Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microsatellite markers reveal the potential for kin selection on black grouse leks

The evolution of social behaviour has puzzled biologists since Darwin. Since Hamilton's theoretical work in the 1960s it has been realized that social behaviour may evolve through the effects of kinship. By helping relatives, an individual may pass on its genes despite negative effects on its own reproduction. Leks are groups of males that females visit primarily to mate. The selective advantage for males to join such social groups has been given much recent attention, but no clear picture has yet emerged. Here we show, using microsatellite analysis, that males but not females of a lekking bird (the black grouse, Tetrao tetrix) are genetically structured at the lek level. We interpret this structuring to be the effects of strong natal philopatry in males. This has the consequence that males on any specific lek should be more related than expected by chance as indicated by our genetic data. Our results thus suggest that kin selection is a factor that needs to be considered in the evolution and maintenance of the lek mating system in black grouse and sheds new light on models of lek evolution.
Diversity of Function of SCN Pacemakers in Behavior and Ecology of Three Species of Sciurid Rodents

Information on the widespread function of the suprachiasmatic (SCN) pacemaker has increased dramatically in the past decade for laboratory rodents and for humans. Interest is now also growing in the adaptive value of SCN pacemakers in wild species of free-living mammals in natural pristine habitat. The squirrel family, Sciuridae, is highly diverse in North America. Radiation into many specialized groups has evolved in response to the temporal and spatial characteristics of specific habitats. The sciurids thus offer possibilities for comparison of SCN function for closely related species from very different habitats. Results from field and laboratory investigations concerning the ecological significance of the SCN are reported here for three ground squirrel species. The semi-fossorial antelope squirrels of the American southwest deserts were arrhythmic in above ground activities after deletion of the SCN pacemaker. In a desert enclosure, predation rates rose dramatically for lesioned animals in comparison to intact controls. The semi-arborial chipmunks were prone to capture by mustelid burrow predators such as weasels after SCN-deletion, even though the chipmunks did not exhibit any above ground activity at night. The telltale cue for the predator was apparently arrhythmic restlessness within the complex home burrow. The semi-fossorial golden-mantled squirrels of the Cascade Mountains of western United States rely on profound, long-lasting hibernation for over-wintering. Periods of torpor alternate with brief euthermic arousal episodes lasting less than 24 h throughout the 5- to 8-month winter phase. Deletion of the SCN in golden-mantled squirrels resulted in aberrations of hibernation arousal patterns that were metabolically expensive and put individuals at risk of starvation immediately after emergence in spring.
sonicLamination - from a concept to artistic binding of visual and sound domains by using advanced technology

Layers can be considered as powerful mental concept with proven suitability in numerous areas ranging from fine arts to engineering. To further expand their potential and apply them to computers-based art, sonicLamination method is presented here. The method builds upon computer-based (programmatic) transformations that take into account various enriching perspectives, e.g., physiological laws of human perception. By doing so, it achieves higher levels of semantic relationships when binding visual and sound domains. Put another way, sonicLamination is not just about a new kind of conceptual art, but about exploring new venues in fine arts through technology. Therefore, this paper presents how sonicLamination can be used to exceed its conceptual roots in order to lead to new ways of artistic deployment ranging from enhancing humans sensations to artificially generated soundscapes. This is due to the fact that the core principles of sonicLamination can be naturally extended to provide means for a plethora of artistic approaches when technologically transforming visual inputs into their sonic representations.
THE ROLE OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN ENHANCING EFL LEARNERS STUDENTS' ORAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS SUBAHI

33 SUBAHI ABDALGADIR ELIMAM AHMED, Dr. AMNA MOHAMMED BEDRI ABSTRACT This study aimed to shed light on the importance of implementing cooperative learning strategy for developing English language learners students' speaking skills. The researcher has implemented the test which consisted of six questions and has taken place with the students of second year, University level at Khartoum State. Pre and post-test were used as a research instrument for data collection. The sample of the study consisted of (50) students from both sexes. The research's data has been entered and processed by using the (IBM SPSS). The study has found out that: firstly, students of second year can develop batter communication and speaking skills through the implementation of cooperative learning in the learning process. Secondly, students' performance improved significantly and they developed better attitudes towards learning English via cooperative learning. Thirdly, in cooperative learning, students are motivated and less reluctant. Therefore, the study recommends that cooperative learning should be adopted in English learning and English speaking in particular.
Seroprevalence of Cytomegalovirus Infections among Pregnant Women attending

The human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is one of the major causes of congenital infections. It is more widespread in developing countries and in communities with lower socioeconomic status. It is a leading cause of disability in children and a common cause of congenital viral infection that results in different conditions such as mental retardation, neurological impairment, and permanent hearing and vision loss. The objective to determine the prevalence of cytomegalovirus infection and identify risk factors of CMV seropositivity among pregnant women attending El-Hassahisa Maternity Teaching hospital in Gezira State. A descriptive cross-sectional study conducted between March and August 2016. A total of eighteen blood samples were collected from pregnant women, the samples were screened for CMV IgG and IgM antibodies using Immunochromatography test (ICT), then positive results were retested by using EnzymeLinked Immunosorbant Assay (ELISA) as supplementary test. A structural questionnaire was designed to collect demographical and clinical data regarding patients' age, residence, occupation, past history of still birth, past history of abortion, past history of congenital abnormalities, past history of blood transfusion, and pregnancy trimester stage. Anti CMV IgM was detected in 8 (10%) of pregnant women by using ICT, all results were negative when reanalyzed by using ELISA. Anti CMV IgG was not detected in any of samples. There is no detection of CMV IgG in study area in Gezira State by screening and low detection of CMV IgM by using ICT and no detection of IgM by using ELISA. Screening for CMV must be done for susceptible group in risk factors to prevent progression of disease and subsequently prevent complication on pregnant woman and her fetus.
Commitment to the T cell receptor‐αβ or ‐γδ lineages can occur just prior to the onset of CD4 and CD8 expression among immature thymocytes

Two types of T lymphocytes, distinguishable by their surface expression of either the γδ or the αβ T cell receptor (TcR) for antigen, populate the periphery in the adult. In addition, immature precursors of both T cell types can be found in the thymus. While it is generally accepted that these two cell types represent distinct lineages, it is not known at which developmental stage these lineages diverge. The most mature thymocyte precursor population not yet expressing T lineage‐specific surface markers (i.e. CD3, CD4, and CD8) is known to be capable of generating TcR‐αβ T cells, and has been thought to be preprogrammed into the TcR‐αβ lineage at an earlier developmental stage. We now show that this late‐stage precursor is capable of giving rise to cells of both the TcR‐αβ and ‐γδ lineages, both in vitro after intrathymic transplantation, and in vitro in simple culture medium or medium with cytokines. Thus it appears that the divergence of TcR‐αβ and ‐γδ cells can occur at a relatively late stage of intrathymic development, just prior to the onset of CD4 and CD8 expression in most cells.
On testing for a tradeoff between constitutive and induced resistance

Plants possess two types of resistance against herbivores: ever-present constitutive resistance and induced resistance triggered by attack. As the production of both resistance types entails a metabolic cost, a tradeoff between them has frequently been hypothesized. Over twenty published studies have tested for the existence of this tradeoff, but this literature is marred by three methodological problems. The first problem is lack of agreement about how to measure induced resistance, a complex trait that typically involves comparison between damaged and undamaged plants. Some metrics of induced resistance confound constitutive and induced resistance, creating evidence for a tradeoff when one does not exist or obscuring real tradeoffs. On both biological and statistical grounds, we argue for the difference in mean resistance between damaged and control plants from the same family or genotype as the best metric of induced resistance. The second problem is that limited sampling (e.g. of . families or of individuals within families) or errors in measuring resistance traits of individuals can generate spurious evidence for a tradeoff even when our preferred induced resistance metric is used. The third problem is that some families may show induced susceptibility (lower resistance in damaged than in undamaged plants). To provide a better test for a tradeoff, we devise a Monte Carlo procedure that accounts for sampling variation, measurement error and induced susceptibility without producing unrealistic negative resistance values, and we illustrate it with simulated data. Until the problems we describe are widely addressed and the tools we propose are widely applied, the resistance tradeoff hypothesis cannot be considered to have been adequately evaluated. Our approach also applies whenever the plasticity of a trait (measured as the difference between treatments or environments) is compared to the value of that trait in a single environment.
Chloroethenes contaminants in the environment: Still a cause for concern

Prior to 1980, chloroethenes were generally believed to be recalcitrant to degradation. Efforts to remediate sites polluted by this group of compounds were thus limited to the ineffective and tedious pump-and-treat method. The environmental significance of chloroethenes and the absence of effective alternative physical remediation methods have warranted intense scientific investigation into the role of microorganisms for detoxifying these environmentally important compounds to benign products. Several microbial mechanisms have therefore been identified to significantly degrade these compounds in soil and ground water polluted systems. This paper provides a mini-review of such mechanisms with the view of understanding the biodegradation processes for better exploitation for bioremediation of chloroethene contaminants, which continue to be of serious environmental challenges.
Insect Behavior, Resource Exploitation, and Fitness

Optimal foraging theory has stimulated many ecologists to take up studies of insect feeding behavior. It is asserted that "The study of food choice in animals, generally called the theory of optimal diets, is still in its infancy; however, since its inception more than a decade ago, interest in optimal diets has grown at an impressive rate" (124). This statement, reflecting a common view among ecologists, deserves careful consideration. The study of food choice did not start with Emlen's (37) note on time, energy, and food resources. The voluminous literature on food selection by insects is the subject of numerous reviews (11 , 25, 78). What Waddington & Holden (124) probably meant is that the earlier studies of food choice mean very little because they lack a central theory that will "explain and predict the foraging of animals" (94). If the economics of feeding is the major selective factor governing the evolution of feeding behavior, then the theory of optimal diets would be the central concept around which all studies of food choice must be organized. Perhaps the great hopes for optimal foraging theory as a general explana­ tion for feeding biology are now being tempered ( 1 14), but the debates about the theory still make little or no reference to the physiological basis for food recognition, feeding responses, and nutritional value of foods (4, 5, 29, 49,
Effective self‐backhaul scheme for massive MIMO–enabled full‐duplex heterogeneous networks by exploiting NOMA

By integrating full‐duplex (FD) and nonorthogonal multiple‐access (NOMA) techniques for wireless self‐backhaul at small‐cell base stations (SBSs), a novel multitier heterogeneous network (HetNet) is proposed. In the HetNet, NOMA is used at SBSs for combing backhaul and downlink (DL) signals. As a result, at each SBS, the backhaul, uplink transmission, and DL transmission are executed simultaneously, whereas the FD macro base stations (MBSs) communicate with mobile users (MUs) and transceive backhaul signals from associated SBSs by using massive‐MIMO antennas. The simple time‐division duplex is performed for the communications between MBSs and MUs so that a round of communications consists of MBS‐MU‐DL and MBS‐MU‐UL phases. This work particularly focuses on the MBS‐MU‐DL phase. By assuming the HetNet to be fully loaded, this paper first models the distribution of active SBSs and those of the interference received at the different types of receivers. Then, by formulating the received signal‐to‐interference ratios, this paper obtains the coverage probabilities of the MU‐SBS‐MBS uplink backhaul and MU DLs as well as the spectrum and energy efficiencies. The presented simulations and numerical results show that the integration of FD and NOMA at SBSs is an effective solution for creating the backhaul between FD‐SBS and FD‐MBS. It is obtained that when the power‐sharing coefficient allocated for a small‐cell DL is small, the coverage probability of SBS DL transmission increases; otherwise, it decreases. However, the coverage probabilities of the MBS DL and MU‐SBS‐MBS backhaul link monotonically vary with the power‐sharing coefficient. It is also achieved that the power‐sharing coefficient imposes the effect on the energy efficiencies of the MU‐SBS‐MBS backhaul link and MU DL in inverse directions. At the same time, it is found that the achieved energy efficiency gain depends greatly on the resolution of massive‐MIMO antennas.
Starch Characteristics Influencing Resistant Starch Content of Cooked Buckwheat Groats

ABSTRACT Cooked buckwheat groats are suggested to contain a greater amount of resistant starch (RS) than cereal grains. High RS content, in addition to dietary fibers present in groats, contributes to the low-calorie, high-fiber food status of buckwheat. Six buckwheat genotypes exhibiting high, medium, and low RS content of cooked groats were selected, and starches were isolated to determine their functional properties to explore the possible cause of high RS content of cooked buckwheat groats. Apparent and actual amylose contents were 27.4 and 31.6–34.5% in high, 27.4–28.6 and 32.5–33.7% in medium, and 21.4–25.6 and 24.5–32.0% in low RS genotypes, respectively. Genotypes of high RS content exhibited greater amylose leaching based on total starch content during cooking than genotypes of low RS content, mainly because of higher amylose content in the former than latter. Genotypes of low RS content exhibited a relatively high content of amylose-lipid complexes, as determined with a differential scanning cal.
Naupliar and copepodite growth and survival of two freshwater calanoids at various food levels: Demographic contrasts, similarities, and food needs

Various demographic responses of Tropodiaptomus spectabilis and Metadiaptomus meridianus (Copepoda: Calanoida) were measured at 17°C at seven food levels of Cryptomonas (0.05-2.5 mg C liter-‘). In both species, naupliar, copepodid, and total postembryonic durations declined monotonically, while survivorship, fecundity, and adult size increased asymptotically with rising food supply. M. meridianus matured faster than T. spectabilis up to -0.5 mg C liter- I, and its development responses were saturated at lower food levels (- 0.3 5 mg C liter - I). High naupliar mortality led to lower overall survival in A4. meridianus (maximally 40%) than in T. spectabilis (90%). Survival asymptotes varied between -0.35 and 0.5 mg C liter-l. Clutch sizes were 5-fold larger in A4. meridianus than in T. spectabilis. Although respective regression estimates of food threshold levels for maturation (11 and 5), egg production (18 and 60), and population increase (46 and 79 pg C liter-l) in T. spectabilis and M. meridianus did not differ, the derived estimates of interspecific equivalence for egg production and population increase (82 and 165 pg C liter- I) suggest that T. spectabilis may be the better competitor below these food levels. Acceptance of the well-founded premise of food limitation among freshwater zooplankton (Lampert 198 5) leads to an ecologically obvious and inescapable conclusion: species able to utilize low food levels most effectively to produce offspring will potentially enjoy a competitive advantage. Experimental measurements of the food dependencies of various demographic responses accordingly provide useful indices of competitive potential in relation to food availability. In nature, this potential may be compromised by the complicating range of factors and interactions which collectively drive ecological succession, commonly a seasonal phenomenon in freshwater plankton communities (Sommer et al. 1986; Sommer 1989). Following the seminal ideas of size efficiency (HrbaEek 1962; Brooks and Dodson 1965; Hall et al. 1976), successional and related changes in zooplankton community structure have largely been viewed, jointly or severally, as manifestations of size-dependent or taxonomic differences in food threshold concentrations (e.g. Muck and Lampert 1984; Gliwicz 1990), starvation tolerance (Threlkeld 1976), and vulnerability to predation (e.g. Zaret 1980; Gliwicz and Pijanowska 1989). No consideration
Are the Effects of Monetary Policy Shocks Big or Small

This paper studies the small estimated effects of monetary policy shocks from standard VARs versus the large effects from the Romer and Romer (2004) approach. The differences are driven by three factors: the different contractionary impetus, the period of reserves targeting, and lag length selection. Accounting for these factors, the real effects of policy shocks are consistent across approaches and most likely medium. Alternative monetary policy shock measures from estimated Taylor rules also yield medium-sized real effects and indicate that the historical contribution of monetary policy shocks to real fluctuations has been significant, particularly during the 1970s and early 1980s. (JEL E32, E43, E52)
Hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic simulations of the East Greenland Spill Jet

The cascade of dense waters off the East Greenland shelf during Summer 2003 is investigated with two very high-resolution (∼0.5 km) regional simulations. The first simulation is non-hydrostatic. The second simulation is hydrostatic and about 3.75 times less expensive. Both simulations are compared to a previous 2-km hydrostatic run (about 30 times less expensive as the 0.5 km non-hydrostatic case).
The application of palliative care in dementia

Introduction and Objective: Palliative care can be of great help to people with dementia during their old ages. The aim of this study was to assess the use of palliative care in patients with dementia. Methods: Search was conducted in PubMed, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases. A step-by-step approach was used to identify relevant studies, and related studies of were demarcated and other studies were excluded. This study has used empirical studies, review studies, and guidelines for health organizations in different countries. Results: A total of 65 sources were used, of which 24 were completely related to the subject of the study. In related studies, the use of various ways and means of palliative care to improve quality of life, reduce pain, and prevent falling in people with dementia is discussed. Discussion and Conclusion: Palliative care can help people with dementia to improve their quality of life; however, more research is needed on the application and proper management of palliative care in patients with dementia.
The effect of recent accumulation changes in the Antarctic Peninsula upon Glacial Isostatic Adjustment

• The output of the ice modelling is used to drive a GIA model, which calculates the response of the Earth to changes in ice loading at the surface. • The maximum spherical harmonic representation of the mass loads is 256. • The model is run over 155 years with no change in ice thickness in the final few time steps. This eliminates the elastic effects of a changing load from the present-day uplift rate. • There is a strong sensitivity to the Earth model, particularly upper mantle viscosity. • Accumulation between 1855 and 2010 contributes around +0.5 to -6.5 mm yr-1 to the uplift rate, for realistic Earth Models for the AP, with greatest subsidence predicted in the western AP (Figure 6). 5. Discussion
PUTATIVE COMPONENTS OF THE ARABIDOPSIS CIRCADIAN CLOCK

Although plant circadian rhythms have been described as far back as Antiquity, the molecular basis of the plant biological clock is still unknown. The reasons for this lag behind Neurospora, Drosophila and now mammalian systems has primarily been the lack of suitable genetic systems and of easily screenable phenotypes for the isolation of mutants with defective circadian rhythms. In the past few years, the small, fast growing weed Arabidopsis thaliana has become a widely used system for plant molecular genetics, and extensive genome mapping and sequencing programs have greatly facilitated gene isolation. New, non-invasive assays for plant circadian rhythms have been developed, that made the isolation of clock mutants possible. Defective circadian rhythms have been shown to correlate with visible phenotypes, such as aberrant flowering times, and these phenotypes have been used successfully in the isolation of mutants with altered clock function. As a consequence plant circadian biology is now experiencing a renewed interest, due to the isolation of a number of putative components of the circadian regulatory system. The first break-through was from Steve Kay and colleagues, who fused the promoter of the circadian-regulated CAB (chlorophyll a/b-binding protein) gene to a firefly luciferase reporter gene. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants carrying this transgene exhibited rhythmic luminescence when supplied with the substrate luciferin. The luminescence rhythm was monitored using a photon-counting camera. This non-invasive assay was used to isolate mutants with altered rhythmicity (Millar et al., 1995a). One mutant isolated by this method, toc1 (Timing of CAB-1) has been extensively characterized. The toc1 mutation was shown to shorten the period of a variety of circadian rhythms, including CAB (Millar et al., 1995a) and