Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ensemble Atmospheric GCM Simulation of Climate Interannual Variability from 1979 to 1994

The climate interannual variability is examined using the general circulation model (GCM) developed at the Laboratoire de Me´te´orologie Dynamique. The model is forced by the observed sea surface temperature for the period 1979–94. An ensemble of eight simulations is realized with different initial conditions. The variability of the Southern Oscillation is studied. The simulated sea level pressure anomalies at both Tahiti and Darwin are realistic compared to observations. It is revealed, however, that the simulated convection activity response to the warm episode of El Nin˜o is too weak over the eastern part of the tropical Paciﬁc. This explains why the simulated Paciﬁc–North American pattern is shifted westward. A global El Nin˜o pattern index is deﬁned and calculated for both the simulation and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data. This serves as a quantitative measure of El Nin˜o’s global impact. A singular value decomposition analysis performed with the tropical Paciﬁc sea surface temperature and the Northern Hemisphere 500-hPa geopotential height shows that the model’s teleconnection between the Tropics and high latitudes is similar to that of the NCEP reanalysis data. In an exploratory manner, the model’s internal variability versus the external forced variability is studied. It is shown that, except for the equatorial strip, the internal model variability is larger than the external variability. An ensemble mean is thus necessary in order to focus on the model’s response to external sea surface temperature anomalies. An attempt is also made to evaluate statistically the inﬂuence of the ensemble’s size on the model’s reproducibility. It is shown that, with this particular GCM, at least ﬁve realizations are necessary to correctly assess the teleconnection between the Tropics and the Northern Hemisphere extratropics. This dependency on the number of realizations is less for the tropical circulation.
Physical characterization of molybdenum microtips field emitter arrays

We used a dedicated hemispherical energy analyzer to measure energetic and angular distributions of electrons emitted from molybdenum microtips integrated in a 1 cm2 field emitter array designed by the CEA/LETI laboratory. Such cathodes typically deliver about 25 mA at an extraction voltage of 100 V, and are studied in order to replace heated wires as electron sources for space applications. We find that the energy distribution of the beam strongly depends on the extraction voltage, and is therefore expected to vary across the emission lifetime of the device, at a rate depending both on the alteration of the resistive structure with time and on the fate of adsorbed contaminants at the tip surface. A semi-empirical model of the emitters is proposed and used to determine parameters of energetic and angular distributions. The energy dispersion of the beam is found to increase from 2 eV ± 20% up to 9 eV ± 20% eV, for extraction voltages varying from 40 to 100 V. The mean angular dispersion of the beam is found to be 42° ± 20% when a null electric field is set at the grid extraction surface.
Blockade for Career Advancement in Japanese Organization Abroad: The Case of Malaysian Subsidiaries

This study empirically examines the significance of demographic factors and organizational characteristics in influencing the perceived barriers to career advancement of local managers in Japanese subsidiaries. Moreover, significant relationship between stereotype and discrimination and the number of local managers in higher management positions also been analyzed. The perceived barriers were examined through an analysis of 317 local managers working in 41 Japanese subsidiaries in Malaysia. Overall findings suggest that perceived barriers do exist in Japanese subsidiaries in Malaysia and these barriers hinder local managers’ career advancement opportunities. Suggestions to trim down the barriers for career advancement among local managers in Japanese subsidiaries have been discussed.
Habitat distribution of canary chaffinches among islands : competitive exclusion or species-specific habitat preferences?

The habitat distribution between islands of the Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs L.), viewed in rela- tion to the presence of its potential competitor species, the Blue Chaffinch (Fringilla teydea Moquin-Tandon), has been studied for the Canary Islands (Tenerife and El Hierro). The Common Chaffinch was significantly denser in the pine woods of El Hierro than in Tenerife, while the Blue Chaffinch was only present in Tenerife. The vegetation structure was very different in the pine woods of the two islands. In the pine woods of El Hierro, the Common Chaffinch selected more grassy places, and foraged mainly in the foliage. The habitat selection pattern observed in Hierro was con- gruent with that obtained for the continental subspecies in the North of the Iberian Peninsula. An empirical model was thus developed to predict density variations of the Common Chaffinch in the continental pine woods of Northern Spain. This continental model (not subject to the influence of the potential competitive effect of the Blue Chaffinch) was then used to predict the abundance of the Common Chaffinch in the pine woods of El Hierro and Tenerife. The similarity between the densities predicted by the non-competitive continental model and those actually observed in the pine woods of El Hierro and Tenerife indicates that the presence of the Blue Chaffinch is not relevant in explaining the dif- ferences in Common Chaffinch density between islands. The habitat preferences of the Common Chaffinch quantita- tively explain density differences observed between El Hierro and Tenerife. These results show clearly the rele- vance of habitat structure in determining the patterns of presence and density of the Common Chaffinch between islands. Data obtained thus supports the species-specific habitat preference hypothesis, with the competitive exclu- sion hypothesis not being justified at least in ecological time.
ADSORPTION OF ARSENIC COMPONENTS ON LAYERED DOUBLE HYDROXIDES AND MIXED OXIDES FOR WATER PURIFICATION

Aim of this research was the removal of toxic and carcinogenic arsenate (AsO4 3- ) ions from drinking water with different metals (Mg, Mn, Al, Fe) content layered double hydroxides (LDH). The efficiency of the MgAl LDHs in the arsenic removal is increased with increasing nitrate content in LDH. The basal spacing of LDH was decreasing with 0.085 nm after ion-exchange. The calcinated form of each adsorbent resulted less arsenic removal, but less dissolution of metal from the oxide compared to the uncalcinated LDH. Increasing the manganese content in the MnFe LDH resulted in enhanced arsenic removal efficiency.
Financing Watershed Services in the Foothills of the Himalayas

Watershed management is critical for the sustainable supply of clean water to urban centers, particularly in areas of developing countries where large-scale infrastructure projects are costly to implement. In this paper, we discuss the potential for financing improvements in watershed services in the foothills of the Himalayas through Payments for Ecosystem Services. Through the use of a choice experiment to disentangle household preferences, we show that downstream water users are interested in improvements in water quality through source water protection. Households in Dharan municipality are willing to finance watershed management to the extent of USD 118,000 per year. These payments can be used to incentivize upstream households to decrease domestic livestock grazing, change agricultural practices and reduce open defecation to improve the drinking water quality and quantity in downstream areas. The estimated cost of these activities is less than $50,000 per year. Through discussions with local stakeholders, we propose a tri-partite institutional structure to facilitate transactions between downstream and upstream communities and to improve watershed services.
Effect of Sowing Dates on Yield and Yield Components of Cowpea Infected with Scab

The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of cowpea scab infections on yield and yield components of three cowpea varieties, TVx 3236, SAMPEA-6 and IT93K452-1. Fields experiments were carried out during three consecutive cropping seasons of 2004, 2005 and 2006 at the Institute for Agricultural Research Farms at Samaru and Shika, Nigeria. Four different plantings were made at 7-day interval starting from late July and ending in mid August of each year. Scab disease incidence ratings were taken at 42 and 49 days after sowing, during each season. Crop yields and yield components were estimated at the end of each season. The design used was a factorial concept in a randomized complete block design with three replications consisting of single row plots, each 75 cm wide, 6 m long, and 75 cm apart. For all the 3 seasons, the early sown cowpeas had higher-scab incidences and the yield and yield components of this early sown cowpea were lower than those from late sown crops. The grain yields from the early sown crops were of poor quality, with lots of shrivelling, while those from late sown crops were of good quality. The disease reduced grain yield through scab's deleterious effect on yield components. The correlation of scab infected plant parts with yield and yield components was positive and significant for SAMPEA-6 and IT93K452-1 but IT93k452-1 showed some variations in correlations. The correlation of scab on the yield and yield components of TVx 3236 was negative and not significant.
Modernizing the current Afghan engineering education system: Challenges and opportunities

Mayar, Khalilullah. M.S.B.C.M. , Purdue University, May 2016. Modernizing the Current Afghan Engineering Education System: Challenges and Opportunities. Major Professor: Kirk Alter. Having an effective engineering education system in place can play a crucial role in the development and reconstruction process of a war-ravaged country, such as Afghanistan, where tens of billions of dollars of international aid has been spent in the past 14 years for that process, including higher education. Unfortunately, at this point, the Afghan engineering education system is not yet financially self-sufficient nor can it address the education requirements of today’s job market. This thesis aimed to identify the major challenges still faced by Afghanistan and to provide a comprehensive list of recommendations and priorities that can make the current Afghan engineering education system academically competent at the undergraduate level as well as improve its relevancy to the economic development of Afghanistan.
Assessing Normality: Applications in Multi-Group Designs

Warr and Erich (2013) compared a frequently recommended procedure in textbooks: the interquartile range divided by the sample standard deviation, against the Shapiro-Wilk’s test in assessing normality of data. They found the Shapiro-Wilk’s test to be far superior to the deficient interquartile range statistic. We look further into the issue of assessing nonnormality by investigating the Anderson-Darling goodness-of-fit statistic for its sensitivity to detect non-normal data in a multi-group problem where Type I error and power issues can be explored from perspectives not considered by Warr and Erich. In particular, we examined the sensitivity of this test for 23 non-normal distributions consisting of g- and hdistributions, contaminated mixed-normal distributions and multinomial distributions. In addition, we used a sequentially-rejective Bonferroni procedure to limit the overall rate of Type I errors across the multi-groups assessed for normality and defined the power of the procedure according to whether there was at least one rejection from among the three group tests, whether all three non-normal groups of data were detected and the average of the pergroup power values. Our results indicate that the Anderson-Darling test was generally effective in detecting varied types of non-normal data.
A land surface model combined with a crop growth model for paddy rice ( MATCRO-Rice v . 1 ) – Part 2 : Model validation

We conducted two types of validation for the simulations by MATCRO-Rice developed by Masutomi et al. (2016). In the first validation, we compared simulations with observations for latent heat flux (LHF), sensible heat flux (SHF), net carbon uptake by crop, and paddy rice yield from 2003 to 2006 at the site where model parameters are parameterized. In the second validation, we compared the observed and simulated paddy rice yields over Japan from 1991 to 2010 between observations and simulations. The 4-year average root mean square errors (RMSEs) of the first validation for LHF and SHF were 18.20 and 15.47 W m−2, respectively. These values for errors are comparable to those reported in earlier studies. The comparison of biomass growth during growing periods from 2003 to 2006 at the parameterization site shows that the simulations were in agreement with the observations, indicating that the model can reproduce the net carbon uptake by crops well. The 4-year average RMSE of the first validation for crop yield in the same period was 410.6 kg ha−1, which accounted for 8.1 % of the mean observed yields. The error of the second validation for crop yield was 16.7 % and the correlation of crop yields between observations and simulations from 1991 to 2010 was significant at 0.663 (P < 0.01). These results indicate that MATCRO-Rice has high ability to accurately and consistently simulate LHF, SHF, net carbon uptake by crop, and crop yield.
Can Bitter Gourd ( Momordica Charantia ) be a Novel Therapy for Human Cancers

Personal susceptibility together with increased exposure to diversified environmental carcinogenic factors account for the high incidence of cancers. Though great strides have been made in the development of different therapies for cancer, the high incidence and mortality of different cancers illustrate the needs for new drugs and novel treatments. It is postulated that some medicinal herbs, such as ethno-medicinal plants, are promising sources to mitigate the suffering of cancer patients [1]. Bitter gourd/BG (Momordica charantia from Family Cucurbitaceae) is both a vegetable in the daily diet and an anti-diabetic component in folklore medicine. Recently, the antitumor efficacy of BG crude extract and its purified components toward a wide range of tumor cells were reported. Considering the fact that it has been safely used as a staple for many years in different countries, BG is promising as a potential therapeutic agent for different cancers.
Influence of Physical Characteristics on the Performance of Office Properties in Lagos, Nigeria

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of property physical characteristics on the performance of office properties in Lagos, Nigeria. By recognizing which physical features made significant contribution, market participants will know how physical features influence the performance of office property market. The trend in returns of office property investments is examined by using multiple regressions to establish a relationship between total return and underlying physical characteristics. The impact of age, building size, average floor space, building services, state of repairs, fixtures and fittings and design quality were explicitly considered. The results indicate that age of the property and building services made significant contribution to office property performance. The influence of other physical characteristics such as average floor space, building size, state of repairs, design quality and fixtures and fittings is not statistically significant. Overall, the age of the property could be regarded as giving the highest contribution to the performance of office property market. The study offers evidence of assessment of office properties performance and provides useful information for developers, investors and practitioners in the real estate market. Keywords: Office property, Physical characteristics, Performance, Property investment, Nigeria
ANTIMICROBIAL AND ANALGESIC ACTIVITIES OF TRIKATU CHURNA AND ITS INGREDIENTS

Trikatu churna is one of the Ayurvedic herbal preparations, practice against certain general health disorders such as cold, cough, appetizer, carminative, purgative etc. In the present study phytochemical, antibacterial, antifungal and analgesic activities of ethanolic extracts of Trikatu churna (equiproportions of powdered fruits of Piper nigrum L, Piper longum L and rhizome Zingiber officinale Roscoe.) and its individual components were tested for antimicrobial activity against certain clinical bacterial and fungal isolates, such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Aspergillus niger and Mucor species by in-vitro agar well diffusion method and analgesic activity by in-vivo hot plate method using mice. Trikatu churna was found to possess higher the rate of phytoconstituents, promising antimicrobial (non-specific) and moderate analgesic activities.
Avoidance of phrasal verbs by learners of English : definitional and methodological issues

Avoidance is a common phenomenon in language acquisition and language communication. Language learners may prefer simple, easy and familiar words, structures or topics over difficult, complicated or uncertain ones in order to prolong their verbal or nonverbal communication. On the one hand, avoidance is a type of negative strategy to prevent errors. On the other hand, it is a positive approach to continuing communication. Laufer and Eliasson (1993: 36) pointed out the practical didactic advantages of understanding this phenomenon by stating that “[a]ny description of learner language must account for avoidance. ”
Sensitivity analysis of a three-dimensional subsurface irrigation hydrology model

Received 1 September 2010 Received in revised form 24 November 2010 Accepted 29 November 2010 In this study, a sensitivity analysis was performed and presented for a three-dimensional subsurface irrigation hydrology model. Input parameters such as number of nodes, van Genuchten’s soil hydraulic parameters (Ks, α, and n), the longitudinal and transverse dispersivity (αL, αT), the sorption distribution coefficient (Kd), initial solute concentration distribution, water table depth from soil surface and root water uptake parameters were changed by fixed amounts around a base value and the resulting changes in the outputs were analyzed. Results showed that output was sensitive to van Genuchten’s soil hydraulic parameters (Ks, α, and n), initial solute concentration distribution, water table depth and root water uptake parameters. The cumulative solute load was insensitive to the changes in the αL, and Kd, while the solute concentration distribution was quite sensitive to these parameters. The simulated outputs were not sensitive to the changes in the number of nodes and transverse dispersivity coefficient. Results could be used by modelers not only for this model but also for similar models.
Prescription Pattern of Injection at Out Patient Pharmacy Department of Adama Hospital Medical College, Adama,

Introduction: Injection is an infusion method of putting drugs or fluids in to the body with a hollow needle and a syringe. The use of injection for treatment accompanied with variety of disadvantages including sepsis at administration, risk of tissue toxicity, costly difficulties in correcting the error. Injections are very expensive compared to other dosage forms and require trained personnel for administration. Moreover, unhygienic use of injections can increase the risk of transmission of potentially serious pathogens, such as hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, and blood-borne diseases. It is estimated by the WHO that about 16 billion injections are undertaken in developing countries annually and are often irrationally used. Objective : The present study was aimed to assess the prescription pattern of injections in Adama Hospital Medical College. Method: Hospital based Prospective cross sectional study was done to assess prescription pattern of injections in outpatient pharmacy of AHMC. All Prescription cards from March 24, 2015 to May 24, 2015 were taken and reviewed using pre-tested data collection format. Finally data was edited, coded, tallied and cleaned. Descriptive statistics was computed . Result: On review of 500 prescription papers, 600 injections were prescribed. The percentage of prescriptions containing name of the patient, sex, age, address, date and card number were 490 (98%), 395 (79%), 405 (81%), 250 (50%), 300 (60%) and 480 (96%) respectively. The most commonly prescribed therapeutic class was inject able antibiotics 154 (25%), anti pains 120 (20%) and diuretics 66 (11%). Injections prescribed with over, under and optimum dose were 15 (2.5%), 9 (1.5%), 576(96%), respectively. About 18 (3%), 6 (1%) and 2 (0.3%) of antibiotics were prescribed by incorrect frequency, short and extended duration of administration, respectively. Only on 190 (38%), 65 (13%) and 480 (96%) of prescription papers were names, qualification and signature of the prescribers specified respectively. Conclusion : There was rational use of injections in the hospital though there are some problems that have to be considered. Key Terms : Injection medicine, prescribing pattern, prescribers, prescription, Adama.
An inner warp in the DoAr 44 T Tauri transition disc

ALMA 2013.1. 00100.S Millennium Nucleus (Chilean Ministry of Economy) RC130007 FONDECYT 1171624 1171841 FONDEQUIP project EQM140101 CONICYT-Gemini grant 32130007 NCCR PlanetS - Swiss National Science Foundation CONICYT PAI project 79160119
Exchange Rate Volatility and Inflation Upturn in Nigeria: Testing for Vector Error Correction Model

Abstract This paper empirically examines the impact of exchange rate volatility on inflation in Nigeria using annual time series data from 1986 – 2012. The methodology employed includes: ADF, PP and KPSS test of unit root, Johansen Julius cointegration test, VECM, granger causality test, impulse response function and variance decomposition. The unit root test result shows that all variables are stationary at first difference, while Maxi-eigen value shows a long run relationship between the variables. VECM result established positive and significant relationship between inflation, exchange rate volatility, money supply and fiscal deficit, while gross domestic product show negative relationship. Granger causality outcome shows a bi-directional relationship between all the variables. Subsequently, exchange rate volatility is deduced to influence inflation in Nigeria. Therefore, it becomes imperative for the government to understand and control the various channels through which exchange rate transmits to affect inflation in Nigeria, check the growth of money supply, increase the level of productivity in the country and lastly cut down public sector expenditure and possibly make a shift from excessive consumption expenditure to capital expenditure believing this will reduce the burden of fiscal deficit and the rate of inflation.