and price increases. Results are sensitive to future climate projections—in some cases large decreases in welfare due to supply shortages—and to assumptions about the demand model.
Characterisation and variation of antioxidant micronutrients in lettuce (Lactuca sativa folium)

The main phenolic compound in six studied lettuce cultivars (five green and one red) was identified as dicaffeoyl tartaric acid. Quantitative but not qualitative differences were found in the phenolic profiles among green cultivars. The red oak leaf cultivar contained twofold more dicaffeoyl tartaric acid and 10-fold more chlorogenic acid than the green cultivars. Total phenolics ranged from 8.4 to 12.9 mg g−1 dry weight in green varieties and reached 27.8 mg g−1 dry weight in red oak leaf. Carotenoids and vitamins E and C were also quantified. Lutein was the main carotenoid found in all cultivars, together with another xanthophyll. The period of harvesting had only a marginal influence on total phenolic levels, whereas carotenoid and vitamin E levels were higher at the second period of harvesting. Vitamin C levels ranged between 6.1 and 9.9 mg per 100 g fresh weight. We investigated the total antioxidant power in lettuce. Total phenolics accounted for more than 60% of the total antioxidant capacity. Dicaffeoyl tartaric acid accounted for 55%. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry
Intonational cues to prosodic boundary influence perception of contrastive vowel length in Tokyo Japanese

We designed two experiments to test how listeners are sensitive to intonational structure in speech perception. Specifically, we tested how phrasal position, cued by pitch in a carrier phrase, mediated Tokyo Japanese listeners’ perception of contrastive vowel length. We predicted that when tonal cues signal a target as phrase-final, listeners should expect it to be lengthened due to phrase-final lengthening, effectively requiring longer vowel durations for a phonemically long vowel percept in phrase-final position. We tested this in two experiments, one with an accented target word which contrasted phonemically in the length of the word-final vowel (Experiment 1, shi’sho “librarian” vs. shi’shoo “master”; Experiment 2: dookyo “housemate” vs. dookyoo “townmate”). We placed this target word in a carrier phrase, and manipulated contextual pitch to signal it either as Intonation Phrase (IP) final, or medial. As predicted, a phrase-final target required significantly longer vowel duration to be perceived as phonemically long. The results thus highlight the importance of intonational structure as a mediating factor in listeners’ processing of temporal cues in speech.
Return to driving after fracture an overview of current recommendations

One of the many important considerations after fracture is determining the time for safe return to driving. Although a seemingly mundane question, patients rely on their ability to drive in order to work, take care of their families, and perform day-to-day tasks, making it an important landmark on their road to recovery. Patients who are currently taking narcotic medications, are wearing restrictive medical devices, or have inadequate fracture healing all pose a potential risk to themselves and others if they operate a motor vehicle. Despite objective data on when a patient physically might be able to perform the tasks required to drive safely, practitioners often provide nonstandardized recommendations largely due to a lack of formal recommendations from any governing body. It is important to adhere to evidence-based practices for the safety of the patient and provider. This review aims to aggregate the literature on return to driving after fracture to provide a succinct overview of the data and recommendations. Level of Evidence: Level IV.
Conveying the Predicted Future to Users: A Case Study of Story Plot Prediction

Creative writing is hard: Novelists struggle with writer's block daily. While automatic story generation has advanced recently, it is treated as a"toy task"for advancing artificial intelligence rather than helping people. In this paper, we create a system that produces a short description that narrates a predicted plot using existing story generation approaches. Our goal is to assist writers in crafting a consistent and compelling story arc. We conducted experiments on Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) to examine the quality of the generated story plots in terms of consistency and storiability. The results show that short descriptions produced by our frame-enhanced GPT-2 (FGPT-2) were rated as the most consistent and storiable among all models; FGPT-2's outputs even beat some random story snippets written by humans. Next, we conducted a preliminary user study using a story continuation task where AMT workers were given access to machine-generated story plots and asked to write a follow-up story. FGPT-2 could positively affect the writing process, though people favor other baselines more. Our study shed some light on the possibilities of future creative writing support systems beyond the scope of completing sentences. Our code is available at: https://github.com/appleternity/Story-Plot-Generation.
Developing a model of instructional leadership in China

ABSTRACT This paper explores instructional leadership practices in China. It has three interrelated purposes. The first purpose is to report data which contributes insights into how Chinese principals understand and enact instructional leadership. The second purpose is to examine how the societal context impacts the enactment of leadership and the third is to suggest implications for international understandings of successful school principalship. The study adopted a qualitative approach and interviewed 101 primary school principals across six regions in China. A model of instructional leadership comprising six dimensions and a set of sub-dimensions emerged from the data. The study also provides insights into how societal context shapes how Chinese principals enact leadership. The paper concludes with six propositions that attempt to capture the fluidity and complexity of the working lives of school principals in China.
Erosional effects on soil properties and maize yield on a volcanic ash soil in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania

ABSTRACT Field plots were established to assess soil erosion impact on soil properties of a Mollic Andosol of 9 to 17% slope at Lyamungu Research Institute, Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania. Soil erosional phases were established on the basis of the thickness of the Ah horizon as follows: < 15 cm (severely eroded), 16–25 cm (moderately eroded), and 26–35 cm (slightly eroded). Maize (Zea mays var. Kilima) was planted over two cropping seasons of 1995 and 1996. Porosity was significantly higher (52.7%) in the topsoil than at 35 cm depth (49.2%). There were only few significant effects of past erosion on properties of this soil of volcanic origin. The severely eroded soil had significantly higher penetration resistance (1.0 MPa) than the slightly eroded soil (0.7 MPa). In the top 35 cm layer, the Bray P concentration declined with increasing severity of erosion from 6.1 to 4.7 mg kg−1 Most soil chemical parameters showed only minor decrease with increased severity of erosion, but decline in soil physical quality.