Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robustness of Meteorological Droughts in Dynamically Downscaled Climate Simulations

We examine the robustness of a suite of regional climate models (RCMs) in simulating meteorological droughts and associated metrics in present‐day climate (1971‐2003) over the conterminous United States (U.S.). The RCMs that are part of North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) simulations are compared with multiple observations over the climatologically homogeneous regions of the U.S. The seasonal precipitation, climatology, drought attributes, and trends have been assessed. The reanalysis‐based multi‐model median RCM reasonably simulates observed statistical attributes of drought and the regional detail due to topographic forcing. However, models fail to simulate significant drying trend over the Southwest and West. Further, reanalysis‐based NARCCAP runs underestimate the observed drought frequency overall, with the exception of the Southwest; whereas they underestimate persistence in the drought‐affected areas over the Southwest and West‐North Central regions. However, global climate model‐driven NARCCAP ensembles tend to overestimate regional drought frequencies. Models exhibit considerable uncertainties while reproducing meteorological drought statistics, as evidenced by a general lack of agreement in the Hurst exponent, which in turn controls drought persistence. Water resources managers need to be aware of the limitations of current climate models, while regional climate modelers may want to fine‐tune their parameters to address impact‐relevant metrics.
REAL-TIME PCR REVEALS ENDOSYMBIONT TITER FLUCTUATIONS IN METASEIULUS OCCIDENTALIS ( ACARI : PHYTOSEIIDAE ) COLONIES HELD AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES

Real-time PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) can estimate Wolbachia endosymbiont population density in mosquitoes (Wiwatanaratanabutr & Kittayapong 2009). The COS (Carbaryl-OP-Sulfur resistant) colony of the phytoseiid Metaseiulus (= Typhlodromus or Galendromus ) occidentalis (Nesbitt) harbors several endosymbionts, including Cardinium, Wolbachia, Enterobacter, and Bacteroidetes in their gut and reproductive tissues (Johanowicz & Hoy 1996; Hoy & Jeyaprakash 2005). Johanowicz & Hoy (1998) observed mating incompatibility when females from a heat-treated (33°C) COS colony (a treatment presumed to eliminate Wolbachia ) was crossed with males from a room-temperature (23°C) COS colony containing Wolbachia, resulting in the production of shriveled eggs that did not hatch. It was not clear whether the Wolbachia population was reduced or completely eliminated from the heat-treated mites because a standard PCR protocol was used, which is relatively insensitive compared to high-fidelity PCR (Jeyaprakash & Hoy 2000). In this paper, we estimate the endosymbiont population density in COS colonies of M. occidentalis held under different temperatures in the laboratory using real-time PCR. One colony of M. occidentalis was maintained at room-temperature (23-25°C) and 2 colonies initiated from this line were maintained at 32 and 34°C for More than 1 year in growth chambers prior to experiments. Female mites (100) were isolated from each colony and their genomic DNA extracted by Puregene and QIAGEN methods (Jeyaprakash & Hoy 2007), and resuspended in 50 μL of sterile water. Four different plasmids carrying endosymbiont 16S rRNA sequences; pAJ233 ( Cardinium ), pAJ234 ( Bacteroidetes ), pAJ235 ( Wolbachia ) and pAJ239 ( Enterobacter ), were extracted and their yield estimated with a BioPhotometer Plus (Eppendorf AG, Hamburg, Germany). Species-specific primers were designed with Primer 3 software (http:// frodo.wi.mit.edu/primer3/) and a probe was designed with Primer X software (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) from the variable regions for each species (Table 1). Real-time PCR was performed in a 20-μL reaction volume containing genomic DNA from 2 females (1 μL) or serially-diluted plasmid DNA (100 μg to 1 fg) or a no DNA control (1 μL), forward and reverse primers (400 pM), probe (100 pM) and TaqMan master mix (10 μL). Two linked profiles: (1) one cycle of 50°C for 2 min and 95°C for 10 min, and (2) 60 cycles consisting of denaturation at 95°C for 15 s, annealing at 59°C ( Cardinium ) or 57°C ( Wolbachia or Enterobacter or Bacteroidetes ) for 30 s and extension at 72°C for 30 s, were used. Each treatment was replicated 3 times. The starting copy number of all plasmid DNA dilutions used in the real-time PCR was obtained with an open-source software (http:/
Treatment Strategies and Prognosis of Endometrial Cancer

Endometrial cancer is the fourth most common cancer and the most common gynecological cancer diagnosed in the women in the United States. The lifetime risk of developing endometrial cancer is 2.58% in US women. The American Cancer Society estimates approximately 47,000 new cases and 8,120 deaths due to endometrial cancer in 2011 (Siegel et al. 2011). There does appear to be a significant difference in prognosis based on race. The incidence of endometrial cancer is higher in white women compared to the black women (age adjusted incidence rate: 24.8 vs. 20.9 per 100,000 women), but the death rate from endometrial cancer in the black women is almost two times that of the white women (age adjusted death rate: 3.9 vs. 7.2 per 100,000 women) (Howlader N). Furthermore, the incidence and the death rate have remained stable in the white women; although it has been rising steadily in the black women (by 1.7% per year and 0.8% per year, respectively) (Howlader N). The management strategies in endometrial cancer have evolved dramatically in the past two decades. Despite the advances in the treatment of endometrial cancer; the death rate from endometrial cancer remains high. Clearly, more effective treatment strategies are needed.
CLASSIFICATION OF AGARWOOD (GAHARU) BY RESIN CONTENT

NOR AZAH MA, SAIDATUL HUSNI S, MAILINAJ, SAHRIM L, ABDUL MAJIDJ & MOHD FARIDZ Z. 2013. Classification of agarwood (gaharu) by resin content. Agarwood or gaharu is a fragrant resinous heartwood that can develop in diseased trees from the genus Aquilaria (Thymelaeaceae). The wood is often classified into various grades according to the colour, density, gaharu formation and scent. These parameters are very subjective and depend on individual perception. In this study, several grades of gaharu wood from natural sources and inoculated materials were evaluated for resin content and the data classified using Z-score transformation technique. The results demonstrated that resin content could be used as a guide for the classification of gaharu, thus assisting the industry to reduce bias judgement among traders.
On the asymptotic behaviour of a stochastic 3 D LANS-α model ∗

The long-time behaviour of a stochastic 3D LANS-α model on a bounded domain is analysed. First, we reformulate the model as an abstract problem. Next, we establish sufficient conditions ensuring the existence of stationary (steady state) solutions of this abstract nonlinear stochastic evolution equation, and study the stability properties of the model. Finally, we analyse the effects produced by stochastic perturbations in the deterministic version of the system (persistence of exponential stability as well as possible stabilisation effects produced by the noise). The general results are applied to our stochastic LANS-α system throughout the paper.
Efficacy of low level laser for prevention of pain and trismus after impacted mandibular third molar surgery

Objectives : This study sought to assess the effect of low-level laser (LLL) on pain and trismus after impacted mandibular third molar surgery. Materials and Methods : This double blind controlled clinical trial was conducted on 40 healthy patients with no underlying disease and impacted mesioangular mandibular third molars with the same level of difficulty. The patients were divided into two groups of intervention and control using block randomization. In the intervention group, LLL was intraoral irradiated to the surgical site 10 minutes after suturing from 1cm distance. Sham laser was used in the control group. The patients were provided with postoperative instructions and were scheduled for visits at two and seven days postoperatively to fill out a questionnaire and for suture removal. Level of pain was determined using a pictorial visual analog scale (VAS) and degree of trismus was measured in millimeters. The data were analyzed using SPSS. Results : Mouth opening in the laser group was greater than that in the control groupat two days postoperatively, which indicates the efficacy of laser for prevention of trismus. The changes in mouth opening were significant at baseline and at two and seven days postoperatively in the two groups (P=0.000); however, the trend of change was equal in both groups. No significant differences were noted in any variable between patients over and under 24 years of age in the two groups except for the amount of drug intake at two days post-surgery. Conclusion : The results showed that laser irradiation efficiently decreased trismus and improved mouth opening during the first seven days post surgery. Thus, laser irradiation can shorten the course of recovery after impacted mandibular third molar surgery. Key words : Gene therapy, Dentistry, Viral vector, Stem cell.
Automating the Service Identification from BPMN Diagrams

-SOA (Services Oriented Architecture) is considered since its appearance as a solution to enterprise information systems which allow agility, reusability and interoperability. In the last decade, a big trend for the adoption and migration to SOA has been noticed. Studies have shown that the cost of migration to SOA using reengineering techniques is much less than that from a redevelopment of Information system. Service Identification is a critical phase in services engineering, particularly in the SOA design. The position, direction and service identification activities differ from one context to another. Our work falls within the field of the re-engineering of legacy systems and more particularly object-oriented applications towards a service-oriented architecture. Through this article, we propose to evaluate the results of the identification of services from the object code by comparing the resulting services with those expected by the company. The services identification being made automatically from the analysis of object-oriented code can generate services that will not make sense for the company. To validate the identified services we have to take into consideration the point of view of the company, the latter is represented in BPMN diagrams. To achieve this goal we have proposed conversion rules and developed a tool that automates the identification of services from BPMN diagrams in order to compare them with the services identified from the object code and validate them.
Preparation, Characterization and in Vitro Evaluation of the Antitumor Activity of the Biologically Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles

This study was concentrated on the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles from Penicillium aurantiogresium (IMI 89372) with a focus on its cytotoxicity in MCF-7 and MCT cancer cell lines as well as Vero (normal) cell line that was assessed by crystal violet assay after treatment with various concentrations (0.44 – 145 μg/ml) for 24 h. The cell morphology was examined by inverted light microscopy. Further, the radiosensitizing effect of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on MCF-7 was also demonstrated by assessing cell morphology, cell proliferation of MTT assay, LDH activity and induction of apoptosis through checking of some apoptotic genes that altered during carcinogenesis, including caspase-3, Bax and Bcl-2. Caspase-3 activity was also estimated. Synthesis of AgNPs was determined by UV-Visible spectrum and it was further characterized by TEM, FT-IR and X-Ray analysis (EDX, XRD). The biosynthesized AgNPs were spherical and of 12.7 nm in size as recorded by direct electron microscopy visualization. The biosynthesized AgNPs showed variation in cytotoxicity against MCF-7, MCT and Vero cell lines in a concentration dependant response with a varied degree of alteration in cell morphology. The result showed that AgNPs were highly toxic towards MCF-7 with IC50 value of 10.5 μg/ml. Treatment of MCF-7 (10.5 μg/ml) prior to irradiation improved the effect of irradiation dose (6 Gy) via increasing alteration of cell morphology, inhibition of cell proliferation, activation of the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and caspase-3 leading to induction of apoptosis which was further confirmed through increasing nuclear DNA damage and up regulation of caspase 3 and Bax genes and downrgulation of Bcl-2 genes. In conclusion, the present findings clearly indicated that AgNPs showed dose dependant cytotoxicity and verified that AgNPs acted as a potent radiosensitizer and could enhance gamma irradiation induced killing of MCF-7 breast cancer cells.
Convex Temporal Regularizers in Cardiac Carm CT

Dynamic cardiac imaging typically requires the use of gating. In the case of computed tomography (CT), this results in an angular undersampling that renders reconstruction difficult. Prior work has shown that incorporating information from the full scan, i. e. from all cardiac phases, can be beneficial in this regard, for instance by regularization. This paper compares three convex temporal regularizers for 4-D cardiac C-arm CT in both a numerical phantom and clinical patient data. Regularizations based on the nuclear norm, temporal total variation as well as a tight-frame wavelet transform are studied. While all of them improve reconstruction quality notably, the former turns out to be the least effective. The latter two yield comparable results at near-optimal parameterization. However, temporal total variation appears to be more forgiving w. r. t. over-regularization.
THE MESS THAT IS “ALLANITE”

“Allanite” is a poorly defined collection of species belonging to the epidote group. In the past, “allanite” was defined as merely being lanthanon-bearing, but more recently, it is defined as being Ln-dominant at the A2 site. Species of the allanite subgroup include allanite-(Ce), allanite-(La), allanite-(Y), androsite-(La), dissakisite-(Ce), dollaseite-(Ce) and khristovite-(Ce). Lack of recognition of the recommendations of Nickel & Mandarino (1987), and of the relation between members of the subgroup with “allanite” in their species name and those without, has led to a number of errors in naming species and in use of the term “allanite”. Ten methods have recently been published describing how the relevant formulae may be calculated. Each is reviewed in conjunction with new observations on the behavior of Si, Cr, V, Mn 2+ and A-site vacancies. This evaluation results in a recommended procedure for the calculation of the formula involving a basis of 6 (M + T) cations and 12(O,F,Cl) + 1(OH). Recalculation of the formulae of published compositions of allanite-subgroup minerals shows that some apparently new species are better interpreted as intermediate solid-solutions between conventional end-members; there are, however, at least five potentially new species awaiting description.
The impact of electrode resistance on the biogalvanic characterisation technique

Measurement of a tissue-specific electrical resistance may offer a discriminatory metric for evaluation of tissue health during cancer surgery. With a move toward minimally-invasive procedures, applicable contact sensing modalities must be scalable, fast and robust. A passive resistance characterisation method utilising a biogalvanic cell as an intrinsic power source has been proposed as a potentially suitable solution. Previous work has evaluated this system with results showing effective discrimination of tissue type and damage (through electroporation). However, aspects of the biogalvanic cell have been found to influence the characterisation performance, and are not currently accounted for within the system model. In particular, the electrode and salt-bridge resistance are not independently determined, leading to over-predictions of tissue resistivity. This paper describes a more comprehensive model and characterisation scheme, with electrode parameters and salt-bridge resistivity being evaluated independently. In a generalised form, the presented model illustrates how the relative resistive contributions from the electrodes and medium relate to the existing characterisation method efficacy. We also describe experiments with physiologically relevant salt solutions (1.71, 17.1, 154 mM), used for validation and comparison. The presented model shows improved performance over the current biogalvanic measurement technique at the median conductivity. Both the proposed and extant system models become unable to predict conductivity accurately at high conductivity due to the dominance of the J H Chandler et al Printed in the UK 101 PMEAE3 © 2016 Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine 38 Physiol. Meas.
A Novel Approach for Stochastic Reactive Power Management in Micro-Grid System with Renewables

The undesirable reverse power flows and voltage fluctuations due to renewable generation, demand response, and electric vehicles may impose new challenges on the operational conditions of the Distributed Micro-Grid System (DMGS). When the Photo-Voltaic (PV) operators have the right investment incentives, the modern advances in the Photo-Voltaic (PV) inverters offer new opportunities for reactive power management. In this project we proposed a novel algorithm for the stochastic reactive power management in a distributed generation based Micro-Grid System(MGS)s using an Adaptive Reactive Power Compensation and Regulation Unit (ARPC&RU) along with its associated control circuitry with renewable Distributed Power Generation Unit(DPGU)s. Generally the reactive power compensation is considered as an ancillary service. Accounting for the increasing time-variability of distributed generation and demand to counteract to the power losses due to an undesirable reactive power flow, a stochastic reactive power compensation scheme is proposed. When an uncertain active power injection occurs, the proposed reactive power control scheme which is distribution-free and relies solely on power injection data will be employed and switched into action to compensate the power loss due to an injected reactive power component.The fault protection of the proposed Distributed Generation (DG) based micro-grid network is performed with an aid of another defensive module called an Fault Regulation Circuit(FRC). Thus the proposed algorithm is designed to perform the fault isolated reactive power compensation in the DG based MGS. Numerical tests on an industrial 12-bus MGS are conducted in the Matlab environment and the simulation results corroborate the reactive power management efficiency of the novel stochastic scheme over the traditional existing techniques.
Birds and small urban parks: a study in a high plateau city

The goal of the present study was to assess which variables influence the distribution of birds in urban parks. Twenty parks were studied in a city on the Spanish high plateau during the breeding season, and relationships among park characteristics, bird richness, and individual bird presences were established. The park area and tree cover accounted for 73.1% of the variation in bird richness. Although area size was the best predictor of species richness (65% of the variation), some species did not seem to be related to this variable but rather to others, such as vegetation and the degree of park isolation with respect to other areas. Contrary to what is normally expected, the distance from our parks to the river did not influence their bird species richness.
Primatology New Route of Investigation for Understanding the Impact of Human Activities on the Physiology of Non-Human Primates

In threatening situations, a type of steroid, namely glucocorticoids is released from the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to prepare the body to cope with crisis and enable it to return to homeostasis [1,2]. The major glucocorticoid, cortisol, promotes tissue degradation and prevents allocation of energy and nutrient uptake for purposes such as digestion, reproduction, growth and immune competence in order to maximize the quantity of energy available to flee [3,4]. This response is an important physiological adaptation for increasing survival rate in animals [5]. Previous studies have correlated the presence of tourists with increased cortisol levels in non-human primates (NHPs; e.g: [6] for the black howler monkey (Alouatta pigra); [7] for the Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus); [8] for the Northeast Bornean Orangutan (Pongo Pygmaeus morio); [9] for the Western Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)). Other studies found that the level of fecal glucocorticoid metabolites increased in groups of freeranging Mexican howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata mexicana) and black howler monkeys living in small forest fragments in Mexico due to a decrease in food availability [10,11]. One other study in Mexico reported that Geoffroyi’s spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) altered their diet in fragmented forests, marking that this species could also suffer from additional feeding cost in fragmented forest [12].
BIASED TECHNICAL CHANGE, INTERMEDIATE GOODS, AND TOTAL FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY

In this paper I show that the intensity at which intermediate goods are used in the production process affects aggregate total factor productivity (TFP). To do this, I construct an input–output model economy in which firms produce gross output by means of a production function in capital, labor, and intermediate goods. This production function is subject, together with the standard neutral technical change, to intermediates-biased technical change. Positive (negative) intermediates-biased technical change implies a decline (increase) in the elasticity of gross output with respect to intermediate goods. In equilibrium, this elasticity appears as an explicit part of TFP in the value added aggregate production function. In particular, when the elasticity of gross output with respect to intermediates increases, aggregate TFP declines. I use the model to quantify the impact of intermediates-biased technical change for measured TFP growth in Italy. The exercise shows that intermediates-biased technical change can account for the productivity slowdown observed in Italy from 1994 to 2004.
The Abatement Cost of Methane Emissions from Natural Gas Production

At present, the potential climate benefits of natural gas are largely offset by methane emissions from the natural gas supply chain. This paper estimates the cost of reducing methane emissions from the extraction segment of the industry by examining how production facilities’ emissions respond to natural gas prices. Because firms mitigate emissions up to the point at which their marginal cost of abatement equals their marginal private benefit of being able to sell captured gas, an estimated relationship between emission rates and prices can be mapped to a marginal abatement cost curve. Results indicate that pricing methane emissions would generate substantial net social benefits. For instance, a relatively modest emissions tax equivalent to a $5 carbon price would decrease emissions by 60%, achieving about $1.8 billion annually in avoided climate damages at a net cost of about $50 million per year.