Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SEX DIFFERENTIATION OF CHANNEL CATFISH GONADS : NORMAL DEVELOPMENT AND EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE

Channel catfish have an XX female-XY male sex determination system. Although genetic males of this species are readily feminized with exogenous steroid, the pattern of gonadal sex differentiation and the effect of temperature on genetic sex determination are unknown. To document the pattern of gonadal sex differentiation, catfish from a mixed-sex progeny (XX female-XY made cross), known XY males (XX female-YY male cross), and steroid sex-reversed (XY) females were reared at 28°C and collected for histological analysis from Day 7 to Day 90 postfertilization. No signs of gonadal sex differentiation were detected from Day 7 to Day 16. On Day 19, about half the fish from the mixed-sex population as well as the sex-reversed females had gonads with proximal and distal tissue outgrowths. These outgrowths eventually fused to form an ovarian cavity. Germ cell meiosis in these gonads was first detected on Day 22 and growing ovarian follicles were seen at later stages. Thus, ovarian differentiation began about Day 19. Although presumptive testes lose their sensitivity to feminizing steroids about Day 19, the gonads of known males and of putative males from the mixed-sex population showed no clear signs of sex differentiation up to Day 90. Thus, the prolonged temporal dissociation between testicular commitment and differentiation indicates that these two events may be mediated by separate stimuli. To determine the effects of temperature on sex determination, fish of a mixed-sex population were reared at 27°C until Day 10; at 20°, 27°, or 34°C from Day 10 to Day 24; and then at 27°C until Day 102 when sex ratios and gonadal histology were determined. The sex ratio was significantly skewed toward females in fish treated at 34°C (1 male:1.68 female; P < 0.01) but no effects were seen at 20° or 27°C. This observation suggests that genetic and temperature-dependent mechanisms of sex determination are both functional in channel catfish and that this phenomenon is more widespread in fishes than previously believed. The testes of the Day 102 males examined had developed positive histological signs of sex differentiation, suggesting that testicular formation in channel catfish normally starts between Day 90 and 102. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
The leg flexor muscle of Carcinus. I. Innervation and excitatory neuromuscular physiology

The innervation and neuromuscular physiology of the flexor muscles in the legs of Carcinus were investigated using a variety of histological and electrophysiological techniques. Slow muscle fibers were found in the proximal and distal regions of the muscle; intermediate- and fast-contracting fibers were found in most regions, but fast fibers predominated in the central regions. Muscle fibers were innervated by one to four excitatory axons. The extent of inhibitory innervation was not determined. The motor innervation showed significant departures from the previously described Brachyuran pattern. The results indicated the need for a thorough reexamination of the patterns of limb innervation of the crustacean tribes.
Learning Identity-Invariant Motion Representations for Cross-ID Face Reenactment

Human face reenactment aims at transferring motion patterns from one face (from a source-domain video) to an-other (in the target domain with the identity of interest). While recent works report impressive results, they are notable to handle multiple identities in a unified model. In this paper, we propose a unique network of CrossID-GAN to perform multi-ID face reenactment. Given a source-domain video with extracted facial landmarks and a target-domain image, our CrossID-GAN learns the identity-invariant motion patterns via the extracted landmarks and such information to produce the videos whose ID matches that of the target domain. Both supervised and unsupervised settings are proposed to train and guide our model during training.Our qualitative/quantitative results confirm the robustness and effectiveness of our model, with ablation studies confirming our network design.
Cell wall-related genes involved in supporting tissue formation and transcriptional regulation in Arabidopsis thaliana.

The characteristic growth pattern of vascular plants largely depends on the intrinsic properties of their cell walls, which are flexible, but strong enough to support the plant body. The plant body is composed of various tissues each with a specific cell wall type. Different sets of enzymes are required for the construction of these individual cell wall types. The cell wall type-specific enzyme-set hypothesis has been described to explain the mechanisms underlying cell wall construction. This hypothesis suggests that specific sets of transcription factors are required for the construction of each of the cell-wall types. Recent reverse genetic studies investigating secondary wall formation in Arabidopsis thaliana have demonstrated the existence of a hierarchical transcriptional network that governs the regulation of secondary wall formation in cell wall types. The examination of the effects of mechanical stimuli on the expression of genes encoding a particular set of cell wall-related enzymes and transcriptional factors has shown that A. thaliana is able to perceive subtle changes in self-weight of the aerial portions, and use this information as a signal to regulate formation of cell walls in the supporting tissues. However, the mechanisms by which mechanical signals are perceived via sensors presumably located at the cell surface remain unknown. In addition, the pathways through which the signal is transmitted and integrated into the transcriptional network that governs the coordinated actions of cell wall-related genes are also yet to be described. Current reverse genetic approaches based on comprehensive expression analysis of cell wall-related genes may aid in the elucidation of the regulatory mechanisms underlying supporting tissue formation via mechanical signals. Such information may contribute not only to a further understanding of the molecular basis underlying evolution of the plant vascular system, but may also provide us with the knowledge required for the future development and utilization of plant cell walls as a sustainable resource.
A Model of High-Dimensional Feature Reduction Based on Variable Precision Rough Set and Genetic Algorithm in Medical Image

Aiming at the shortcomings of high feature reduction using traditional rough sets, such as insensitivity with noise data and easy loss of potentially useful information, combining with genetic algorithm, in this paper, a VPRS-GA (Variable Precision Rough Set--Genetic Algorithm) model for high-dimensional feature reduction of medical image is proposed. Firstly, rigid inclusion of the lower approximation is extended to partial inclusion by classification error rate β in the traditional rough set model, and the ability dealing with noise data is improved. Secondly, some factors of feature reduction are considered, such as attribute dependency, attributes reduction length, and gene coding weight. A general framework of fitness function is put forward, and different fitness functions are constructed by using different factors such as weight and classification error rate β. Finally, 98 dimensional features of PET/CT lung tumor ROI are extracted to build decision information table of lung tumor patients. Three kinds of experiments in high-dimensional feature reduction are carried out, using support vector machine to verify the influence of recognition accuracy in different fitness function parameters and classification error rate. Experimental results show that classification accuracy is affected deeply by different weight values under the invariable classification error rate condition and by increasing classification error rate under the invariable weigh value condition. Hence, in order to achieve better recognition accuracy, different problems use suitable parameter combination.
Effective Correctness Criteria for Serializability in Multiversion Concurrency Control Technique

The Two-Phase Locking of Multi-Version Concurrency Control (MV2PL) avoids conflicts of concurrent transactions by make them wait until conflicts get resolved. These conflicts of transactions may generate starvations and deadlocks in the system. The Transactions suffering from deadlocks are usually aborted and restarted from scratch. In multiuser systems, this “abort and restart” approach degrades the system‟s performance where higher conflicts for data or long running transactions occur. Restarting from scratch also generates a negative response loop in the system, because the system suffers additional overheads which may result into even more conflicts. In this paper, we are proposing a novel approach for conflict resolution in Multi-Version Concurrency Control for shared databases. Our mechanism quickly detects the conflicts using correctness criteria for serializability and resolves the conflicts between transactions and increases throughput.
Ecosystem engineering by a dominant detritivore in a diverse tropical stream

Prochilodus mariae (Characiformes: Prochilodontidae) is a detritivorous fish distributed throughout the Orinoco river basin of South America. Spectacular migrations of these fishes occur at the end of the rainy season into the Andean foothills. Prochilodus ingest large quantities of sediments and may thereby modify habitats in neotropical streams. The major objectives of this study were (1) to explore experimentally the importance of Prochilodus in structuring a tropical stream in the Venezuelan Andean piedmont, and (2) to determine whether there was sufficient ecological redundancy in a diverse and abundant assemblage of epibenthic fishes to compensate for the removal of Prochilodus. Community structure was compared among three experimental treatments: (1) Prochilodus exclusion, (2) Prochilodus enclosure, and (3) the natural fish assemblage. Selective exclusion of Prochilodus resulted in striking changes in community structure as measured by patterns of sediment accrual and the composition of algal and invertebrate assemblages. Highly significant increases in total dry mass and in ash-free dry mass of sediments accruing on stream-bottom substrates were observed almost immediately following the exclusion of Prochilodus. Moreover, the composition of algal and invertebrate assemblages was signif- icantly modified by Prochilodus. Taxa such as diatoms were reduced in number when Prochilodus was present; in contrast, Prochilodus appeared to facilitate nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria. Total invertebrate densities were greatest in the Prochilodus removal treat- ment; however, a variety of responses to the experimental treatments was observed among different taxa analyzed individually, including density reductions, increases, and no mea- surable effects. This study suggests that the detritivore Prochilodus is a functionally dom- inant species in Andean foothill streams via sediment-processing activities. Moreover, it provides little evidence to support the notion that strongly interacting species are limited to simple systems with few food web components.
Test-Time Training for Improved Object Affordance Prediction

Learning aﬀordances of unseen objects is an important aspect of learning how to interact with and understand the world. However, current research on this subject is restricted to small datasets that are limited in variety. Recent eﬀorts developing weakly-supervised approaches show progress in making aﬀordance prediction more generalized, but performance gaps remain from supervised methods. This paper attempts to close this gap by proposing that aﬀordance prediction is primarily a representation learning task be-tween inactive images and active videos. As a result, this paper proposes using an unsupervised representation learning task that can be be trained on images not in the training data. The ﬁnal model improves robustness of learning Grounded Interactions Hotspots to changes in model types and to out-of-domain objects and further bridges the gap between weak and strong supervision approaches all while requiring no extra parameters.
Food Authenticity and Safety in China: What about the Western World?

Abstract In last years there are numerous food safety incidents in China, and the consequence is that the consumers in this country are losing confidence in domestic food suppliers, and that food safety is becoming a controversial issue in this country. In order to improve this situation, Chinese government now prioritized safety regulation for food products and additives and specified the limits of potentially dangerous ingredients. Chinese scientist recognized the importance of omics in both food science and technology early on, and they will play a key role in realization of this process. In the second part, the issues of food safety and authenticity in Western World were discussed, and recent accidents were depicted. The continuing need for food safety and increasing demand for protection against adulteration of food products is also introducing a growing request for introduction of foodomics methods in food technology and quality control.
A soft-bottom sublittoral mesocosm by the Oslofjord: Description, performance and examples of application

Abstract Controlled experiments and detailed studies of behaviour in the subtidal require diving, submersible vessels or instruments placed in situ. These methods often limit experimental design. Furthermore, experiments with toxic chemicals in the field may not be possible due to lack of dosage control, environmental consequences, and public welfare. Such problems can be overcome by the use of mesocosms. In this paper a soft-bottom mesocosm in the Oslofjord, Norway is described. The mesocosm consists of two indoor basins each with a surface area of 100 m2 and a maximum water depth of 1.7 m. Each basin is divided into three compartments. Soft-bottom sediment sections were collected in the field by a modified USNEL box-corer (0.25 m2). The sediment was transferred to boxes and brought into the mesocosm. The water level in the mesocosm can be lowered so that the sediment surfaces are easily accessible for sampling, manipulation, inspection, or measurements requiring equipment or techniques not compatible wi.
Antioxidant activity of designed peptides based on the antioxidative peptide isolated from digests of a soybean protein

Antioxidative activities of 28 synthetic peptides, which were designed based on an antioxidative peptide (Leu-Leu-Pro-His-His) derived from proteolytic digests of a soybean protein, against the peroxidation of linoleic acid in an aqueous system were measured by the ferric thiocyanate method. The results for the hydroperoxide levels derived from linoleic acid agreed with those obtained by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The deletion of the C-terminal His decreased the activity, whereas the deletion of the N-terminal Leu had no effect. In the peptide sequence, His and Pro played important roles in the antioxidative activity and, among the peptides tested, Pro-His-His was the most antioxidative. The activity decreased on substitution of the second His with d-His. Introduction of Tyr to the positions of Pro or His did not increase the activities of the corresponding peptides. Antioxidative peptides showed synergistic effects with nonpeptidic antioxidants as observed in soybean protein h.
On the evolution of key physiological and physicochemical parameters throughout the maturation of Burlat cherry

We have studied the ripening process of Burlat sweet cherry during two consecutive growing seasons in order to identify its main specific characteristics. An increase in ethylene production is consistently observed when the fruit reaches an acceptable degree of ripeness. This ethylene peak clearly divides the ripening process into two distinct phases with markedly different behaviour of all of the parameters measured in this study: respiration rate, titratable acidity, soluble solids content, firmness, colour, pectolytic and oxidation enzymes and anthocyanin content. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry
Myosin ATPase and acto-heavy meromyosin ATPase in normal and in pale,soft and exudative (PSE) porcine muscle.

An investigation was conducted on myosin and actin-activated heavy meromyosin (HMM) ATPase activities in normal porcine muscle stored for varying periods of time after death. Studies were also made on temperature dependent myosin ATPase, initial burst of ATPase and actin-activated HMM ATPase in normal and in pale, soft and exudative (PSE) porcine muscle. The maximum velocity of acto-HMM ATPase of normal muscle decreased considerably with postmortem time, while the apparent dissociation constant decreased slightly. The maximum velocity of acto-HMM ATPase of postmortem normal muscle was approximately two-times larger than that of the corresponding PSE muscle. However, almost no difference was found in the apparent dissociation constant. The size of the initial burst of phosphate-liberation of myosin prepared from normal muscle was approximately 1.2 mol/mol of myosin and from PSE muscle 0. It is assumed that the lack of contractility of PSE muscle was brought about by two basic myosin malfunctions: one, the .
Diversity in Australian populations of Murraya paniculata (Rutaceae): New evidence from volatile leaf oils

Two entities are distinguished in Australian populations currently referred to as Murraya paniculata (L.) Jack. Both entities are allotypic in northern Australia. M. paniculata 'Small Leaves' occurs in much drier, largely deciduous microphyll vinethickets and is a sprawling shrub under 3 m in height with small (6–60 mm long, 540 mm wide) leaves, flowers and fruits on pedicels 3–7 mm long. It has a strongly aromatic odour to the foliage when crushed. M. paniculata 'Big Leaves' occurs in 'less dry' semideciduous notophyll vineforests and is a small tree 3–6 m in height with large (19–100 mm long, 12–50 rnm wide) leaves, flowers and fruits on pedicels 10–13 mm long. It has a less pungent odour to the foliage when crushed. The two entities differ quantitatively in volatile leaf oil composition with the 'Big Leaves' entity producing an oil approx. 1/5 the quantity of the 'Small Leaf' entity. Both germacrene-D and E-nerolidol are more prevalent in the 'Small Leaves' entity.
A Novel Technique for Direct Drive PMSG Based Wind Energy Conversion System Using Discrete-Time Direct Torque Control

This paper proposes a novel flux-space-vectorbased direct torque control (DTC) scheme for permanent-magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs) used in variable-speed direct-drive wind energy conversion systems (WECSs). The discrete-time control law, which is derived from the perspective of flux space vectors and load angle, predicts the desired stator flux vector for the next time-step with the torque and stator flux information only. The space vector modulation (SVM) is then employed to generate the reference voltage vector, leading to a fixed switching frequency, as well as lower flux and torque ripples, when compared to the conventional DTC. Compared with other SVMbased DTC methods in the literature, the proposed DTC scheme eliminates the use of proportional-integral regulators and is less dependent on machine parameters, e.g., stator inductances and permanentmagnet flux linkage, while the main advantages of the DTC, e.g., fast dynamic response and no need of coordinate transform, are preserved. The proposed DTC scheme is applicable for both nonsalient-pole and salient-pole PMSGs. The overall control scheme is simple to implement and is robust to parameter uncertainties and variations of the PMSGs. The effectiveness of the proposed discrete-time DTC scheme is verified by simulation and experimental results on a 180-W salient-pole PMSG and a 2.4-kW nonsalient-pole PMSG used in variable-speed direct-drive WECSs.
Comparative activities of growth hormone and luteinizing hormone in the direct stimulation of local release of progesterone from microdialyzed ovine corpora lutea in vivo

To assess the direct effects of growth hormone (GH) on the release of progesterone (P) in the microenvironment within the ovine corpus luteum (CL) in vivo, a microdialysis system (MDS) was implanted into the CL during the breeding season. In experiment 1 (single CL model), on Day 7 after estrus, three microcapillary dialysis membranes (cut off Mr=1000 kDa; transfer rate, 1% for P and 0.1% for LH and GH) were surgically implanted into the cyclic CL paralleled to each other with a distance of at least a 5 mm between capillaries (n=5 ewes). Each MDS line was continuously perfused with Ringer's solution during the experiment. Serial fractions were collected every 30 min for 35 h on Days 8-9 following a pre-perfusion period of 10-12 h. A 16-h perfusion with GH (10 μg/ml) induced an acute increase of P release to 300% of the baseline throughout the infusion (P<0.001). A 3-h perfusion with oxytocin (OT: 2 × 10-5 M) also stimulated the P release to approximately 200% of the baseline (P<0.01). When OT was infused following the GH infusion, no additional effect was observed. In experiment 2 (a multiple CL model), four ewes were treated for superovulation, and multiple CLs formed thereafter were implanted with the MDS (1 line/CL) on Day 7 after GnRH injection. Infusions with GH or LH on Days 9-10 at doses of 2.5, 5 or 10 μg/ml for 4 h twice with an 8-h interval similarly induced a clear increase of P release. The 2nd GH infusion had a greater stimulative effect than the 2nd LH infusion at all the doses tested (P<0.05). Furthermore, the 2nd infusion with GH at 5 and 10 μg/ml induced a higher increase of P release than did the 1st infusion (P<0.05), while LH, at any of the tested doses, stimulated P release to a similar extent during the 1st and 2nd infusions. The finding that GH, like LH, directly stimulates the local release of P within the CL in cyclic and superovulated ewes in vivo strongly suggest that GH, like LH, is an essential luteotropic pituitary hormone in ewes.
Effect of dietary supplementation of Melissa officinalis and combination of Achillea millefolium and Crataegus oxyacantha on broiler growth performance, fatty acid composition and lipid oxidation of chicken meat

This experimental study investigated the effect of feeding of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) and combination of hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantha L.) and yarrow (Achillea millefolium L.) on growth performance of chicken, meat composition, fatty acid profile and oxidative stability. Ninety one-day-old commercial broiler chicks (ROSS 308) were divided into 3 groups, and fed 41 days, as follows: control (C) with standard diet without antioxidants supplementation; second group (L) with standard diet supplemented with ground lemon balm (2%) and third group (HY) with standard diet supplemented with ground hawthorn (1%) and yarrow (1%). Final body weight and total feed intake were not influenced by plant supplementation. However, feed conversion ratio was the lowest (P<0.05) at HY. Carcass yields were not affected (P>0.05) by plants supplementation, but the proportions of various carcass parts (breast and leg) were higher in L and HY groups. Feeding of plants had no effect on the chemical composition of thigh meat. However, in breast meat fed by HY diet higher content of dry matter and crude protein (P<0.05) was found. In breast (L) the proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids was decreased and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) proportion was increased compared with control group (P<0.05). In thigh HY the proportion of saturated fatty acids was increased and PUFA was decreased compared with control. Results of thiobarbituric value method showed that supplementation with lemon balm, and mainly combination of hawthorn and yarrow in the diet significantly influenced reduction of lipid oxidation processes in thigh during chilling storage (4°C, 11 days).