Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genotypic responses of Rainfed Sorghum to a Latitude Gradient Dissertation

13 Genotypic options for coping with climate variability as well as tactical and strategic adaptation 14 to climate change entail the introduction, development and deployment of genotypes with 15 adequate plasticity of phenology together with component technologies that will optimize yield. 16 Such genotypes should be based on ideotype concepts that assemble the most appropriate traits 17 selected based on a comprehensive understanding of the relationship among characters and their 18 individual and joint contribution to grain yield as well as their responses to various 19 environments.Six sorghum cultivars, drawn from three races, were evaluated in twelve 20 environments created from a factorial combination of two monthly sowing dates, three locations 21 (along a latitudinal gradient) and two years (2008 and 2009) in Mali. Data were collected on 22 twelve (12) plant characters and grain yield. Analysis of Variance (for individual and general 23 environments), AMMI analysis, AMMI1 AMMI2 biplots were performed for grain yield. 24 Correlations were used to determine relations between grain yield and the twelve characters as 25 well as among the characters. Path analysis was used to determine direct coefficients to grain 26 yield and indirect coefficients through other characters to grain yield for six of the characters that 27 had strong correlations with grain yield.Genotypic differences for grain yield were significant at 28 eight of the twelve environments and the general ANOVA showed significant differences for 29 genotypes, environments and interaction. The proportion of total variance explained by each of 30
The Holocene Asian Monsoon: Links to Solar Changes and North Atlantic Climate

A 5-year-resolution absolute-dated oxygen isotope record from Dongge Cave, southern China, provides a continuous history of the Asian monsoon over the past 9000 years. Although the record broadly follows summer insolation, it is punctuated by eight weak monsoon events lasting ∼1 to 5 centuries. One correlates with the “8200-year” event, another with the collapse of the Chinese Neolithic culture, and most with North Atlantic ice-rafting events. Cross-correlation of the decadal- to centennial-scale monsoon record with the atmospheric carbon-14 record shows that some, but not all, of the monsoon variability at these frequencies results from changes in solar output.
Evaluation of methanolic extract of Phragmites karka on carbon tetrachloride-induced liver fibrosis in rat

Phragmites karka has been reported for its anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities. Here, extracts of leaf and rhizome of the plant were individually investigated in CCl 4 -induced hepatofibrosis in male Wistar rats by administering CCl 4 intraperitoneally biweekly for 6 weeks. Afterwards the animals were investigated for liver fibrosis at biochemical, molecular and histological levels, and it showed a profound increase (p<0.001) in elevation of serum levels of transaminases, ? -glutamyl transpeptidase, mRNA expression of ? smooth muscle actin, collagen and transforming growth factor beta (TGF? ), and extracellular matrix deposition and perilobular necrosis. Both extracts markedly (p<0.001) decreased the elevated levels of these markers. Histopathological investigations also substantiated the above results by exhibiting a decreased in extracellular matrix deposition in post-treatment animals. In conclusion, both extracts had substantially modified the biochemical and molecular markers of liver fibrosis, in addition to histological improvement in architecture of liver. Video Clip of Methodology : Expression evaluation of gene: 4 min 43 sec Full Screen Alternate
Reassessing price adjustment costs in DSGE models

Indexation theories have become standard for inflation persistence in DSGE models (Smets and Wouters (2003, 2007)). However, these theories overlook an important stylized fact of U.S. business cycles: high fluctuations in the first difference of inflation. I find that this pattern can be captured by adjustment costs precisely from the first difference of inflation (Pesaran (1991) labels this difference as a "speed change"). I estimate four DSGE models differing in their rigidity assumption and find that a framework with inflation-based adjustment costs has the highest probability to fit U.S. data.
Phytoplankton Composition and Physico-Chemical Parameters Study in Water Bodies of Abijata-Shalla Lakes National Park (ASLNP), Ethiopia

Abijata-Shalla Lakes National Park is well known in its bird diversity and saline crater lakes. These lakes are most important feeding site of flamingos. However, much of their physico-chemical and its biotic information are not reviewed. The study was carried out from October 2011 to November 2013 during wet and dry seasons to fill the identified gap in physico-chemical characteristics, phytoplankton and level of heavy metals. Physico-chemical characteristics of water were measured using a multiparameter portable instrument (AQUAVIA, Model S× 723 PH/mV/ Cond Meter). For the chemical analysis water samples were collected from the surface water using polyethylene bottles, and were analyzed using standard methods. Phytoplanktons were collected with a phytoplankton net seasonally, counted and identified. A total of 23 genera were identified from Lake Abijata. Comparatively, a higher number of species was recorded during dry than the wet season. The compositions of phytoplankton were dominated by Arthrospira fusiformis in Lake chitu and Bacillariophyceae in Lake Abijata. In Lake Abijata Bacillariophyceae community was hold 91.21% of the plankton abundance. Value of pH and temperature showed insignificant variation, conductivity, salinity and TDS varied widely between lakes and rivers. Water chemistry analysis reflected sodium as the major cation while chloride and bicarbonate were the major anions. The findings of heavy metal indicated that the mean concentration of Zn was 0.14 mg/l, CU 0.009 mg/l, Pb 0.039 mg/l, Fe 6.17 mg/l and Cr 0.109 mg/l/. Cadmium was not detected in the water samples. The levels of most heavy metals recorded in water were generally low, when compared to the international permissible limits. The analysis of phytoplankton of lakes indicates the water of lakes can be considered different.
Enhanced motorcycle roll stability by use of a reaction wheel actuator

The paper presents a preliminary study on the use of the reaction wheel for improving the roll stability of motorcycles. The development of the controller is based on the dynamics of the reaction wheel pendulum. A feedback linearization approach is employed for the control of the reaction wheel pendulum and the resulting controller is subsequently implemented in a 12 degree-of-freedom non-linear motorcycle model. Simulations reveal the effectiveness of the controller, as well as some problems related to unrealistic power requirements and gyroscopic effects of the reaction wheel during cornering. The latter are treated by introduction of a moving roll-angle reference, while some proposals for reducing the required power to realistic levels are also discussed.
Enhanced Multistage Homotopy Perturbation Method: Approximate Solutions of Nonlinear Dynamic Systems

We introduce a new approach called the enhanced multistage homotopy perturbation method (EMHPM) that is based on the homotopy perturbation method (HPM) and the usage of time subintervals to find the approximate solution of differential equations with strong nonlinearities. We also study the convergence of our proposed EMHPM approach based on the value of the control parameter h by following the homotopy analysis method (HAM). At the end of the paper, we compare the derived EMHPM approximate solutions of some nonlinear physical systems with their corresponding numerical integration solutions obtained by using the classical fourth order Runge-Kutta method via the amplitude-time response curves.
Discipline with love : Ethnic differences in the prevalence of corporal punishment, parental love and their effect on juvenile delinquency

Theorists have proposed a causal link between corporal punishment and child aggression. Unfortunately most of this research does not include control variables for parental connectedness, which may exacerbate or buffer the effects of corporal punishment. Further, a recent debate in the literature on the role of corporal punishment in different cultural contexts and its effects on the outcome of children’s development raises the question of whether these findings are appropriate for populations other than western and middleclass. Methodological limitations of most previous research narrow down the scope in understanding how the experience of corporal punishment relates to adjustment and whether the effects of corporal punishment differ across ethnic groups. Data analysed was from a sample of 477 Dutch and Moroccan-Dutch boys. The results of this study show that corporal punishment is associated positively with violent delinquency for both Dutch and Moroccan-Dutch boys. For Moroccan-Dutch boys, parental connectedness when added to the analysis contributed significantly to the variance on violent delinquency, with maternal connectedness being moderately significant for violent delinquency. However, the addition of emotional warmth for both father and mother for Dutch boys was non-significant. The results suggest that it is important to explore the link between corporal punishment and delinquency within the context of the parent-son relationship. In addition, this study identifies the need to further look at the cultural contexts in which corporal punishment occurs.
Quantum memory for photons: Dark-state polaritons

An ideal and reversible transfer technique for the quantum state between light and metastable collective states of matter is presented and analyzed in detail. The method is based on the control of photon propagation in coherently driven three-level atomic media, in which the group velocity is adiabatically reduced to zero. Form-stable coupled excitations of light and matter ~‘‘dark-state polaritons’’ ! associated with the propagation of quantum fields in electromagnetically induced transparency are identified, their basic properties discussed and their application for quantum memories for light analyzed.
Estimating Asian Elephant Population in Dindugul, Kodaikanal and Theni Forest Divisions, Western Ghats Tamil Nadu

The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), an endangered species today, being a wide-ranging animal mainly affected by loss of habitat throughout Asia (Daniel 1987), is in great conflict with humans. Population estimation of elephants in southern India has been carried out extensively using the ‘total count’ method by the Forest Department since 1970. However, due to several shortcomings like poor visibility in the forested areas, observer fatigue (while covering larger areas like 5 to 10 km blocks), intense labour requirements and several other inherent problems like double counting, the total count method is considered an inappropriate method for obtaining reliable estimates of elephant numbers.
Urinary arsenic and mercury levels in artisanal miners in some communities in the Obuasi Municipality of Ghana

There are a large number of small-scale artisan gold miners who use mercury in the extraction of gold in Ghana. The extraction process releases arsenic and mercury into the environment with its associated risk to human health. Human exposure to arsenic and mercury was assessed in artisanal miners involved in illegal mining activities in five communities at Obuasi municipality, a historic mining area in Ghana. Subjects completed an exposure assessment questionnaire and also provided the first urine voided upon waking up in the morning. Total urine-As and urine-Hg were simultaneously determined using neutron activation analysis. The highest mean urine-As value recorded at the high risk level (> 35 µg/L) was 53.57 ± 5.58 µg/L. Seventeen percent of the miners recorded urinary-As levels above the biological exposure index of 35 µg/L; 38% were found in the moderate risk level (20-35 µg/L) while 45% were in the low risk bracket (< 20 µg/L). The highest mean urine-Hg concentration at the high risk level was 38.55 ± 3.83 µg/L, recorded by 2% of the miners. Five percent of the miners had urine-Hg concentrations in the moderate risk bracket while 93% were at the low risk level. Fifty five percent of the artisanal miners recorded values above the WHO recommended range of 5 to 20 µg/L for urine-As. Key words: Mercury, arsenic, urine, neutron activation analysis.
Framing Climate Policy Debates: Science, Network, and U.S. Congress, 1976-2007

Debates on global climate change (GCC) have been heavily influenced by such factors as scientific evidence, media coverage, public concerns, partisan interest, and so forth. Focusing on the linkages among the congressional committees, hearings, and invited witnesses (and their sectors), this study investigates the relational conditions under which congressional committees have mobilized climate expertise to discuss climate change issues for the past decades in U.S. Congress. Our findings show that agenda setting and witness selection by the committees significantly differed across the party lines: more environmental scientists were invited to define GCC as a threat in Democratic Congresses, whereas industrial scientists, to search for solutions in Republican Congresses. Except for a few proactive committees, committee jurisdiction was limitedly exercised. Our findings presents strong evidence along which climate policy debates have been framed based on a biased input of climate expertise.
Real-time photoacoustic projection imaging using deep learning

Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) is an emerging and non-invasive hybrid imaging modality for visualizing light absorbing structures in biological tissue. The recently invented PAT systems using arrays of 64 parallel integrating line detectors allow capturing photoacoustic projection images in fractions of a second. Standard image formation algorithms for this type of setup suffer from under-sampling due to the sparse detector array, blurring due to the finite impulse response of the detection system, and artifacts due to the limited detection view. To address these issues, in this paper we develop a new direct and non-iterative image reconstruction framework using deep learning. The proposed DALnet combines the universal backprojection (UBP) using dynamic aperture length (DAL) correction with a deep convolutional neural network (CNN). Both subnetworks contain free parameters that are adjusted in the training phase. As demonstrated by simulation and experiment, the DALnet is capable of producing high-resolution projection images of 3D structures at a frame rate of over 50 images per second on a standard PC with NVIDIA TITAN Xp GPU. The proposed network is shown to outperform state-of-the-art iterative total variation reconstruction algorithms in terms of reconstruction speed as well as in terms of various evaluation metrics.
Evaluating the Role of Trust in Adoption: A Conceptual Replication in the Context of Open Source Systems

This study is a conceptual replication of the Chandra, Srivastava, & Theng (2010) study on the role of trust in adopting a unique type of technology. Whereas Chandra et al. focused on mobile payment systems, we apply their theoretical model to the context of adopting open source software (OSS). Results are largely consistent and comparable with those of the original model; we also found that user trust plays a vital role in OSS adoption intention. However, two of the hypotheses had significantly different results in our model when compared to the original—specifically, perceived reputation did not have a significant impact on trust in the technology, and trust had a more powerful effect on the perceived usefulness of the technology. We argue that users’ expectations regarding trust are different depending on the type of technology that a user intends to adopt.
Shear Strengthening of T Cross Section Reinforced Concrete Beams by Near-Surface Mounted Technique

With the purpose of evaluating the influence of both the percentage and inclination of the carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates on the effectiveness of the near-surface mounted technique for the shear strengthening of reinforced concrete T beams, an experimental program was carried out, using three percentages of laminates and, for each one, three inclinations: 90, 60, and 45° . The CFRP-strengthened beams had a steel stirrup reinforcement ratio ( ρsw ) of 0.1%. The highest CFRP percentage was designed to provide a maximum load similar to the one of a reference beam reinforced with ρsw equal to 0.24%. Although these beams have had a similar maximum load, the beams with CFRP presented higher stiffness. Laminates at 60° was the most effective shear strengthening configuration, having provided a maximum increase in the load capacity of 33%. The contribution of the CFRP strengthening systems was limited by the concrete tensile strength. Below certain spacing between laminates, a group effect occur.
EFFICACY OF INTERFERON-INDUCIBLE PROTEIN-10 FOR MONITORING STANDARD TUBERCULOSIS TREATMENT

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global health problem. Interferon-inducible Protein-10 (IP-10) has been proposed as a promising biomarker for monitoring the efficacy of standard therapy in patients with active pulmonary TB. Objective: The propose of this study was to assess the efficacy of IP-10 in patients with active pulmonary TB as a sign of a response to TB standard therapy. Patients and methods: A total of 136 newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis patients were recruited in this study. The patients were classified into 2 groups according to the presence of the risk factors of relapse. Group (1) included 30 patients with low risk of relapse and group (2) included 25 patients with moderate and high risk of relapse. In this study, we assessed the IP-10 levels in both serum and in response to QuantiFeron-TB Gold In-Tube test (QFT-GIT) antigens at time of diagnosis, at month 2 and after completing treatment. Results: IP-10 median levels in both serum and in response to QFT-GIT antigens were not significantly different between both patient groups at baseline, at month 2 and after completion of TB treatment. However, in each patient group, medians of IP-10 levels before treatment decreased significantly with time at 2 months and after the completion of anti-TB treatment (all P < 0.05). Conclusion: Interferon-inducible Protein-10 (IP-10) in serum or in response to QFT-GIT antigens was a useful biomarker for monitoring the efficacy of the standard regimen in patients with active pulmonary TB. Keywards: Interferon-inducible Protein-10, Monitoring, Tuberculosis. Abbreviations: Interferon-inducible Protein-10 (IP-10), QuantiFeron-TB Gold In-Tube test (QFT-GIT), Tuberculosis (TB), Acid-fast bacilli (AFB), Tuberculin test (TST), Chest X-ray (CXR).
Private benefits and board size: International evidence

In our analyses of 10,390 companies from 51 countries, we find that in countries that have small capital markets free cash flow is positively related to board size. However, this positive relation becomes significantly weak for companies in large securities markets. This result suggests that managers in underdeveloped capital markets have an incentive to construct less effective boards to extract private benefits. However, the distorted managerial incentive is alleviated in developed countries that have various disciplinary mechanisms to ensure good governance practices. We do not find clear evidence that legal protection of shareholder rights mitigates the managerial incentive to construct less effective boards.
Effect of filtration of low grade ejaculates on semen quality parameters at refrigerated temperature (4-7°C).

To improve the preservability of low grade ejaculates Sephadex and Sephadex ion-ex- change, filtration was tried. The study was conducted on split samples of 22 ejaculates of seven Karan Fries bulls maintained at Artificial Breeding Research Centre, NDRI, Karnal, Haryana. The collect - ed ejaculates were extended (1:4) at 30°C and divided in three parts and two parts filtered through sephadex filtration (G-100) (FS), sephadex (G-100) with ion exchanger (FS+IE) and non-filtered serving as control. The semen quality was evaluated at an interval of 0, 24, 48 and 72 hours at refrig - erated temperature (4-7°C), respectively. Data was analyzed by analysis of variance technique and comparison between different treatment groups was done by Fisher's Least Significant Difference test. There was significant (p<0.05) improvement in motility, hypo osmotic sperm test (HOST), non-eosinophilic count and acrosome integrity upto 48 hrs of preservation at refrigeration temper- ature, whereas after 72 hrs of refrigeration the parameter showed significant higher values in FS+IE filtration than control. Sperm concentration, tail and total abnormality decreased significantly (p<0.05) in FS+ IE and FS filtration as compared to control showed better efficiency of trapping immotile, dead and abnormal spermatozoa. The efficiency of FS+IE columns is further more effec - tive in trapping. Motility and viability after 72hrs of refrigeration showed non-significant difference among the filtered and non-filtered semen samples. In conclusion, sephadex ion exchange filtration is very effective in improving the semen quality as perservability of poor grade.
Existence of irreducible R-regular elements in Zariski-dense subgroups

Let G be a connected semisimple algebraic group defined over the field R of real numbers. An element x of G(R) is called R-regular if the number of eigenvalues, counted with multiplicity, of modulus 1 of Ad x is minimum possible. (If G is R-anisotropic, i.e., the group G(R) is compact, every element of G(R )i sRregular. ) The existence of R-regular elements in an arbitrary subsemigroup Γ of G(R) which is Zariski-dense in G was proved by Y. Benoist and F. Labourie [3] using Oseledet’s multiplicative ergodic theorem, and then reproved by the firstnamed author [15] by a direct argument. Recently G.A. Margulis and G.A. Soifer asked us a question, which arose in their joint work with H. Abels on the Auslander problem, about the existence of R-regular elements with some special properties. The purpose of this note is to answer their question in the affirmative. Before formulating the result, we recall (cf. [16], Remark 1.6(1)) that an R-regular element x is necessarily semisimple, so if in addition it is regular, then T := ZG(x) ◦ is a maximal torus; moreover, x belongs to T (see [4], Corollary 11.12).
STUDY OF THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN COPPER(II) ACETATE MONOHYDRATE AND OROTIC ACID AND OROTATE LIGANDS

Different complexes by reacting copper(II) acetate monohydrate with orotic acid and orotate as ligands were prepared. These compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, spectroscopy, and thermal analysis. It is suggested that in both compounds, the Cu2(acetate)4 suffers the break of both acetate groups by a substitution of orotic or orotate ligands, increasing the Cu-Cu distance. It was corroborated by the magnetic moment values of 1.65 and 1.82 B.M for these compounds. The anion orotato(-1) coordinates through the carboxylic acid and the orotic acid by the oxygen from exocyclic C=O. Semiempirical PM3 calculations for both compounds were also carried out.