Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shape Divergence Associated with Size Convergence in Sympatric East African Jackals

The geographic ranges of three extant species of medium-sized canid, the sidestriped (Canis adustus), the golden (C. aureus), and the blackbacked (C. mesomelas) jackal, overlap only in East Africa. Elsewhere each species exists alone or in sympatry with one other jackal species. The fossil record suggests that the golden jackal evolved outside of Africa and joined the other two species in East Africa within the last 500 000 yr. Previous research showed that unlike other sympatric canids, all three jackal species in East Africa are extremely similar in size and overall morphology and thus exhibit no obvious evidence of ecological character displacement. Moreover, the three species do not form a mono- phyletic group, are distantly related, and thus may have had ample time to diverge mor- phologically. Here, we explore in further detail the possibility of character displacement in the three species by assessing variation in 62 measures of the skull and teeth for pop- ulations of all three species throughout their ranges. The expanded measurement and population sample allows us to explore four possible manifestations of character displace- ment: (1) divergence in size, (2) divergence in shape, (3) reduced morphological variability, and (4) reduced sexual dimorphism. There is no evidence of size divergence among jackals in East Africa; by contrast the three species appear to converge on a similar size. However, divergence in shape is apparent. The recent insinuation of golden jackals into the East African fauna has resulted in character divergence and probable niche compression of blackbacked jackals as evidenced by ad- aptations for increased carnivory, reduced sexual dimorphism, and reduced variability. The response has been asymmetric as the golden and sidestriped jackals have not diverged functionally or shown niche compression. The pattern of character displacement is likely a function of starting conditions at the time the three became sympatric. The golden jackal exhibits dietary adaptations intermediate to those of the other two species but more similar to those of blackbacked jackals. Thus character displacement was more likely to occur in goldens and blackbacks. Selection for increased carnivory in the blackbacked jackal might have been favored because of the abundance of vertebrate prey in the East African plains. The success of the golden jackal as an insinuator into East Africa suggests that the carnivore guild might not be saturated.
Origami fold states: concept and design tool

Abstract. The ability of origami to alter its properties and behaviors with its shape makes it an elegant source of inspiration for many engineering designs challenges. Fold states specify the shape of the origami – its facets, creases, and fold angles. Origami research recognizes several acknowledged fold states: the unfolded, fully folded, and flat-folded states. However, these fold states are not comprehensive, excluding some of the most predominant fold states in origami-based devices. In this paper we propose a comprehensive list of fold states based on fold angles. We support the method of categorizing fold states by evaluating the functions and fold states of a large sample of origami-based devices. These correlations provide insight for selecting fold states for origami-based design. We discuss properties and behaviors of the fold states individually and provide a process for fold-state selection.
Decline of monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico: is the migratory phenomenon at risk?

Abstract. 1. During the 2009–2010 overwintering season and following a 15‐year downward trend, the total area in Mexico occupied by the eastern North American population of overwintering monarch butterflies reached an all‐time low. Despite an increase, it remained low in 2010–2011.
The Crown-of-thorns Crisis in Australia: A Retrospective Analysis

The Crown-of-thorns Starfish (Acanthaster planci) was perceived to be a threat to coral reefs of the Indo–West Pacific region partly as a consequence of new technology, in the form of SCUBA diving, becoming generally available. It took some years, however, for field practices to be developed which employed the new technology effectively in sampling such a phenomenon over large areas. In Australia an emotional environmental campaign followed the publication of a report to the Queensland Government in 1969, which claimed that the Starfish was a major threat to the Great Barrier Reef, that it was probably Man-induced, and that it could be controlled. The report was neither adopted nor rejected in the period of more than a year which elapsed between its submission and its publication. As the public campaign gained momentum, official inquiries reviewed and questioned the data-base of the initial report but no attempt was made to devise, test, or implement, a more acceptable sampling procedure until 1973. In retrospect it is suggested that an early practical initiative to assess and remedy claimed defects of the initial sampling programme, would have removed the element of speculation which led to considerable heat in the Crown-of-thorns debate in Australia. The recommendation of the official inquiries resulted in the establishment of a trust fund to give special support to research into the problem. The research thus conducted materially increased understanding of the phenomenon, but it has been claimed that vital areas of investigation were omitted, and the value of such special support has been questioned. It is suggested here that the special problems and expense of research into the ecology of remote reefs would have precluded almost all research into the Crown-of-thorns Starfish and its effects without such ad hoc support. However, it is further suggested that more direct management of the programme would have coordinated research effort and made more effective use of the facilities and support available.
Use of residual fertiliser 15N in soil for isotope dilution estimates of N2 fixation by grain legumes

Estimates of the proportion of nitrogen (N) derived from the atmosphere (pNatm) by chickpea and lentil in the alternate phase of a cereal-legume 2-year rotation, for each of 3 seasons (1993, 1994, and 1995) in northern Syria, were obtained from isotope dilution methodology using residual fertiliser 15N in the soil (IDres). The 15N had been immobilised, during the year antecedent to the legume, from 15N-enriched fertiliser which had been applied at sowing to wheat in the cereal phase of the rotation at 30 kg N/ha. For lentil in 1994, and for chickpea in 1993 and 1994, the IDres estimates of pNatm were compared with those obtained by using the classical 15N isotope dilution method (ID) where 15N-enriched fertiliser (either 30 or 10 kg N/ha) was added at sowing to both the legume and non-fixing reference crops. Estimates of pNatm for 1994 from the 2 methodological approaches were significantly (P 0·82) for both crops in 1994 and less, but similar, for both crops (0·64-0·79) in the other 2 seasons (1993 and 1995). Although substantial amounts of residual fertiliser N were present in the soil, only a small proportion of the original fertiliser N added (<5%) was utilised by plant uptake plus any losses in the residual year, indicative of a slow remineralisation rate for the immobilised labelled N. Nevertheless, the crops in the residual year were suciently enriched to allow for estimation of pNatm. The 15N abundance, at harvest, of wheat shoots from the 15N IDres method was similar to that of the soil nitrate and ammonium pools, suggesting that plant N uptake through the season had been from an N pool of reasonably constant enrichment. This was in contrast to wheat receiving 15N-labelled fertiliser at sowing, where the shoots at harvest had a higher 15N abundance than the plant-available N pool, indicating a declining15N enrichment of plant-available N in the soil through the season. Furthermore, variability in the 15N abundance of plant-available N with soil depth was also demonstrated to be greater where the 15N IDres method was used, for ammonium N at least. These differences in 15N enrichment patterns of the plant-available N pool for the 2 methods resulted in significantly different estimates for pNatm of lentil in 1994 but for all the other comparisons there were no major differences between estimates obtained using either ID or IDres.
Analysis of temporal variation in the diversity of a small mammal community

The validity of using single-sample surveys to measure small mammal diversity was assessed by measuring the effect of short-term, temporal variation in species diversity on the spatial diversity of small mammals occupying fencerow habitats. The diversity of small mammals varied seasonally. Interaction between changes in richness and evenness accounted for the temporal variation in diversity. Temporal variation was attributed to the response of the small mammals to seasonal changes in the vegetation, to the fluctuation in meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus) captures among seasons, and to the appearance of small numbers of several mammal species during the summer. Significant spatial variation in species diversity existed, but was masked by the effect of seasonal changes in habitat on the small mammals. Erroneous conclusions could therefore be drawn from the pooling of many single-sample surveys of small mammal diversity.
Determining sampling date interval for precise in situ estimates of cumulative food consumption by fishes

We tested the influence of sampling date interval (SDI) on precision of in situ estimates of cumulative food consumption by fishes. Daily rations of stream-dwelling green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) and impoundment-dwelling bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) were estimated for 30 consecutive days using a low-effort procedure. Cumulative consumption by each species over the 30-day period (and 95% CIs) was estimated using Monte Carlo simulations. The effect of SDI on cumulative consumption estimates was examined by calculating cumulative consumption for SDIs of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 14, and 30 days; the 1-day SDI served as a standard for evaluation of other SDIs. Cumulative consumption estimates began to fall outside the 95% CI for the 1-day SDI at SDIs of 3-4 days and did so with with increasing frequency as SDI increased. Error in estimating cumulative consumption was almost always 15% relative to the 1-day SDI standard at SDIs of 5 days or less but was as high as 26 and 39% at SDIs of 6 and 7 days, respec.
A Comparison of DNA Copy Number Profiling Platforms

The accurate mapping of recurring DNA copy number aberrations (CNAs), a hallmark feature of the cancer genome, has facilitated the discovery of tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes. Microarray-based assays designed to detect these chromosomal copy number alterations on a genome-wide and high-resolution scale have emerged as a cornerstone technology in the genomic era. The diversity of commercially available platforms prompted a systematic comparison of five copy number profiling assays for their ability to detect 2-fold copy number gain and loss (4n or 1n, respectively) as well as focal high-amplitude CNAs. Here, using a collection of established human melanoma cell lines, we defined the reproducibility, absolute signals, signal to noise, and false-positive and false-negative rates for each of the five assays against ground truth defined by spectral karyotyping, in addition to comparing the concordance of CNA detection by two high-resolution Agilent and Affymetrix microarray platforms. Our analyses concluded that the Agilent's 60-mer oligonucleotide microarray with probe design optimized for genomic hybridization offers the highest sensitivity and specificity (area under receiver operator characteristic curve >0.99), whereas Affymetrix's single nucleotide polymorphism microarray seems to offer better detection of CNAs in gene-poor regions. Availability of these comparison results should guide study design decisions and facilitate further computational development.
Effects of addition of urea to a low nitrogen diet on the rumen digestion of a range of roughages

Four steers were given 2 diets consisting of oat hay and molasses which contained either no urea or 4% urea. Sixteen roughages (including cottonwool, straws, alkali-treated straws, and grass and legumes hays) were incubated in synthetic fibre bags in the rumen for 24 h, and the disappearance from the bags of insoluble organic matter (OM) was determined. In steers given molasses containing 4% urea, rumen ammonia concentrations exceeded 100 mg N/L for only about 5 h during the 24-h cycle and were <50 mg N/L within about 4 h after feeding. In steers given molasses without urea, rumen ammonia concentration averaged 7 mg N/L. The depression in OM disappearance from synthetic fibre bags due to the low rumen ammonia concentrations, expressed as a percentage of the disappearance at the higher rumen ammonia concentration, ranged among the roughages from 24 to 87%, and was inversely related to the N content of the roughage. In additional experiments the differences in ammonia con- centration between rumen fluid sampled from the ventral sac of the rumen and fluid extracted from synthetic fibre bags were small compared with the differences between diets. These results indicated that the effect of low rumen ammonia concentrations on microbial digestion in the rumen varied widely among roughages.
Ecotoxicological assessment of solid wastes: A combined liquid‐ and solid‐phase testing approach using a battery of bioassays and biomarkers

Municipal solid waste incinerator bottom ash (MSWIBA) was used as a test matrix for comparing the responses of different variables (solid phase vs leachate media) through toxicity tests and resulting endpoints. Toxicity of leachate and solid‐phase MSWIBA was evaluated with three terrestrial plants, namely oats (Avena sativa L.), Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris L. cv. chinensis), and lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). Assessment endpoints for these plant tests were biomass fresh weight, germination rate, and oxidant stress enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase, and glutathione reductase). Leachate MSWIBA toxicity was tested with bacteria (Vibrio fischeri), algae (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata), and microcrustaceans (Daphnia magna and Ceriodaphnia dubia). A large range of toxicity responses was obtained with the various bioassays. With plant tests, the phytotoxicity of MSWIBA was revealed by the solid‐phase approach, whereas no toxicity was observed with the MSWIBA leachate. The increase of oxidant stress enzyme activities was demonstrated to be a good indicator of solid or leachate phase toxicity.
Theft detection using computer vision

Theft is one of the most common criminal behaviors and it is increasing day by day. It has become one of the never-ending problems of the world. In the USA alone, about 7000 cases of baggage theft are reported to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for theft on airports. Most of the screening takes place before the passengers and their luggage can get on the plane. In order to stop these increasing theft on the airports, a robust system is required which would detect if there is any robbery taking place and would inform the respective authorities. So to solve this problem, we will be creating a system which would accurately track the people and their baggage's and would detect if there is any theft and would inform the authorities.
Chemical Studies of Egyptian Opisthobranchs: Spongian Diterpenoids from Glossodoris atromarginata

Five new spongian diterpenoids 1−5 have been isolated from the mollusk Glossodoris atromarginata along with four known related metabolites (6−9). The structures were solved by extensive spectroscopic analysis and chemical correlation. The absolute stereochemistry of compound 2 was determined by Mosher's method. A dietary origin is inferred for all these molecules on the basis of their structural analogies with known sponge metabolites, but their transfer from the digestive glands to the dorsal skin suggests a defensive role to thwart predation.
CYTOGENETICS OF SOLID STEM IN COMMON WHEAT: II. STEM SOLIDNESS OF MONOSOMIC LINES OF THE VARIETY S-615

Lines of a variety of common wheat, S-615, monosomic for chromosomes III and XVI of homoeologous group 3 had culms less solid in the top internode than normal S-615. Monosomics of homoeologous group 5, namely, V, IX, and XVIII, were less solid in the bottom four internodes than S-615. These five chromosomes carry genes for solid stem in this variety. Monosomics XIX, XX, and XXI, the D-genome chromosomes of homoeologous groups 6, 2, and 7 respectively, were more solid than the normal check in both top and lower internodes, indicating that the missing chromosomes carry genes for hollow stem. Chromosome XIII, a homoeologue of XX, which in Chinese Spring has a gene for hollow stem, does not affect the amount of pith in the culm of S-615.The concept of the culm phenotype in a given environment resulting from an interaction of genes promoting pith development and those opposing it makes it possible to reconcile results of genetic experiments on solid stem in wheat that previously appeared contradictory.
Allogrooming as a tension‐reduction mechanism: A behavioral approach

The hypothesis that allogrooming functions as a tension‐reduction mechanism was tested. Tension was measured by the frequency of displacement activities by an animal. Two adult male and 11 adult female Java (or long‐tailed) monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) that were relatively unfamiliar with each other were paired 1 hour per day for five consecutive days during the periovulatory portion of the menstrual cycle. Female allogrooming was found to reduce the frequency of male displacement activities both during the course of interaction and outside it, and this decrease was proportional to the amount of allogrooming received. Female allogrooming did not, however, exert long‐lasting effects on the frequency of female displacement activities. An increase in the frequency of male displacement activities was recorded during the 10‐second interval immediately after the end of the female allogrooming bouts. Neither postinhibitory rebound nor frustration owing to the cessation of a pleasant situation, i.e., the two advanced explanatory hypotheses, accounted for this increase. The results of the present study concur with physiological findings that support the tension‐reduction hypothesis. The social function of allogrooming appears quite important and is entirely compatible with the functional hypothesis that emphasizes hygiene.
Experimental evidence for cryptic interference among socially foraging shorebirds

Foraging rate and the distribution of foragers depend on prey distribution in conjunction with interindividual interactions. Generalized functional response models predict intake rates and spatial distributions of foragers on the basis of resource distribution and interference competition. The adequacy of these models depends on how well they capture the foragers' essential behavior. In this paper, we report on the results of a foraging experiment designed to examine the mechanisms of interference competition using red knots Calidris canutus that feed on buried bivalves. Red knots are rarely observed to interfere in the field, but this does not imply absence of interference. Our experimental setup minimized resource depletion, which allowed us to quantify interference competition as the decline in intake rate as a function of group size, with prey density and social status as additional treatments. We found that intake rate and searching efficiency decreased with group size and that dominant birds had higher intake rates than subordinates. Additionally, time spent searching for prey increased with group size. The decrease in intake rate was not due to conventional interference mechanisms (such as kleptoparasitism and time spent interacting with conspecifics) but to "cryptic interference," that is, avoidance of physical encounters with conspecifics. To accurately predict intake rates and foraging distributions, theory and models need to account for the possibility that animals anticipate and try to avoid, at some costs, physical encounters with conspecifics (i.e., conflicts that would make conventional interference behavior visible).
Mosquito symbioses: from basic research to the paratransgenic control of mosquito‐borne diseases

Mosquito‐borne diseases pose significant concerns in public health. Microbial symbionts of mosquitoes are attracting quite a lot of interest in relation to the development of novel strategies aimed to reduce mosquito vectorial capacity with particular regard to paratransgenesis that relies on genetically modified mosquito symbionts to express molecules within the vector able to interfere with parasite development and transmission. Here, we review the present status of the knowledge of mosquito–symbionts relationships, focusing on perspective in the application of symbiotic control in developing an efficient management of mosquito‐borne diseases.
Calorimetric studies on the effect of dietary energy source and environmental temperature on the metabolic efficiency of energy utilization by mature Light Sussex cockerels

SUMMARY Experiments to determine the net availabilities of the metabolizable energy (NAME) of a cereal-based diet and a maize-oil diet for maintenance and lipogenesis and the effect of environmental temperature on the NAME of the cereal-based diet are described. Four 1- to 2-year-old Light Sussex cockerels were used. The relationship between ME intake and energy retention was linear for each diet. The NAME'S of the cereal-based diet given at 22° and 28 °C (70.6 ± 1.83 % and 73.6 ± 3.54%, respectively) were significantly (P < 0.05) lower than the NAME of the maize-oil diet (84.1 ± 1.85%). It is concluded that the beneficial effect of maize oil on the efficiency of energy utilization is due to a reduced heat increment rather than a reduction in the basal component of the heat production. The higher efficiency from the maize-oil diet led to an increase in the energy retained as fat. The mean fasting heat production at 28 °C was 15 % lower than at 22 °C (43.2 ± 1.45 and 51.2 ± 1.09 kcal/kg/day, respectively). The NAME of the cereal-based diet was not significantly different when the birds were kept at 22° or 28 °C. The lower metabolic rate at 28 °C was reflected in a lower maintenance requirement and in an increase in the deposition of body fat.
Morpho-Histological Study of the Thymus of Broiler Chickens During Post-Hashing Age

: The study of morphometric and histologic evolutions of the Thymus during 28 weeks of post-hashing age, realized on 86 subjects of broiler chicken they permitted to collect information about the morpho-histological aspect according to their post-hashing age; showed the size and the weight of the Thymus which reach their maximum at the 2nd week of age and the physiologic involution phenomena. These variations are in close relationship to the sexual maturity. These results can be used in the diagnosis of viral disease such as the Gumboro disease, Marek disease, Mycotoxicose.