Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prefatory in silico studies and in vitro insecticidal effect of Nigella sativa (L.) essential oil and its active compound (carvacrol) against the Callosobruchus maculatus adults (Fab), a major pest of chickpea

Abstract To help discover a reasonable and eco-friendly insecticide, we undertook a study on the insecticidal potential of carvacrol and essential oils extracted by hydrodistillation using a Clevenger apparatus from the plant species Nigella sativa seeds essential oils of Nigella sativa (EONS) on Callosobruchus maculatus adults. Several tests including contact toxicity, repellent effect, topical contact test, and inhalation effect were conducted. Adults of C. maculatus have been exposed to the toxic effects of different concentrations of these essential oils as well as with carvacrol. The results obtained showed that both EONS and carvacrol exhibited a moderate repellent effect (class II) on C. maculatus adults. EONS showed the highest toxicity by inhalation test, with an LD50 of 13.386 and an LD95 of 33.186 μL/cm2, compared to carvacrol (LD50 = 21.509 and LD95 = 38.877 μL/cm2). The EONS by contact test exhibited more toxic effects, with an LD50 of 23.350 µL/100 g and an LD95 of 45.315 µL/100 g, compared to carvacrol (LD50 = 27.853 µL/100 g and LD95 = 45.184 µL/100 g). For the topical contact test results, carvacrol was more toxic, with an LD50 of 3.915 and an LD95 of 7.696 µL/mL, compared to EONS (LD50 = 14.509 and LD95 = 25.516 µL/mL). The high toxicity of EONS can be explained by the presence of 25.8% of o-cymene, 8.53% of cyclofenchene, and 7.71% of beta-pinene, as well as 4.6% of carvacrol, in its chemical composition. Unmitigatedly, these data suggest that the essential oils of N. sativa may present a raw material for the development of new bio-insecticidal products against C. maculatus, one of the main pests of stored foodstuffs.
Estratégia em pequenas empresas: uma aplicação do modelo de miles e snow

The objective of this paper was to identify competitive strategies adopted by small firms. Miles and Snow's (1978) model of competitive strategies was used to classify reported strategic choices. Data were collected with 107 enterprises in the city of Londrina, PR, Brazil, belonging to 8 different business sectors. Results indicated that 4 types of competitive strategies were found in accordance with Miles and Snow's (1978) model. Companies' performance differed according to competitive strategies, that is, reactors were less effective in terms of growth, thus confirming one of the main model's propositions. The most frequent strategy was analytical. No differences were found that could be attributed to manager's gender.
Large-scale modelling of forest hydrological processes and their long-term effect on water yield

A water balance model was used to simulate the long-term increases in water yield with forest age which are observed in the mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans) forests of Victoria, Australia. Specifically, the hypothesis was tested that water yield changes could be explained by changes in evapotranspiration resulting from changes in leaf area index (LAI). A curve predicting changes in the total LAI of mountain ash forest was constructed from ground-based observations and their correlation with Landsat Thematic Mapper measurements of the transformed normalized difference vegetation index (TNDVI). A further curve for mountain ash canopy LAI was constructed from destructive LAI measurements and stem diameter measurements. The curves were incorporated within Macaque, a large-scale, physically based water balance model which was applied to three forested catchments (total area 145 km2). The model was used to evaluate the effect of changes in LAI on predicted stream flow over an 82-year period spanning the 1939 wildfires which burnt most of the area. The use of the LAI curves induced improvement in the predicted hydrographs relative to the case for constant LAI, but the change was not large enough to account for all of the difference in water yield between old-growth and regrowth forests. Of a number of possibilities, concomitant changes in leaf conductance with age were suggested as an additional control on stream flow. These were estimated using data on stand sapwood area per unit leaf area and coded into Macaque. The hydrograph predicted using both the LAI curves and a new leaf conductance versus age curve accurately predicted the observed long-term changes in water yield. We conclude that LAI is a partial control on long-term yield changes, but that another ‘water use efficiency per unit LAI’ control is also operative. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Origin of the Betic‐Rif mountain belt

In recent years, the origin of the Betic‐Rif orocline has been the subject of considerable debate. Much of this debate has focused on mechanisms required to generate rapid late‐orogenic extension with coeval shortening. Here we summarize the principal geological and geophysical observations and propose a model for the Miocene evolution of the Betic‐Rif mountain belts, which is compatible with the evolution of the rest of the western Mediterranean. We regard palaeomagnetic data, which indicate that there have been large rotations about vertical axes, and earthquake data, which show that deep seismicity occurs beneath the Alboran Sea, to be the most significant data sets. Neither data set is satisfactorily accounted for by models which invoke convective removal or delamination of lithospheric mantle. Existing geological and geophysical observations are, however, entirely consistent with the existence of a subduction zone which rolled or peeled back until it collided with North Africa. We suggest that this ancient subducting slab consequently split into two fragments, one of which has continued to roll back, generating the Tyrrhenian Sea and forming the present‐day Calabrian Arc. The other slab fragment rolled back to the west, generating the Alboran Sea and the Betic‐Rif orocline during the early to middle Miocene.
Spiking Deconvolution by Means of Adaptive Simulated Annealing

Convolution of seismic wavelet with reflectivity of the earth yields seismic trace which also involves additive noise. Sparse spike deconvolution can remove wavelet effect from seismic noisy data and recover impulse response of the earth. The problem of deconvolution can be viewed as an inversion problem which consists of two main steps. The first stage is to find locations of spikes and the second one is to calculate amplitudes of them. Indeed, desired solution is a set of spikes with appropriate amplitudes such that when convolved with known seismic wavelet fit the data within a predetermined misfit error. Detection of spikes time lags is a nonlinear optimization problem that can be solved using Adaptive Simulated Annealing (ASA). ASA is one of the global stochastic optimization methods which can find the global minimum of complex cost functions with good accuracy. Here for a given seismic trace we locate spikes one by one and after achieving the optimized set of spikes, amplitudes are evaluated using linear least squares.
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H ealthcare costs have been rising and are projected to increase to $5.4 trillion by 2024. Interventions aimed at providing cost-effective and high-value care have recently been the focus of many national campaigns. The Choosing Wisely campaign is one such intervention. The American Board of Internal Medicine and the American College of Physicians launched this campaign to encourage cost-effective care implementation and reduce the pervasive problem of lowvalue care, which is estimated to cost $750 billion per year without improving health outcomes. Given the importance of safety net hospitals to the healthcare safety net in the US, interventions that lead to significant and safe reductions in healthcare expenditure become extremely necessary. We sought to reduce clinical waste by optimizing laboratory utilization at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, to help reduce our overall healthcare expenditure. We identified frequent daily low-cost lab orders that were not clinically indicated on a frequent/daily basis, identified commonly ordered but uncommonly useful tests, and identified high-cost item orders that were not indicated. Interventions included institution-wide presentations outlining the problem of waste specific to our hospital, in addition to department-specific presentations outlining identified areas of inpatient waste and customized strategies to deploy. Presentations were geared toward housestaff and attendings within each department and were conducted at the start of every inpatient rotation. Housestaff were encouraged to include justification for all tests ordered in daily progress notes. We employed real-time nonelectronic reminders with Choosing Wisely laboratory recommendations. We also employed electronic reminders to alert physicians to laboratory investigations already ordered within 24 hours as well as order lockouts that required physician justification. Audits were done randomly, and accolades were given to the most compliant team. After these interventions, we measured utilization rates by all departments at 3, 9, 12, and 18 months and compared them to the baseline lab utilization. Three months after the intervention, we noted a significant drop in laboratory orders from 116,540 to 47,871. This equated to a 60% reduction in laboratory utilization. At 10 months postintervention, there was a sustained 63% reduction in laboratory utilization. At 18 months postintervention, there was a sustained 54% reduction in laboratory utilization (Figure 1). Overall, our multifaceted intervention led to a significant reduction in laboratory utilization, freeing up resources for other important healthcare interventions. The educational interventions including cost-awareness strategies utilized during this study have been found to be effective in other healthcare institutions. It is imperative to continue these interventions with new physician hires to reinforce the institutional culture of Choosing Wisely, as this leads to improved outcomes and reduction in overall healthcare costs.
When Diversity Becomes Determinant of the Individual Creativity: The role of Task Complexity

: Using moderated mediation, this study aims to synthesize the literature showing relationship of group diversity and its impact on individual creativity. This article explores how positive effects of social diversity involving age and gender result into negative effects on the individual creativity after interaction between age and gender diversity, and task complexity (as a moderator). Total 1036 employees consisting 196 groups working in banking and telecom sector in Pakistan and China participated in this study. Data was collected through online structured survey forms. Results suggested that informational elaboration mediates the effects interaction of gender diversity in groups on individual creativity. Indirect relationship of task complexity at low level with gender diversity highlighted significant positive effects on individual creativity in presence of information elaboration.
Possible implications of global climate change on global lightning distributions and frequencies

The Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) general circulation model (GCM) is used to study the possible implications of past and future climate change on global lightning frequencies. Two climate change experiments were conducted: one for a 2×CO 2 climate (representing a 4.2°C global warming) and one for a 2% decrease in the solar constant (representing a 5.9°C global cooling). The results suggest a 30% increase in global lightning activity for the warmer climate and a 24% decrease in global lightning activity for the colder climate. This implies an approximate 5-6% change in global lightning frequencies for every 1°C global warming/cooling
EducationThe Science of Continuing Medical

Background: By its synthesis of a selected portion of the continuing medical education (CME) literature, the evidence-based practice center (EPC) review discovered several major issues in primary study design and in the systematic review process of CME studies. Through this process, the review speaks to the need for clarity in designing, reporting and synthesizing CME trials and provides an opportunity to advance the research agenda in this field. Methods: The evidence-based guideline (EBG) committee reviewed the methods section of the EPC report and these guidelines in detail, commenting on the search and review process and on the nature of the primary literature and the definitions used within it, comparing these to other published standardized measures. Results: Although the EBG committee noted much strength in the EPC review, limitations of the primary literature and the review methodology were identified and defined. These strengths and limitations hold implications for further research in this area. Conclusions: Noting these limitations and in order to move the field forward, the EBG committee proposes a standard nomenclature of terms in common use in CME; a more rigorous process of searching, distilling, and synthesizing the primary literature in this area; and a common format on which to base the development and description of future trials of CME interventions. (CHEST 2009; 135:8S–16S)
Measurements of gas phase formic and acetic acids at the Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii during the Mauna Loa Observatory Photochemistry Experiment 1988

The concentrations of gas phase formic acid (HCOOH) and acetic acid (CH3COOH) were measured at the Mauna Loa, Observatory, Hawaii during the first three weeks (May 1–21, 1988) of the Mauna Loa Observatory Photochemistry Experiment (MLOPEX). Daytime values were determined mostly during upslope conditions and represent marine boundary layer air modified by contact with the island of Hawaii. Mean values were 452 and 374 pptv for HCOOH and CH3COOH, respectively. Nighttime values were determined mostly during downslope conditions and represent air in the free troposphere near 3400 m above sea level. Mean values were 63 and 94 pptv for HCOOH and CH3COOH, respectively. Aerosol formate and acetate concentration were one to two orders of magnitude less than the gas phase concentration and ranged from less than a few pptv to nearly 50 pptv.
Use of lesion volumes and loads for monitoring patients with multiple sclerosis. Local experience and literature review

: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common demyelinating disease that involves the central nervous system causing focal lesions in the brain and spinal cord causing diverse neurological development deficits, many of them severe and irreversible, affecting and invaliding a large percentage of young productive-aged patients. MRI exams have improved diagnostic capability compared to computed tomography, but in this decade the development of new magnets, coils and software have allowed the development of quantitative neuroradiology which achieves the evaluation of parameters such as total brain volume, of each of its structures, as well as semi-automated or automated counting of the lesion load, allowing better monitoring of each individual patient in relation to a particular event such as a new neurological deficit in an outbreak of the disease, a previously undetected cognitive impairment or in related to a given treatment. We will show our local experience using the FreeSurfer software in our habitual practice, as well as other post-processing software, this being the first experience of its use in multiple sclerosis published in our country.
A Holocene Record of Atmospheric Dust Deposition on the Penny Ice Cap, Baffin Island, Canada

Abstract An >11,550-yr-long record of atmospheric dust deposition was developed from an ice core (P95) drilled through the Penny ice cap, Baffin Island. The P95 record documents environmental changes that affected the production and transport of dust in the eastern Canadian Arctic during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Dust deposition on the Penny ice cap was greatest in late-glacial time when the climate was dry and windy and comparatively low in the Holocene. Microparticles deposited during late-glacial time are finer than in Greenland cores, suggesting distinct dust sources and transport trajectories to each region. Dust deposition at the P95 site increased after ca. 7800 yr ago as the Penny ice cap receded and distance from local dust sources was reduced. Deflation of newly exposed marine sediments on southwestern Baffin Island may have contributed to this dust increase. The P95 and GISP2 (Greenland) dust records show diverging trends in the middle to late Holocene, reflecting the growing influence of regional environmental conditions (e.g., dust source area, snow cover extent) on atmospheric dust deposition. This study further demonstrates how valuable records of regional-scale paleoenvironmental changes can be developed from small circum-Arctic ice caps, even those affected by considerable melt.
Distribution of oxygen isotopes in the water masses of Drake Passage and the South Atlantic

Measurements of the ratio of stable isotopes of oxygen (18O and 16O) from samples collected on World Ocean Circulation Experiment sections SR1b (eastern Drake Passage) and A11 (Punta Arenas to Cape Town) are used, together with hydrographic data, to deduce information about the formation and variability of South Atlantic and Southern Ocean water masses. The Drake Passage surface waters south of the Polar Front (PF) are isotopically light (δ18O around −0.4‰) owing to the influence of meteoric waters. The salinity and δ18O of the A11 surface waters yield an apparent freshwater end-member which is much isotopically lighter than the local precipitation, thus advection of these waters from farther south dominates over local effects in determining the surface water properties. The Drake Passage section shows unusual proximity of the two main fronts of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (the PF and Subantarctic Front (SAF)), and we observe cold, fresh, and isotopically light water derived from the temperature-minimum Winter Water at the SAF. This water is of the correct density to freshen the intermediate water north of the SAF and thus play a role in the formation of the comparatively fresh Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) of the South Atlantic. This confirms the role of Antarctic water in forming the South Atlantic variety of AAIW. Across the A11 section the oxygen isotope and salinity data at the AAIW core show very similar traces, with waters in the Malvinas Current loop showing lowest values of both. At the eastern boundary of the South Atlantic, the input of Red Sea Water from east of South Africa is observed via the presence of anomalously isotopically heavy AAIW. We deduce potentially significant temporal variability in the isotopic composition of Weddell Sea Deep Water (WSDW) by comparing the Drake Passage data to earlier data covering the outflow of the Weddell Sea. The A11 data show WSDW consistent with such variability, indicating that its effects could persist in the waters as they flow north into the western South Atlantic. We speculate that such variability could be due to small changes in the amount of glacial ice melt in WSDW.
Alan Jack Charig (1927–1997): an overview of his academic accomplishments and role in the world of fossil reptile research

Abstract Alan Jack Charig was Curator of Fossil Amphibians, Reptiles and Birds at the British Museum (Natural History) from 1961 to 1987. We here review his academic accomplishments and the impact of his work within vertebrate palaeontology. His position gave him considerable influence in the discussion of emerging theories and in how vertebrate palaeontology was portrayed to the public. His main areas of scientific interest included biogeography and faunal provinces, the evolution of an erect gait in archosaurs, the systematics and diversity of Triassic proterosuchians, erythrosuchians and their relatives, and the origin of dinosaurs. Besides Triassic archosaurs, ornithischian, theropod and sauropodomorph dinosaurs, he published on gastropods, amphisbaenians and plesiosaurs. While he did produce some lasting contributions to the literature, it is telling that he failed to publish the specimen-based analyses he apparently planned to, despite citations of ‘in press’ manuscripts. Between the 1970s and 1990s Alan opposed or offered alternatives to many emerging theories and schools of thought. He is best described as ‘conservative’ in terms of his views on palaeontological controversies and his opinions would not conform with those favoured by the majority of palaeontologists today. He was highly critical of the concept of dinosaur monophyly, the dinosaurian origin of birds, of the division of archosaurs into a crocodilian and bird-dinosaur clade, and of cladistics. Several of his papers are ICZN (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature) submissions, published in order to clear up taxonomic problems, and they served to bring nomenclatural stability. Contradicting views exist of him as a scientist and a popularist. He has, not without contradiction, been described as intellectually arrogant, most clubbable, humorous, charming, an academic snob, political and meticulous. His lasting fame, however, is that very few of us live to be referred to as the ‘Carl Sagan of the BBC’ or have the good fortune to describe a dinosaur as important as Baryonyx.
CACTO-SL: Using Sobolev Learning to improve Continuous Actor-Critic with Trajectory Optimization

Trajectory Optimization (TO) and Reinforcement Learning (RL) are powerful and complementary tools to solve optimal control problems. On the one hand, TO can efficiently compute locally-optimal solutions, but it tends to get stuck in local minima if the problem is not convex. On the other hand, RL is typically less sensitive to non-convexity, but it requires a much higher computational effort. Recently, we have proposed CACTO (Continuous Actor-Critic with Trajectory Optimization), an algorithm that uses TO to guide the exploration of an actor-critic RL algorithm. In turns, the policy encoded by the actor is used to warm-start TO, closing the loop between TO and RL. In this work, we present an extension of CACTO exploiting the idea of Sobolev learning. To make the training of the critic network faster and more data efficient, we enrich it with the gradient of the Value function, computed via a backward pass of the differential dynamic programming algorithm. Our results show that the new algorithm is more efficient than the original CACTO, reducing the number of TO episodes by a factor ranging from 3 to 10, and consequently the computation time. Moreover, we show that CACTO-SL helps TO to find better minima and to produce more consistent results.
An Efficient Classifying On Several Datasets in Big Data Assistive K-Nearest Neighbor Algorithm

: K nearest neighbors (KNN) is very great learning algorithm. Nowadays it`s been upgraded for several real applications. The large scaling of the datasets from the past k-nearest neighbor strategies is very suitable and natural. As we suggest the whole datasets are portioning into many part after selecting the suitable k-mean cluster for the partitioning of that datasets, then conducted a k-nearest neighbor classification for each parts. So, the medical imaging data& the big data can be conducted by set of experiments. Therefore, when we talk about the efficiency and accuracy the proposed K-NN classification is working well according to the experimental result of that algorithm.