Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Macroevolutionary patterns in the diversification of parrots: effects of climate change, geological events and key innovations

Aim Parrots are thought to have originated on Gondwana during the Cretaceous. The initial split within crown group parrots separated the New Zealand taxa from the remaining extant species and was considered to coincide with the separation of New Zealand from Gondwana 82–85 Ma, assuming that the diversification of parrots was mainly shaped by vicariance. However, the distribution patterns of several extant parrot groups cannot be explained without invoking transoceanic dispersal, challenging this assumption. Here, we present a temporal and spatial framework for the diversification of parrots using external avian fossils as calibration points in order to evaluate the relative importance of the influences of past climate change, plate tectonics and ecological opportunity.
Matters of Care in Designing a Feminist Coalition

Recent literature on Participatory Design describes the act of designing coalitions around a matter of concern. This paper challenges the notion of concern as the ontological basis of coalitions. Coalitions are, in fact, political organizational forms that have a long history in civil rights movements, characterized by the provisional union of different oppressed groups in times of intense repression. According to feminist literature, what unites people in feminist coalitions are matters of care and not matters of concern. Following this shift of perspective, this research critically revises the notion of designing coalitions while analysing a codesign project for increasing women coffee workers' visibility in a particular region of Latin America.
547. A recording tympanometer for the measurement of intramammary pressure in the cow

A manually operated tympanometer pressure recorder of simple construction designed for recording the changes in pressure in the lower cistern of the mammary gland of the cow during let-down and milking is described. The instrument makes possible the measurement of the internal milk pressure without the need for direct access to the milk cistern. The measurements are made with a tympanometer unit which is held firmly against the outside wall of the udder.
Estudo da invasão de hepatócitos de rato por Shigella flexneri: análise da influência da hipóxia sobre a injúria celular

Lima, Camila Barbara Cantalupo. Study of rat hepatocytes invasion by Shigella flexneri: analysis of hypoxia influence on cellular injury. [Dissertation]. Sao Paulo: Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Sao Paulo; 2011. This study evaluated the invasiveness of rat hepatocytes by Shigella flexneri (S. flexneri) in normoxia and hypoxia conditions. The study of hypoxia microenvironment is of great importance, since hypoxia is present in many liver diseases and increases bacterial translocation when present in intestinal lumen. Invasive bacteria such as S. flexneri can disrupt the intestinal barrier and reach the liver through portal circulation. The effect of bacterial invasion in liver cells is poorly understood. In this study we investigated the morphological and functional changes of rat hepatocytes after infection with S. flexneri in the presence and absence of hypoxia. For this purpose we used primary cultures of rat hepatocytes. Several parameters were analyzed, such as: bacterial invasion cell rate, quantification of LDH production and release, TNF-α production, cell death rate by apoptosis and expression of the transcription factor HIF-1α. The results showed that the methodology used to obtain the hypoxic microenvironment was satisfactory, with 70% reduction of initial pO2 (to 43.2 mmHg in vitro or 6.5% O2). The invasion of rat hepatocytes by S. flexneri was lower in cells previously exposed to hypoxia compared with the invasion of cells grown in normoxia. The viability of hepatocytes showed no significant differences between experimental groups, ranging between 74% and 86%. The release of TNF-α in situations of normoxia and hypoxia was similar, although the infected cells in normoxia have increased the release levels of this cytokine. In hypoxia + infection condition the release of TNF-α was lower than normoxia + infection condition, but both groups produced a significant increase in cytokine release when compared to normoxic and hypoxic controls. This result suggests that the presence of bacteria inside the cells significantly increases the release of TNF-α by hepatocytes. DHL production was also significantly greater in the hypoxic group compared to the normoxic group, but had no change in the groups infected with S. flexneri after an hour. The apoptosis rates increased in hypoxia and infected groups in a similar way, varying between 24% and 31% when compared with control group in normoxia. The expression of HIF1α transcription factor occurred in hypoxia, normoxia + infection and hypoxia + infection groups, indicating that infection with S. flexneri induces the expression of this factor. Overall, our results sought to contribute to a greater understanding of the interaction between S. flexneri and hepatocytes under hypoxia and normoxia conditions. Such knowledge may be useful in building future strategies to assist in combating these major invasive bacteria. Descriptors: Shigella flexneri; Hypoxia; Hypoxia-inducible factor 1, alpha subunit; Tumor necrosis factor alpha, Apoptosis; Rats, Wistar
MARCO - Multi-Agent Reinforcement learning based COntrol of building HVAC systems

Optimal control of building heating, ventilation, air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment has typically been based on rules and model-based predictive control (MPC). Challenges in developing accurate models of buildings render these approaches sub-optimal and unstable in real-life operations. Model-free Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) approaches have been proposed very recently to address this. However, existing works on DRL for HVAC suffer from some limitations. First, they consider buildings with few HVAC units, thus leaving open the question of scale. Second, they consider only air-side control of air-handling-units (AHUs) without taking into the water-side chiller control, though chillers account for a significant portion of HVAC energy. Third, they use a single learning agent that adjusts multiple set-points of the HVAC system. We present MARCO - Multi-Agent Reinforcement learning COntrol for HVACs that addresses these challenges. Our approach achieves scale by transfer of learning across HVAC sub-systems. MARCO uses separate DRL agents that control both the AHUs and chillers to jointly optimize HVAC operations. We train and evaluate MARCO on a simulation environment with real-world configurations. We show that MARCO performs better than the as-is HVAC control strategy. We find that MARCO achieves performance comparable to an MPC Oracle that has perfect system knowledge; and better than MPC suffering from systemic calibration uncertainties. Other key findings from our evaluation studies include the following: 1) distributed agents perform significantly better than a central agent for HVAC control; 2) cooperative agents improve over competing agents; and 3) domain knowledge can be exploited to reduce the training time significantly.
Progress in the genetic understanding of plant iron and zinc nutrition

In this review, we describe the need and progress to improve the iron and zinc contents in crop plants by genetic means. To achieve this goal either by transgenic approaches or classical breeding, knowledge about the physiological and molecular mechanisms of mineral uptake and mineral homeostasis will be very helpful. The progress in our understanding of the molecular processes and genes is described, and the use of the identified genes by transgenic approaches is illustrated. Genetic mapping of the existing variation will allow marker-assisted breeding to exploit the available natural variation in crop plants. For this application, ultimately the knowledge of the genes underlying this quantitative variation, called quantitative trait loci (QTL), will be required. It is expected that research in this field in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana, where the molecular tools are available, might help in the identification of the allelic variation at QTL.
Expression of R345W-Fibulin-3 Induces Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells

Purpose To investigate the role of protein misfolding in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell dysfunction, the effects of R345W-Fibulin-3 expression on RPE cell phenotype were studied. Methods Primary RPE cells were cultured to confluence on Transwells and infected with lentivirus constructs to express wild-type (WT)- or R345W-Fibulin-3. Barrier function was assessed by evaluating zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) distribution and trans-epithelial electrical resistance (TER). Polarized secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), was measured by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Differentiation status was assessed by qPCR of genes known to be preferentially expressed in terminally differentiated RPE cells, and conversion to an epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype was assessed by a migration assay. Results Compared to RPE cells expressing WT-Fibulin-3, ZO-1 distribution was disrupted and TER values were significantly lower in RPE cells expressing R345W-Fibulin-3. In cells expressing mutant Fibulin-3, VEGF secretion was attenuated basally but not in the apical direction, whereas Fibulin-3 secretion was reduced in both the apical and basal directions. Retinal pigment epithelial signature genes were downregulated and multiple genes associated with EMT were upregulated in the mutant group. Migration assays revealed a faster recovery rate in ARPE-19 cells overexpressing R345W-Fibulin-3 compared to WT. Conclusions The results suggest that expression of R345W-Fibulin-3 promotes EMT in RPE cells.
Low-Order Finite Element Solver with Small Matrix-Matrix Multiplication Accelerated by AI-Specific Hardware for Crustal Deformation Computation

This study proposes a fast low-order finite element solver for crustal deformation computations by applying Tensor Core, AI-specific hardware on a Volta GPU. Tensor Core can compute large matrix-matrix multiplications rapidly in half precision. We redesign a state-of-the-art solver algorithm so that lower-precision data types can be used and memory access costs can be reduced even when we use small matrices. With the proposed solver, we solved 13 billion degrees-of-freedom two-layered problems that mimicked the Earth's crust and mantle using 36 compute nodes of Summit. In the matrix-vector kernel, we obtained a 4.1-fold speedup over a standard kernel in a single-precision format. Our proposed solver increased the FLOP count of the entire solver; however, we reduced the time-to-solution by 1.7-fold since the Tensor Core provided a high effective performance.
Low Temperature Affects Pattern of Leaf Growth and Structure of Cell Walls in Winter Oilseed Rape (Brassica napus L., var. oleifera L.)

Abstract Three-week acclimation of winter oilseed rape ( Brassica napus L. var. oleifera L.) plants in the cold (2 °C) resulted in a modified pattern of leaf cell enlargement, indicated by the increased thickness of young leaf blades and modified dimensions of mesophyll cells, as compared with non-acclimated tissues grown at 20/15 °C (day/night). The thickness of leaf cell walls also increased markedly during cold acclimation but it decreased in response to a transient freezing event (5 °C for 18 h followed by 6 or 24 h at 2 °C, in the dark). Cell walls of the upper (adaxial) epidermis were most affected. Their ultrastructure was modified by cold and freezing treatments in different ways, as revealed by electron microscopy. Possible reasons for the cold- and freezing-induced modifications in the leaf and cell wall morphology and their role in plant acclimation to low temperature conditions are discussed.
Physical and biological changes to a lengthening stream gradient following a decade of rapid glacial recession

In mountains, environmental gradients are steep in both terrestrial and aquatic systems, and climate change is causing upward shifts of physical and biological features of these gradients. Glacial streams are an interesting system to evaluate such shifts both because streams have a linear nature (for simplicity of analysis), and because the stream habitat will at least temporarily lengthen as it follows receding glaciers upward. The Tschierva Glacier, Swiss Alps, receded 482 m upstream from 1997 to 2008. We tested the null hypothesis that the physical and biological stream gradient below this glacier maintained the same structure between these time periods, but simply shifted upward following the glacial source. We compared longitudinal patterns of water temperature and zoobenthic community structure in 1997 and 2007–2008 during three seasons (spring, summer, fall) along the uppermost ca. 5 stream km. Upward shifts were evident, including colonization of the newly exposed stream reaches by cold‐adapted taxa, and the appearance in 2007/2008 of four lower‐altitude species that were previously absent. Overall, however, results rejected the null hypothesis, instead revealing significant changes in gradient structures. These included a more steeply increasing temperature profile downstream of the glacier and increased amplitude of seasonal community turnover in 2007/2008 vs. 1997. Long‐term (1955–2007) flow records revealed increasing short‐term and seasonal hydrologic variability, which might have influenced the increased intra‐annual community variability. The steepening of the temperature gradient was likely caused by a warming lake‐outlet tributary upon which glacial influence was diminished between 1997 and 2007/2008. These results suggest that upward‐shifting gradients in glacial streams can involve complex interactions with other landscape elements and that local‐scale climate response can progress even more rapidly than the rate of glacial recession.
Tolling the Freeway: Congestion Pricing and the Economics of Managing Traffic

will manually Highway congestion increases the cost of travel in most urban areas of the United States. Policy makers have tried to reduce congestion by building more highways and mass transit. This approach is expensive and has generally failed to put a significant dent in congestion. Long commute times cost the United States an estimated $121 billion in 2012. This paper examines the economics of highway congestion pricing. Its goal is to make clear to policy makers how a variable congestion toll can reduce congestion and improve the operation of urban highway systems. Failure to charge a toll in order to use a highway can lead to congestion at certain times of the day. Additional drivers entering the freeway at some point slow traffic, which imposes an externality or cost on other highway users. The result is an inefficient use of the highway and too much infrastructure investment. The congestion externality can be corrected by a congestion toll that varies with the level of traffic. There are concerns that gasoline and congestion taxes are regressive. Many factors, such as the proximity of residential communities to jobs, can influence this outcome. Also, the use to which the tax revenues are put determines the degree a tax is regressive or progressive. The evidence is mixed with respect to congestion tolls. In order to better understand how congestion pricing might be implemented in the United States, cases where variable highway pricing systems have been used are analyzed. The evidence indicates congestion tolls reduce congestion and increase driving speeds. These cases provide examples of how congestion pricing might be implemented in the United States. To encourage and facilitate the adoption of congestion pricing in the United States, congestion tolls should be made legal on all interstate highways. They could stand alone or be part of a vehicle-miles-traveled tax. While both types of taxes provide revenues and influence traffic, the congestion toll has a bigger impact on improving highway efficiency as it directly addresses peak congestion. Advances in technology have lowered the transaction costs of collecting tolls, eliminating a barrier to adoption. Experience with congestion tolling improves the public perception and willingness to accept highway tolls. One tactic that has been successful is to follow a pricing experiment with a referendum on whether the system should be made permanent. The private sector’s role in building and managing roads can be increased to improve highways in the United States. The private sector offers a source of capital to expand the highway system. An advantage of private ownership is that it creates incentives for efficient management.
Feature Selection Approach for Diagnosis in Microbiology and Its Application to Yeast Species

By using mathematical logic and the fuzzy technique, we present an approach to the computation of optimal feature sets for diagnostic tests in microbiology. These sets of physiological and biochemical tests are suitable for differentiating all organisms belonging to a given group. Membership functions are defined which are able to reflect the time dependence of the test reaction states. The result is a suboptimal solution characterized by short feature sets of high diagnostic value. An application to Rhodotorula species is shown.
Nutrient removal from anaerobically digested cattle manure by struvite precipitation

This paper studied the removal of nutrients including phosphate, ammonium, and potassium from anaerobically digested and centrifuged manure effluents by struvite precipitation. Due to coexistence of high levels of NH4+ and K+ ions in manure effluents, struvite precipitation should include formation of MgNH4PO4·6H2O (struvite) and MgKPO4·6H2O (K-struvite). Nutrient removal experiments with MgCl2 as the magnesium source were conducted with and without phosphate addition to evaluate the influences of the Mg/PO43– ratio, pH, temperature, PO43–/NH4+ ratio, and reaction time. It was found that the required Mg/PO43– molar ratio was more than 5 times higher than the stoichiometric value of 1 when no phosphate was added. Meanwhile, the ammonium removal efficiency increased with the increase of phosphate addition. However, the ammonium removal from digested manure effluents by struvite precipitation is not highly efficient, as the removal efficiency reached only 56% even at a Mg/PO43–/NH4+ molar ratio of 1.5:1.25:1.
Virginia Market-Type Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) Cultivar Tolerance and Yield Response to Flumioxazin Preemergence1

Abstract: Field studies were conducted in 1996 and 1997 to evaluate response of eight peanut cultivars to flumioxazin applied preemergence (PRE) at 71 g ai/ha. Peanut cultivars evaluated include ‘NC 12C’, ‘NC 7’, ‘VAC 92R’, ‘NC-V 11’, ‘NC 10C’, ‘AT VC 1’, ‘NC 9’, and the experimental breeding line ‘N9001OE’. Visible injury 3 wk after planting in 1996 was 3% or less regardless of cultivar. In 1997, all cultivars were injured 15 to 28% with flumioxazin PRE, except VC 1, which was injured 45%. No visible injury was observed at 5 and 9 wk after planting. Flumioxazin did not influence the incidence of early leaf spot, late leaf spot, southern stem rot, cylindrocladium black rot, or tomato spotted wilt virus. Flumioxazin did not affect percentage of extra-large kernels, sound mature kernels, other kernels, and total yield. Nomenclature: Flumioxazin; peanut, Arachis hypogaea L. , ‘NC 12C’, ‘NC 7’, ‘VAC 92R’, ‘NC-V 11’, ‘NC 10C’, ‘AT VC 1’, ‘NC 9’, ‘N9001OE’. Additional index words: Disease interaction, Cylindrocladium crotalariae (Loos) Bell and Sobers, Cercospora arachidicola Hori, Cercosporidium personatum (Berk. and Curt.), Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. , grade parameters, extra-large kernels, sound mature kernels, sound splits, total kernels, other kernels, fancy pods. Abbreviations: CBR, cylindrocladium black rot; DAP, days after planting; ELK, extra-large kernels; PPI, preplant incorporated; PRE, preemergence; SMK, sound mature kernels; SS, sound splits; TMSK, total sound mature kernels; TSWV, tomato spotted wilt virus; WAP, weeks after planting.
Predation on herring, Clupea harengus, by minke whales, Balaenoptera acutorostrata, in the Barents Sea

Using results from annual studies in 1992–1999 in the Barents Sea, the dynamics of Northeast Atlantic minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) predation upon immature Norwegian spring spawning herring (Clupea harengus) are assessed. Herring spawn along the western coast of Norway, and the larvae are transported northwards to coastal areas of the southern Barents Sea where they spend their first two to four years. The abundance of immature herring year classes in the Barents Sea has been highly variable. One or a few strong year classes are usually followed by several poor year classes. In the study period, there were two particularly strong year classes (1991 and 1992). By 1996, these year classes had migrated out of the Barents Sea, and the abundance of young herring consequently decreased. In the period 1992–1999, the mean annual consumption of immature herring by minke whales in the southern Barents Sea varied considerably (640–118 000 t). The major part of the consumed herring belonged to the strong 1991 and 1992 year classes and there was a substantial reduction in the dietary importance of herring to whales after 1995, when a major part of both the 1991 and 1992 year classes migrated out of the Barents Sea. In 1992–1997, minke whales may have consumed 230 000 and 74 000 t, corresponding to 14.6 and 2.810 9 individuals of the herring year classes of 1991 and 1992, respectively. The dietary importance of herring to whales appeared to increase in a non-linear relation with herring abundance. 2002 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea
Wireless in the Weather-world and Community Networks Made to Last

I describe grassroots innovation and recursive engagement in Argentina by members of rural Community Networks (CNs), or decentralized telecommunications that people build and operate themselves. Hackers began the CNs to resist the dominant internet regime through peer collaboration but, these days, their members’ technical competences, life experiences and perspectives on communality and solidarity are diverse. I apply Tim Ingold's concepts in analysing links between technology, social relations and bodies in the CNs, and how co-design of an app unfolded along paths of growth and repair. The WiFi network materialises the liveliness of processes that go into forming it, and the app materialises CN members’ efforts to enact awareness of their own nodes to maintain the network. The Argentine CNs and Ingold's perspective on commoning illustrate that being aware of local details and adapting to the ways things are going in the living world is vital to making shared resources last.