Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Larval omnivory in Amara aenea (Coleoptera: Carabidae)

The duration of development, survivorship and adult size were compared for the larvae of Amara aenea reared in the first generation on pure diets of seeds (Stellaria media, Capsella bursa-pastoris, Tussilago farfara, Plantago major, Urtica dioica, or Potentilla argentela), or a pure diet of yellow mealworms (Tenebrio molitor larvae), and on a mixed diet of seeds and mealworm larvae (T. molitor, S. media and C. bursa-pastoris). To ascertain any long-term effects of pure diets, the beetles were reared on the same pure diet for several generations, or on different pure diets in different generations. The hypothesis that the larvae are primary omnivorous was tested. The evidence that the larvae of A. aenea are primary omnivorous was obtained by revealing that the larvae reared on the mixed diet of insects and seeds survived better, and developed faster in larger adults than those reared on the pure diets of seeds or insects. When the beetles were reared on the same pure diet for several generations, survivorship, and in most cases also the duration of development, did not change. However, when the beetles were reared on a different pure diet each generation, survivorship significantly decreased in successive generations.
Ameliorative Activity of Pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) Fruit and Seeds Powders on Diabetic, Oxidative and Pancreatic Status in Rats

Background: Diabetes mellitus is the one of the most common endocrine diseases that is characterized by hyperglycemia, altered metabolism with an increased risk of much complications. Besides drugs classically used for the treatment of diabetes several species of plants have been described as having a hypoglycemic activity with decreased side effects. Aim of the Work: This work aimed to investigate the possible anti-diabetic effect of oral administration of pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) fruit flesh and seeds powders on Streptozotocin induced diabetic rats via studying blood glucose levels, oxidative biomarkers as well as islets of Langerhans structure changes. Materials and Methods: 60 adult albino rats of Sprague-Dawely strains (200±5 gm) were classified into five groups of ten animals each except diabetic control group was composed of twenty rats as follow Group I: healthy control; Group II: diabetic control ,Group III, IV and V: diabetic rats received 2 g pumpkin fruit, seeds, fruit and seeds mixture powders respectively /kg body weight daily by oral intubation. Results: The results of present study showed that pumpkin powders caused significant improvements (P≤0.05) in blood glucose, insulin levels and glycated hemoglobin percent compared to diabetic control group. Also pumpkin powders improved antioxidants activities and healed Langerhans islets by increasing their number and size in comparison with diabetic control group. Conclusion: The present study showed that pumpkin powders may normalize the various biochemical and pancreatic tissues abnormalities resulted due to diabetes metabolic disorders and it is a source of potent anti-diabetic agent. The diabetic rats that were administered with the pumpkin fruit powder, exhibited the highest improvements.
Influence of tillage techniques and organic matter on carbon and nitrogen transformation in the rice rhizosphere in an alluvial soil of West Bengal.

The investigation highlights results of a field ex p riment conducted in an Inceptisol in the Lower Gangetic Plain of India to evaluate the sole and interactive effect of different degree of puddl ing through various tillage implements and farm yard ma nure (FYM) on carbon and nitrogen transformation in the rice rhizosphere over two seasons. Three met hods of puddling viz., (1) Light puddling with coun try plough, (2) Moderate puddling with tractor drawn cu ltivator and (3) Intensive puddling with power till er, were employed in specified triplicate plots with an d without application of FYM and their effect on organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, NH 4 -N, NO3 -N and total nitrogen in the rice rhizosphere soil were assessed. The results of this study revealed t hat while light puddling induced the highest build up of soil organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon and t otal nitrogen. Moderate puddling effectuated the highest level of NH4 -N and NO3 -N suggesting the highest rate of mineralization of organic-N in rice rhizosphere. Irrespective of puddling intensity, FY M escalated its positive effects. The highest level of NO3 N was induced through the rhizosphere during flow ering stage. All the chemical and biochemical attributes of the soil, except NO 3 – N, were stimulated to the greatest extent during t illering stage. From this research results moderate puddling could be su ggested for the best nitrogen availability during t he critical growth stages of rice.
Title Lévy insurance risk process with Poissonian taxation

The idea of taxation in risk process was first introduced by Albrecher and Hipp (2007), who suggested that a certain proportion of the insurer’s income is paid immediately as tax whenever the surplus process is at its running maximum. In this paper, a spectrally negative Lévy insurance risk model under taxation is studied. Motivated by the concept of randomized observations proposed by Albrecher et al. (2011b), we assume that the insurer’s surplus level is only observed at a sequence of Poisson arrival times, at which the event of ruin is checked and tax may be collected from the tax authority. In particular, if the observed (pre-tax) level exceeds the maximum of the previously observed (post-tax) values, then a fraction of the excess will be paid as tax. Analytic expressions for the Gerber-Shiu expected discounted penalty function (Gerber and Shiu (1998)) and the expected discounted tax payments until ruin are derived. The Cramér-Lundberg asymptotic formula is shown to hold true for the Gerber-Shiu function, and it differs from the case without tax by a multiplicative constant. Delayed start of tax payments will be discussed as well. We also take a look at the case where solvency is monitored continuously (while tax is still paid at Poissonian time points), as many of the above results can be derived in a similar manner. Some numerical examples will be given at the end.
Crystal Growth and Nucleation in Glasses in the Lithium Silicate System

The crystal growth and nucleation in glasses in the lithium silicate system have been investigated. Phase separation in ultimately homogenized glasses of the lithium silicate system xLi2O·(100 ﹣ x)SiO2 (where x = 23.4, 26.0, 29.1, and 33.5 mol% Li2O) has been studied. The glasses of these compositions have been homogenized using the previously established special temperature-time conditions, which make it possible to provide a maximum dehydration and removal of bubbles from the glass melt. The parameters of nucleation and growth of phase separated in homogeneities and homogeneous crystal nucleation have been determined. The absolute values of the stationary nucleation rates Ist of lithium disilicate crystals in the 23.4Li2O·76.6SiO2, 26Li2O·74SiO2 and 29.1Li2O·70.9SiO2 glasses with the compositions lying in the metastable phase separation region have been compared with the corresponding rates Ist for the glass of the stoichiometric lithium disilicate composition 33.51Li2O·66.5SiO2. It has been found that the crystal growth rate has a tendency toward a monotonic increase with an increase in the temperature, whereas the dependences of the crystal growth rate on the time of low temperature heat treatment exhibit an oscillatory behavior with a monotonic decrease in the absolute value of oscillations. The character of crystallization in glasses with the compositions lying in the phase separation region of the Li2O-SiO2 system is compared with that in the glass of the stoichiometric lithium disilicate composition. The conclusion has been made that the phase separation weakly affects the nucleation parameters of the lithium disilicate and has a strong effect on the crystal growth.
Comprehension and Memory of Spatial and Temporal Event Components

Abstract : Across three experiment series, we assessed how people update mental representations of events (called situation models). The first series decomposed spatial and temporal updating with people reading texts. These components involved (1) processing shift signals, (2) establishing new frameworks, (3) maintaining relevant objects, and (4) removing irrelevant objects. We observed component independence. The second and third series assessed cognition as people moved through virtual spaces. In the second series, we found that information about objects was less accessible when there was a spatial shift, particularly for objects the person was currently carrying. This suggests that people operating in complex environments, such as urban battlegrounds, can be negatively affected by the structure of those environments and their interaction with them. For the third series, people first memorized a map of a building. Then they navigated a virtual simulation of the building and were probed with object name pairs. We observed that memory for objects in a person's current location was more available. Second, memory for objects along pathways, that a person passed through but did not interact with, was suppressed. These findings suggest that some prior knowledge of environments may actually be less available by the very act of navigating that space.
Anelastic acoustic impedance and the correspondence principle

A general definition of seismic wave impedance is proposed as a matrix differential operator transforming the displacement boundary conditions into traction ones. This impedance is proportional to the standard acoustic impedance at all incidence angles and allows extensions to attenuative media and to the full elastic case. In all cases, reflection amplitudes at the contact of two media are uniquely described by the ratios of their impedances. Here, the anelastic acoustic impedance is studied in detail and attenuation contrasts are shown to produce phase‐shifted reflections. Notably, the correspondence principle (i.e., the approach based on complex‐valued elastic modules in the frequency domain) leads to incorrect phase shifts of the impedance due to attenuation and consequently to wrong waveforms reflected from attenuation contrasts. Boundary conditions and the Lagrange formulation of elastodynamics suggest that elastic constants should remain real in the presence of attenuation and the various types of energy dissipation should be described by their specific mechanisms. The correspondence principle and complex‐valued elastic moduli appear to be applicable only to homogeneous media and therefore they should be used with caution when applied to heterogeneous cases.
Social signals analyzed at the single cell level : someone is looking at me, something touched me, something moved!

: In the superior temporal sulcus (STS) of the macaque brain there are populations of cells which respond selectively to faces. Studies of these cells reveal that they are very sensitive to the direction of eye gaze and posture of the head of other subjects. It is argued that one function of the cells is to enable analysis of where other individuals are directing their attention. Given this selectivity for complex socially relevant stimuli it is surprising that the STS contains cells that respond to touch any-where on the body or to any movement seen in the visual environment. We have inves- tigated these tactile and motion sensitive cells to determine their behavioural significance. In the awake, behaving monkey we found that the critical dimension for polymodal coding is whether or not the sensations are expected. Tactile stimulation out of sight cannot be predicted and elicits neuronal responses. By contrast, when the mon- key can see and, therefore, predict impending contact, or when the monkey touches a familiar surface in a predictable location, cell responses are reduced or abolished. In an analogous way some cells are unresponsive to the sight of the monkey's own limbs moving but respond to the sight of other moving stimuli. Since unpredictable sensa- tions are often caused by other animals, the STS area appears well suited to defining sensory stimuli that are important in social or predator/prey interactions.
Eliciting Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations: Experiences from a realist evaluation investigating the impact of robotic surgery on teamwork in the operating theatre

This article recounts our experience of eliciting, cataloguing and prioritizing conjectured Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations at the outset of a realist evaluation, to provide new insight into how Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations can be generated and theorized. Our construction of Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations centred on how, why and in what circumstances teamwork was impacted by robotic surgery, rather than how and why this technology improved surgical outcomes as intended. We found that, as well as offering resources, robotic surgery took away resources from the theatre team, by physically reconfiguring the operating theatre and redistributing the surgical task load, essentially changing the context in which teamwork was performed. We constructed Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations that explain how teamwork mechanisms were both constrained by the contextual changes, and triggered in the new context through the use of informal strategies. We conclude by reflecting on our application of realist evaluation to understand the potential impacts of robotic surgery on teamwork.
Manganese dioxide as a potential cathodic reactant in corrosion of stainless steels

Bio®lms of Leptothrix discophora SP-6, grown on 316L stainless steel (SS), ennobled the open circuit potential to 410 mVSCE. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) identi®ed MnO2 within these bio®lms. Field exposed SS showed similar ennoblement after 30 days. XPS analysis of these samples revealed a mixture of dierent manganese minerals. Electrochemical reduction of MnO2 was studied using electroplated SS. Plated MnO2 was reduced amperometrically. The process was interrupted at dierent reduction stages. XPS analysis of remaining oxides showed that MnO2 was reduced through MnOOH to Mn . We conclude that biomineralized MnO2 may increase corrosion rates by serving as a cathodic reactant. # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Understanding the nature and causes of food inflation.

The main reason for the current surge in food prices is the supply shock due to the drought in 2009 and the carry-over effect of the low growth of food production in 2008-09. As the frequency of such shocks is expected to rise, India needs to have an effective food management strategy to deal with these episodes. It also needs to explore various other options for price stabilisation like maintaining buffer stocks and using trade. The economy has to invest heavily in expanding storage capacity for various types of foods in both the public as well as private sectors. Due to fluctuations in growth, the export of some commodities in one or two years is followed by their imports, which invariably involves a large variation in costs and prices. As India is a net exporter of food, a part of what is now exported needs to instead become part of domestic stabilisation stocks. Policymakers and administrators seem unable to bring food prices under control. Food inflation, based on the wholesale price index (WPI) for food articles and food products, entered double digits in April 2009 and crossed the 20% level in December. The increase in prices is not restricted to a few commodities, and it is being experienced across the board; the exception being edible oils. Inflation at the retail level, which ultimately is what matters for consumers, is more serious than wholesale prices. At this rate of inflation, Indian consumers are required to spend about 20% more on food compared to the previous year to maintain their consumption level. A large percentage of households in the country is not in a position to raise its food expenditure to neutralise the effect of inflation. This is surely going to aggravate food and nutrition deficiency which remains at a very high level (Deaton and Dreze 2009). The debate on the causes of inflation is full of confusion and most experts do not distinguish between long-run and short-run inflation. While the imbalance between demand and supply is often mentioned as an important factor, an adequate understanding of this imbalance is missing. The long-run implications of the emerging trends in food production have also received little attention. This article looks at the longand short-term changes in food prices in nominal and relative terms and examines how these changes are affected by changes in production and other factors. It also examines the effect of trade in food products on domestic prices and supply.
Courtship and mating behavior of the wolf spider Schizocosa bilineata (Araneae: Lycosidae)

Abstract Of all the wolf spiders (Araneae: Lycosidae), the genus Schizocosa Chamberlin 1904 is probably the most widely studied, and has become an established model in studies of behavior, sexual selection, and speciation. Much of the work to date involves the complex, often multimodal courtship behaviors and secondary sexual traits used by males to elicit receptivity from potential mates. Schizocosa bilineata (Emerton 1885) is one of those species where males possess decorative tufts of bristles on the forelegs that likely play a role in sexual selection, but little is known of male courtship behavior or its role in mate choice. In the present study, we provide the first description of visual and seismic behaviors performed by males in response to female silk and chemical cues, and examine male-female behavioral interactions in live mating trials. Males clearly recognized and responded to female chemical cues by displaying several species-specific visual signaling behaviors accompanied by seismic signals from stridulation. As these behaviors rarely occurred in the absence of female cues, we suggest they function primarily in a courtship context. In live mating trials, females typically responded to male courtship with visual receptivity behaviors, which were seen prior to mounting and copulation. While both visual and seismic signals of males are clearly implicated in courtship and mate choice, future work will be necessary to fully understand the interaction between modalities in this species. The description of behavior provided here should help resolve the relationship between male ornamentation and courtship behavior in the genus Schizocosa.
Efficiency of the chitin synthesis inhibitor lufenuron (cga-184699) on growth, development and morphogenesis of Schistocerca gregaria (orthoptera: acrididae).

This paper deals with the objective of investigating the effects of Lufenuron (CGA-184699) on the growth, development and morphogenesis of the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria. Five concentration levels (1000, 500, 250, 125 and 62.5 ppm) were given through the fresh plant food to the newly moulted (4 th or 5 th ) instar or late-aged 5 th instar nymphs. All results were obtained 24 h after feeding. The growth of Lufenuron-treated nymphs was profoundly inhibited because their weight gain was drastically reduced. Such reducing action of Lufenuron was dose-dependent after treatment of 4 th instar nymphs but at the higher two concentration levels after treatment of newly moulted 5 th instar nymphs and at the higher three concentration levels after treatment of late-aged 5 th instar nymphs. After treatment of the last instar nymphs, early or late-aged, the developmental rate detrimentally regressed as a response to the prohibiting action of Lufenuron on the development. In contrast, such rate was promoted during significantly shortened duration after treatment of 4 th instar nymphs, may be to accelerate the development for avoiding additional adverse effects of Lufenuron. Lufenuron exhibited an inhibitory effect on the adult emergence after treatment of last instar nymphs, regardless of the timing of treatment. On the other hand, Lufenuron exerted no effect on this vital process after treatment of 4 th instar nymphs. Moreover, the present compound, at certain concentration levels, induced the adults to emerge in a rate more than that on control congeners. However, the emerged adults suffered a morphogenic action of Lufenuron because different deformed females were produced in increasing % as, at least, the higher three concentration levels were increased. In addition, the adult females spent only shortened longevity and then died. The shortening effect was dose-dependent after treatment of 4 th instar nymphs.
Reports Title Safety and Capacity Analysis of Automated and Manual Highway Systems Permalink

This paper compares safety of automated and manual highway systems with respect to resulting rear-end collision frequency and severity. The results show that automated driving is safer than the most alert manual drivers, at similar speeds and capacities. We also present a detailed safety-capacity tradeo study for four di erent Automated Highway System concepts that di er in their information structure and separation policy.
Marandu palisade grass intercropped with densely spaced teak in silvopastoral system

Este trabalho foi realizado para avaliar dois sistemas de producao: integracao entre teca e forragem (silvipastoril) e somente forragem (monocultivo). A forrageira utilizada foi o capim-Marandu. Em janeiro de 2009, parte do pasto foi dessecado e implantou-se Teca (Tectona grandis) em espacamento de 3 x 4 m e a cada cinco linhas estabeleceu-se um espacamento de 6 m entre linhas, o que garantiu uma populacao de 750 arvores por hectare. Paralelamente ao desenvolvimento das arvores houve o restabelecimento do pasto de capim-Marandu. Em fevereiro de 2015, retirou-se os animais da area e em marco avaliou-se o estadio de degradacao do pasto, a densidade e a massa de perfilhos. Avaliou-se tambem a altura do dossel forrageiro, a massa de forragem e as porcentagens de: lâmina foliar, colmo+bainha e material morto, a relacao lâmina foliar/colmo+bainha e a relacao vivo/nao vivo. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado, com dois tratamentos (silvipastoril e monocultivo) e doze repeticoes. A massa de forragem foi maior no sistema com monocultivo de capim-Marandu. A altura da forragem e a porcentagem de colmo + bainha foram maiores no sistema silvipastoril, ja a porcentagem de lâmina foliar e a relacao lâmina:colmo+bainha foram maiores para o sistema com monocultivo. Conclui-se que o capim-marandu tolera o sombreamento em sistema silvipastoril adensado, contudo o processo de degradacao e mais intenso do que o capim em monocultivo e a utilizacao do capim-Marandu em sistemas silvipastoris altera a massa de forragem e a estrutura da forragem produzida.
A characterization on separable subgroups of 3‐manifold groups

In this paper, we give a complete characterization on which finitely generated subgroups of finitely generated 3‐manifold groups are separable. Our characterization generalizes Liu's spirality character on surface subgroups of closed 3‐manifold groups. A consequence of our characterization is that, for any compact, orientable, irreducible and ∂ ‐irreducible 3‐manifold M with nontrivial torus decomposition, π1(M) is locally extended residually finite if and only if for any two adjacent pieces in the torus decomposition of M , at least one of them has a boundary component with genus at least 2.