Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Preliminary Checklist of the Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Kakamega Forest (Kenya)

ABSTRACT A preliminary species checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya, is presented. The species list is based on specimens sampled from 1999 until 2009, which are deposited in the ant collection of the Zoological Research Museum Koenig, Bonn, Germany, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, United States. The known ant fauna comprises 11 subfamilies with 52 genera and 288 species. This species richness is the second highest reported from the Afrotropical zoogeographical region. The observed ant fauna can be divided into a group of forest habitat species with approximately 180 species and another group, which consists of about 100 species, of open habitat specialists. The greatest part of the ant fauna (204 species or 71%) could be identified to species level but the rest remains unidentifiable or undescribed (84 species or 29%). The preliminary data from the observed ant fauna seems to support the hypothesis that Kakamega Forest is the eastern-most remnant of the former Guineo-Congolian rain forest belt, while the zoogeographical influence from East African Afromontane forests seems to be less significant.
The Stiffness Comparison of Four-Screw versus Six-Screw Short Segment Pedicle Posterior Stabilization Instrumentation in Cyclic Axial Compression

Background: Thoracolumbar burst fracture required to conduct short segment posterior stabilization as the operative therapy. The short segment fixation (above and under fracture level (four-screw pedicle)) encounters loss of correction and failure including progressive kyphosis, screw pedicles and rods that are bent or fractured. Rod around fracture site receives bigger loads than other parts due to its function as cantilever. To overcome this, it uses short-segment posterior stabilization instrumentation in which pedicle screw is installed above, under, and on fracture site level (six-screw pedicle) to increase stiffness.Objective: To analyze the comparison stiffness of four-screw versus six-crew short segment pedicle posterior stabilization instrumentation in cyclic axial compression.Method: This study used in vitro mechanical test in simulation of vertebrae from UHMWPE (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethilene) that was fixated with four-screw and six-screw pedicle. Each construction is given cyclic axial compression. Afterwards, the stiffness of each construction was measured.Results: Six-screw short segment pedicle posterior vertebrae stabilization instrumentation had higher stiffness of 43.38% than four-screw short segment pedicle posterior vertebrae stabilization instrumentation in cyclic axial compression. There was a significant difference in both groups (p<0.05)Conclusion: Six-screw short segment pedicle posterior vertebrae stabilization instrumentation was better than four-screw short segment pedicle posterior vertebrae stabilization instrumentation in cyclic axial compression
Teachers’ Knowledge Regarding Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder between Pupils at Elementary Schools in Mosul City

The Objective: To assess the knowledge level of teachers’ regarding pupils with’ attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder at Mosul elementary schools.The Methodology: A descriptive study was applied at Mosul elementary schools in from 18th of January till 4th of June / 2019. The sample involved of (200) teachers working in the selected purposively from elementary schools from Mosul city, (100) teachers from every one side of the city, (10) teachers from each school that selected in this study.The Result: The socio-demographic characteristic of the study presents that 72% (144) of them females , 35% (70) at age (36-45) years old, 68.5% (137) graduated from institute of teaching , 48% (96) of them have (1-15) years of general experience in the field of teaching, , 81% (162) of them not have any participation in training courses in ADHD between children, 70% (140) of them not have previously reading source of ADHD. The total teachers’ knowledge was 75.5 % (151) of them at not acceptable level.The Recommendations: Continuous extensive special programs, training course and workshops should be design and implement at elementary schools in Mosul City
Variation in the Mating System of a Biparental Cichlid Fish, Cichlasoma Panamense

Cichlasoma panamense is a biparental, substrate-spawning cichlid which breeds during the dry season in Panamanian streams. In one population some males helped to defend their offspring throughout the period of parental care but many deserted their mates to achieve additional spawnings leaving females to guard alone. The proportion of C. panamense guarding in pairs increased throughout the breeding season. This was associated with an increase in the rate with which parental cichlids attacked potential brood predators and an increase in brood size. The increase in attack rate was due to the crowding of fishes as water levels receded during the dry season and especially to the increasing numbers of newly independent cichlids which congregated in the shallow water areas where C. panamense brood. The sex ratio in the population was strongly biased towards females. Males spent more time away from the brood than females which enabled them to find and spawn with unmated females. The attack rate of females brooding alone was not significantly higher than that of those with mates and their foraging rate not significantly lower although they spent less time away from their brood. In a more productive stream where population density was high, breeding was almost entirely in monogamous pairs. The rate at which parents attacked potential predators was higher, the sex ratio was 1:1 and brood size was large. The male's decision to guard or desert appears to depend on his opportunities for further matings, the ability of the female to guard alone and the value of a current brood. These results agree with the predictions of game theory models of parental care.
Characterization and Virulence of Candida Isolated from Children with Dental Caries and Its Susceptibility to Various Antimicrobial Agents

Candida is known to be associated with early colonization of cariogenic microorganisms leading to dental caries and there is a need to determine the effectiveness of various chemotherapeutic agents against it. The study is aimed to isolate, characterize Candida from the dental plaque of children with dental caries, to study its virulence factors and the antimicrobial activity of coconut oil, probiotics, 0.2% chlorhexidine and ketoconazole on C. albicans. Samples were collected using sterile cotton swabs from children with dental caries and streaked on Sabouraud’s dextrose agar plates and incubated at 37°C for 24 h. Candidal colonies were isolated, species identified, and virulence factors tested, and its susceptibility to 0.2% chlorhexidine, probiotics, coconut oil, and ketoconazole was determined using disc diffusion method. C. albicans was the predominant species isolated, and virulence factors such as phospholipase, hemolysin, germ tube, and hyphal formation were seen. The mean zone of inhibition for chlorhexidine was found to be 21.8 mm, for coconut oil it was 16.8 mm, for probiotics it was 13.5 mm, and for ketoconazole it was 22.3 mm. The difference between the groups was not statistically significant. Thus chlorhexidine and coconut oil were found to exhibit significant antimicrobial activity which is comparable with ketoconazole.
Distribution of cryptic blue oat mite species in Australia: current and future climate conditions

1 Invertebrate pests, such as blue oat mites Penthaleus spp. , cause significant economic damage to agricultural crops in Australia. Climate is a major driver of invertebrate species distributions and climate change is expected to shift pest assemblages and pest prevalence across Australia. At this stage, little is known of how individual species will respond to climate change. 2 We have mapped the current distribution for each of the three pest Penthaleus spp. in Australia and built ecological niche models for each species using the correlative modelling software, maxent. Predictor variables useful for describing the climate space of each species were determined and the models were projected into a range of future climate change scenarios to assess how climate change may alter species‐specific distribution patterns in Australia. 3 The distributions of the three cryptic Penthaleus spp. are best described with different sets of climatic variables. Suitable climate space for all species decreases under the climate change scenarios investigated in the present study. The models also indicate that the assemblage of Penthaleus spp. is likely to change across Australia, particularly in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria. 4 These results show the distributions of the three Penthaleus spp. are correlated with different climatic variables, and that regional control of mite pests is likely to change in the future. A further understanding of ecological and physiological processes that may influence the distribution and pest status of mites is required.
Prediction of Compressive Strength of Calcined Clay Based Cement Mortars Using Support Vector Machine and Artificial Neural Network Techniques

Prediction of strength in cement based materials is vital in construction industry as it forms the basis upon which important tasks can be performed such as the time for mortar form removal, project scheduling and quality control among others. The paper reports both experimental and simulated findings on compressive strength of laboratory prepared blended cement mortars. The blended cement was prepared by blending calcined clays with Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) at replacement levels ranging from 35% to 50% by mass of OPC. In the experimental approach, mortars measuring 160 mm x 40 mm x 40 mm were cast using the blended cement at a water to cement (w/c) ratio of 0.40, 0.50 and 0.60 separately and cured for 2, 7 and 28 days in a laboratory set-up. Compressive strength measurements were taken at each of the curing ages. Part of the experimental data obtained was used to train both Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models while the other was used in validation of the models. The trained models were used to predict the 28 day compressive strengths at w/c of 0.35 and 0.65 and also at a cement replacement of greater than 50% and also less than 35 %. The results showed that in training and testing, ANN exhibited stronger potential for predicting compressive strength at w/c of 0.35 and w/c of 0.65 than SVM. In addition, ANN was further found to give more accurate prediction of compressive strength than SVM at all the percentage replacement ranging from 0-60 % with calcined clays. In conclusion, the testing performance of both SVM and ANN was 0.88 and 0.95 respectively.
THE NUMBERS OF NEURONES IN DECAPOD CRUSTACEA

THE NUMBERS OF NEURONES IN CRUSTACEA Details regarding the nervous system of Crustacea rest heavily on the larger Decapoda. Investigations into the arrangements in all the other groups and of larval stages are few and far between. In many ways this is understandable, for the larger adult decapods are much more amenable to physiological work and it is often studies on function that demand more information on
Influence of Freezing and Thawing Techniques on Stability of Sago and Tapioca Starch Pastes

The freeze-thaw stabilities of sago and tapioca starches have been studied by freezing starch gels (pastes) at -18 °C for 22 h and then thawing them at 30 °C, 60 °C and 90 °C in a water bath or at boiling temperature in a microwave oven. This freeze-thaw stability was determined for five cycles. It was found that starch paste thawed at high temperature had a lower syneresis value (percentage of water separation) than that thawed at low temperature. Sago starch gave higher syneresis values than tapioca starch. Moreover, when tapioca starch gel was frozen by the cryogenic quick freezing (CQF) method and thawed at 30 °C, 60 °C and 90 °C in a water bath or at boiling temperature in a microwave oven for five cycles, no separation of water was detected in any cycle, so that the percentage of syneresis was zero. It was also found that sago starch gel frozen by the CQF method had a lower percentage of syneresis than that frozen at -18 °C in every freeze-thaw cycle.
An Allometric Interpretation of Species-Area Curves: The Meaning of the Coefficient

Students of allometric growth and the species-area curve have favored the same mathematical expression, the power function, in their work. Allometricians, after much debate and error, derived satisfactory interpretations for the parameters of this function. The coefficient proved difficult because it is not invariant under change of scale and often makes no biological sense as the value of y (number of species) when x equals 1 unit. Ecologists have fallen into the same traps that plagued allometricians 30 yr ago, but have been unaware that the problems had been solved by their sister subdiscipline. Coefficients of power functions should not be neglected or ignored by ecologists (more often than not, they are not reported at all). When slopes are constant in families of related curves-a common situation in the species-area literature where slopes are so often near 0.25-ratios of coefficients are constant at all values of x (area): They record a size-independent invariant within a system. I present several invariants, previously unrecognized or identified more circuitously in other ways.
When plant teratomas turn into cancers in the absence of pathogens

Habituated calli have long been classified as neoplasms together with tumors from different origins. The general opinion is that habituation is a reversible process with an epigenetic basis. This is probably true in most cases examined. However, we show here that there might be several degrees of habituation, which can be considered as steps of a neoplastic progression leading to cancerisation in the absence of an introduced oncogenic pathogen. Cell rejuvenation, loss of the capacity to organize meristematic centers, and loss of totipotency are proposed to define plant cancer through this neoplastic progression of a callus. Habituated tissues share many morphological and biochemical similarities with so-called vitreous shoots from micropropagation. Vitrification and hyperhydric malformations of shoots raised in vitro may be considered as steps of another neoplastic progression, which leads to cancerisation also in the absence of introduced oncogenic pathogens. In this case death of the whole organism occurs either through direct apex necrosis or indirectly, from the loss of the capacity for the primary meristems to function normally, which gives rise to completely anarchic structures. As in the animal kingdom, carcinogenesis in plants is the final result of a multistep process involving the irreversible conversion of a stem cell to a terminal-differentiation-resistant cell.
Economics and Logistics of Biomass Utilization in the Superior National Forest

Forest fires pose a great risk to nearby communities and dwellings. Many forest managers work to reduce such risks by managing fuels. This article explains the economic and logistical factors of a forest biomass utilization option instead of the conventional disposal method of on-site piling and burning for fuel reduction. Benefits from biomass utilization are multiple and include reduced impacts to air quality, improved forest health, economic opportunities, local renewable energy production, and climate change mitigation. Trials in the Superior National Forest examined the feasibility of using conventional equipment to extract and utilize forest biomass compared with disposal of biomass with pile and burn techniques. Factors that increase the costs of biomass utilization include: machinery down-time, distance to end users, low biomass price, size of the harvest unit, forwarding distance, the number of machines hauled to sites to complete small-sized operations, the modest amount of biomass removed per acre and applying prescriptions that were not designed for extraction logistics. Interviews with forest machine operators during and after the trials helped clarify factors and logistics considerations, which could be applied to help reduce the cost of future operations.
Contribution of Cytology for the Diagnosis of Gallbladder Carcinoma to Avoid Misdiagnosis in This Commonly Resected Organ

The cytological study of gallbladder bile is a diagnostic tool used very often in the treatment of gallbladder cancer. The diagnosis of gall bladder cancer is done by morphological examinations such as ultrasound, computed tomography in 80% of cases, but in some difficult cases, benign lesions associated with malignant lesions, such as pseudo-tumoral cholecystitis, adenomyosis or adenoma and cancers requiring medical treatment by chemotherapy or radiotherapy, is without the possibility of surgical treatment. Cytology can help resolve a number of difficult situations, such as the presence of an intra-gallbladder lesion in the form of a polyp or nodule. Some studies have reported very interesting results from gallbladder cytology to cancer diagnosis with results up to 85% sensitivity. The purpose of this study is to analyze the contribution of the cytological study of gallbladder bile to the positive diagnosis of gallbladder cancer.
Identification and Characterization of a Ligand-regulated Nuclear Export Signal in Androgen Receptor*

Androgen receptor (AR) belongs to the steroid receptor superfamily that regulates gene expression in a ligand-dependent fashion. AR is localized to the cytoplasm in the absence of androgen and translocates into the nuclei to activate gene expression in the presence of ligand. Regulation of AR nuclear import and export represents an essential step in androgen action. A nuclear localization signal (NLS) has been identified in the DNA-binding domain and hinge region of AR and other steroid receptors. Studies on nuclear export of AR, however, are limited, and what might be the underlying mechanism regulating the intracellular localization of steroid receptors is unclear. Our studies have identified a leptomycin B-insensitive nuclear export signal (NESAR) in the ligand-binding domain of AR, which is active in the absence of androgen and repressed upon ligand binding. Consistent with its androgen-sensitivity, NESAR contains amino acid residues in the immediate vicinity of the bound ligand. NESAR is necessary for AR nuclear export and is dominant over the NLS in the DNA-binding domain and hinge region in the absence of hormone. Our findings suggest that androgen can regulate NESAR and, subsequently, the NLS of the AR, providing a mechanism by which androgen regulates AR nuclear/cytoplasmic shuttling. Estrogen receptor α and mineralocorticoid receptor also contain functional NES, suggesting that this ligand-regulated NES is conserved among steroid receptors.
Clonal reproduction and patterns of genotypic diversity in Decodon verticillatus (Lythraceae)

Most perennial plants combine sexual reproduction with some form of clonal propagation. These mixed strategies may produce considerable variation among populations in levels of clonal diversity in response to ecological factors limiting one or other reproductive mode. Surveys of style morph frequencies in 163 populations of the eastern North American, clonal, tristylous aquatic, Decodon verticillatus (L.) Ell. (Lythraceae) suggested a wide range of clonal diversity among populations. Populations consisting of a single style morph were most common at the northern margin of the species' range and could have arisen through severe founder events followed by exclusive clonal propagation. Here, we test this hypothesis by comparing allozyme variation in populations monomorphic and polymorphic for style length located in Ontario and Michigan. Each of the four populations monomorphic for style length were fixed for a single three-locus allozyme genotype while the seven trimorphic and five dimorphic populations contained an average of 26 multilocus genotypes each. Measures of genotypic diversity were high in polymorphic populations (average D = 0.93 ? 0.02 standard error; D = 0.00 for all populations monomorphic for style length). Three of the populations monomorphic for style length were fixed for a heterozygous genotype at one of the loci surveyed, suggesting that each consists of a single clone. In contrast, genotype frequencies in polymorphic populations conformed to Hardy-Weinberg proportions indicative of sexual reproduction. The range of clonal diversity found in D. verticillatus is the largest reported for a clonal plant species, although the literature is too limited to determine whether this is truly unusual. Clonal diversity in D. verticillatus is likely to be regulated largely by ecological factors affecting seed production and establishment. However, genetically based sexual sterility also occurs in some populations.
Constant power dissipative motion

We analyse the velocity of a particle propelled by a constant power and subjected to a dissipative force. We consider three cases of dissipative processes: dry friction and viscous drag in the regime of linear and quadratic dependence on velocity. We derive the equation of motion and then, based on a rational and graphical analysis, determine the qualitative shape of the velocity curve as a function of time. Finally, we solve the equation of motion for the particle’s velocity and confirm the previous result. One of our motivations for this work is the ubiquitous phenomenon of vehicles reaching a nearly constant velocity when propelled by a fairly constant power.
Transforming quantum states between reference frames

In the 1970s, Fulling, Davis, and Unruh have shown that a quantum mechanical state must be described differently in different reference frames; otherwise, quantum mechanics would contain contradictions. We present a simple method for transforming any quantum state between the Minkowski and Rindler reference frames. We show that a Wigner-like distribution, commonly used in quantum optics, is useful for treating this problem. To illustrate our method, we transform the Minkowski vacuum and number states into Rindler space, and transform the Rindler vacuum into Minkowski space, as examples. Our method could be generalized to other cases as well.
THE CURRENT STAGE OF BIOTECHNOLOGICAL APPROACHES AND SYSTEMATIC REMARKS ON SOME SPONTANEOUS MEDICINAL PLANTS IN ROMANIA – REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This review presents the current state of biotechnological approaches for some spontaneous medicinal plants in Romania based on literature published throughout the worlds during the last decade. From a total of 122 species that were listed in 2014 as strictly forbidden for collection, 47 species were selected for a biotechnological investigation (based on both in vitro and biochemical studies). For 13 species without such studies, some systematic remarks are presented. In addition to the medicinal aspects, some of these species have other scientific importance (endemics, relicts, etc.) or present other problems such as uncertain taxonomy, very restricted distribution area, low seed germination, etc. In Romania, in the last 5 years, the interest in the biotechnological characteristics of these species has increased. Because medicinal plants represent a valuable source of products, studies on genetic variability, micropropagation, induction and characterisation of desirable metabolites will be helpful to achieve a better management for their sustainable use and conservation.