Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ENEMY RECOGNITION BY FIELD SPARROWS

Abstract I examined enemy recognition in Field Sparrows (Spizella pusilla) using models of a brood parasite (Brown-headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater), an avian nest predator (Blue Jay, Cyanocitta cristata), and a nonthreatening control (Fox Sparrow, Passerina iliaca) during two periods of the nesting cycle: the first three days of incubation and when chicks were 2–3 d old. As predicted, Field Sparrows responded more frequently to the predator model than to the control model during both periods, and gave stronger responses to the predator model (as measured by the number of “chip” calls) during the nestling period than during incubation. Field Sparrows also gave stronger responses to the cowbird model than to the control model during incubation. However, responses to the cowbird model during incubation were not stronger than the responses during the nestling period; this result does not support the hypotheses that Field Sparrows recognize cowbirds either as brood parasites or as potential nest predators. If nests were tested during the laying stage, when they are most vulnerable to parasitism (but prone to abandonment due to disturbance), it is possible that Field Sparrows would respond most aggressively to cowbirds during that period.
Science for Canada’s Shelf-Seas Fisheries

From an analysis of major national and international policy issues we judge that a vast cultural and political transformation is now underway. In particular, the common property–open access–willing consent regime towards fisheries development and management will be replaced by some workable alternative. For example, a system of national quotas based on stock by stock total allowable catches, subject to an overall constraint of "full utilization," will likely be found to be impractical. These and related aspects are elaborated for fisheries, and apply also to other resource and environmental issues. Scientific information and research programs must obviously relate to such developments.Canada is reasonably well endowed with conventional scientific and technical competence on fisheries matters. Important and potentially useful innovative science has languished recently; appropriate institutional infrastructures and planning processes to stimulate and direct fisheries science within the country have been abs.
The Evolution of Growth Forms with Expanded Root and Shoot Parenchymatous Storage Is Correlated across the Eudicots

Premise of research. Plant succulence in leaves, stems, hypocotyls, and roots is heralded as an adaptation to aridity. Subterranean succulence is an underappreciated dimension of succulent plant diversity. Remarkable parallel evolution of proliferation of parenchyma and vascularization of stem and root parenchyma reported in previous case studies led us to predict that the evolution of stem succulence is tightly coupled to the evolution of subterranean succulence more broadly across the eudicots. Methodology. We applied a taxonomic rank-based measurement of relatedness to examine the distances between eudicot taxa with aboveground succulence (representing >20 separate origins of succulence) and their closest relatives with subterranean succulence. We compared these distances to the distances between a random sample of eudicot taxa that lack aboveground succulence (mesophytes) and their closest relatives with subterranean succulence. Pivotal results. Using a statistically conservative test, the ancestral distance test, we found that taxa with aboveground succulence were significantly more closely related to taxa with subterranean succulence than are mesophytes. Strikingly, all groups in which extensive aboveground succulence evolved are closely related to taxa with subterranean succulence, with the exception of the Fouquieriaceae. Conclusions. The phylogenetic coupling between aboveground and belowground succulence is a broad and strong pattern across a huge clade of plants, the eudicots. Despite high relatedness among taxa with aboveground and belowground succulence, the adaptive benefits of parenchymatous tissue are complex, and they likely differ for aboveground and belowground plant organs. The apparent lability of evolutionary change among succulent forms may reflect a common developmental program for parenchyma production whose spatial expression in different plant organs is altered during evolutionary diversification. These results encourage an expanded view of the evolutionary convergence among succulent plant forms that includes both aboveground and belowground components.
Plant Species Removals and Old‐Field Community Structure and Stability

The roles of species abundance, community structure, and competitive relation- ships in community recovery following stress were studied by separately removing species in June in three 6-yr-old fields at Hutcheson Memorial Forest, New Jersey. Percent cover of remaining species was measured in September. In 9 of 17 species removals there was high community recovery, mainly due to one re- maining species which increased significantly; 8 removals resulted in low community recovery. Abundant species replaced species removed. Only one remaining species, Potentilla simplex, increased regardless of treatment; the responses of others were highly dependent on the particular species removed, emphasizing the importance of species interactions. Reciprocal removals for a species pair produced unrelated responses. Community recovery correlated inversely with cover of species removed. However, the order of species according to cover differed from the order of amounts of community recovery, indicating that species rank by abundance may be an inadequate measure of relative importance of a species in the community. High community recovery correlated with vertical stratification (bilayered with a dense ground layer), horizontal patchiness (many low diversity patches), abundance of rapid vegetatively reproducing species, and differential species interactions. Species diversity changed negligibly following removal of a species. It is concluded that community recovery from a stress and the effects of species extinction are dependent on (a) community structure and (b) species composition.
Determining the Impact of Service Quality on Students’ Satisfaction in Public Sector Universities of Thailand: An Empirial Approach

The present study empirically investigates the impact of service quality through administrative quality, transformative quality, physical environment quality, core educational quality, and support facilities quality on students’ satisfaction. Grounded on an extensive literature review, a conceptual framework has been formulated. For testing such framework, the data was collected from different public sector universities of Thailand. 500 questionnaires were randomly distributed among bachelor students of public sector universities of Thailand. The researchers received 240 filled samples with a response rate of 48%. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 for windows software was used as a main tool for data analysis. After cleaning the data, 227 valid samples were further processed. The overall reliability of instrument is 0.89 while, individuals’ factor reliability is detected as adequate. The results of Pearson’s correlation and multiple regression analysis show that the service quality (transformative quality, core educational quality, physical environment quality, support facilities quality, and administrative quality) have a positive and significant relationship with the students’ satisfaction in Thailand. The findings of such study may be beneficial for policy makers for knowing the reasons (factors) for satisfying and encouraging the students. In addition to it, this study may contribute to the literature of developing countries especially for the Thai context for further conceptualizing the service quality and students’ satisfaction.
INTRINSIC PROPERTIES OF BIOLOGICAL MOTION DETECTORS PREVENT THE OPTOMOTOR CONTROL SYSTEM FROM GETTING UNSTABLE

Compensatory eye, head or body movements are essential to stabilize the gaze or the path of locomotion. Because such compensatory responses usually lag the sensory input by a time delay, the underlying control system is prone to instability, at least if it operates with a high gain in order to compensate disturbances efficiently. In behavioural experiments it could be shown that the optomotor system of the fly does not get unstable even when its overall gain is so high that, on average, imposed disturbances are compensated to a large extent. Fluctuations of the animal's torque signal do not build up. Rather they are accompanied by only small-amplitude jittery retinal image displacements that rarely slip over more than a few neighbouring photoreceptors. Combined electrophysiological experiments on a pair of neurons in the fly's optomotor pathway and model simulations of the optomotor control system suggest that this relative stability of the optomotor system is the consequence of the specific velocity dependence of biological movement detectors. The response of the movement detectors first increases with increasing velocity, reaches a maximum and then decreases again. As a consequence, large-amplitude fluctuations in pattern velocity, as are generated when the optomotor system tends to get unstable, are transmitted with a small gain leading to only relatively small torque fluctuations and, thus, small-amplitude image displacements.
Scheduled Telephone Support for Internet Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression in Patients at Risk for Dropout: Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Therapist-supported, internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) is efficient in the treatment of depression. However, the optimal mode and intensity of therapist support remain to be identified. Scheduled telephone support (STS) may improve adherence and outcomes but, as it is time- and resource-consuming, should be reserved for patients for whom the usual support may be insufficient. Objective This paper aims to reveal whether add-on STS for patients at risk of dropping out improves treatment adherence and symptoms in iCBT for depression. Methods Among patients participating in an ongoing large observational routine clinical practice study of iCBT for depression delivered nationwide by Helsinki University Hospital (HUS-iCBT), those demonstrating a ≥14-day delay in initiation of treatment received invitations to this subsidiary STS study. A total of 100 consenting patients were randomly allocated to either HUS-iCBT as usual (control group, n=50) or HUS-iCBT plus add-on STS (intervention group, n=50). Proportions of those reaching midtreatment and treatment end point served as the primary outcome; secondary outcomes were change in Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)–measured depressive symptoms and time spent in treatment. Results Add-on STS raised the proportion of patients reaching midtreatment compared with HUS-iCBT as usual (29/50, 58% vs 18/50, 36%; P=.045) and treatment end point (12/50, 24% vs 3/50, 6%; P=.02). Change in BDI score also favored add-on STS (3.63 points vs 1.1 points; P=.049), whereas duration of treatment did not differ. Conclusions Add-on STS enhances adherence and symptom improvement of patients at risk of dropping out of iCBT for depression in routine clinical practice. Trial Registration International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) 55123131; http://www.isrctn. com/ISRCTN55123131.
Level-set Modeling Simulations of Chemical Vapor Infiltration for Ceramic Matrix Composites Manufacturing

Silicon-carbide (SiC) reinforced ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) are a key enabling technology to reduce fuel consumption and emissions of gas turbine engines. In one manufacturing approach, chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) is limited to only coating SiC fibers. The preform is then fabricated using a lay-up of basic plys or 2-D woven sheets composed of the precoated fibers. At the other extreme, CVI is used to completely densify a 3-D woven preform shaped almost like the gas turbine component itself. The latter approach is more suitable for highly engineered components which sit directly in the gas path of the engine, for example, a high pressure turbine blade. In this case, the geometry is necessarily complex for aerodynamic, stress, and lifing (multi-physics) requirements. Presently, optimizing the CVI-dominated manufacturing approach is largely by trial-and-error. In this work, a first-principles modeling of CVI is performed to realize optimization of SiC/SiC CMC manufacturing. The modeling is based on a level-set framework to describe the interface between the vapor and solid phases. A finite-difference numerical scheme using an immersed boundary method is developed for fixed, structured meshes. Massively parallel direct numerical simulations (DNS) of CVI through fiber-woven geometries are performed using one-step chemistry, and over a range of Thiele moduli. Illustrative applications of the resulting large DNS data sets are given, including the development of fiber-weave specific infiltration models and structure functions for mean-field (porous media) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of CVI.
The effect of elevated CO2 concentration and soil pH on the relationship between plant growth and rhizosphere denitrification potential

The effect of CO2 concentration on plant growth and the size of the rhizosphere denitrifier population was investigated for ryegrass grown at 3 different soil pH values (pH 4.3, 5.9 and 7.0). Soil microcosms were planted with ryegrass and maintained under constant growth conditions at either ambient (450ppm) or elevated (720ppm) CO2 concentration. At harvest, the rhizosphere soil was collected and subjected to a potential denitrification assay to provide an estimate of the size of the denitrifier population present. Ryegrass dry matter production varied across the pH range studied and contrary to other studies, elevated CO2 concentration did not consistently increase growth. Plant growth was reduced by ≈ 35% and 23% at pH 4.3 and pH 5.9, respectively, under elevated CO2 concentration. At pH 7.0, however, plant growth was increased by ≈ 45% under elevated CO2. Potential denitrification rates within the rhizosphere followed a similar pattern to plant growth in the different treatments, suggesting that plant growth and the size of denitrifier population within the rhizosphere are coupled. This study investigates the relationship between plant growth and rhizosphere denitrification potential, thereby providing an estimate of the size of the denitrifier population under increased CO2 concentration and soil pH.
Plankton and nutrient dynamics in marine waters

Abstract Biological oceanographers generally distinguish between two contrasting trophic pathways in the pelagic environment, i.e. the herbivorous and the microbial food webs. The former goes from large phytoplankton and zooplankton to fish, whereas the latter comprises small eukaryotic algae and cyanobacteria as well as heterotrophic bacteria and protozoa. The present paper describes a continuum of trophic pathways, between systems dominated by the herbivorous food web and those dominated by the microbial loop (i.e. almost closed system of heterotrophic bacteria and zooflagel-late grazers, the latter releasing dissolved organic matter used as substrate by the bacteria). It is proposed that the continuum goes from the herbivorous web (or chain) to a “multivorous food web”, to the microbial web, and finally the microbial loop. Characteristics of the various pathways maybe summarized as a series of interconnected ratios. It is hypothesized that systems dominated by the herbivorous food web or the microbial .
Stomatal Responses to Variable Sunlight in Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa Michx.) Leaves with Different Photosynthetic Capacities

Interspecific comparisons of stomatal response to variable light have generally supported the hypothesis that stomatal adjustments are more rapid in plants with high photosynthetic capacity. We compared stomatal responses to variable light in bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) leaves that had low photosynthetic capacity and high apparent anthocyanins levels ("red leaves") with responses in green leaves. When incident sunlight was experimentally varied, stomatal conductance (gs) in red leaves was no less responsive than in green leaves. In both leaf types, gs declined at the same rate (18.9 mmol m-2 s-1 min-1) upon shading and increased at the same rate (13.4 mmol m-2 s-1 min-1) when reilluminated. The only difference in stomatal response in red leaves was an overall reduction in gs compared with green leaves. In shade, net photosynthetic rates (Anet) in red leaves were very low (ca. 2.3 μmol m-2 s-1}) but still nearly 70% of full sun rates (3.2 μmol m-2 s-1). In contrast, Anet in green leaves reduced by nearly 50% in shade (7.2 μmol} m-2 s-1) relative to full sun rates (14.1 μmol m-2 s-1). Internal CO2 concentrations ( Ci) were always ca. 50 μL L-1 higher in red than in green leaves. Upon reillumination, Anet in red leaves immediately returned to preshade levels, while green leaves recovered more slowly, perhaps because of stomatal limitation, as indicated by reduced Ci. We concluded that, although rapid stomatal responses are often correlated with photosynthetic capacity among species, within Quercus macrocarpa, stomatal responses to rapidly varying light are not related to leaf photosynthetic capacity.
Convergent catastrophes and the termination of the Arctic Norwegian Stone Age: A multi-proxy assessment of the demographic and adaptive responses of mid-Holocene collectors to biophysical forcing

Using multiple archeological and paleoenvironmental proxies, this paper makes the case for a climate-induced convergent catastrophe among the human population of terminal Stone Age Arctic Norway. We show that climatic changes correlate with the termination of the so-called Gressbakken phase (4200–3500 cal BP), and unpack the middle-range mechanisms linking the Gressbakken termination to contemporaneous changes in the biophysical environment. We show that what was a Holocene extreme, and likely volcanically-induced, climate deterioration around 3550 cal BP coincided with a population decline as reflected in the frequency of radiocarbon-dated archeological sites along with major changes in material culture and settlement pattern. Together, these proxies suggest a return to forms of social and economic organization based on lower population densities, higher residential mobility, and reduced locational investments. In establishing the middle-range ecological mechanics mediating these changes into archeologically observable patterns, the results indicate that the Gressbakken termination was the result of a particularly unstable climate period characterized by regional paludification, increased effective precipitation, forest decline, and likely impacts on reindeer populations and their migratory behavior, with drastic human implications. We argue for a convergent catastrophe-scenario in which a series of hardships between 4000 and 3500 cal BP exceeded the adaptive mitigation capabilities of the contemporaneous Arctic Norwegian population. Our study supports the notion that increased sedentism and locational investment actually increases vulnerability in the face of rapid biophysical change and contributes to the growing database of past human ecodynamics that speak to current socio-ecological concerns.
Causes and consequences of sex-biased dispersal in Columbian ground squirrel, Spermophilus columbianus

Dispersal is a fundamental process with wide ranging evolutionary consequences. In birds and mammals, members of one sex typically disperse more frequently, sooner and/or further than members of the other sex. The aim of this study was to examine factors affecting dispersal by yearling male and female Columbian ground squirrels (Spermophilus columbianus), and to determine whether inbreeding avoidance, competition or other factors can explain why inter-colony dispersal is more common in males than in females. Males who stayed in their natal colony as adults emerged as yearlings heavier and later from hibernation than males who disappeared in their yearling year, whereas for females, this was not the case. Males who had sisters emerging as yearlings in the same colony were not more likely to leave the colony than males who were alone or with brothers. Further, there was no significant difference in the probability that females would mate with an immigrant compared to a natal male. Finally, three-year-old males who stayed in the colony moved significantly further away from their natal burrow than females of the same age.I conclude that sex differences in inter-colony dispersal, while promoting outbreeding, are not directly due to inbreeding avoidance, but that inbreeding avoidance may play a role in governing intra-colony dispersal distances. Further, resource competition seems to play a minor role. Aggression by adults against yearling males and the acceptance of yearling females by their mothers may be the proximate cause for male bias in inter-colony dispersal in Columbian ground squirrels. To conclusively demonstrate this effect, however, we need to look at aggression in more detail.
Mating Success of Pheromone-Emitting Necrophorus Males: Do Attracted Females Discriminate Against Resource Owners?

Males of the burying beetle Necrophorus vespilloides were observed during pheromone emission in the field. The males emitted pheromones either after burial of a carcass ('haves') or without having found a carcass ('have-nots'). Males of these two groups were equally effective in attracting conspecific females. Obviously females can distinguish 'have-nots' from 'haves' as soon as they meet the male for the first time. Most of the females attracted by 'have-not' males accepted copulations, whereas females attracted by 'have' males strongly rejected mating attempts of the pheromone-emitting male. A 'have' male was allowed to mate only after the female had found the carcass. Females that had been attracted by 'have-not' males usually flew off after a few minutes, whereas the duration of stay of females with 'have' males mostly exceeded 40 minutes. After having met an attracted female, 'haves' usually did not resume pheromone emission during this evening. 'Have-not' males hardly ever failed to resume scent emission after having been interrupted by a female. The benefit of the shown behaviour of 'have' and 'have-not' males as well as of females is discussed.