Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changing invaders: trends of gigantism in insular introduced rats

SUMMARY The degree and direction of morphological change in invasive species with a long history of introduction are insufficiently known for a larger scale than the archipelago or island group. Here, I analyse data for 105 island populations of Polynesian rats, Rattus exulans, covering the entirety of Oceania and Wallacea to test whether body size differs in insular populations and, if so, what biotic and abiotic features are correlated with it. All insular populations of this rat, except one, exhibit body sizes up to twice the size of their mainland conspecifics. Body size of insular populations is positively correlated with latitude, consistent with thermoregulatory predictions based on Bergmann's rule. Body size is negatively correlated with number of co-occurring mammalian species, confirming an ecological hypothesis of the island rule. The largest rats are found in the temperate zone of New Zealand, as well as on mammalian species-poor islands of Polynesia and the Solomon Islands. Carnivory in the form of predation on nesting seabird colonies seems to promote 1.4- to 1.9-fold body size increases.
Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship's Path Approximation Using Bézier Curves

This work is devoted to the second order rational Bézier curve coefficients estimation. We present the methodology of unique coefficients for each type of ship computation. In the presented formulas of ship’s length, a draft and angular path combined with a drift path are used. This approach leads to the simplest and most accurate Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) path modeling. Three rational curve control points are waypoints (WPT). Using WPTs as curve control points allows integrating a trajectory intuitive for the navigator with a path predicting model used as a reference in the control system. Research was done based on real-time data originating from the MASS autonomous trajectory tracking system. The presented mathematical modeling tool may be treated as the best way of future trajectory prediction due to low computation power required.
Isolation and Large Scale Expansion of Human Endothelial Progenitor Cells from Peripheral Blood

emy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine 2Biotechnology Laboratory ilaya.regeneration, Medical Company ilaya®, Kyiv, Ukraine 3State Institute of Genetic and Regenerative Medicine of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine 4Laboratory of Immunology and Cell Biotechnology, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad, Russia 1Інститут молекулярної біології і генетики НАН України, м. Київ, Україна 2Біотехнологічна лабораторія ilaya.regeneration, медична компанія ilaya®, м. Київ, Україна 3Державний інститут генетичної та регенеративної медицини НАМН України, м. Київ, Україна 4Лабораторія імунології і клітинної біотехнології, Балтійський федеральний університет імені Імануїла Канта, м. Калінінград, Росія
Do wolves ambush beavers? Video evidence for higher‐order hunting strategies

Over the past decade, there has been much debating about whether wolves possess high-order cognitive abilities that facilitate deliberate or cooperative hunting strategies such as ambush to capture prey. Beavers can be important alternate or primary prey for wolves in North America and Europe, but no observations of wolves hunting and killing beavers exist. We describe the ﬁ rst documented observation of a gray wolf killing a beaver, an observation that has provided valuable insight into how beavers defend themselves when attacked by wolves, how wolves hunt beavers, and the predatory strategies and cognitive abilities of wolves. Our observation con ﬁ rms that wolves do hunt and kill beavers by surprising and ambushing them, which demonstrates that wolves have a unique ability to switch between cursorial and ambush hunting strategies depending on the prey. We suggest that wolves learn how to hunt beavers using high-order mental abilities combined with information learned from prior interactions with beavers.
Incorporation of whole blue maize flour increases antioxidant capacity and reduces in vitro starch digestibility of gluten-free pasta

The development of gluten-free pasta with functional characteristics is an important strategic area for the food industry. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of the polyphenols present in blue maize flour (BMF) on the antioxidant properties and starch digestibility of composite gluten-free pasta. Composite pasta was prepared with 25, 50, or 75% BMF in a laboratory-scale process using white maize as the control. The addition of blue maize flour at 50% and 75% imparted high levels of protein, dietary fibre, and bioactive compounds with antioxidant capacity, which resulted in an increase in slowly digestible and resistant starch fractions in the gluten-free pasta. The anthocyanin content in BMF was positively correlated (p < 0.05) with a decrease in the predicted glycaemic index. BMF is a readily available ingredient for the production of gluten-free pasta with high dietary fibre and slowly digestible starch contents that can contribute to reduce the risk for diet-related metabolic diseases. (Less)
The bright end of the infrared luminosity functions and the abundance of hyperluminous infrared galaxies

Aims. We provide the most accurate estimate yet of the bright end of the infrared (IR) luminosity functions (LFs) and the abundance of hyperluminous IR galaxies (HLIRGs) with IR luminosities >1013L⊙, thanks to the combination of the high sensitivity, angular resolution, and large area of the LOFAR Deep Fields, which probes an unprecedented dynamic range of luminosity and volume. Methods. We cross-match Herschel sources and LOFAR sources in Boötes (8.63 deg2), Lockman Hole (10.28 deg2), and ELAIS-N1 (6.74 deg2) with rms sensitivities of ~32, 22, and 20 μJy beam−1, respectively. We divide the matched samples into “unique” and “multiple” categories. For the multiple matches, we de-blend the Herschel fluxes using the LOFAR positions and the 150-MHz flux densities as priors. We perform spectral energy distribution fitting, combined with multi-wavelength counterpart identifications and photometric redshift estimates, to derive IR luminosities. Results. The depth of the LOFAR data allows us to identify highly complete (~92% completeness) samples of bright Herschel sources with a simple selection based on the 250 μm flux density (45, 40, and 35 mJy in Boötes, Lockman Hole, and ELAIS-N1, respectively). Most of the bright Herschel sources fall into the unique category (i.e. a single LOFAR counterpart). For the multiple matches, there is excellent correspondence between the radio emission and the far-IR emission. We find a good agreement in the IR LFs with a previous study out to z ~ 6 which used de-blended Herschel data. Our sample gives the strongest and cleanest indication to date that the population of HLIRGs has surface densities of ~5 to ~18/deg2 (with variations due to a combination of the applied flux limit and cosmic variance) and an uncertainty of a factor of ≲2. In comparison, the GALFORM semi-analytic model significantly under-predicts the abundance of HLIRGs.
A User Study of a Wearable System to Enhance Bystanders’ Facial Privacy

The privacy of users and information are becoming increasingly important with the growth and pervasive use of mobile devices such as wearables, mobile phones, drones, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Today many of these mobile devices are equipped with cameras which enable users to take pictures and record videos anytime they need to do so. In many such cases, bystanders’ privacy is not a concern, and as a result, audio and video of bystanders are often captured without their consent. We present results from a user study in which 21 participants were asked to use a wearable system called FacePET developed to enhance bystanders’ facial privacy by providing a way for bystanders to protect their own privacy rather than relying on external systems for protection. While past works in the literature focused on privacy perceptions of bystanders when photographed in public/shared spaces, there has not been research with a focus on user perceptions of bystander-based wearable devices to enhance privacy. Thus, in this work, we focus on user perceptions of the FacePET device and/or similar wearables to enhance bystanders’ facial privacy. In our study, we found that 16 participants would use FacePET or similar devices to enhance their facial privacy, and 17 participants agreed that if smart glasses had features to conceal users’ identities, it would allow them to become more popular.
Mental Health And Online Socializing During Pandemics Covid-19

This study aimed to discuss issues relating to mental health and online socializing during pandemics Covid-19. This aim was pursued using a systematic review of literature, which is a secondary data collection method. Secondary data collection method was selected due to the numerous availability of research articles that have been written on the topic. By reviewing different sources and comparing and contrasting findings, it becomes possible to take a definite position on the impact of the disease on mental health. Findings from the literature review showed that the effect of Covid-19 can lead to mental health issues of both the victims and the vulnerable. Stress and anxiety are some of the mental health issues. People have been advised to quarantine and isolate themselves by staying at home for some time. With online socializing available, people can be kept active, interacting with family and loved ones, and playing games. It was thus concluded that the reality of COVID-19 in impacting mental lives exists and so the need to take extra steps to deal with this aspect of the disease.
Accelerated Ripening Agents and Their Effect on the Quality of Avocado (Persia americana M.) and Mango (Mangifera indica L.) Fruits

The natural process of fruit ripening is a combination of physiological, biochemical and molecular processes which can be activated or accelerated artificially by using different chemical agents. This study was carried out to examine the effects of three ripening process on the quality of avocado and mango fruits. Freshly unripe mango and avocado fruits were treated with calcium carbide powder, kerosene fumes and ripening in woven polypropylene bags. Calcium carbide treated fruits were stored for 48 hrs and all the samples were fully ripened except avocado fruit. The kerosene fumed fruits were stored for 24 hrs and then exposed to open air for another 24 hrs. Fruits ripened in empty plastic rice got ripened within 4 and 5 days for mango and avocado, respectively. The fruits were then analyzed for their physicochemical properties and sulphide and sulphate distributions using standard methods. The result revealed a decrease in TTA, pH, carbohydrate and vitamin C contents on ripening. On the other hand, moisture and TSS was observed to increase. However, accelerated ripening had no significant (p<0.05) effect on the moisture and Original Research Article Orisa et al.; AJAAR, 14(2): 29-40, 2020; Article no.AJAAR. 59309 30 vitamin C content of the fruits. Mango samples treated with calcium carbide recorded higher acidity (0.92%) and low pH (3.08) than those treated with kerosene (0.29% and 3.71%, respectively). Sulphide and sulphate distribution of avocado was found to increase after accelerated ripening with kerosene fumes. A decrease for sulphate (outer distribution) and increase for sulphate (inner) and sulphide (outer) was observed for mango fruits. The results also showed that ripening in woven polypropylene had no significant (p<0.05) effect on the TTA of the fruits while pH, moisture and TSS varied significantly (p<0.05) with fruit type. The use of calcium carbide for fruit ripening is not advisable.
A novel method for network traffic classification based on robust support vector machine

The increasing demand for high‐speed transmission and traffic classification has been widely applied for network resource management, quality of service, dynamic access control, and others. Some normal machine learning algorithms for network traffic classification are becoming obsolete, as the increasing deployment of encryption in protocols and dynamic ports, as well as some new technology are available, such as HTML5 protocols and HTTP adaptive streaming in video traffic. This article presents a novel classification algorithm for video traffic. We produce a new video traffic dataset and propose an original parameter adaptive algorithm for robust support vector machine with a fuzzy membership function. The results show that the proposed model is an effective alternative to be applied in actual network environment.
Design of CPW fed multiband antenna for wearable wireless body area network applications

This communication presents a multiband on‐body conformal and wearable antenna for Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) applications. The suggested wearable CPW‐fed slot dipole antenna is incorporated with inductively coupled meander shape, T and O shaped resonators that lead to provide multiband operation. The resonant frequency is controlled by a definite resonant path, which leads to high degree of freedom in design paradigm. The proposed wearable antenna covers the 2.4 GHz/5.2 GHz/5.8 GHz WLAN, 3.5 GHz WiMAX, and 4.4 GHz C‐bands and has an overall dimension of 60 × 40 × 0.254 mm3. The SAR analysis has also been presented for the antenna at several resonant frequencies which are well under the normal SAR criteria of 1.6 W/kg that suggests that the model performs satisfactorily for wearable applications. To characterize the performance of the antenna, the specimen of the antenna is rigorously tested in terms of antenna gain, S‐parameters and flexibility under different bending configurations for radii values ranging from 90 to 30 mm. The reflection coefficient of the suggested antenna is also evaluated and the outcomes are compared under distinct on‐body circumstances. Measured and simulated results of S11, radiation pattern and gain are in good agreement.
Experimental Investigation of the Liquefaction Properties and Post-Liquefaction Volumetric Strain of Calcareous Sand in Dredger Fill Site

In this study, dynamic triaxial cyclic tests were conducted to examine the liquefaction properties and post-liquefaction volumetric strain of calcareous sand from a dredger fill site in the midst of the islands and reefs of the South China Sea. The test results indicated that there were some differences in micromorphology and composition between the calcareous sand obtained via dredging and natural calcareous sand. Axial cyclic stress attenuation can lead to higher cyclic vibration than actual liquefaction vibration, and the modified method can eliminate the effect of axial cyclic stress attenuation. Saturated calcareous sand liquefies under undrained and cyclic loading conditions, and the liquefaction resistance of the calcareous sand decreases with an increase of the effective confining pressure in the dense state. Calcareous sand obtained via dredging exhibited a higher liquefaction resistance compared with other types of calcareous sand. Furthermore, the proposed pore pressure development modified model better describes the pore pressure growth of the calcareous sand from the filling site. The fitting parameters of this model exhibited a high correlation with the relative density. Moreover, the post-liquefaction volumetric strain of the calcareous sand is larger than that of quartz sand, exhibiting a linear relationship with relative density.
Projected Strengthening of the Extratropical Surface Impacts of the Stratospheric Quasi‐Biennial Oscillation

Using state‐of‐the‐art models with a spontaneous quasi‐biennial oscillation (QBO) from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phases 5 and 6 (CMIP5/6), this study explores projected changes in the Holton‐Tan (HT) relationship and the near‐surface response to the QBO. Most models project an enhanced surface response to the QBO via a strengthened HT relationship in the future. Specifically, the North Atlantic Oscillation‐like response is projected to double and shift eastward in the future in the high‐end emission scenarios compared with the historical simulation. This strengthening occurs even as the amplitude of the QBO in the tropical stratosphere weakens from the historical simulation to the future projections. The seemingly contradictory projections of future changes in the QBO and the HT relationship might imply that the HT relationship changes nonlinearly with the QBO intensity, and the coherent changes in the background circulation structure should also be highlighted.
Staphylococcus Associated Glomerulonephritis with IgA Mesangial Deposition

© 2016. Awad Magbri. This is a research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Staphylococcus Associated Glomerulonephritis with IgA Mesangial Deposition By Awad Magbri Partners in Nephrology and Endocrinology (PINE), United States
In vivo characterization of human disease models based on adult zebrafish with optical coherence tomography

Because of its similar genetic makeup with humans, zebrafish are an available and well-established human disease model in vivo for various human diseases as well as the drug safety-evaluation process. However, few optical imaging methods could effectively visualize the structure of adult zebrafish due to their limited penetration depth. In this paper, in vivo high-resolution and long-term characterization of various kinds of human disease models based on zebrafish were achieved with optical coherence tomography (OCT). The capability of three-dimensional OCT imaging was also played important role in visualization of zebrafish disease model. The combination of zebrafish and OCT demonstrated gratifying results in vivo characterization of human disease models based on adult zebrafish with optical coherence tomography.
Mitigation of osmotic stress by Serratia nematodiphila in tomato seedlings

Agriculture is the main economic activity responsible for the highest rates of water consumption worldwide. Understanding strategies that combine decreasing the amount of water available and reducing the addition of chemical fertilizers is a major challenge today. Within this context, the work aimed to evaluate the efficiency in promoting growth in tomato seedlings, inoculated with Serratia nematodiphila, submitted to different water deficit conditions. The methodology consisted of using tomato seeds cv. Santa Clara Miss Brasil previously disinfected and inoculated with the Serratia nematodiphila bacterium. The experimental design was completely randomized in the factorial scheme 2 (with bacteria and without bacteria) x 3 (irrigation levels: 100%, 50% and 25% water), making a total of 6 treatments with 6 repetitions. When evaluating the effect of the bacteria Serratia nematodiphila in the treatment with irrigation to 25% of water, it was observed that the average values ​​of the root length of the tomato seedlings was the one that suffered the most stimulus in the root growth when compared to the other irrigation levels. These results suggest that under conditions of greater water deficit the bacteria is able to mitigate drought by promoting root growth.
Seasonal changes in the degradability of protein in a tropical grass pasture.

Metabolizable protein (MP) represents the true protein absorbed in the intestines, and includes that supplied as microbial protein as well as undegraded dietary protein (UDP). Microbial protein production is in turn dependent on the availability in the rumen of energy substrates and degradable protein (rumen degradable protein; RDP). Thus MP supply is determined by both the total intake of protein and its degradability in the rumen. However, in relation to grazing animals, a major deficiency is knowledge of the degradability of the protein in the pasture, especially with tropical pastures. The current study provided estimates of the degradability of protein in the diet of animals grazing tropical pasture in northern Australia. The pasture was predominantly buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) with minor contributions from other grasses and from Seca sty10 (Stylosanthes scabra cv. Seca; <9% of total yield), growing in the brigalow region of central Queensland. Samples of the diet (extrusa) were collected using oesophageal-fistulated steers across five similar paddocks (2-3 steers/paddock) every &8 weeks between October 1994 and August 1996. Samples of extrusa were bulked across animals, tieeze dried and ground to 3 mm. The proportion of UDP (escape protein) in the extrusa was estimated using the in sacco technique of Mass et al. (1997). This method determines the rate of disappearance of neutral detergent insoluble nitrogen, assumed to be the potential rumen undegradable fraction, and applies an assumed rumen outflow rate (here 0.02/h). In Figure 1, the crude protein (CP) content of the diet, and its component RDP and UDP, are shown. CP content of the diet followed seasonal trends, peaking soon after the start of the summer storms and declining to less than 6% of DM in the dry winter/spring period in both years. Heavy unseasonal rainfall in May 1996 precipitated a sharp rise in CP content. RDP represented more than 75% of the CP in the diet throughout the sampling period, with highest proportional contributions in the early wet season and in May 1996 when pasture was green and lush (96%). Based on a requirement for RDP of 130 g/kg digestible organic matter (DOM; see Klopfenstein 1996) to ensure microbial growth is not limited by nitrogen supply, RDP was just
Multisite phosphorylation regulates phenotypic variability in antibiotic tolerance

Isogenic populations of cells exhibit phenotypic variability that has specific physiological consequences. For example, individual bacteria within a population can differ in their sensitivity to an antibiotic, but whether this variability can be regulated or is generally an unavoidable consequence of stochastic fluctuations is unclear. We observed that a bacterial stress response gene, the (p)ppGpp synthetase sasA, exhibits high levels of extrinsic noise in expression, suggestive of a regulatory process. We traced this variability to the convergence of two signaling systems that together control the multisite phosphorylation of a transcription factor, an event largely unexplored in bacteria, This regulatory intersection between a Ser/Thr kinase and a prototypical two component system is crucial for controlling the appearance of outliers, rare cells with unusually high levels of sasA expression. Additionally, by examining the full distributions of gene expression we calculated the contribution of the additional Ser/Thr kinase-dependent phosphorylation in setting the relative abundance of cells with a given a level of SasA. We then created a predictive model for the probability of a given cell surviving antibiotic treatment as a function of sasA expression. Therefore, our data show that multisite phosphorylation can be used to strongly regulate variations in phenotypes across a bacterial population.