Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ground-Dwelling and Vegetation Ant Fauna in Southern Brazilian Grasslands

Non-forest ecosystems, as natural grasslands from Southern Brazil, are still neglected in conservation policies. Measuring their biodiversity is one of the main steps to generate management strategies for these habitats. This study aims to (i) describe grassland ant richness and composition in Rio Grande do Sul state, and (ii) compare ant communities sampled on the ground and in grassland vegetation, adding to our knowledge of habitat use patterns and vegetation associated species. Six sites were sampled, three belonging to the Pampa biome and three in highland region from the Atlantic Forest biome. Ant fauna was collected once per year in summer during four years in each site with pitfalls traps and sweeping nets. Overall, 29,812 ant individuals were sampled belonging to eight subfamilies, 30 genera e 106 species. The grasslands of Pampa accumulated 91 species and 45 exclusive species, while highland grasslands summed up 61 species and only 15 exclusive species. Species composition differs between biomes as well as between sampling methods. Ant communities sampled from vegetation represented a clear subset of the fauna sampled with pitfall traps, and indication analysis showed only two species associated with this stratum: Myrmelachista gallicola and Pseudomyrmex nr. flavidulus. This study highlights the importance of Southern Brazilian grasslands and the need for specific conservation strategies for the natural grasslands from each biome.
Study of spatial frequency domain imaging technique for turbid media optical property estimation and application

The interaction phenomenon between light and turbid media like tissue is mainly characterized of absorption and scattering. The absorption coefficient (μa) and reduced scattering coefficient (μ's) of biological tissue can provide useful information about the composition concentration and structure features. Spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) is a relatively new and effective technique for quantitative optical property mapping of turbid media, with unique advantages of noncontact and wide-field detection. In this study, a self-developed SFDI system was used for optical property detection of phantom and meat tissue. System calibration and error correction was realized by using a series of self-made phantoms that covering a wide range of absorption and reduced scattering. Optical properties of turbid media samples of different meat tissue (pork tenderloin, pork hind leg muscle, beef sirloin, beef rump steak, chicken breast and chicken drumstick) were estimated based on spatial frequency dependent diffuse reflectance. The results showed that suitable system calibration and error correction can help to improve the system performance and detection accuracy. It’s found that the optical properties (μa and μ's) of different species of meat were distinctively distinguished. The classification accuracy of using μa and μ's as features was higher than the result of using reflectance as the feature, except for chicken breast and thigh, which indicated the advantage of SFDI in measuring the properties of meat samples compared to traditional spectroscopy. Then the estimated optical properties were furtherly applied for sample classification. Classification accuracies of different meat species and parts were much higher by using SVM compared with using KNN. The classification accuracy was as high as 96.7% for three meat species classification, and 90.8% for six set of meat samples classification. Future studies could be focused on multi spectral imaging of optical properties of meat tissue as well as other biological tissue to estimate related physical or chemical properties quantitatively.
THE ANALYSIS OF GREEN ACCOUNTING COST IMPACT ON CORPORATIONS FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

This research aimed to analyze the green accounting (GA) impact on financial performance (FP). The research question pertaining to this research will answer empirical investigation and analysis in the top 100 multinationals corporations. The research seeks to answer the questions: Does green accounting cost have an impact on financial performance in the top 100 multinationals corporations? Thus, secondary data and multiple regression analysis were employed in this research, such as CSR reports, sustainability reports, and financial statements. The selected corporations were 100 largest multinational corporations in the year 2018. Then, the green accounting used a proxy of the environmental cost (EC), while financial performance employed a proxy of Return on Capital Employed (ROCE). The finding of autonomous Green Accounting costs on financial performance has a negative relationship.
Functional Characterization of the Chromosomal MazEF Toxin-Antitoxin Addiction System in Streptococcus mutans

Chromosomal type II toxin-antitoxin (TA) modules consist of a pair of genes that encode two components: a stable toxin and a labile antitoxin interfering with the lethal action of the toxin through protein complex formation. Typically, the toxin inhibits an essential cell function such as DNA replication or protein synthesis. Chromosomal type II TAs have been proposed to function as regulators of cell growth in response to environmental stress or as a mechanism for growth control by phenotypic variation (bacterial persistence). Streptococcus mutans, a major causative agent in the formation of dental caries, encodes four predicted chromosomal type II TA modules. The objective of this study was to characterize the MazEF TA system of S. mutans. S. mutans mazEF genes form a bicistronic operon that is cotranscribed from a σ 70 -like promoter. MazF toxin had a toxic effect on S. mutans and this effect can be neutralized by coexpression of its cognate antitoxin MazE. Although MazF expression inhibited cell growth, no cell lysis of S. mutans cultures was observed under the conditions tested. The S. mutans MazEF TA is also functional in E. coli, where the expression of MazF leads to growth arrest and MazF-stasis can be prevented by MazE coexpression. Furthermore, we demonstrated that S. mutans MazE and MazF proteins interact with each other in vivo, confirming the nature of this TA as a type II addiction system. Our data indicate that MazF is a toxic nuclease arresting cell growth through the mechanism of RNA cleavage and that MazE inhibits the RNase activity of MazF by forming a protein complex. Our results suggest that the chromosomal MazEF TA module might represent a cell growth modulator facilitating the persistence of S. mutans in the oral cavity.
Projection of Future Hydropower Generation in Samanalawewa Power Plant, Sri Lanka

The projection of future hydropower generation is extremely important for the sustainable development of any country, which utilizes hydropower as one of the major sources of energy to plan the country’s power management system. Hydropower generation, on the other hand, is mostly dependent on the weather and climate dynamics of the local area. In this paper, we aim to study the impact of climate change on the future performance of the Samanalawewa hydropower plant located in Sri Lanka using artificial neural networks (ANNs). ANNs are one of the most effective machine learning tools for examining nonlinear relationships between the variables to understand complex hydrological processes. Validated ANN model is used to project the future power generation from 2020 to 2050 using future projected rainfall data extracted from regional climate models. Results showcased that the forecasted hydropower would increase in significant percentages (7.29% and 10.22%) for the two tested climatic scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). Therefore, this analysis showcases the capability of ANN in projecting nonstationary patterns of power generation from hydropower plants. The projected results are of utmost importance to stakeholders to manage reservoir operations while maximizing the productivity of the impounded water and thus, maximizing economic growth as well as social benefits.
Truncus Arteriosus Type 1: A Prenatal Diagnosis, Case Report, and Literature Review

Common arterial trunk (persistent truncus arteriosus) is a rare, congenital heart anomaly and characterized by Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), single truncal valve, and a common ventricular outflow tract. We reported a case of truncus arteriosus type 1 in the fetus of a 28 years-old G2-P1-L1 pregnant female at 24 weeks of gestational age with large sub truncul VSD, truncal overriding, and main pulmonary artery bifurcation to the right and left pulmonary arteries.
Collateral diseases: Aquaculture impacts on wildlife infections

1. Aquaculture is a promising source of fish and other aquatic organisms to ensure human food security but it comes at the price of diverse environmental impacts. Among others, these include diseases which often thrive under the conditions in aquaculture settings and can cause high economic losses. These diseases may also affect wildlife, however, the impacts of aquaculture on disease dynamics in wild species in surrounding ecosystems are poorly understood.2. In this Review, we provide a conceptual framework for studying the effects of aquaculture on wildlife diseases, and illustrate the different mechanisms identified with examples from the literature. In addition, we highlight further research needs and recommendations for management and policy.3. We identified five potential means by which farmed populations may alter wildlife disease dynamics: i) farmed species may co‐introduce parasites to the new environment, which infect wild conspecifics without infecting other species (intraspecific parasite spillover); ii) these co‐introduced parasites from farmed species may infect other wild host species potentially leading to emerging diseases (interspecific parasite spillover); iii) parasites from other wild host species may infect farmed species, amplifying parasite numbers and increasing parasite infections when spilling back to wild hosts (interspecific parasite spillback); iv) farmed species may acquire parasites from wild conspecifics, increasing parasite population size and subsequently raising infection loads in the wild host population (intraspecific parasite spillback); and v) farmed species may be neither host nor parasite, but affect the transmission of parasites between wild host species (transmission interference). Although these mechanisms can alter wildlife disease dynamics, we found large knowledge gaps regarding collateral disease impacts and strong biases in terms of production countries, aquaculture practices and host taxa.4. Synthesis and applications. The strong potential for aquaculture to affect the dynamics of diseases in wildlife populations calls for the consideration of collateral disease impacts in risk assessments and biosecurity protocols regarding aquaculture. In particular, comprehensive parasite inventories of both farmed and wild hosts as well as disease monitoring in wildlife surrounding farms will be necessary to increase our knowledge on aquaculture impacts on wildlife disease and to develop adequate prevention and mitigation measures.
Comparative Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy on Emotion Regulation, Positive and Negative Affection, Aggressive and Self-Harm Behaviors of 13-16-Year-Old Female Students

This study was aimed to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy with dialectical behavior therapy on emotion regulation, positive and negative affection, aggressive and self-harm behaviors of 13 to 16-year-old female students. The results showed that both CBT and DBT have a significant effect on increasing emotional regulation and positive affect, and decreasing negative affect, reducing aggressive behavior and self-harm. Also there was no significant difference between two treatments in increasing the positive affection and decreasing negative affection, but the effect of DBT on increasing emotional regulation and reducing self-harm and aggressive behaviors was significantly more than CBT.
Corporate social responsibility and institutional investors: the intervening effect of financial performance

PurposeThe research on the role of corporate social responsibility in investors' decision process has proliferated over the past few decades. This paper aims to explore the mediating role of financial performance in the relationship between corporate social responsibility and institutional investors.Design/methodology/approachPanel regression was performed on a sample of 29 commercial banks nine years from 2009 to 2017.FindingsThe initial findings of the study show that that corporate social responsibility has a positive and significant impact on institutional investors. However, when the interaction term (financial performance) was incorporated, the relationship between CSR and institutional turns out to be neutral. The study concludes that financial performance plays a pivotal role in the selection of investment avenues.Originality/valueIn Indian context, there is a dearth of research work which studies the impact of sustainable practices on investors' decision process. This topic has received wider attention but lacks insights from developing countries, like India. This article presents a new approach to verify the relationship through the mediating variable (financial performance).
Diversité des mécanismes d’interactions des vibrios du clade Splendidus et de leur hôte, l'huître creuse Crassostrea gigas

Au sein du clade Splendidus, Vibrio tasmaniensis et Vibrio crassostreae sont deux populations de vibrios virulentes pour l’huitre qui ont ete associees au syndrome de mortalite des huitres juveniles. Nous nous sommes interesses a la diversite des mecanismes d'interaction entre ces vibrios et leur hote, l'huitre creuse Crassostrea gigas. Dans un premier temps, nous avons precise le processus de pathogenese de la souche V. tasmaniensis LGP32 et montre qu’elle possedait une activite cytotoxique sur les cellules immunitaires de l’huitre, les hemocytes, qui dependait de sa phagocytose. Le transcriptome intracellulaire de LGP32 a revele le role important des systemes antioxydants et de l’efflux du cuivre dans la survie du vibrio a l’interieur du phagosome. D’un point de vue fonctionnel, nous avons montre que ces mecanismes jouaient un role important au cours de la pathogenese in vivo. Dans un second temps, nous avons realise une etude comparative des interactions entre des souches representatives des deux populations V. tasmaniensis et V. crassostreae et l’huitre. Nous avons montre que les souches virulentes des deux populations etaient cytotoxiques pour les hemocytes mais que cette cytotoxicite etait independante de la phagocytose chez les V. crassostreae, a l’inverse des V. tasmaniensis. Le transcriptome des huitres a montre que les souches virulentes des deux populations reprimaient l’expression de genes impliques dans la reponse antibacterienne. Des reponses specifiques a chaque souche virulente ont egalement ete identifiees, revelant la diversite des interactions. In vivo, les souches virulentes se sont montrees capables de coloniser les tissus de l'huitre, contrairement aux souches non virulentes controlees par les hemocytes. L’ensemble de nos travaux montre que, bien qu’il existe un degre de diversite et de specificite des interactions entre differents vibrios du clade Splendidus et l’huitre, les deux populations virulentes sont cytotoxiques pour les cellules immunitaires, et ce processus est essentiel pour leur succes infectieux. Ainsi, la capacite de depasser les defenses hemocytaires est un phenotype conserve entre les populations virulentes du clade Splendidus. Les processus evolutifs ayant conduits a l’emergence de ces traits de virulence communs entre populations de vibrios pathogenes differentes meritent d’etre explorer.
Repertoires, identities, and issues of collective action in the candlelight movement of South Korea

In this case study, we examine the evolution of particular themes and identities of collective action. Using the 2016 Candlelight Movement in South Korea as a case study, we attempt to understand how communication processes construct the sociocultural meanings of collective action. We argue that understanding a social movement requires comprehension of the communicative actions of the movement participants, either physically or symbolically engaged, through which they together make sense of the broad contexts and meanings of the movement as they actively pursue construction of the identities and themes of the collective action. Based on a communication perspective of social movements, we developed three research questions regarding the specific features of the collective action repertoire, collective identities and issue framing. Considering the extensive impact of media communication technologies in mobilising collective action in South Korea, especially mobile social networking platforms, we chose one of the most popular social network sites, Twitter, as the data source of communicative actions for the study. Content analysis and semantic network analysis was conducted with a sample of 1,779,902 tweets. Based on the analyses, we suggest that the collective action and identities both shape and are shaped by the communication networks of the movement participants as they interact with not only the counter-movement actors, but also the movement’s social, economic and cultural conditions.
Diversity of Olfactory Responses and Skills in Astyanax Mexicanus Cavefish Populations Inhabiting different Caves

Animals in many phyla are adapted to and thrive in the constant darkness of subterranean environments. To do so, cave animals have presumably evolved mechano- and chemosensory compensations to the loss of vision, as is the case for the blind characiform cavefish, Astyanax mexicanus. Here, we systematically assessed the olfactory capacities of cavefish and surface fish of this species in the lab as well as in the wild, in five different caves in northeastern Mexico, using an olfactory setup specially developed to test and record olfactory responses during fieldwork. Overall cavefish showed lower (i.e., better) olfactory detection thresholds than surface fish. However, wild adult cavefish from the Pachón, Sabinos, Tinaja, Chica and Subterráneo caves showed highly variable responses to the three different odorant molecules they were exposed to. Pachón and Subterráneo cavefish showed the highest olfactory capacities, and Chica cavefish showed no response to the odors presented. We discuss these data with regard to the environmental conditions in which these different cavefish populations live. Our experiments in natural settings document the diversity of cave environments inhabited by a single species of cavefish, A. mexicanus, and highlight the complexity of the plastic and genetic mechanisms that underlie cave adaptation.
Feedback Linearization Based Robust Control for Linear Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors

In this study, we designed a feedback linearization control strategy for linear permanent magnet synchronous motors (LPMSMs) as well as a robust control mechanism. First, the highly nonlinear system was transformed into an exact linear system by the feedback linearization technique. Then, we designed a robust controller to mitigate the impact of system parameter disturbances on system performance. This novel robust feedback controller can be applied to electromagnetic force, speed and position control loops in linear motors, correct the errors created by uncertainty factors in the entire system in real time, and set the system’s settling time based on the application environment of the plant. Finally, we performed simulations and experiments using a PC-based motor control system, which demonstrated that the proposed robust feedback controller can achieve good performance in the controlled system with robust anti-disturbance control.
Drug‐induced cardiomyopathy: Characterization of a rat model by [18F]FDG/PET and [99mTc]MIBI/SPECT

Drug‐induced cardiomyopathy is a significant medical problem. Clinical diagnosis of myocardial injury is based on initial electrocardiogram, levels of circulating biomarkers, and perfusion imaging with single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Positron emission tomography (PET) is an alternative imaging modality that provides better resolution and sensitivity than SPECT, improves diagnostic accuracy, and allows therapeutic monitoring. The objective of this study was to assess the detection of drug‐induced cardiomyopathy by PET using 2‐deoxy‐2‐[18F]fluoro‐D‐glucose (FDG) and compare it with the conventional SPECT technique with [99mTc]‐Sestamibi (MIBI).
Optimal Day-Ahead Scheduling of Microgrids with Battery Energy Storage System

Optimal scheduling is a requirement for microgrids to participate in current and future energy markets. Although the number of research articles on this subject is on the rise, there is a shortage of papers containing detailed mathematical modeling of the distributed energy resources available in a microgrid. To address this gap, this paper presents in detail how to mathematically model resources such as battery energy storage systems, solar generation systems, directly controllable loads, load shedding, scheduled intentional islanding, and generation curtailment in the microgrid optimal scheduling problem. The proposed modeling also includes a methodology to determine the availability cost of battery and solar systems assets. Simulations were carried out considering energy prices from an actual time-of-use tariff, costs based on real market data, and scenarios with scheduled islanding. Simulation results provide support to validate the proposed model. Data illustrate how energy arbitrage can reduce microgrid costs in a time-of-use tariff. Results also show how the microgrid’s self-sufficiency and the storage system’s capacity can impact the microgrid’s energy bill. The findings also bring out the need to consider the scheduled islanding event in the day-ahead optimization for microgrids.
PHENOTYPE OF SOME MICROMORFOLOGY OF SOME PAPAVERACEAE SPECIES EXPRESSED AS PROTECTIVE SEMINAL LAYER

The present paper represents a contribution to the identification of new descriptive criteria and to the detection of the micromorphological specificity of the testa’s epidermal cells at the seeds that belong to the following four Papaveraceae: Chelidonium majus L. , Glaucium flavum Cr. , Papaver rhoeas L. i Papaver somnifemm L.
PALM TOCOTRIENOLS CAUSE CLEAVAGE OF POLY-(ADP)-RIBOSE POLYMERASE ENZYME AND DOWN-REGULATION OF CYCLOOXYGENASE-2 PROTEIN LEVEL IN HUMAN BREAST CANCER CELLS

Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women globally. The anti-cancer effects of various forms of vitamin E from palm oil [tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF): natural form of vitamin E complex in palm oil, tocotrienol-enriched fraction (TEF), and major vitamin E homologues in palm oil: α-tocopherol (αToc) and tocotrienols (T3) (α, δ or γ )] were tested on two human breast cancer cell lines [MDA-MB-231 (triple negative) and MCF-7 (oestrogen-dependent)]. Chronic inflammation plays a key role in tumourigenesis. Both cell lines used express high levels of poly-(ADP)-ribose polymerase-1 (PARP-1) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), which are key mediators of inflammation. Tocotrienols exerted marked anti-proliferative by promoting apoptosis in both MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells. In addition, T3 also induced time-dependent inactivation of PARP-1 as well as inhibited expression of COX-2 in both MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells. The rate of T3 uptake was found to be comparable to the anti-proliferative and apoptotic activities observed. In conclusion, T3 induced marked anti-proliferative (p<0.05) and pro-apoptotic (p<0.05) effects, which were most likely associated with PARP-1 inactivation and COX-2 down-regulation in these human breast cancer cells.