Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Detection of Male Mediterranean Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae): Performance of Trimedlure Relative to Capilure and Enriched Ginger Root Oil

Females of the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata (Wi- edemann), oviposit in a large number of fruits and vegetables and pose an enormous threat to agriculture worldwide. As a result, areas free of C. capitata often operate trapping programs to detect incipient infestations. Detection efforts rely heavily on trimedlure (TML), a male-specific attractant. Despite its wide acceptance, TML is not a particularly powerful attractant, and alternatives are being investigated. Capilure ® (CPL), which contains TML plus extenders to reduce production costs and volatility, and enriched ginger root oil (EGRO), which contains the male attractant α-copaene, have been compared with TML with varying results. The present study provides additional field data comparing the effectiveness of TML against CPL or EGRO as trap baits for wild C. ceratitis males in a Hawaiian cof- fee field. While traps baited with fresh TML or CPL generally captured similar numbers of male medflies, TML-baited traps generally captured significantly more male medflies than CPL-baited traps when the lures were aged 1, 3, 8, or 10 weeks. Likewise, traps baited with fresh TML or EGRO captured equal numbers of males, whereas significantly more males were captured in TML- than EGRO- baited when the lures were aged 3 or 6 weeks. Based on these results, neither CPL nor EGRO appears an adequate substitute for TML.
Polycistronic Viral Vectors

Traditionally, vectors for gene transfer/therapy experiments were mono- or bicistronic. In the latter case, vectors express the gene of interest coupled with a marker gene. An increasing demand for more complex polycistronic vectors has arisen in recent years to obtain complex gene transfer/therapy effects. In particular, this demand is stimulated by the hope of a more powerful effect from combined gene therapy than from single gene therapy in a process whose parallels lie in the multi-drug combined therapies for cancer or AIDS. In the 1980's we had only splicing signals and internal promoters to construct such vectors: now a new set of biotechnological tools enables us to design new and more reliable bicistronic and polycistronic vectors. This article focuses on the description and comparison of the strategies for co-expression of two genes in bicistronic vectors, from the oldest to the more recently described: internal promoters, splicing, reinitiation, IRES, self-processing peptides (e.g. foot-and-mouth disease virus 2A), proteolytic cleavable sites (e.g. fusagen) and fusion of genes. I propose a classification of these strategies based upon either the use of multiple transcripts (with transcriptional mechanisms), or single transcripts (using translational/post-translational mechanisms). I also examine the different attempts to utilize these strategies in the construction of polycistronic vectors and the main problems encountered. Several potential uses of these polycistronic vectors, both in basic research and in therapy-focused applications, are discussed. The importance of the study of viral gene expression strategies and the need to transfer this knowledge to vector design is highlighted.
Sensitivities of Cumulus-Ensemble Rainfall in a Cloud-Resolving Model with Parameterized Large-Scale Dynamics

Abstract The problem of closure in cumulus parameterization requires an understanding of the sensitivities of convective cloud systems to their large-scale setting. As a step toward such an understanding, this study probes some sensitivities of a simulated ensemble of convective clouds in a two-dimensional cloud-resolving model (CRM). The ensemble is initially in statistical equilibrium with a steady imposed background forcing (cooling and moistening). Large-scale stimuli are imposed as horizontally uniform perturbations nudged into the model fields over 10 min, and the rainfall response of the model clouds is monitored. In order to reduce a major source of artificial insensitivity in the CRM, a simple parameterization scheme is devised to account for heating-induced large-scale (i.e., domain averaged) vertical motions that would develop in nature but are forbidden by the periodic boundary conditions. The effects of this large-scale vertical motion are parameterized as advective tendency terms that are ap.
3D Bio-Printing: A Promising Technique to Fabricate Dermal Equivalent for Skin Wound Healing

The wound especially the skin wound healing is the commonest problem faced by surgeons. Several technologies have become available for skin tissue engineering that adopts a fundamentally different and novel approach recently. Among these, the applications of 3D bio-printing opened a new way to heal wound. There were four parts in this review. First, we introduced the concept of 3D bio-printing briefly. The main 3D bio-printing technique included ink-jet printers and Laser associated 3D printer. Second, we summarized systematically extra cellular matrix being the basic scaffold of 3D bio-printing. Thirdly, the application of 3D bio-printing in both in vitro and in vivo artificial skin tissue was introduced. At last, we outlook the future of application of 3D bio-printing in wound healing.
Computer-Aided Biosensor Design

Amperometric biosensors are widely used in point-of-care medical devices that help patients control blood glucose and cholesterol levels in an effective and convenient way. On the other hand, computer-aided technologies for biosensor design remain an actively developing field. In this chapter, we present a computational model for biosensor design that uses a reaction-diffusion equation. We have successfully applied this model to simulate cholesterol analysis based on a multienzyme system. Furthermore, we show that this computer-aided approach can be used to optimize biosensor performance. This model can be applied to industry-grade biosensor development and can be easily extended to model multiple types of biosensors for a wide array of clinical applications.
Oxidative stability of pullulan electrospun fibers containing fish oil: Effect of oil content and natural antioxidants addition

The effect of oil content and addition of natural antioxidants on the morphology and oxidative stability of pullulan ultra-thin fibers loaded with fish oil and obtained by electrospinning was investigated. Pullulan sub-micron fibers containing 10 and 30 wt. % fish oil were prepared and both presented beads where the oil accumulated. The number of beads was significantly higher in 30 wt. % oil-loaded fibers. Moreover, fibers containing 30 wt. % fish oil had a higher oxidative stability when compared to 10 wt. % oil-loaded fibers, despite its lower encapsulation efficiency (EE) value (67.1±3.1 %). The oxidative stability of fibers loaded with 10 wt. % fish oil (EE=88.5±0.7 %) was significantly improved when adding δ-tocopherol (500 ppm) and rosemary extract (500 ppm) as antioxidants. However, higher concentration of antioxidants (2000 ppm δ-tocopherol and 1000 ppm rosemary extract) did not further improve the oxidative stability of 10 wt. % oil-loaded fibers, but had a pro-oxidant effect. Finally, the production of pullulan fibers containing 10 wt. % fish oil from formic acid solutions increased the oxidative stability of the fibers when compared to the same type of fibers obtained from water solutions. The latter was observed for fibers without and with antioxidants (500 ppm of δ-tocopherol and 500 ppm of rosemary extract). Practical applications: Encapsulation of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and addition of antioxidants are the most efficient strategies to protect these lipids against oxidation when incorporating them into food matrices. These results show the feasibility to encapsulate fish oil in pullulan ultra-thin fibers and to improve their oxidative stability by adding natural antioxidants such as δ-tocopherol and rosemary extract. Therefore, this study might open up new opportunities for further technological development in the production of omega-3 nanodelivery systems, which have potential applications in different types of fortified foods.
An efficient indirect RBFN‐based method for numerical solution of PDEs

This article presents an efficient indirect radial basis function network (RBFN) method for numerical solution of partial differential equations (PDEs). Previous findings showed that the RBFN method based on an integration process (IRBFN) is superior to the one based on a differentiation process (DRBFN) in terms of solution accuracy and convergence rate (Mai‐Duy and Tran‐Cong, Neural Networks 14(2) 2001, 185). However, when the problem dimensionality N is greater than 1, the size of the system of equations obtained in the former is about N times as big as that in the latter. In this article, prior conversions of the multiple spaces of network weights into the single space of function values are introduced in the IRBFN approach, thereby keeping the system matrix size small and comparable to that associated with the DRBFN approach. Furthermore, the nonlinear systems of equations obtained are solved with the use of trust region methods. The present approach yields very good results using relatively low numbers of data points. For example, in the simulation of driven cavity viscous flows, a high Reynolds number of 3200 is achieved using only 51 × 51 data points. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2005
Assortment Optimization Under Consider-Then-Choose Choice Models

Consider-then-choose models, borne out by empirical literature in marketing and psychology, explain that customers choose among alternatives in two phases, by first screening products to decide which alternatives to consider and then ranking them. In this paper, we develop a dynamic programming framework to study the computational aspects of assortment optimization under consider-then-choose premises. Although nonparametric choice models generally lead to computationally intractable assortment optimization problems, we are able to show that for many empirically vetted assumptions on how customers consider and choose, our resulting dynamic program is efficient. Our approach unifies and subsumes several specialized settings analyzed in previous literature. Empirically, we demonstrate the predictive power of our modeling approach on a combination of synthetic and real industry data sets, where prediction errors are significantly reduced against common parametric choice models. In synthetic experiments, our algorithms lead to practical computation schemes that outperform a state-of-the-art integer programming solver in terms of running time, in several parameter regimes of interest. This paper was accepted by Yinyu Ye, optimization.
User Centered Design of E-Health Applications for Remote Patient Management

Researchers investigating Human Computer Interaction(HCI) issues in the domain of e-health specially emphasize the need for following a holistic framework to design interactive and user-centered mobile e-health applications. In this context, “conservative environments” – commonly experienced in rural areas of developing countries – pose a unique challenge for designing, developing and deploying e-health applications. In this paper, we present a four step framework to engineer usability for conservative environments:(1) background analysis, (2) design conceptualization, (3) iterative prototype implementation, and (4) usability evaluation. The main contribution of the paper is following a multifaceted integrated approach for conducting an in-context usability evaluation during the development phase of an application’s life cycle. We have evaluated the proposed framework on our project “Remote Patient Monitoring System with Focus on Antenatal Care” that aims to revamp the existing medical infrastructure of Pakistan by providing basic health care facilities to the remote village population – the majority lives in a conservative culture – of Pakistan. The findings of our case study also validates our thesis: adopting a number of usability evaluation approaches – focus groups, heuristic based expert evaluation and field observation study – prove useful in achieving desired goals for our mobile e-health application in the conservative environments.
Warren E. Buffett: Entrepreneur, Investor, & Philanthropist

The life of Warren E. Buffett, the CEO and Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has mesmerized people all over the world for decades. Part of Buffett’s mystique is how can someone so rich and intelligent can be so humble, gentile and generous. By the time Buffett passes, he will have given $100 billion to charities. Buffett is the J.P. Morgan of our generation by showing great strength and courage through the Great Recession. When the world stopped and was in shock, Buffett spoke with calmness and rationality. This article examines Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, and his investment methodology. Specifically, the article explores his background, entrepreneurial ventures, college and work experiences, and the people that influenced him. The article examines Buffett’s relationship with Benjamin Graham, one of the three people that had the biggest influence on him during his life. The other two being his father, Howard, and his first wife, Susie. After working for Graham on Wall Street, Buffett became a millionaire in today’s dollars by age 26. He then moved back to his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska where he founded seven investment partnerships that returned an average annual rate of 30%. After closing his partnerships, Buffett built Berkshire Hathaway into an empire with Charlie Munger, his Vice Chairman. The article then moves into Buffett’s investment methodology by examining value investing, margin of safety, and intrinsic valuation.
Comparison of Pin Surface Heat Transfer in Arrays of Oblong and Cylindrical Pin Fins

Pin fin arrays are most commonly used to promote convective cooling within the internal passages of gas turbine airfoils. Contributing to the heat transfer are the surfaces of the channel walls as well as the pin itself. Generally the pin fin cross-section is circular; however, certain applications benefit from using other shapes such as oblong pin fins. The current study focuses on characterizing the heat transfer distribution on the surface of oblong pin fins with a particular focus on pin spacing effects. Comparisons were made with circular cylindrical pin fins, where both oblong and circular cylindrical pins had a height-to-diameter ratio of unity, with both streamwise and spanwise spacing varying between two and three diameters. To determine the effect of relative pin placement, measurements were taken in the first of a single row and in the third row of a multi-row array. Results showed that area-averaged heat transfer on the pin surface was between 30 and 35 percent lower for oblong pins in comparison to cylindrical. While heat transfer on the circular cylindrical pin experienced one minimum prior to boundary layer separation, heat transfer on the oblong pin-fins experienced two minimums, where one is located before the boundary layer transitions to a turbulent boundary layer and the other prior to separation at the trailing edge.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Community Analysis of Endophytic Bacteria from the Seeds of the Medicinal Plant Panax notoginseng

Panax notoginseng is a traditional Chinese medicine. The roots of P . notoginseng can be used for treatment of diseases and raw materials in Chinese medicinal products. High yield and quality roots require cultivation in shade and humid conditions for 3 years. The long period cultivation makes P . notoginseng vulnerable to infect by pathogens. So control diseases are vital for the high yield and quality of P . notoginseng . The seed is the carrier systems of many probiotics and pathogens. To explore the indigenous bacterial community diversity, the endophytic bacteria from the seeds of the medicinal plant P. notoginseng were isolated and identified using traditional cultivation methods in combination with molecular technique. A total of 137 endophytic bacteria strains were isolated. The 16S rDNA of these strains was amplified and subjected to amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) with restriction enzyme Hae III. All the isolated strains were grouped into 9 OTUs (Operational Taxonomic Units) on the basis of the similarity of the ARDRA band profiles. Each representative strain of 9 OTUs was selected for sequencing. r-proteobacteria was the most dominant group among the isolates (98.5%), containing eight genera. Pseudomonas was the most dominant genus (58 of 135 isolates), whose isolates occurred in the seeds collected from all three places. The second dominant genus was Enterobacter (20.7%), followed by uncultured bacterium (14.8%) and Stenotrophomonas (10.4%). Among the six areas sampled, endophytic bacteria in the seeds collected from Panlong of Yanshan exhibited species diversity and contained the most isolates. These results suggest an abundant diversity of bacterial community within the seeds of P . notoginseng . These data provide insights into monitoring the seed health and disease outbreak during seeding.
RCS Reduction of Open-Ended Circular Waveguide Cavity with Corrugations Using Mode Matching and Scattering Matrix Analysis

A scattered radar signal by a jet engine inlet involves engine information of the target. The jet engine RCS due to the engine inlet is therefore signiflcant in radar target recognition. Accordingly, several accurate analyses of the jet engine RCS have been reported. Reduction of the jet engine RCS is also required for stealth technology. We suggest a new approach for jet engine RCS reduction that involves the insertion of many small corrugations into the jet engine inlet. The proposed jet engine structure is assumed to be a circular waveguide cavity with many corrugations. The structure is analyzed by combining a mode matching technique with a scattering matrix analysis. The proposed closed-form RCS solutions of the corrugated engine structure are validated with a MoM simulation using FEKO. The proposed closed-form solution has numerical e-ciency and rapid convergence. Using the characteristics of the solution, we simply apply a genetic algorithm (GA) to optimize the structure of the corrugations in terms of minimizing the RCS.
Robust optimal stopping

This paper studies the optimal stopping problem in the presence of model uncertainty (ambiguity). We develop a method to practically solve this problem in a general setting, allowing for general time-consistent ambiguity averse preferences and general payo processes driven by jump-diusions. Our method consists of three steps. First, we construct a suitable Doob martingale associated with the solution to the optimal stopping problem using backward stochastic calculus. Second, we employ this martingale to construct an approximated upper bound to the solution using duality. Third, we introduce backwardforward simulation to obtain a genuine upper bound to the solution, which converges to the true solution asymptotically. We analyze the asymptotic behavior and convergence properties of our method. We illustrate the generality and applicability of our method and the potentially signicant impact of ambiguity to optimal stopping in a few examples.
Determination of the Availability of Payment for Conservation and Improvement Activities of Wetlands Ecosystem of the Huaraz City, Peru

Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was used with the purpose of determining the willingness to pay (WTP) of the citizens of Huaraz city – Peru (Ancash Region) in order to estimate a financial fund to subsidize the design and implementation of conservation and restoration activities of the wetland ecosystem. To estimate the WTP, a LOGIT probabilistic model was used; which is based on the theoretical proposal of Bishop-Heberlein. Results indicate that the most influential variables in the WTP, are a set of variables of “appreciation” (of the citizen’s) regarding the ecological importance of the wetlands in their region. However, socioeconomic variables, such as income, age, education, etc., were not significant in explaining the WTP variation. The best statistical indicator for measuring the WTP was the median, which was estimated at $1.05 USD/family/month, revealing that in Ancash region (Peru) it could raise annually by an estimated of $312,266 USD. An important conclusion is that economic valuation is key to design and implement activities of conservation and improvement of the wetlands, this being the beginning of a process that will end successfully if some
Degradation of chlorophenol mixtures in a fed-batch system by two soil bacteria

This work was undertaken to investigate the effect of variations of the feed rate on a fed-batch set-up used to degrade xenobiotics. The mixture of substrates was composed of PCP, 2,4,6 TCP and 2,3,5,6 TeCP (pentachlorophenol, 2,4,6 trichlorophenol and 2,3,5,6 tetrachlorophenol respectively). Two acclimated bacteria isolated from soil were used: Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Achromobacter sp. nov. The different flow rates tested were: I: 0.5 ml∙min -1 , II: 1.67 ml∙min -1 and III: 2.00 ml∙min -1 . Our results show that during fed-batch operation the 2,4,6 TCP exhibits an earlier degradation than the other compounds, for all of the flow rates tested. This indicates that in this case the degradation of the most recalcitrant compounds (PCP and 2,3,5,6 TeCP) is benefited by the increase in biomass of bacteria, due to the metabolisation of a less recalcitrant compound (2,4,6 TCP). The defined parameter, specific degradation rate (SDR), was demonstrated to be very useful for comparing the degradation abilities at different flow rates of a fed-batch system. The degradation efficiencies were shown to be higher than 90% for all of the cases and to decrease as the feed rate increases. However, the SDR, a parameter that involves the rate of degradation and the biomass, increases as the flow rate increases. At a feed flow rate of 2 ml∙min -1 SDR reaches a maximum of 12.476 x 10 -10 mgCP∙h -1 ∙CFU -1 . Finally, among the feed flows tested, taking into account both the degradation efficiency and the SDR, 2 ml∙min -1 is the most convenient flow rate for chlorophenol degradation in fed-batch systems. An even higher degradation efficiency (97%) can be achieved by using the feed rate of 2 ml∙min -1 followed by an additional batch post-treatment of 2 h, with a SDR of 13.136 x 10 -10 mg CP∙h -1 ∙CFU -1 . Keywords: Chlorophenol; fed batch system; aerobic degradation; waste treatment; microbial biocatalysis
The freshwater crabs of Sulawesi, with descriptions of two new genera and four new species (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Parathelphusidae)

– The taxonomy of the parathelphusid freshwater crabs of the genera Parathelphusa H. Milne Edwards, 1853, and Nautilothelphusa Balss, 1933, of Sulawesi is revised. Thirteen Sulawesian species are now recognised in Parathelphusa , with the problems associated with P. celebensis (De Man, 1892) and P. pallida (Schenkel, 1902) resolved, five taxa ( Telphusa celebensis var. pareparensis De Man, 1892, Potamon ( Potamonautes ) celebense var. croceum Schenkel, 1902, Potamon ( Potamonautes ) celebensis var. tenuipes Schenkel, 1902, Potamon celebense var. possoensis Roux, 1904, Potamon celebense var. linduensis Roux, 1904) previously regarded as their synonyms are resurrected as valid species, and two ( Parathelphusa sorella , P. ferruginea ) are described as new. One taxon, Parathelphusa matannensis (Schenkel, 1902), is referred to a new genus, Syntripsa , and a new species ( S. flavichela ) is described from Lake Towuti and Lake Mahalona. A new genus and new species, Migmathelphusa olivacea , is described from Lake Poso. A synopsis is also provided of the three known species of Sundathelphusa from Sulawesi. A key to all genera and species treated is provided.