Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biological Control in Brazil: an overview

The use of Biological Control methods is on the increase, mainly as a result of the mobilization of human resources in entomology studies since the establishment of graduate programs in this country in the 1960s. This review approaches the retrospective of Biological Control in Brazil in recent decades, with an emphasis on the "culture of applying agrochemicals" adopted by Brazilian growers, which constrains progress in this area. Successful cases of Biological Control have been reported on in Brazil and there are, in fact, excellent programs in place that use insects or entomopathogenic microrganisms for insect pest control. Most of the studies in this area have been published in Portuguese and are, therefore, not readily available internationally. Importantly, half of the planted sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum), around four million hectares, is treated with natural enemies (insects) and/or pathogens. In contrast to other countries that employ Biological Control in small areas, the challenge in Brazil is to implement programs in large farms. Many obstacles must be overcome and discussed in working groups so that we can assume a world leadership position in the use of Biological Control in tropical regions as Brazil is already considered the leader in tropical agriculture. In this review, use of Biological Control is discussed within the Integrated Pest Management philosophy, as a path toward sustainable agriculture that is in harmony with other pest control methods. We must develop a technology of Biological Control adapted to tropical regions, rather than copying models developed for temperate regions, which are usually inappropriate for Brazilian conditions.
New Methods to Project Panoramas for Practical and Aesthetic Purposes

Recent advances in digital photomontage have simplified the creation of extreme wide-angle views from a vantage point, including the recreation of the entire sphere (we will refer to these type of images as panoramas). In order to minimize the distortion from the point of view of the viewer, panoramas have been typically presented using curved displays (such as the original panoramas, by Barker, in 1787; or several cinematographic systems, such as Circle-Vision 360, still in use), and more recently with the help of the computer (such as the QuickTime VR format). Unfortunately requiring such systems restricts their use, and little research has been done in the representation of panoramas into a flat surface. In this paper we propose the use of several geographic map projections to project a panorama into a flat surface, both for realistic purposes (where the projection can be easily accepted as a faithful representation of the original image) and for artistic purposes (where the projection is used as an artistic tool intended for the creation of an innovative interpretation of the panorama). Finally we explore the use of inclinometers and map projections to automatically project an image from a wide-angle lens (rectilinear or fisheye) into a new image that is more aesthetically pleasant. We believe the projections discussed in this paper will be useful to photographers, artists, and the designers of virtual reality environments, all of who might require the displaying of images with a wide field-of-view.
Chronic restraint stress induces intestinal inflammation and alters the expression of hexose and lipid transporters

Psychosocial stress is reported to be one of the main causes of obesity. Based on observations in studies that relate stress and gut inflammation to obesity, the present study hypothesized that chronic stress, via inflammation, alters the expression of nutrient transporters and contributes to the development of metabolic syndrome. Rats were exposed to restraint stress for 4 h/day for 5 days/week for eight consecutive weeks. Different segments of rat intestine were then collected and analysed for signs of pathophysiological changes and the expression of Niemann‐Pick C1‐like‐1 (NPC1L1), sodium‐dependent glucose transporter‐1 (SLC5A1, previously known as SGLT1) and facilitative glucose transporter‐2 (SLC2A2, previously known as GLUT2). In a separate experiment, the total anti‐oxidant activity (TAA)–time profile of control isolated intestinal segments was measured. Stress decreased the expression of NPC1L1 in the ileum and upregulated SLC5A1 in both the jejunum and ileum and SLC2A2 in the duodenum. Inflammation and morphological changes were observed in the proximal region of the intestine of stressed animals. Compared with jejunal and ileal segments, the rate of increase in TAA was higher in the duodenum, indicating that the segment contained less anti‐oxidants; anti‐oxidants may function to protect the tissues. In conclusion, stress alters the expression of hexose and lipid transporters in the gut. The site‐specific increase in the expression of SLC5A1 and SLC2A2 may be correlated with pathological changes in the intestine. The ileum may be protected, in part, by gut anti‐oxidants. Collectively, the data suggest that apart from causing inflammation, chronic stress may promote sugar uptake and contribute to hyperglycaemia.
The ISS flight of Richard Garriott: a template for medicine and science investigation on future spaceflight participant missions.

BACKGROUND A total of eight commercial spaceflight participants have launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz vehicles. Based on an older mean age compared to career astronauts and an increased prevalence of medical conditions, spaceflight participants have provided the opportunity to learn about the effect of space travel on crewmembers with medical problems. The 12-d Soyuz TMA-13/12 ISS flight of spaceflight participant Richard Garriott included medical factors that required preflight intervention, risk mitigation strategies, and provided the opportunity for medical study on-orbit. Equally important, Mr. Garriott conducted extensive medical, scientific, and educational payload operations during the flight. These included 7 medical experiments and a total of 15 scientific projects such as protein crystal growth, Earth observations/photography, educational projects with schools, and amateur radio. The medical studies included the effect of microgravity on immune function, sleep, bone loss, corneal refractive surgery, low back pain, motion perception, and intraocular pressure. CONCLUSION The overall mission success resulted from non-bureaucratic agility in mission planning, cooperation with investigators from NASA, ISS, International Partners, and the Korean Aerospace Research Institute, in-flight support and leadership from a team with spaceflight and Capcom experience, and overall mission support from the ISS program. This article focuses on science opportunities that suborbital and orbital spaceflight participant flights offer and suggests that the science program on Richard Garriott's flight be considered a model for future orbital and suborbital missions. The medical challenges are presented in a companion article.
Broadband Terahertz Pulses Generated by a Compact Femtosecond Photonic Crystal Fiber Amplifier

We demonstrate a scalable, compact, high-power, and broadband terahertz (THz) source based on a cutting-edge large-mode-area photonic-crystal-fiber amplifier system. A 3-mm (110)-cut bulk GaP crystal was used as the THz emitter based on an optical rectification technique. Systematic optimization of the operation parameters allowed a THz output up to 150 μW to be achieved with an input laser power of 12 W in the GaP crystal.
Parental Incentives and Early Childhood Achievement: A Field Experiment in Chicago Heights

This article describes a randomized field experiment in which parents were provided financial incentives to engage in behaviors designed to increase early childhood cognitive and executive function skills through a parent academy. Parents were rewarded for attendance at early childhood sessions, completing homework assignments with their children, and for their child’s demonstration of mastery on interim assessments. This intervention had large and statistically significant positive impacts on both cognitive and non-cognitive test scores of Hispanics and Whites, but no impact on Blacks. These differential outcomes across races are not attributable to differences in observable characteristics (e.g. family size, mother’s age, mother’s education) or to the intensity of engagement with the program. Children with above median (pre-treatment) non cognitive scores accrue the most benefits from treatment.
Identification and Forensic Investigation of Network Intruders Based On Honeynet

In current modern world, internet is becoming the part of everyone’s life and the use of internet is growing day by day. Thereby the security is becoming the main important aspect to protect the internet from unauthorized users and to protect the innocent end user of the internet. Cybercrime and network attacks are growing exponentially by the hacker’s communities. There are numerous detection and prevention technologies like firewalls, IDS, antivirus etc but they don’t provide complete security as there are certain shortcomings in these technologies. Since hackers and virus writers have come up with better ways to evade anti-virus technology throughout the years, the use of signature-based anti-virus software is proving to be less effective in putting a stop to malicious codes running in our computers. There is a need to find a way to analyze malicious activity without having to rely on the traditional signature based anti-virus tools but instead, complement what these tools can already do. For the development of network security model, network forensic is introduced which emphasize traditionally detection and prevention of attacks on networks. The power of various network forensic analysis tools available as open source can be integrated so that the investigator can have an edge over the attacker. In this paper, we discuss the network intruder’s detection by forensically analysis of honeypot data. Network forensic can be integrated with IDS or firewalls but in our work we focused on forensic investigation of network data collected on honeynet to detect the intruders. Honeypot based system improve the defense mechanism as it is used to attract the attackers so that their process methodology can be observed and analyzed. The end result of this system is the collected information of network data which could further be analyzed forensically to get the intelligent information about the attackers and maintain the reports for network forensics.
Attenuation of compensation of endogenous cardiac natriuretic peptide system in chronic heart failure: prognostic role of plasma brain natriuretic peptide concentration in patients with chronic symptomatic left ventricular dysfunction.

BACKGROUND Patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) have high plasma levels of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), mainly from the atrium, and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), mainly from the ventricle. We examined the prognostic role of plasma BNP in chronic CHF patients in comparison with plasma ANP and other variables previously known to be associated with high mortality. We also evaluated the relationship between mortality and plasma cGMP, a biological marker of ANP and BNP. METHODS AND RESULTS The study subjects were 85 patients with chronic CHF (left ventricular ejection fraction <0.45) who were followed for 2 years. The plasma levels of ANP, BNP, cGMP, and norepinephrine increased with the severity of CHF. Among plasma levels of ANP, BNP, cGMP, and norepinephrine and clinical and hemodynamic parameters, only high levels of plasma BNP (P<.0001) and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (P=.003) were significant independent predictors of the mortality in patients with CHF by Cox proportional hazard analysis. Although plasma levels of ANP and BNP were threefold or fivefold higher in nonsurvivors than in survivors, there was no difference in plasma cGMP level between nonsurvivors and survivors. CONCLUSIONS These findings indicate that plasma BNP is more useful than ANP for assessing the mortality in patients with chronic CHF and that the plasma levels of BNP provide prognostic information independent of other variables previously associated with a poor prognosis. Our findings also suggest that the compensatory activity of the cardiac natriuretic peptide system is attenuated as mortality increases in chronic CHF patients with high plasma levels of ANP and BNP.
THE EFFECTS OF SUBARACHNOID INJECTIONS OF IRON‐CONTAINING SUBSTANCES ON THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

Noetzel (1) was the first to describe in man an unusual condition characterized by an accumulation of iron-positive pigment in the subpial and subependymal layers of the central nervous system, without systemic manifestations of hemo-chromatosis. Similar cases have since been published by Lewey and Govans (2), Cammermeyer (3), Neumann (4 and 5), Noetzel (6) and Garcin and Lapresel (7). Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the etiology of this remarkable neuropathological entity, which we propose to call “Subpial Cerebral Siderosis” (SCS). According to the first, the deposition of the iron-positive pigment is a result of subarachnoid hemorrhages; according to the second, it is a local manifestation of a generalized metabolic disorder, somehow similar to hemochromatosis. Since the evidence of subarachnoid hemorrhages in some of the cases described was not definite, it seemed warranted to investigate this problem experimentally by repeated injections of blood or iron-containing compounds into the subarachnoid spaces of dogs.
Conspiracy and Information Flow in the Take-Grant Protection Model

The Take Grant Protection Model is a theoretic model of access control that captures the notion of information flow throughout the modelled system. This paper analyzes the problem of sharing information in the context of paths along which information can flow, and presents the number of actors necessary and sufficient to share information, in this model. The results are applied to information flow in a network to reduce the size of the set of actors who could have participated in the theft.
Local genetic structure in a white‐bearded manakin population

Local genetic structure was studied in lekking white‐bearded manakins in a study area on northern Trinidad, West Indies. The study population consisted of nine leks, at which a total of 238 birds were caught. By genotyping the individuals at eight polymorphic microsatellite loci we inferred some males on leks to be related (r = 0.25) as we found an average number of 14.8 half‐sib relationships and two full‐sib relationships per lek. We found that the sampled birds belonged to one genetic population that was slightly inbred (FIS and FIT = 0.02). Kinship coefficients decreased with increasing geographical distance, indicating that related birds displayed at the same or nearby leks. However, leks did not consist of only one family group because the average genetic distance (aij) between males within leks was higher than when comparing males on leks within close proximity. These patterns suggest limited male dispersal, that some type of kin recognition process between individuals may exist in this species and that males on leks may be more likely to establish themselves as territory‐holding birds if a relative is already present.
Galectins in acute and chronic inflammation

Galectins are animal lectins that bind to β‐galactosides, such as lactose and N‐acetyllactosamine, in free form or contained in glycoproteins or glycolipids. They are located intracellularly or extracellularly. In the latter they exhibit bivalent or multivalent interactions with glycans on cell surfaces and induce various cellular responses, including production of cytokines and other inflammatory mediators, cell adhesion, migration, and apoptosis. Furthermore, they can form lattices with membrane glycoprotein receptors and modulate receptor properties. Intracellular galectins can participate in signaling pathways and alter biological responses, including apoptosis, cell differentiation, and cell motility. Current evidence indicates that galectins play important roles in acute and chronic inflammatory responses, as well as other diverse pathological processes. Galectin involvement in some processes in vivo has been discovered, or confirmed, through studies of genetically engineered mouse strains, each deficient in a given galectin. Current evidence also suggests that galectins may be therapeutic targets or employed as therapeutic agents for these inflammatory responses.
Ownership Structure and Debt-Equity Choice : Comparing Hong Kong with U

Analyzing a sample of 166 issues of seasoned equity and 184 issues of or increases in straight debt by publicly-listed firms in Hong Kong over the 1991-1999 period, we find a significant curvilinear relationship between the equity ownership by executives and directors and the tendency to use debt. The curvilinear relationship, however, is not found for the sample of U.S. firms. In addition, we find that the equity holdings by substantial shareholders do not seem to have a significant influence on the debt-equity choice in both countries. We also find that larger firms and those exhibiting higher operating profitability are more likely to use debt (i.e. issue equity). In addition, U.S. firms experiencing a larger stock price run-up have a tendency to issue equity. In general, the predictions of the non-agency variables with regard to debt-equity choice are consistent with the theory and the existing empirical evidence in the capital structure literature. We attribute the difference in the relationship between managerial ownership and debt-equity choice for Hong Kong and U.S. firms to the difference in ownership holding levels between firms in the two countries. * Please do not quote without the authors’ permission.
Achieving Quality in Cardiovascular Imaging

chieving Quality in Cardiovascular Imaging roceedings From the American College of Cardiology–Duke University edical Center Think Tank on Quality in Cardiovascular Imaging eveloped in Collaboration With the Cardiovascular Imaging Collaborative uality Work Group, American College of Radiology, American Heart Association, merican Society of Echocardiography, American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, oalition of Cardiovascular Organizations, Heart Failure Society of America, eart Rhythm Society, Intersocietal Accreditation Commission, Society of therosclerosis Imaging and Prevention, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography nd Interventions, Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, Society for ublished by Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/j.jacc. 2006.06. 076
[Retrospective study of ocular complications in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection before and after HAART].

PURPOSE To describe ocular complications in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection before and after highly active antiretroviral therapy(HAART). MATERIALS AND METHOD We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 261 patients who underwent HAART and visited our clinic between April, 2007 and March, 2010, and recorded ocular complications, CD4 cell counts, visual acuity and other relevant patient information. RESULTS Befor HAART patients were found to have the following conditions: HIV retinopathy (41 cases), cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis (23 cases), and others (6 cases); and after HAART HIV retinopathy (5 cases), CMV retinitis (16 cases), Immune recovery uveitis(IRU) (4 cases), and others(9 cases). The average CD4+ T-cell counts at diagnosis of CMV retinitis were 45.2/microl before and 116.7/microl after HAART. CONCLUSIONS Since a substantial number of patients develop CMV retinitis after the initiation of HAART, we need to examine patients to check for either the onset or reactivation of CMV retinitis and IRU even after HAART.
A Fast Bounded Parametric Margin Model for Support Vector Machine

In this paper, a fast bounded parametric margin  -support vector machine (BP- SVM) for classification is proposed. Different from the parametric margin  -support vector machine (par- -SVM), the BP- -SVM maximizes a bounded parametric margin, and consequently the successive overrelaxation (SOR) technique could be used to solve our dual problem as opposed solving the standard quadratic programming problem (QPP) in par- -SVM. Numerical experiments on several benchmark data sets and NDC data sets demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors γ and α Mediate in Vivo Regulation of Uncoupling Protein (UCP-1, UCP-2, UCP-3) Gene Expression.

A role for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors, PPAR gamma and PPAR alpha, as regulators of energy homeostasis and lipid metabolism, has been suggested. Recently, three distinct uncoupling protein isoforms, UCP-1, UCP-2, and UCP-3, have also been identified and implicated as mediators of thermogenesis. Here, we examined whether in vivo PPAR gamma or PPAR alpha activation regulates the expression of all three UCP isoforms. Rats or lean and db/db mice were treated with PPAR gamma [thiazolidinedione (TZD)] or PPAR alpha (WY-14643) agonists, followed by measurement of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) for UCP-1, UCP-2, and UCP-3 in selected tissues where they are expressed. TZD treatment (AD 5075 at 5 mg/kg x day) of rats (14 days) increased brown adipose tissue (BAT) depot size and induced the expression of each UCP mRNA (3x control levels for UCP-1 and UCP-2, 2.5x control for UCP-3). In contrast, UCP-2 and UCP-3 mRNA levels were not affected in white adipose tissue or skeletal muscle. Chronic (30 days) low-dose (0.3 mg/kg x day) TZD treatment induced UCP-1 mRNA and protein in BAT (2.5x control). In contrast, chronic TZD treatment (30 mg/kg x day) suppressed UCP-1 mRNA (>80%) and protein (50%) expression in BAT. This was associated with further induction of UCP-2 expression (>10-fold) and an increase in the size of lipid vacuoles, a decrease in the number of lipid vacuoles in each adipocyte, and an increase in the size of the adipocytes. TZD treatment of db/db mice (BRL 49653 at 10 mg/kg x day for 10 days) also induced UCP-1 and UCP-3 (but not UCP-2) expression in BAT. PPAR alpha is present in BAT, as well as liver. Treatment of rats or db/db mice with WY-14643 did not affect expression of UCP-1, -2, or -3 in BAT. Hepatic UCP-2 mRNA was increased (4x control level) in db/db and lean mice, although this effect was not observed in rats. Thus, in vivo PPAR gamma activation can induce expression of UCP-1, -2, and -3 in BAT; whereas chronic-intense PPAR gamma activation may cause BAT to assume white adipose tissue-like phenotype with increased UCP-2 levels. PPAR alpha activation in mice is sufficient to induce liver UCP-2 expression.
Indexing and Mining Streams [ Tutorial Outline ]

How can we find patterns in a sequence of sensor measurements (eg., a sequence of temperatures, or water-pollutant measurements)? How can we compress it? What are the major tools for forecasting and outlier detection? The objective of this tutorial is to provide a concise and intuitive overview of the most important tools, that can help us find patterns in sensor sequences. Sensor data analysis becomes of increasingly high importance, thanks to the decreasing cost of hardware and the increasing on-sensor processing abilities. We review the state of the art in three related fields: (a) fast similarity search for time sequences, (b) linear forecasting with the traditional AR (autoregressive) and ARIMA methodologies and (c) non-linear forecasting, for chaotic/self-similar time sequences, using lag-plots and fractals. The emphasis of the tutorial is to give the intuition behind these powerful tools, which is usually lost in the technical literature, as well as to give case studies that illustrate their practical use.