Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Availability and morphological characteristics of endophytic fungi held in different methods of preservation

Maintenance of microorganisms in mycology is of fundamental importance for retrospective and prospective studies that focus on their biology, etiology and epidemiology. The aim of this study was to evaluate the viability, contamination and morphological changes of endophytic fungi maintained under different preservation methods. We evaluated five preservation methods; constant sub-culturing, preservation under mineral oil, under distilled water, preservation at -20°C and storage at -70°C. Every 50 days, we evaluated the viability, purity and macro-micro morphology of the cultures. The main results are as follows: constant sub-culturing and preservation under distilled water have allowed the viability of all strains during the study period. Preservation in mineral oil resulted in the contamination of the strain Aspergillus F45 and micro-morphological modification of the Fusarium LU5 culture after 100 days of preservation. Preservation at -70°C caused macro-morphological changes in Fusarium LU6 after 100 days. Under the experimental conditions and the limited period of study (150 days) it was demonstrated that conservation under distilled water was the most appropriate form of preservation of endophytic microorganisms. Key words: Endophytes, preservation methods, morphological characteristics.
Retrieval of cirrus optical thickness and assessment of ice crystal shape from ground-based imaging spectrometry

Abstract. A ground-based hyperspectral imaging spectrometer (AisaEAGLE, manufactured by Specim Ltd., Finland) is applied to measure downward spectral radiance fields with high spatial (1024 spatial pixels within 36.7° field of view), spectral (488 spectral pixels, 400–970 nm, 1.25 nm full width at half maximum), and temporal (4–30 Hz) resolution. The calibration, measurement and data evaluation procedures are introduced. A new method is presented to retrieve the cirrus optical thickness (τci) using the spectral radiance data collected by AisaEAGLE. The data were collected during the Cloud Aerosol Radiation and tuRbulence of trade wInd cumuli over BArbados (CARRIBA) project in 2011. The spatial inhomogeneity of the investigated cirrus is characterised by the standard deviation of the retrieved τci as well as the width of its frequency distribution. By comparing measured and simulated downward solar spectral radiance as a function of scattering angle, some evidence of the prevailing cirrus ice crystal shape can be obtained and subsequently used to substantiate the retrieval of τci. The sensitivity of the retrieval method with respect to surface albedo, effective radius (reff), cloud height and ice crystal shape is quantified. An enhanced sensitivity of the retrieved τci is found with respect to the surface albedo (up to 30%) and ice crystal shape (up to 90%). The sensitivity with regard to the effective ice crystal radius (l 5%) and the cloud height (l 0.5%) is rather small and can be neglected.
Credit Risk Determinants in the Vulnerable Economies of Europe: Evidence from the Spanish Banking System

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of non-performing loans in the Spanish banking system over the period 1997Q4–2015Q3. This timeframe includes not only the booming period for the Spanish economy but also an extended post-crises interval which is missing from other studies for Spain. Design/methodology/approach: Using quarterly data from the Central Bank of Spain and from the European Central Bank, the paper employs the ARDL approach to cointegration to identify the existence of a long or short-run relationship between NPLs and a set of macroeconomic, bank-related and country-specific indicators. Findings: Findings from the ARDL model indicate that macroeconomic, bank-specific variables and interest rates are important determinants of non-performing loans in the Spanish banking system. Specifically, the real GDP, the Spanish long-term government bond yield, the return on equity, the total credit granted by the Spanish banks and their capital to assets ratio, explain credit risk in Spain both in the short and the long run. Research limitations/implications: Data on the bank-specific variables are for the whole banking industry, and not for individual banks. If such data were available, a comparison of the credit risk determinants between small/ big banks, private/public or domestic/foreign could be possibly made. Originality/value: These findings provide useful evidence to bank managers and policymakers in dealing with loans' defaults in Spain and in undertaking crucial reforms to stabilize the economy.
Comparison of Surface Reconstruction Method for CT based on VTK

The technology of 3D reconstruction of medical images is an important application in computer graphics and image processing, especially in biomedical engineering. In this paper, two types of surface construction algorithms for medical sequences images are reviewed in this paper, including Marching Cubes (MC) and Contour reconstruction. We describe the algorithms implementation framework by using Visualization Toolkit (VTK). After testing these algorithms on actual CT (Computed Tomography) data, we analyze their reconstructed results and make a comparison on each of their advantage and disadvantage for scope of application. Index Terms - 3D reconstruction, Surface reconstruction, VTK
Comparing chest radiograph and tuberculin skin tests in children.

World Health organization (WHO) has reported that out of more than 10,000 of 250,000 tuberculosis afflicted children die annually. Pulmonary tuberculosis is a research priority in our country, and diagnos-ing this disease especially in children who are known as the major transmitter of the disease is rather difficult. As a result, it was decided to conduct an overall assessment on this age group in order to determine the importance of the findings of chest radiography and skin test in diagnosing the disease. The present descriptive study was carried out based on the findings of a health plan in Fasa , a Iranian town, during 1995 and 1996, on 2 groups: first-grade students of Fasa elementary schools. Among 2263 students, 102 (4.5%) cases had a positive skin test. According to the radiographic findings, tuberculosis was reported in seven (6.9%) of them. The diagnosis of tuberculosis is more difficult in children; this is because taking sputum samples for laboratory examination is rather difficult especially in children lower than 10 years. In this group, diagnosis is made based on the symptoms like cough, weight loss, history of contact with a TB patient and other diagnostic procedures including chest radiographies and skin test.
Efficacy of cinnamon oil to prolong the shelf-life of pasteurised, acidified, and ambient stored papaya pulp

This study was conducted to develop a low cost method to preserve papaya (Carica papaya L.) pulp at ambient temperature with a combination of treatments including acid, heat, and cinnamon oil. Papaya pulp processed without and with 200 ppm cinnamon essential oil at pH 5.1, 81 °C, 7 min (ST2 and ST3); pH 3.9, 69 °C, 13 min (ST4 and ST5); and pH 4.5, 75 °C, 15 min (ST6 and ST7) was stored for 8 weeks at ambient temperature (28±2 °C). The cinnamaldehyde content of the papaya pulp treated with cinnamon oil decreased significantly during storage. ST5 and ST7 retained significantly higher β-carotene contents and lightness values compared to ST4 and ST6 during storage. The results indicated that acidification of papaya pulp to pH 4.5 and pasteurization at 75 °C for 15 min with 200 ppm cinnamon oil can be applied to obtain safe and high quality product, which is stable for 8 weeks at ambient temperature.
Hydrological Connectivity Between Headwater Streams and Downstream Waters: How Science Can Inform Policy 1

Abstract: In January 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers exceeded its statutory authority by asserting Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction over non‐navigable, isolated, intrastate waters based solely on their use by migratory birds. The Supreme Court’s majority opinion addressed broader issues of CWA jurisdiction by implying that the CWA intended some “connection” to navigability and that isolated waters need a “significant nexus” to navigable waters to be jurisdictional. Subsequent to this decision (SWANCC), there have been many lawsuits challenging CWA jurisdiction, many of which are focused on headwater, intermittent, and ephemeral streams. To inform the legal and policy debate surrounding this issue, we present information on the geographic distribution of headwater streams and intermittent and ephemeral streams throughout the U.S., summarize major findings from the scientific literature in considering hydrological connectivity between headwater streams and downstream waters, and relate the scientific information presented to policy issues surrounding the scope of waters protected under the CWA. Headwater streams comprise approximately 53% (2,900,000 km) of the total stream length in the U.S., excluding Alaska, and intermittent and ephemeral streams comprise approximately 59% (3,200,000 km) of the total stream length and approximately 50% (1,460,000 km) of the headwater stream length in the U.S., excluding Alaska. Hillslopes, headwater streams, and downstream waters are best described as individual elements of integrated hydrological systems. Hydrological connectivity allows for the exchange of mass, momentum, energy, and organisms longitudinally, laterally, vertically, and temporally between headwater streams and downstream waters. Via hydrological connectivity, headwater, intermittent and ephemeral streams cumulatively contribute to the functional integrity of downstream waters; hydrologically and ecologically, they are a part of the tributary system. As this debate continues, scientific input from multiple fields will be important for policymaking at the federal, state, and local levels and to inform water resource management regardless of the level at which those decisions are being made. Strengthening the interface between science, policy, and public participation is critical if we are going to achieve effective water resource management.
Liberalization, Stabilization and Poverty in Latin America during the 1990's

Latin America´s lost decade seems to be definitely over. During the first half of the 1990´s, GDP growth was higher than during the 1980´s as a whole, at the same time than inflation was substantially reduced and poverty indicators progressively improved. These common trend tend to hide, however, important cross-country differences in the timing and in the nature of the structural reforms and of the stabilization policies that were at the origins of this process, and therefore of their macroeconomic and social impacts. The purpose of this paper is to study the recent experience of four among the main countries of the continent: Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. I start describing their macroeconomic policies and performances since the beginning of the 1990´s. Then, I analize the impacts of the macroeconomic behaviour on the labor market and on income distribution. Finally, I try to investigate which kind of policies would be apropriated in order to reduce poverty faster then during the last years. A "decada perdida" ja era. Gracas as reformas estruturais e ao exito das politicas de estabilizacao empreendidas nos ultimos anos, a economia latino-americana cresceu, durante a primeira metade da decada de 90, mais do que durante a de 80 como um todo, ao mesmo tempo em que reduzia substancialmente sua taxa media de inflacao e registrava progressos no combate a pobreza. Estas tendencias comuns tendem a ocultar, todavia, importantes diferencas nas condicoes iniciais, no ritmo e na natureza das reformas que foram implementadas nos diferentes paises do continente — e, portanto, em suas consequencias macroeconomicas e sociais. Neste artigo procura-se, primeiramente, analisar a experiencia recente de quatro paises: Argentina, Brasil, Chile e Mexico, com enfase na diversidade do timing e da profundidade das reformas e das politicas de estabilizacao implementadas. Em seguida, estudam-se os impactos destas medidas sobre o desempenho macroeconomico, o mercado de trabalho e a distribuicao de renda. Finalmente, parte-se para a formulacao de diretrizes de politicas que possam vir a reduzir a pobreza mais rapidamente do que a registrada no periodo recente.
Nucleosome conformational flexibility in experiments with single chromatin fibers

Studies on the chromatin nucleosome organization play an ever increasing role in our comprehension of mechanisms of the gene activity regulation. This minireview describes the results on the nucleosome conformational flexibility, which were obtained using magnetic tweezers to apply torsion to oligonucleosome fibers reconstituted on single DNA molecules. Such an approach revealed a new structural form of the nucleosome, the reversome, in which DNA is wrapped in a right-handed superhelix around a distorted histone octamer. Molecular mechanisms of the nucleosome structural flexibility and its biological relevance are discussed.
Optimization of an off-road bicycle with four-bar linkage rear suspension

Despite full suspension bicycles provide a physiological and psychological advantage over the hard tail bicycles in bumpy terrains, they may also dissipate the cyclist's energy through small oscillatory movements of the rear suspension, often termed 'bobbing'. Some authors have proposed optimization techniques to minimize the energy dissipation due to bobbing, but they only consider the single-pivot suspension design, which has been superseded by the four-bar linkage design. This paper presents enhanced dynamic model of an off-road bicycle, which is used to optimize a four-bar linkage rear suspension.
Silica-Pillared H-kenyaites: Interlamellar Base Catalyzed-Reaction of Tetraethylorthosilicate in Water Suspension

The silica-pillared H-kenyaites were prepared by interlarmellar base-catalyzed reaction of tetraethylorthosilicate [TEOS, Si(OC2H5)4] intercalated into the interlayer of H-kenyaite. The intercalation of TEOS was conducted by the octylamine preswelling process, resulting in a dramatic increase in gallery height to 24.7 Å. The interlamellar hydrolysis of octylamine-TEOS/H-kenyaite paste were conducted between 10 min and 40 min in 0.00%, 0.05% and 0.10% NH3-water solution respectively, and resulting in siloxane-pillared H-kenyajte with gallery height of 28.2-31.8 Å. The calcination of samples at 538 ℃ resulted in silica-pillared H-kenyaites with a large surface areas between 411 m2/g and 885 m2/g, depending on the aging time and NH3 concentration. Samples with optimum specific surface areas and well ordered-basal spacing were obtained by reaction between 10 min and 40 min in pure water and 0.05% NH3-water solution. Mesoporous samples with narrow pore size distribution were also prepared by reaction for 10-40 min in 0.05% NH3 solution. Rapid interlamellar reaction of TEOS in pure water showed that intercalated octylamine itself could act as a base catalyst during interlamellar polycondensation of TEOS.
Structural stability of Ni-containing half-Heusler compounds

Half-Heusler compounds containing Ni of the form NiMP, where M is a trivalent ~Sc! or tetravelent ~Ti, Zr, Hf! ion and P is a pnictide or stannide ion ~Sb, Sn! , are known to form semiconducting phases for M5Sc and P5Sb as well as when M5Ti,Zr,Hf and P5Sn. However, the electronic structure of these compounds depends sensitively on the relative arrangements of the atoms within the unit cell, changing from a narrow-gap semiconductor to a zero-gap semiconductor to a metal, depending on which of the three atoms lies in the octahedrally coordinated pocket of the NaCl substructure formed by the other two atoms. We have carried out extensive calculations of the total energy for these systems using an all-electron, full-potential method within density-functional theory @using both the local-density approximation and the generalized gradient approximation# to clarify some of the conflicts in earlier calculations using pseudopotential and linear muffin-tin orbital‐ atomic-sphere approximation methods. The minimum-energy configuration for each of these systems occurs when the Ni atom occupies the octahedrally coordinated pocket formed by the other two elements MP . B y comparing the energies of the binary compounds arising from different arrangements of the atoms within the unit cell, we find that the stability of the lowest-energy configuration of the ternary system derives from the energy gained from two sources. The largest source is MP forming in the NaCl substructure rather than a diamond substructure, in agreement with the previous pseudopotential calculations of Ogut and Rabe. Also important are the Ni atoms lying in the octahedrally coordinated pockets and bonding with four M and four P nearest-neighbor atoms rather than forming a part of the NaCl substructure itself. The energies of antisite defects have been investigated by studying the supercell (NiMP) 4 formed in the simple cubic structure with individual atoms moved from their ideal positions. We find that the idealized half-Heusler structure ~formed by three interpenetrating fcc lattices ! has the lowest energy (E0) while structures where Ni atoms move out of a fcc arrangement, but remain within the octahedrally coordinated pockets of MP, have energies of 0.5-eV/unit cell higher than E0 , while structures with disorder in the MP NaCl substructure have energies about 1.5-eV/ unit cell higher than E0 . Since the MP disorder and not the Ni disorder is seen experimentally at low temperatures, this Ni disorder may be annealed out while the MP disorder is quenched.
Driver Reaction Times in Road Traffic

The assumed driver reaction time has an enormous impact on the avoidance of an accident. Nevertheless, it is more or less considered as a constant by German jurisdiction, at least since the «Deutscher Verkehrsgerichtstag (DVG)» (German Council on Jurisdiction in Traffic) has given its recommendations in the early eighties. Our experiments – as well as others – yet reveal a considerable variation of the reaction time, even for one and the same person, under strictly controlled test conditions.
Do European Pension Reforms Improve the Adequacy of Saving

The decline in saving rates experienced by some European countries has raised concerns about the importance of a country’s wealth accumulation, in particular in light of a more fair but less generous pension system. This paper carries out a macroeconomic analysis of the impact of pension reforms implemented in the nineties on private saving. The evidence shows no tendency for saving to change in the post-reform period, which is consistent with preliminary results on pension reforms in the eighties. We conclude that the adequacy of saving can not find a source of improvement in the pension reforms of the last decade.
Utilisations thérapeutiques des huiles essentielles : Etude de cas en maison de retraite

De nos jours, l'utilisation des huiles essentielles est de plus en plus repandue que ce soit dans les pharmacies, ou que soit dans de nombreux domaines (alimentaire, cosmetique.). La premiere partie bibliographique s'interesse aux generalites concernant les huilesessentielles afin de mettre en lumiere les differentes caracteristiques des huiles essentielles et leur usage dans une population particuliere que sont les personnes âgees. La seconde partie rapporte les impacts de l'utilisation des huiles essentielles dans une maison de retraite.Elle se finit par des protocoles d'utilisations therapeutiques d'huiles essentielles dans une autre maison de retraite avec l'illustration par des cas cliniques de traitement d'escarres avec le miel et les huiles essentielles.
How do self-fulfilling prophecies affect financial ratings? An experimental study

In this experimental study we examine the impact of self-fulfilling prophecies on financial ratings. According to theoretical models like Kuhner (2001), rating agencies are more likely to reveal their private information if their rating can not become self-fulfilling from an ex-post point of view. In our experiment we use two settings in which ratings differ with respect to the degree of their self-fulfilling impact. In connection with a strong self-fulfilling impact of ratings we indeed observe that agencies are more likely to assign ratings which are not in line with their private information. Our results support theoretical findings of Kuhner (2001). However, the pathological equilibrium predicted by the theoretical model does not emerge in our experiment.
The Distributive Effects of Land Title on Labor Supply: Evidence from Brazil

This paper studies the effects of property-titling on labor supply. The role of legal ownership security is isolated by comparing the effect that being part of, or excluded from, a land title program in a unique quasi-experiment in two similar communities in the Brazilian city of Osasco. Our main innovation is the estimation of the distributive impact of land title on hours worked via the quantile regression methodology and the weighting estimator of Firpo (2007). The estimates suggest that the impact of land-titling on labor supply is heterogeneous and greater for those households with fewer hours worked before the program.
Identifying, ranking and tracking systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs), from a global, EU and Eurozone perspective

This paper develops a methodology to identify systemically important financial institutions building on that developed by the BCBS (2011) and used by the Financial Stability Board in its yearly G-SIFIs identification. This methodology is based on publicly available data, providing fully transparent results with a G-SIFIs list that helps to bridge the gap between market knowledge and supervisory decisions. Moreover the results encompass a complete ranking of the banks considered, according to their systemic importance scores. The methodology has then been applied to EU and Eurozone samples of banks to obtain their systemic importance ranking and SIFIs lists. A statistical analysis and some geographical and historical evidence provide further insight into the notion of systemic importance, its policy implications and the future applications of this methodology.
Urban PrinciPals’ second order change leadershiP Urban school leaders have challenges in continually improving student achievement and making change as quickly as needed. To address

Urban school leaders have challenges in continually improving student achievement and making change as quickly as needed. To address this problem 37 non-Title I principals completed an on-line survey, Principal’s Actions Survey (PAS), based on the seven responsibilities for second order change identified by Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005). Principals were also asked what actions they took to improve student achievement and to which actions they attributed improvement in Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) subgroups. While principals indicated that they implemented the seven responsibilities, there was not a significant relationship between their overall PAS score and student achievement. The principals’ responses were compared to results in an earlier study (La Cava, 2009) using the PAS scores of Title I urban elementary principals in the same geographic area and the comparison revealed that the Title I principals had a significantly higher PAS score and reported a significantly higher implementation of ideals/beliefs and monitoring/evaluating. Principals identified actions to which they attributed change in AYP subgroup performance aligned with principal action themes (Taylor, 2010a) of focusing the culture on learning, using data-based decision-making, personally investing in the change, and making decisions for student learning.