Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FIRE BEHAVIOR PREDICTING MODELS EFFICIENCY IN BRAZILIAN COMMERCIAL EUCALYPT PLANTATIONS

Knowing how a wildfire will behave is extremely important in order to assist in fire suppression and prevention operations. Since the 1940’s mathematical models to estimate how the fire will behave have been developed worldwide, however, none of them, until now, had their efficiency tested in Brazilian commercial eucalypt plantations nor in other vegetation types in the country. This study aims to verify the accuracy of the Rothermel (1972) fire spread model, the Byram (1959) flame length model, and the fire spread and length equations derived from the McArthur (1962) control burn meters. To meet these objectives, 105 experimental laboratory fires were done and their results compared with the predicted values from the models tested. The Rothermel and Byram models predicted better than McArthur’s, nevertheless, all of them underestimated the fire behavior aspects evaluated and were statistically different from the experimental data.
Role of Nuclear Receptors and Their Splice Variants in Regulating Boar Taint Metabolism and Steroidogenesis

ROLE OF NUCLEAR RECEPTORS AND THEIR SPLICE VARIANTS IN REGULATING BOAR TAINT METABOLISM AND STEROIDOGENESIS Matthew A. Gray Advisor: University of Guelph, 2013 Dr. E. James Squires This thesis investigates how activation of the nuclear receptors pCAR, pPXR and pFXR and the presence of their alternatively spliced variants, pCAR-SV2, pPXR-SV1 and pFXR-SV1 affects metabolism of boar taint compounds (androstenone and skatole), steroidogenesis and gene expression in boars. Transactivation of CAR, PXR, or FXR in primary Leydig cells increased the expression of several genes involved in steroidogenesis, including cytochrome B5A (CYB5A) and cytochrome B5 reductase 1 (CYB5R1), as well as hydroxysteroid (17-beta) dehydrogenase 4 (HSD17B4) and retinol dehydrogenase 12 (RDH12). Treatment with CAR or PXR agonists significantly decreased sex steroid production, by approximately 40%, and significantly increased production of 16-androstene steroids by approximately 25%. Treatment with an FXR agonist increased sex steroid production by approximately 46%, but had no effect on 16androstene steroid synthesis. In primary hepatocytes receptor transactivation resulted in altered expression of several transcripts, including increased expression of CYP2B22 by CAR, CYP2A19, CYP2B22, CYP2C33, and CYP2C49 by PXR, and CYP2C33 and CYP2E1 by FXR. Only transactivation of PXR had a significant effect on androstenone metabolism, while FXR had the greatest effect on skatole metabolism, increasing the production of the key metabolite 6-hydroxy-3-methylindole. The dominant negative effect of pCAR-SV2 was dependent on DNA binding, since mutation of the DNA binding domain abolished the effect pCAR-SV2 had on pCAR-WT; this effect was also found in vivo, with increased expression of pCAR-SV2 correlated with decreased expression of several target genes. The dominant positive effect of pPXR-SV1 on pPXRWT was dependent on the charged clamp region, which is involved in co-regulatory protein binding, with K246 being the key residue in this region. The pFXR-SV1 dominant positive effect was dependent on the tyrosine residue of the MYTG insert, and the phosphorylation status of this residue may be important for pFXR-SV1 to exert its effect. The dominant positive effects of pPXR-SV1 and pFXR-SV1 were not shown to exist in vivo, though increased pFXR expression did increase expression of CYP2C49 and CYP2C33, and decrease expression of CYP2E1. In summary, transactivation of pCAR, pPXR, and pFXR alters boar taint formation and metabolism, and the dominant negative effect of pCAR-SV2 may be able to affect pCAR transactivation in vivo.
Attempts to Elucidate the Role of SNAP23 in Regulated and Pathological Exocytosis in Pancreatic Acinar Cells Using an Inducible SNAP23 Knockout Mouse

One contentious issue regarding pancreatic acinar exocytosis concerns which SNAP25 isoform (SNAP23/29/47) mediates the various fusion events in this cell type. Based on dominant-negative over-expression studies, SNAP23 was hypothesized to be the putative isoform mediating apical exocytosis, basolateral exocytosis, and ZG-ZG fusion. Unfortunately, using a SNAP23 KD mouse model, 80% SNAP23 KD was insufficient to manifest any secretion phenotype. A novel syncollin-pHluorin exocytosis imaging technique initially meant to assess which fusion events are perturbed by SNAP23 KD was successfully developed and displayed improvements over previous imaging techniques. The syncollin-pHluorin imaging enabled visualization of apical and basolateral exocytosis as well as sequential ZG-ZG fusions. Combined with spinning disk microscopy, this assay allows 3D live exocytosis imaging with high temporal and spatial resolution. This novel imaging assay will be useful in visualizing apical, basolateral, sequential, and lateral fusion events for future acinar studies.
Experimental infection of pigs with European porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus : correlations with pathology.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is one of the most economically important diseases of swine worldwide. Since its first emergence in 1987 the PRRS virus (PRRSV) has become particularly divergent with highly pathogenic strains appearing in both Europe and Asia. However, the underlying mechanisms of PRRSV pathogenesis are still unclear. This study sets out to determine the differences in pathogenesis between subtype 1 and 3 strains of European PRRSV (PRRSV-I), and compare the immune responses mounted against these strains in both the blood and the local tissues, ie the mediastinal lymph nodes and the lung. Piglets were infected with 4 strains of PRRSV-I: Lelystad virus, 215-06 a British field strain, a vaccine strain DV and SU1-bel from Belarus. Blood was collected at various time points for viraemia to investigate viraemia and immune responses. Post-mortem examinations were performed at 3, 7 and 35 days post-infection (dpi), and cells were collected from the alveolar spaces and the lymph nodes. The subtype 3 SU1-bel strain displayed greater clinical signs and lung gross pathology scores compared with the subtype 1 strains. This difference did not appear to be caused by higher virus replication, as viraemia and viral load in broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were lower in the SU1-bel group. Infection with SU1-bel induced an enhanced adaptive immune response with greater interferon (IFN)-γ responses and an earlier PRRSV-specific antibody response, in both blood and BALF, which correlated with gross pathology. Of particular note was the large influx of cytotoxic T cells and production of IFN-γ. On the other hand those pigs in the SU1-bel group, which had much less pathology, had the highest number of regulatory T cells and levels of the immunomodulatory cytokine Interleukin-10. The results of this study indicate that the immune response has an important role in the pathogenesis of PRRSV infection. Although these enhanced immune responses clear virus from the serum and BALF more quickly than responses seen in other strains, if these responses go unchecked, as they seem to in this case, it can have disastrous consequences for the animal. It may be possible to look at which factors are leading to this viral clearance and enhanced cellular immune response and use this data to perhaps devise a new vaccine that can monopolise on these mechanisms without causing the complications observed here.
Arteria: An automation system for a sequencing core facility

Abstract Background In recent years, nucleotide sequencing has become increasingly instrumental in both research and clinical settings. This has led to an explosive growth in sequencing data produced worldwide. As the amount of data increases, so does the need for automated solutions for data processing and analysis. The concept of workflows has gained favour in the bioinformatics community, but there is little in the scientific literature describing end-to-end automation systems. Arteria is an automation system that aims at providing a solution to the data-related operational challenges that face sequencing core facilities. Findings Arteria is built on existing open source technologies, with a modular design allowing for a community-driven effort to create plug-and-play micro-services. In this article we describe the system, elaborate on the underlying conceptual framework, and present an example implementation. Arteria can be reduced to 3 conceptual levels: orchestration (using an event-based model of automation), process (the steps involved in processing sequencing data, modelled as workflows), and execution (using a series of RESTful micro-services). This creates a system that is both flexible and scalable. Arteria-based systems have been successfully deployed at 3 sequencing core facilities. The Arteria Project code, written largely in Python, is available as open source software, and more information can be found at https://arteria-project.github. io/ . Conclusions We describe the Arteria system and the underlying conceptual framework, demonstrating how this model can be used to automate data handling and analysis in the context of a sequencing core facility.
Predicting personality traits from resting-state fMRI

Personality neuroscience aims to find associations between brain measures and personality traits. Findings to date have been severely limited by a number of factors, including small sample size and omission of out-of-sample prediction. We capitalized on the recent availability of a large database, together with the emergence of specific criteria for best practices in neuroimaging studies of individual differences. We analyzed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 867 young healthy adults in the Human Connectome Project (HCP) database. We attempted to predict personality traits from the “Big Five”, as assessed with the NEO-FFI test, using individual functional connectivity matrices. After regressing out potential confounds such as age, sex, and IQ, we used a cross-validated framework, together with test-retest replication, to quantify how well the neuroimaging data could predict each of the five personality factors, as well as two superordinate factors (“α” and “β”). To obtain a more comprehensive set of findings, we tested three different preprocessing pipelines for the fMRI data, two brain parcellation schemes, and two different linear models for prediction. Across all 24 results (test/retest; 3 processing pipelines; 2 parcellation schemes; 2 models) we found no consistent evidence for predictability for any of the five personality traits with the exception of Openness, and the superordinate β factor (“personal growth/ plasticity”). As a benchmark, we showed that we could replicate prior reports of predicting IQ from the same dataset. Best predictions in all cases were around r=0.2, thus only accounting for about 4% of the variance. We conclude with a discussion of the potential for predicting personality from neuroimaging data and make specific recommendations for the field.
The Impacts of Privacy Rules on Users' Perception on Internet of Things (IoT) Applications: Focusing on Smart Home Security Service

As communication and information technologies advance, the Internet of Things (IoT) has changed the way people live. In particular, as smart home security services have been widely commercialized, it is necessary to examine consumer perception. However, there is little research that explains the general perception of IoT and smart home services. This article will utilize communication privacy management theory and privacy calculus theory to investigate how options to protect privacy affect how users perceive benefits and costs and how those perceptions affect individuals’ intentions to use of smart home service. Scenario-based experiments were conducted, and perceived benefits and costs were treated as formative second-order constructs. The results of PLS analysis in the study showed that smart home options to protect privacy decreased perceived benefits and increased perceived costs. In addition, the perceived benefits and perceived costs significantly affected the intention to use smart home security services. This research contributes to the field of IoT and smart home research and gives practitioners notable guidelines.
EFEKTIFITAS LARUTAN KULIT BUAH NAGA MERAH (HYLOCEREUS POLYRHIZUS) TERHADAP JUMLAH KOLONI BAKTERI DI SALIVA

TITLEThe effectiveness of red dragon fruit rind solution (Hylocereus polyrhizus) to bacteria colony in salivaABSTRACTHylocereus polyrhizus or red dragon fruit is a tradisional herb. 30-35% red dragon fruit is a rind often discarded. Rind of dragon fruit is contains natural pigments and antioxidant that are beneficial to dental health. In saliva are many types of bacteria, which can lead to harmful in the mouth Aims to determine the effect of the red dragon fruit peel extract to colonies of bacteria in saliva.Method is true experiment, design is a pre and post test design. Subjects were saliva with a red dragon fruit peel extract concentration of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% with 3 repetitions. Dragon fruit peel extract obtained by pulverized and then filtered. This type of research is analytic, statistical the Wilcoxon test. Confidence level 95% of p value 0.05. Implementation of research in the Laboratory of Microbiology Dental Health of Nursing Departmens, Politecnique of Health Kemenkes Semarang.Results the effectiveness of the solution concentration red dragon fruit peel extract of colonies bacteria was found at a concentration of 100% (p 0.05), and the lowest concentration of 25% (p 0.05). The active ingredient is a flavonoid. Antifungal and antibacterial effect produced by the red dragon fruit to contain several flavonoids, phenols, Vitamin C, Protein, carbohydrates and antioxidants. This compounds the red dragon fruit is a red and purple on this fruit. Suggestions for further research to be separation of flavonoids contained in the fruit. And for further research on the types of bacteria that effectively eliminated the fruit. Keywords : Rind hylocereus polyrhizus, saliva, bacteria.
Effects of Toluene on Some Physicochemical Parameters of The Test Water, Reproductive, Hatching Success and Growth Performance of Clarias gariepinus (Burshell, 1822)

The effects of toluene on the reproductive, hatching success and growth performance of Clarias gariepinus was investigated. The study lasted for 12 weeks with 6 varied concentrations including the control. The concentrations were 0.001%, 0.0015%, 0.002%, 0.0025%, 0.003% and 0.00 which served as the control. During the study, some physicochemical parameters (pH, Temperature, dissolved oxygen and conductivity) were monitored. The results showed that there were variation in these parameters but the differences in mean physicochemical parameters were not statistically significant (P > 0.05) apart from conductivity which had a significant differences in mean values (P < 0.05). The control (0.00%) recorded the least mean conductivity value of 8.0±0.00 while the 0.001% concentration had the highest with 18.66±0.00 uS/cm. Retarded growth was observed in the study when comparing the specific growth rate of the control (SGR = 6.86%) with those of the exposed groups (4.56, 4.48, 4.47, 4.36 and 4.36) being values for 0.001%. 0.0015%, 0.002%, 0.0025% and 0.003% respectively. The difference between the SGR of the control when compared with the treated groups was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Reproductive success analysis showed a decrease in hatching success across the concentrations and high mortality of eggs with increased concentration. The control had 36.6% hatching success, while 0.001% and 0.003% concentrations had 36.1% and 5.0% respectively. It can be concluded that toluene has an adverse effects on the reproductive, hatchability success and growth performance of C. gariepinus . Therefore, it should be used with restraint and discharges containing toluene and other hydrocarbon compound should be properly treated before released into the environment. Keywords : effect, toluene, catfish, growth, reproductive, performance.
The Interfacial Layer Effect on Thermal Conductivity of CNT Nanofluids

We formulate a model to predict the thermal conductivity of carbon nanotube nanorefrigerants. The interfacial layer has proved to be a significant factor responsible for the anomalous thermal conductivity enhancement of these nanofluids. The present model predicts the thermal conductivity in accordance with the experimental results with mean deviation only of 1.5%. A comparison with other models has also been made.
Activity budgets and behavioural synchrony in a wild equid living in a fission-fusion social system

Variation in activity budgets among individuals of different age-sex classes and reproductive status may lead to decreases in behavioural synchrony (i.e., individuals performing the same behaviour at the same time in the same group) in social species. Here, we assessed the costs of behavioural synchrony in terms of time allocated to feeding behaviour among individuals of different age-sex classes and reproductive status in the kiang (Equus kiang), a poorly known wild equid that inhabits the Tibetan Plateau. Our study was conducted in Eastern Ladakh (India), during summer and fall. Our results showed that groups were highly synchronized, and that individuals in groups were particularly synchronized when feeding. Despite a slight sexual dimorphism, males and females had similar activity budgets. Males in groups, however, spent less time feeding than solitary males, and females in groups with foals spent less time feeding and more time standing than females in groups without foals. We suggest that group formation in males and the presence of foals for females incur behavioural costs by lowering their time spent feeding. Because these costs occur at a predictable time of the year, it could be profitable for adult kiangs not to form permanent groups year-round. Individuals with divergent needs might benefit from the loose social system observed in kiangs, which could be a key feature of their adaptation to a highly seasonal environment.
Topical Silver Diamine Fluoride for Dental Caries Arrest in Preschool Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objectives: The Stopping Cavities Trial investigated effectiveness and safety of 38% silver diamine fluoride in arresting caries lesions. Materials and Methods: Double-blind randomized placebo-controlled superiority trial with 2 parallel groups. Oregon preschools. 66 preschool children with ≥1 lesion. 38% silver diamine fluoride or placebo (blue-tinted water), applied topically to the lesion. The primary endpoint was caries arrest (lesion inactivity, Nyvad criteria) 14-21 days post intervention. Dental plaque was collected from all children, and microbial composition was assessed by RNA sequencing from 2 lesions and 1 unaffected surface before treatment and at follow-up for 3 children from each group. Results and Conclusion: Mean fraction of arrested caries lesions in the silver diamine fluoride group was higher (0.72; 95% CI; 0.55, 0.84) than in the placebo group (0.05; 95% CI; 0.00, 0.16). Confirmatory analysis using generalized estimating equation log-linear regression, accounting for the number of treated surfaces and length of follow-up, indicated the fraction of arrested caries was significantly higher in the treatment group (relative risk, 17.3; 95% CI: 4.3 to 69.4). No harms were observed. RNA sequencing analysis identified no consistent changes in relative abundance of caries-associated microbes, nor emergence of antibiotic or metal resistance gene expression. Topical 38% silver diamine fluoride was effective and safe in arresting cavities in preschool children. The treatment is applicable to primary care practice and may reduce the burden of untreated tooth decay in the population. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02536040. Clinical Significance In this clinical trial, 72% of caries lesions were arrested by silver diamine fluoride, with no harms. Contrary to the presumed antibacterial mechanism, lesion bacterial composition changed negligibly. This simple topical treatment is applicable to primary care practice and may reduce the burden of untreated tooth decay in the population.
Influence of Polyphosphate Hydrolysis on the Degradation of Volatile Fatty Acids (VFAs) in Anaerobic Digestion

The degradation rate of Volatile Fatty Acids (VFAs) produced predominantly in the acidogenesis stage is a key process parameter to be optimised to ensure a successful Anaerobic digestion (AD). Thermodynamically, the oxidation of the VFAs are energetically unfavourable, and as such external energy source apart from the energy derived from the hydrolysis of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) is needed for the initial activation of the VFAs, initial growth of the methanogens in AD process and improved degradation rate of the VFAs. Thus, this research investigated the influence of polyphosphate hydrolysis on the degradation rate of the VFAs at high concentration. Sodium-propionate, Sodium-butyrate and Sodium-acetate salts were added at the start of experiments in order to increase the concentration of the VFAs. The polyphosphate salts used were; Na-hexametaphosphate, Na-tripolyphosphate and potassium pyrophosphate. The control experiment was polyphosphate free and three process parameters (degradation rate, cumulative biogas production and specific methane content) of anaerobic digestion were investigated. The experiments were carried out at a mesophilic temperature of 37.5°C for 41 days. The results of the investigation showed that the treated reactors with the polyphosphate salt solution in low concentration performed better than the reactors with high concentration of the polyphosphate salts solution. All the treated reactors with poly-P salts performed better than reactor Nr-9 (control experiment), but reactor Nr-1 was outstanding with an improved degradation rate of 47%, cumulative biogas production of 21% and specific methane content of 23%.
The importance of shore height and host identity for amphipod assemblages

ABSTRACT The spatial distribution of organisms associated with marine intertidal macroalgae may be a direct result of their tolerance to air exposure or an indirect consequence of the distribution of their host. We compared amphipod assemblages from five intertidal macroalgae to investigate their relationship with algal identity. To test the effect of height regardless of algal characteristics, we transplanted coralline algal turfs to three different levels within the intertidal zone and compared amphipod assemblages after 1 and 14 days. Interstitial volume was positively correlated to the abundance of amphipods, suggesting that this attribute may correspond better to the potential space for their occupation when compared to algal biomass, thallus volume or the ratio between thallus and interstitial volume. Algal level determined the structure of the amphipod assemblages. Upper-level (Acanthophora spicifera and Caulerpa racemosa) and intermediate-level (coralline) algae host similar amphipod assemblages dominated by Apohyale media, but different from lower-level algae (Padina gymnospora and Sargassum cymosum), which were dominated by Hyale niger. Ten of the 15 amphipod species reported from natural communities were found in the transplanted plots. Distinct pools of amphipod species colonized coralline transplants at upper and lower levels after 1 day. However, regardless of the position on the shore, transplanted coralline turfs supported similar assemblages after 14 days, indicating that algal identity is also important for species assemblages. Our results suggest that both height on the shore and host identity combine to determine the vertical structure of amphipod assemblages in the rocky intertidal.