Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biodiversity and insect pests: key issues for sustainable management.

Preface, vii Foreword, ix Contributors, x INTRODUCTION, 1 1 Biodiversity and insect pests, 3 Geoff M. Gurr, Steve D. Wratten and William E. Snyder FUNDAMENTALS, 21 2 The ecology of biodiversity biocontrol relationships, 23 William E. Snyder and Jason M. Tylianakis 3 The role of generalist predators in terrestrial food webs: lessons for agricultural pest management, 41 K.D. Welch, R.S. Pfannenstiel and J.D. Harwood 4 Ecological economics of biodiversity use for pest management, 57 Mark Gillespie and Steve D. Wratten 5 Soil fertility, biodiversity and pest management, 72 Miguel A. Altieri, Luigi Ponti and Clara I. Nicholls 6 Plant biodiversity as a resource for natural products for insect pest management, 85 Opender Koul 7 The ecology and utility of local and landscape scale effects in pest management, 106 Sagrario Gamez-Virues, Mattias Jonsson and Barbara Ekbom METHODS, 121 8 Scale effects in biodiversity and biological control: methods and statistical analysis, 123 Christoph Scherber, Blas Lavandero, Katrin M. Meyer, David Perovic, Ute Visser, Kerstin Wiegand and Teja Tscharntke 9 Pick and mix: selecting flowering plants to meet the requirements of target biological control insects, 139 Felix L. Wackers and Paul C.J. van Rijn 10 The molecular revolution: using polymerase chain reaction based methods to explore the role of predators in terrestrial food webs, 166 William O.C. Symondson 11 Employing chemical ecology to understand and exploit biodiversity for pest management, 185 David G. James, Sofia Orre-Gordon, Olivia L. Reynolds (nee Kvedaras) and Marja Simpson APPLICATION, 197 12 Using decision theory and sociological tools to facilitate adoption of biodiversity-based pest management strategies, 199 M.M. Escalada and K.L. Heong 13 Ecological engineering strategies to manage insect pests in rice, 214 Geoff M. Gurr, K.L. Heong, J.A. Cheng and J. Catindig 14 China's 'Green Plant Protection' initiative: coordinated promotion of biodiversity-related technologies, 230 Lu Zhongxian, Yang Yajun, Yang Puyun and Zhao Zhonghua 15 Diversity and defence: plant herbivore interactions at multiple scales and trophic levels, 241 Finbarr G. Horgan 16 'Push pull' revisited: the process of successful deployment of a chemical ecology based pest management tool, 259 Zeyaur R. Khan, Charles A.O. Midega, Jimmy Pittchar, Toby J.A. Bruce and John A. Pickett 17 Using native plant species to diversify agriculture, 276 Douglas A. Landis, Mary M. Gardiner and Jean Tompkins 18 Using biodiversity for pest suppression in urban landscapes, 293 Paula M. Shrewsbury and Simon R. Leather 19 Cover crops and related methods for enhancing agricultural biodiversity and conservation biocontrol: successful case studies, 309 P.G. Tillman, H.A. Smith and J.M. Holland SYNTHESIS, 329 20 Conclusion: biodiversity as an asset rather than a burden, 331 Geoff M. Gurr, William E. Snyder, Steve D. Wratten and Donna M.Y. Read Index, 340 Colour plates fall between pages 84 and 85
Resilience in Critical Care Nurses: an Exploratory Analysis of Data from the ‘WellNesS’ Feasibility Study

Background: Resilience is a personal resource allowing individuals to succeed despite adverse circumstances. Critical care nurses (CCNs) with higher resilience have a lower prevalence of emotional exhaustion (EE), a component of burnout syndrome. Job resources are components of the job that enable an employee to achieve work goals and minimise job demands. There is a need to observe the effect of job resources on EE in CCNs, whilst examining whether resilience buffers this relationship. Aim: To observe the relationship between job resources and EE in CCNs, whilst examining the influence of resilience on this relationship. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study from two UK intensive care units. Participants were invited to complete a range of questionnaires. Job resources (autonomy’ and ‘feedback from supervisor) were assessed using the Questionnaire on the Experience and Evaluation of Work 2.0 (Van Veldhoven et al 2015). Resilience was assessed using the Connor Davidson-Resilience Scale (Connor & Davidson, 2003) and the outcome measure EE was captured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Scale (Maslach & Jackson, 1981). Cronbach’s alpha assessed reliability of scales. Relationships between variables were explored using Pearson product-moment correlation. Results: The response rate was low (24%; n=54), but completion rates were excellent (99.5%). Internal consistency of scales was excellent (α =.743-.905). All job resource variables correlated significantly with EE and resilience. For example, high levels of ‘feedback from supervisors’ were related to decreased EE (r=.326, p=.016). High levels of ‘feedback from supervisor’ were associated with increased resilience. Resilience was related to EE, but this was not significant (r=-.249, p=.070). Conclusion: The influence of ‘resilience’ on the relationship between job resources and EE could not be tested due to the small sample size. The results indicate that this is worthy of further exploration in a larger sample of CCNs.
Investigando a Influência da Distribuição Espacial de Mosquitos na Propagação de Doenças via Autômato Celular

In Brazil, contagious diseases transmitted by vectors are a serious public health problem. In this work, it is investigated how the spatial distribution of mosquitoes affects the spreading of diseases such as chikungunya. This investigation is based on a SIR-type model. The model is formulated in terms of a cellular automaton, in which each cell of the lattice corresponds to an individual of the host population. At each time step, each individual is in one of three states: susceptible (S), infected (I), or recovered (R). Four kinds of spatial distribution of mosquitoes are considered. The results of numerical simulations are discussed from an epidemiological point of view. Resumo. No Brasil, doenças contagiosas transmitidas por vetores são um problema grave de saúde pública. Neste trabalho, investiga-se como a distribuição espacial de mosquitos afeta a propagação de doenças, como chicungunha. Essa investigação é baseada num modelo do tipo SIR. O modelo é formulado em termos de um autômato celular, em que cada célula do reticulado corresponde a um indivíduo da população hospedeira. A cada passo de tempo, cada indivíduo está em um de três estados: suscetível (S), infectado (I), ou recuperado (R). Quatro tipos de distribuição espacial de mosquitos são considerados. Os resultados de simulações numéricas são discutidos de um ponto de vista epidemiológico. 1. Introdução Muitos estudos epidemiológicos têm como objetivo prever como uma doença contagiosa se propaga, a fim de se elaborarem estratégias que possam eliminar ou, ao menos, controlar essa propagação [Anderson and May, 1991; Friis, 2009; Hethcote, 2000]. No Brasil, doenças transmitidas por vetores, em particular, por mosquitos, têm se tornado um grave problema de saúde pública. Nas últimas décadas, o Brasil tem padecido de epidemias recorrentes de dengue [Ministério da Saúde, 2017a,b]. Mais recentemente, chikungunya (ou chicungunha) e zika têm causado preocupação [Ministério da Saúde, 2017a,b]. E até a febre amarela, supostamente erradicada de centros urbanos, voltou ao noticiário após provocar dezenas de mortes no início de 2017 [Ministério da Saúde, 2017c]. Por isso, é relevante investigar como a distribuição espacial de mosquitos influencia a disseminação de doenças como aquelas mencionadas neste parágrafo. 1828 XXXVII Congresso da Sociedade Brasileira de Computação
Environmental Vulnerability and Resilience

This paper reports household questionnaire survey results on vulnerability and resilience to flooding from one of the largest and most representative samples ( n = 593) of households up to 12 years after they were flooded, and is one of the first to provide detailed analysis of social differentiation in long ‐ term flood impacts. A novel finding is that social differentiation in flood impacts is relatively small soon after a flood, but widens over time, with socially disadvantaged groups displaying less recovery. The patterns of social differentiation in vulnerability and resilience to flooding differ markedly according to the type and timescale of the impact, with some normally socially advantaged groups (e.g., professionals and homeowners) being most vulnerable to short ‐ term impacts. Consistent with some existing studies, we found that older residents (age 70+) have greater resilience to flood impacts, although our sample may not capture the frailest individuals. As in previous research, low income is linked to lower resilience, particularly in the long term. We find that prior experience of flooding, despite enhancing preparedness, overall erodes rather than enhances resilience to flooding. Flood warnings are effective at reducing vulnerability to short ‐ term impacts. Underlying influences on resilience to natural disasters are complex and may only be revealed by multi-variate analysis and not always be evident in simple observed patterns. The paper concludes that vulnerability and resilience to flooding are sensitive to financial resources, institutional support (chiefly from a landlord), and capacity to deal with disruption (chiefly time availability, which is low among professionals and high among retired people). An implication of these findings is that existing indices of flood vulnerability that use multiple measures of social deprivation should be used with caution, as not all conventional aspects of social deprivation are necessarily associated with
Isolation, Enumeration, and Preservation of the Vibrionaceae

One or a combination of the bacteriocidal agents is often present in most of the selective media commonly used for the selective isolation of vibrios. A scheme for the isolation of pathogenic vibrios often includes enrichment prior to plating on a selective agar, especially when vibrios are at low levels and competing with other bacteria that can outgrow them in general media. Several enrichment media have been used for the selection of one group or species of Vibrio. Special effort has been devoted to enhance the presence of potential pathogenic species in contaminated food or in clinical samples. Thiosulfate citrate bile salt sucrose agar (TCBS) is an ideal medium for the selective isolation and purification of vibrios. Although this medium was originally designed for the isolation of Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio parahaemolyticus, most vibrios grow to healthy large colonies with many different colonial morphologies. Until now, TCBS was the best selective medium for isolation of vibrios, though some strains of Staphylococcus, Flavobacterium, Pseudoalteromonas, Streptococcus, Aeromonas, and Shewanella may present slight growth on it. TCBS agar is also an excellent medium for the selective isolation of vibrios from environmental sources, but differences in media formulation between manufacturers might be reflected in the enumeration of vibrios. Enumeration molecular techniques include the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis or DNA probes for colony hybridization. Often, vibrios recovered directly from cryopreservation require at least two passes to fully recuperate and longer incubation periods.
Non-Stable Universe: Energetic Resources, Activity Phenomena and Evolutionary Processes

The effect of a Burgers vortex on formation of planetesimals in a protoplanetary disc in local approach is considered. It is shown that there is not any circular orbit for rigid particles in centrifugal balance; only stable position in Burgers vortex under the influence of centrifugal, Coriolis, pressure gradient and Stokes drag forces is the center of vortex. The two-dimensional anticyclonic Burgers vortex with homogeneously rotating kernel and a converging radial stream of substance can effectively accumulate in its nuclear area the metersized rigid particles of total mass ∼1028g for characteristic time ∼106yr.
Avaliação de problemas de desempenho do SIPAC baseada em análise de logs

O SIPAC (Sistema Integrado de Patrimonio, Administracao e Contratos) e um sistema web Java de grande porte acessado por milhares de pessoas no âmbito administrativo em varias instituicoes do pais. O mesmo sofre com problemas de baixo desempenho em algumas de suas funcionalidades, muitas delas acessadas constantemente. Muitos desses problemas so sao detectados pelos proprios usuarios, ja fazendo uso dos sistemas. Este trabalho apresenta um estudo de avaliacao de desempenho das funcionalidades do SIPAC, onde foram encontradas as 10 operacoes com o piores tempos de resposta do sistema, a partir dos logs de operacoes do sistema, os quais armazenam os tempos de execucao das funcionalidades do uso do sistema no ambiente de producao. Posteriormente foi feita uma analise do rastro de execucao das funcionalidades em um ambiente de testes controlado por meio da instrumentacao de codigo dos metodos envolvidos nas funcionalidades, onde foi possivel identificar quais metodos sao responsaveis pelo baixo desempenho em cada funcionalidade. Em seguida uma analise do codigo dos metodos foi feita a fim de identificar quais o problemas que tais metodos apresentam. Por ultimo foi feito uma classificacao dos problemas encontrados e foram dadas sugestoes de refatoracao para resolver os problemas. Por fim o trabalho apresenta todos os resultados destas analises assim como conclusoes feitas a partir dos problemas encontrados e das refatoracoes sugeridas.
Characterisation and functional analysis of the putative agr system in Clostridium acetobutylicum

Clostridium acetobutylicum is an industrially important Gram positive organism which is capable of producing economically important chemicals in the Acetone, Butanol and Ethanol (ABE) process. An orthologue of the accessory gene regulator (agr) locus of Staphylococcus aureus has been found to be present in the genome of Clostridium acetobutylicum. In S.aureus, agr encodes a quorum sensing (QS) system that controls the expression of virulence in this species. Analysis of the agr region in C.acetobutylicum was conducted using reverse transcriptase PCR which showed the agrB and agrD genes to be linked. This was also the case with the agrC and agrA genes but there was no conclusive evidence to suggest that all 4 genes resided on the same operon. The use of cat-based reporter vectors which incorporate chloramphenicol acetyl transferase were used to look at the expression profiles of the agrB and agrC putative operons. The agrC construct showed activity consistent with the expected pattern of expression but this was not repeated with the agrB construct. Antisense RNA vectors were constructed with the intention of disrupting the agr genes but had no observable effect. This work was superseded by a newly available method to knockout the agrA gene by allelic exchange and the use of the ClosTron system to obtain gene inactivation in agrB, agrC and agrA. Gas chromatography analysis of these mutants showed little or no difference in product formation and a sporulation assay was developed which revealed that these mutants were inhibited in spore production. Finally, microarray analysis has been used to look at the effect of agrB inactivation on the gene expression of C.acetobutylicum. The expression of known sporulation genes was found to be differentially regulated. This study presents some of the first evidence to support the hypothesis that agr may be a major regulator in C.acetobutylicum and may act in a cell density dependent manner via a diffusible signal molecule.
Clinical and Histopathological Parameters Correlate with Microvessel Density but Not with Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression in Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer malignancies have the worst prognosis among all gynecological malignancies. As angiogenesis represents a key step for tumor progression, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is one of the most discussed pro-angiogenic factors. VEGF expression was investigated in 62 cases of ovarian carcinomas. Microvessel density (MVD) was evaluated by correlating the results with clinical and histopathological parameters. Because of the controversial results reported in other studies, VEGF was assessed together with MVD. Our results suggest a more complex angiogenic mechanism in ovarian cancer based on the discrepancies between VEGF expression, microvessel density and their correlation with clinical parameters. The conflicting data arising from this study supports the implications of different growth factors, others than VEGF in ovarian cancer. This hypothesis is sustained by the lack of correlation between VEGF and clinical parameters, and by the significant correlation between microvessel density and clinicopathological parameters. Thus, further studies are needed for a complete evaluation of angiogenesis in ovarian cancer.
Characterization of Elymus humidus as a candidate for genetic resource of wheat water tolerance

Elymus humidus is one of the wild Triticeae species indigenous to Japan, which is well adapted to moist soil. In order to reveal genetic diversity of this species, SSR analysis was conducted using 79 plants collected from 14 natural populations in Japan. The results suggested that E. humidus contains genetic variation within a species and generally diverges between the eastern and western Japan. For the purpose of breeding utilization, F1 hybrids of E. humidus with wheat cultivars were produced. The level of water tolerance of E. humidus is much higher than wheat and that of F1 was intermediate between the parents. Microscopy of root cortical tissues revealed that configuraion of aerenchymas of E. humidus is more similar to wheat than rice in spite of its habitat. In conclusion, we confirmed in this study the potential of E. humidus as a genetic resource of water tolerance for wheat.
Studies on Prevalence and Multiple Antibiotic Resistance Patterns of E.coli Isolated from Drinking Water

ABSTRACT E. coli is the primary cause of human urinary tract infections, as well as pneumonia, and traveler's diarrhea. Waterborne diseases are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries and every year around 2.2 million people die due to basic hygiene related diseases like coliform diarrhoea. Antibiotic resistance is a type of drug resistance where a microorganism is able to survive exposure to an antibiotic. In the present study a total of 27 water sample collected randomly had poor hygiene area and a total of 18 E. coli isolates were identified. The overall spectrum of antibiotic resistance was showed that 2 isolates, Oxacillin and penicillin was highly resistance. 10 isolate resistance to Ampicillin, Cephalothin, Cephoxitin and Metronidazole. The spectrum showed variation in resistance. When study data analyzed for Over All Antibiotic Sensitivity it is found that out of total antibiotics more than 70% isolates showed sensitivity towards Piperacillin, Tetracycline, Vancomycim and Chloremphenicol and this drug can be recommended for elimination of E.coli. Thus these ﬁndings recommended that Piperacillin and Vancomycim are the best choice of drugs, while the ofloxacin, cefdinir, ciproﬂoxacin and novobiocin antibiotics should be avoided against E coli diarrhoeal infections in this region.
EFECTO DE LA SUPLEMENTACIÓN DE SÉMOLA DE TRIGO CON ARTHROSPIRA PLATENSIS SOBRE CALIDAD, ACEPTABILIDAD Y COMPOSICIÓN FÍSICA Y QUÍMICA DE ESPAGHETIS

Antecedentes: Las microalgas son fuente de compuestos fisiologicamente activos que pueden ser usados como ingredientes funcionales. De las microalgas del genero Arthrospira (Spirulina) perteneciente a las algas verde-azules y cuyas especies mas importantes son Arthrospira maxima y platensis, se tienen reportes de su uso en alimentacion humana. Estas microalgas presentan una adecuada composicion bioquimica para ser empleada como complemento alimenticio en desarrollo de productos novedosos Objetivo: Valorar el efecto de la suplementacion de semolina de trigo con concentraciones de 5, 10 y 20% de Arthrospira platensis sobre calidad y aceptabilidad de pastas tipo espagueti, y realizar una evaluacion fisica y quimica de la pasta seleccionada. Metodos: Se prepararon las pastas con la microalga y una pasta control (100% semola), se sometieron a coccion para evaluar parametros de calidad (tiempo coccion, peso, solidos, proteinas solubles, firmeza instrumental), posteriormente se evaluaron con una prueba de aceptabilidad con 50 consumidores). A la pasta con la mayor aceptacion se le analizo su composicion proximal, fibra dietetica, minerales, bioaccesibilidad de minerales, computo aminoacidico, indice glicemico y compuestos con potencial antioxidante. Los resultados de composicion proximal y fibra dietetica fueron comparados con los de la pasta control. Resultados: Al comparar las pastas con Arthrospira con la utilizada como control, se observo un efecto estadisticamente significativo de la adicion de la microalga sobre incrementos de tiempo de coccion, peso, perdidas de solidos y proteinas y reduccion de firmeza. La prueba de aceptabilidad entre las pastas suplementadas no vario con la sustitucion de la semola por 5 y 10% de la biomasa de la microalga, por lo cual se selecciono la pasta con mayor sustitucion para evaluar los parametros de composicion senalados. La pasta seleccionada presento mayor contenido de proteinas, fibra dietetica y cenizas (relacionadas con el contenido de minerales), con respecto al control, con computo de aminoacidos de 0,42 (deficiente lisina), indice glicemico intermedio y la presencia de compuestos con actividad antioxidante (polifenoles, carotenos y clorofila). Conclusion: La elaboracion de pasta nutricional con la incorporacion de A. platensis hasta un 10%, como ingrediente funcional en una mezcla de semolina, genera un producto de adecuada calidad nutricional, presencia de sustancias con reconocida capacidad antioxidante y aceptada por los consumidores.
An Evolutionary Study of Some Archaeologically Significant Avian Taxa in the Quaternary of the Western Palaearctic

This work sets out to examine four taxa of birds from the Quaternary of Europe that exhibit interesting morphological anomalies cranes (Grus), grouse/ptarmigans (Lagopus), ravens (Corvus corax) and starlings (Sturnus) to address whether these were the result of inter- or intraspecific processes. Modern skeletal material of these taxa from a wide geographical area was examined so as to make a more realistic assessment of the fossils than had previously been achieved. Similarly, fossils were studied from a wider geographical and temporal range than before. The study of the four chosen taxa was carried out with an acknowledgement of a variety of theoretical issues in biology, which affect the interpretation of such fossils.