Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Insight into fern evolution: A mechanistic approach to main concepts and study techniques

In this review, we report on the most important ideas and features in the field of fern evolution, with particular interest into the main evolutionary mechanisms that shaped the evolutionary history of their diversification. An exhaustive account for the bibliographical corpus on the matter falls beyond the space and extent of this work; instead, we will try to focus the different issues by including featured examples from both historical and recent approaches to the study of the evolutionary mechanisms in ferns
Systematic relationships of the bushy‐tailed and black‐footed mongooses (genus Bdeogale, Herpestidae, Carnivora) based on molecular, chromosomal and morphological evidence

The relationships within the mongooses (Herpestidae) have been recently reconsidered on the basis of molecular data. However, these studies failed to completely resolve the relationships within the subfamily Herpestinae. Moreover, the species of the genus Bdeogale have not been included in previous studies. Three genes were sequenced, Cytochrome b, ND2 and Transthyretin intron I, for 20 species of Herpestidae. The results show that the Herpestidae form two clades, corresponding to the traditional Herpestinae and Mungotinae, but with Cynictis included in the former rather than the latter. Within the Herpestinae, the genus Herpestes is not monophyletic. A newly proposed clade groups Bdeogale, Cynictis, Ichneumia and Rynchogale. Some morphological and karyological characters were mapped on the trees so as to characterize the newly defined molecular groups.
Is China a Leviathan?

(Last revised version December 2005) To address the problem why China, as a communist country, moves in the opposite direction when the public sector has undergoing a continuous growth in most Western economies since the World War II, we offer a new approach that the de facto fiscal decentralization curtails government size in transition China in addition to conventional explanations. Meanwhile, by analyzing panel data and various variables used by previous empirical studies, this paper tests the Leviathan hypothesis for vertical decentralization, horizontal fragmentation and intergovernmental collusion at central-provincial and provincial-local level. Our empirical results not only explain Chinese shrinking government size, but also lend support to Leviathan hypothesis, especially, under the condition of the absence of traditional democratic electoral constraint.
Poverty malnutrition and mortality in South Asia: a review of issues and options.

Why do poverty and hunger tend to coexist with substantial economic progress and abundance in production of food grains? Why do chronic malnutrition and premature mortality of children prevail despite the availability of and access to ways and means to address them? These are important questions which no one can afford to ignore. There are no simple answers we believe for these questions. Rather than addressing these issues explicitly what we attempt to do here is to examine their association and development consequences. Broadly we tend to examine the association as well as the interaction between poverty and mortality. Specifically we try to understand and identify how poverty is interrelated with malnutrition and mortality of children and the mechanisms through which they operate. South Asia will be our locus of discussion as despite a reasonably better record in economic growth and alleviation of poverty it tends to suffer from pervasive malnutrition and mortality of children. The paper is organised as follows. The second part of the paper discusses the associations and interaction between poverty and mortality and their causal connections. To do so a brief and selected review of literature is also attempted. The experience of South Asia is discussed in the third part. Attempts will also be made wherever possible to highlight the experience of India or states within India. The final part will sum up the arguments and suggest possible areas for further research. (excerpt)
Learning of song in the Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca ) - A field study

III Acknowledgements V Introduction 1 Methods 5 Study site 5 Study subjects 5 Song recording and syllable cataloguing 6 Repertoire comparisons 8 Results 10 Repertoires and song syllable sharing 10 Groups 11 Inexperienced males and experienced tutors 13 Proportion of shared song syllables 13 Coefficient of repertoire sharing – groups 14 Coefficient of repertoire sharing – inexperienced and experienced neighbors 14 Differences in learning between inexperienced adults and juveniles 15 Coefficient of repertoire sharing – inexperienced adults and juveniles 15 Time between recordings 17 Discussion 18 Sharing of song syllables between inexperienced and experienced neighbors 18 Differences in learning between adults and juveniles 19 The effect of time between recordings 20 Conclusion 22 References 23
RETRACTED: Independent relationships of systolic blood pressure recovery with cardiovascular variables in healthy urban adults

Background: In the recent years, various studies on clinical evaluation of systolic blood pressure recovery (SBPR) as a prognostic tool for diagnosing cardiovascular abnormalities in patients undergoing exercise test has become a subject of an interest. The Purpose of this study is to evaluate the independent relationships of systolic blood pressure recovery (SBPR) with Cardiovascular Variables in healthy Urban adults. Methodology: Normotensive subjects (157 nos.) of both the genders were performed cycle ergometer exercise at progressive incremental workloads until subjects reached 80% of their age-predicted maximum HR. Blood pressure (BP) was measured before exercise, during exercise, immediately after exercise and subsequently at 2-minute intervals until recovery to baseline. The ratio of third-minute SBP relative to first-minute post exercise SBP was used as the SBPR variable. Results: Our results indicated independent correlations (p＜0.05) between SBPR and age, resting HR, physical activity and cigarette smoking (r=0.473; 0.192; -0.262; 0.102 respectively in males and r=0.113; 0.315; -0.637; 0.104 respectively in females). BMI associated positively (r=0.106; p＜0.01) with SBPR in males but not in females (r=0.092), while WC was predictive of SBPR in females (r=0.212; p＜0.01) but not in males (r=0.005). Age in men and physical activity in females were the strongest predictors of SBPR. Conclusion: The present findings in which SBPR is associated with risk factors of cardiovascular abnormalities strengthen the previously reported significance of SBPR after exercise test as a prognostic tool for the evaluation of cardiovascular abnormalities. Additionally, it may help clinicians to define and interpret the mechanisms behind changes in post exercise SBP responses in adults in future investigations.
The Late Lower Albian Invertebrate Fauna of the Río Hatillo Formation of Pueblo Viejo, Dominican Republic

The Rio Hatillo Formation outcrops in the region of Pueblo Viejo, in the Cordillera Central of Dominican Republic, is composed of clastic deposits in the lower part and massive, biogenic limestones in the upper part. This formation overlies unconformably the vulcano-sedimentary Los Ranchos Formation and represents deposits of the Volcanic Arc domain. The fossils mostly consist of poorly preserved frag- mentary internal moulds. We provide the first comprehensive description of invertebrates, especially am- monites, from the Rio Hatillo Formation. The taxa identified are ammonite s- Phylloceras (Hypophylloceras) cf. seresitense Pervinquiere, Protetragonites aelosus aelosus, Tetragonites cf. nautiloides, Tetragonites cf. rectangularis, Kossmatella (Kossmatella) cf. romana, Beudanticeras cf. laevigatum, Douvilleiceras cf. mam- millatum; belemnite: Neohibolites cf. minimus; pelecypods: Venilicardia sp. and Ostrea cf. ameghinoi rocana; gastropod Cerithium cf. heeri, one brachiopod Kingena sp. , and echinoderms: ? Holectypus sp. , Holaster sp. , and Hyposalenia sp. This association yields a general Western Tethys affinity, equivalent to the Mammil- latum Zone (Late Lower Albian) of Europe. The age of the Rio Hatillo Formation was previously identified as Aptian trough Cenomanian and the Los Ranchos Formation as Neocomian. We identify the invertebrate fauna of the base of the Rio Hatillo Formation as Late Lower Albian. The age of the underlying Los Ranchos Formation is extended to the Neocomian through Aptian interval. The marine invertebrates here investigated suggest that the Caribbean was an active marine seaway during the Albian, providing the dispersion of the marine faunas between the Western Tehtys and the Pacific Ocean.
Geometric Algebra Techniques in Flux Compactifications

We study “constrained generalized Killing (s)pinors,” which characterize supersymmetric flux compactifications of supergravity theories. Using geometric algebra techniques, we give conceptually clear and computationally effective methods for translating supersymmetry conditions into differential and algebraic constraints on collections of differential forms. In particular, we give a synthetic description of Fierz identities, which are an important ingredient of such problems. As an application, we show how our approach can be used to efficiently treat compactification of M-theory on eight manifolds and prove that we recover results previously obtained in the literature.
Signs of aphasia: Online identity and stigma management in post-stroke aphasia

This study aimed to investigate online strategies for re-negotiating identity, in terms of stigma management, developed by working-age Swedish Internet users with post-stroke aphasia, i.e., acquired language impairment caused by brain injury. Interviews were conducted with nine individuals (aged 26-61, three men and six women) with post-stroke aphasia. In addition, a total of 1,581 screenshots of online posts (e.g., photos, videos, text, emoticons) created by the same participants were collected. Drawing on social semiotics (specifically the three dimensions of online communication mentioned by Kress (2003), i.e., composition, content and context) and Goffman’s theory of stigma (1963, specifically the concepts of stigma management and passing), qualitative thematic analysis was performed. Regarding composition, three themes emerged: Relying on others or technology, Beyond speaking and writing, and Controlling speed and timing. The participants rarely posted content about aphasia, but some of them used the Internet to raise awareness. Different online contexts had different meaning to the participants in terms of identity. Being open about the aphasia in one forum did not imply the same behaviour in another forum (e.g., dating sites). For the participants to pass (Goffman, 1963), should they want to, they needed to control all three dimensions. If the context or the composition revealed the stigma, controlling the content was not enough to pass. The multimodality of the Internet enabled the participants to manage their stigma in a variety of ways and to choose whether to be perceived as persons with aphasia or not.
EFFECTS OF STATIC STRETCHING OF VARIOUS DURATIONS ON THE VERTICAL JUMP AMONG FEMALE VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS

A survey has been conducted on a sample of 61 female volleyball players of the women’s volleyball club (WVC) “Novi Sad” (N=33) and WVC “NS Tim” (N=28) from Novi Sad (AGE=13.74±0.73SD, BH=171.12 ±4.33 BM= 48.72 ±6.54SD, years of experience 3.2±1.39 SD). The objective of the survey was to determine the effect of static stretching on the vertical jump among female volleyball players. Explosive leg strength was examined on the entire sample of female participants via a tensiometric platform “Probotics” 8602 Esslinger Court Huntsville Al 25802. This ability was assessed after 30, 60 and 90s of static stretching and use of standard volleyball warm-up exercises. The survey results indicate that static stretching with a duration of 30, 60 and 90s statistically significantly decreases the ability to express explosive strength of the lower extremities (p=0,00) among female volleyball players. There are no observed statistically significant differences in terms of explosive strength of the lower extremities depending on the duration of static stretching. The survey results indicate that static stretching leads to poorer explosive possibilities and strong muscle contraction of lower extremities in female volleyball players.
EVALUATION OF ETHANOLIC ROOT EXTRACT OF PARTHENIUM HYSTEROPHORUS LINN FOR ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY

Objective: The work is aimed to draw out the health beneficial properties of a weed ( Parthenium hysterophorus Linn). The present work is organized to evaluate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of the ethanolic root extract of Parthenium hysterophorus Linn. Methods: In the present work the ethanolic extract was determined by using soxhlet apparatus. The antioxidant scavenging activity of this extract was determined by applying three different assay methods: (1) DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl) free radical method. (2) Nitric oxide scavenging assay and (3) Reducing power method. The anti-inflammatory activity was determined by in vivo method i.e. Carrageenan induced rat paw edema. Results: DPPH radical scavenging activities of the standard antioxidant and extracts were found to be increased in dose dependent manner. The percentage inhibition increases from 4.19% to 97.09% within the concentration range of 10µg/ml to 160µg/ml. Parthenium hysterophorus Linn effectively reduced the generation of nitric oxide radicals from sodium nitroprusside solution in a concentration dependent manner and percentage inhibition increases from 3.53% to 55.21% within the concentration range 10µg/ml to 160µg/ml. All the concentrations of extract significantly showed higher absorbance than the absorbance of control reaction (0.9705) in reducing power assay. A Higher absorbance indicates high reducing power due to the formation of reduced intermediates. Parthenium hysterophorus Linn showed highly significant anti-inflammatory activity at a dose of 200 mg/kg and the lesser effect was observed at 100 mg/kg with the percentage change in paw volume at 0 min, 30 min, 60 min, 90 min and 120 min. Conclusion: Thus, from above experimental observations, it can be stated that Parthenium is a natural antioxidant and bearing anti-inflammatory activity.
The Black Person as Client and as Therapist.

ABSTRACT This paper investigates particular aspects of the black person as client and therapist. It emphasizes the importance of heterogeneity within the black population in the understandinci of the black client, the black therapist and their interaction. There are important differences between blacks due to urban vs. rural background; socioeconomic status; religious affiliation; education; etc. A stereotype of "The Black" is thus misleading. Both client and therapist must acknowledge and deal with the effects of the black stereotype in their interactions, as they can make a difference in the therapeutic outcome. It is noted that, although the black professional therapist will typically be a member of the middle or upper class, this is not necessarily true of the client. The therapist should be aware of different cultural styles among black people, especially those with whom he intends to work. Such awareness will also help the therapist strengthen his own racial identity. In the therapist-client interaction, the twin dangers of overand under-emphasis on the importance of race are noted. The ways in which racial issues are to be resolved will depend on the particular case.
Living Under the ‘Right’ Government: Does Political Ideology Matter to Trust in Political Institutions?

This paper asks whether trust in political institutions depends on individual’s political leaning and the political ideology of the national government. We employ information on 140'000 individuals in 30 democratic OECD countries from the World Values Survey, 1981 – 2007, and estimate so-called micro-based pseudo-panel two-way fixed effects models. Distinguishing between extreme and moderate versions of leftist and rightist political leaning, our estimates reveal that political trust increases non-linearly in the degree of individual’s conservatism. We also find that political leaning is not instrumental to improving one's own socio-economic situation, thus rather constituting an expressive behavior. If government ideology matches individual’s political preferences, trust in political institutions is increased. In contrast, the ‘apolitical’ appears to distrust the political system as such. We also find evidence for a symmetric, but incomplete convergence of party ideologies to the median voter position. Implications for vote abstention are discussed.
Income Shocks to Trade Balance under the Gold Standard

This paper investigates the major sources of changes in the trade balance of seven European countries – Denmark, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Sweden – before the World War I using the structural vector autoregression analysis. The results suggest that the transitory shocks to income are the main source of variation in the trade balance, whereas the permanent shocks to income determine the changes in the income.
Psychopathic Deviate Tendency and Psychopathology Relationships in an Iranian Adolescents and Youth Sample: Gender Differences and Predictors

The present study examines psychopathic deviate tendency and psychopathology relationships and the possible gender differences in them in an Iranian adolescents and youth sample. The sample included 106 adolescents (55 females and 51 males) and 94 youth (45 females and 49 males) that were randomly selected from Eghlid city, Fars province, Iran. We speculated a possible linkage between psychopathology and psychopathic deviate tendency among adolescents and youth on the basis of developmental psychopathology and related literature. A demographic questionnaire, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2, scale–4, and the Symptom Check List 90 Revised were used in this study. Analysis indicated that psychopathic deviate tendency and psychopathology indices were linearly related in adolescents and youth. There are significant positive correlation coefficients between the psychopathic deviate tendency and psychopathology including somatisation, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, interpersonal sensitivity, aggression, phobia, paranoid ideation, psychosis, atypical factors and SCL–90–R. However, significant correlations between psychopathic deviate tendency, somatisation and phobia are elements that give a new insight into this research. A multivariate analysis of variance conducted by gender-age group and gender-age group interaction as independents and the psychopathic deviate tendency and psychopathology indices as dependents variables that reject their significant effects in both dependents’ variables. Finally, the multiple regressions indicated that paranoid ideations, somatisation and aggression, somatisation, depression, and somatisation predict psychopathic deviate tendency in females, males, adolescence, youth, and total sample respectively.
Expression of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Related Protein in Gallbladder Cancer: An Association with p53 Mutation

of dysplasia. Results : In the normal mucosa, ERRP immunoreactivity was positive in over 64% of specimens. In contrast, the ERRP staining was positive in only 46% of the cancer specimens. The expression of ERRP in cancer cells was inversely correlated with tumor cell proliferation. The loss of ERRP expression correlated with the p53 overexpression. Conclusions : Our data indicate that the down-regulation or loss of ERRP could play an important role in the progression of gallbladder carcinoma. The inverse relationship between the ERRP expression and PCNA-LI suggests that ERRP may play a role in the inhibition of tumor cell proliferation in gallbladder cancer.
The Taylor Rule: A Useful Monetary Policy Benchmark for the Euro Area?

This paper explores the Taylor rule--defined as an instrument rule linking the central bank's policy rate to the current inflation rate and the output gap--as a benchmark for analysing monetary policy in the euro area. First, it analyses the stabilization properties of the Taylor rule in a closed economy model of the euro area, estimated using aggregate data from five EU countries. An optimized Taylor rule performs quite well compared to the unconstrained optimal feedback rule. Second, the robustness of these results to estimation error in the output gap and model uncertainty is examined. Copyright 1999 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
Emergence of magnetic flux from the convection zone into the corona

Numerical experiments of the emergence of magnetic flux from the uppermost layers of the solar interior to the photosphere and its further eruption into the low atmosphere and corona are carried out. We use idealized models for the initial stratification and magnetic field distribution below the photosphere similar to those used for multidimensional flux emergence experiments in the literature. The energy equation is adiabatic except for the inclusion of ohmic and viscous dissipation terms, which, however, become important only at interfaces and reconnection sites. Three-dimensional experiments for the eruption of magnetic flux both into an unmagnetized corona and into a corona with a preexisting ambient horizontal field are presented. The shocks preceding the rising plasma present the classical structure of nonlinear Lamb waves. The expansion of the matter when rising into the atmosphere takes place preferentially in the horizontal directions: a flattened (or oval) low plasma-β ball ensues, in which the field lines describe loops in the corona with increasing inclination away from the vertical as one goes toward the sides of the structure. Magnetograms and velocity field distributions on horizontal planes are presented simultaneously for the solar interior and various levels in the atmosphere. Since the background pressure and density drop over many orders of magnitude with increasing height, the adiabatic expansion of the rising plasma yields very low temperatures. To avoid this, the entropy of the rising fluid elements should be increased to the high values of the original atmosphere via heating mechanisms not included in the present numerical experiments. The eruption of magnetic flux into a corona with a preexisting magnetic field pointing in the horizontal direction yields a clear case of essentially three-dimensional reconnection when the upcoming and ambient field systems come into contact. The coronal ambient field is chosen at time t = 0 perpendicular to the direction of the tube axis and thus, given the twist of the magnetic tube, almost anti-parallel to the field lines at the upper boundary of the rising plasma ball. A thin, dome-shaped current layer is formed at the interface between the two flux systems, in which ohmic dissipation and heating are taking place. The reconnection proceeds by merging successive layers on both sides of the reconnection site; however, this occurs not only at the cusp of the interface, but, also, gradually along its sides in the direction transverse to the ambient magnetic field. The topology of the magnetic field in the atmosphere is thereby modified: the reconnected field lines typically are part of the flanks of the tube below the photosphere but then join the ambient field system in the corona and reach the boundaries of the domain as horizontal field lines.
Etude et modélisation de la macroségrégation dans la coulée semi-continue des alliages d'aluminium

These Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne EPFL, n° 2145 (2000)Faculte des sciences et techniques de l'ingenieurInstitut des materiauxLaboratoire de simulation des materiauxJury: Herve Combeau, Marco Gremaud, Bruno Magnin, Jacques Rappaz, Nava Setter Public defense: 2000-3-30 Reference doi:10.5075/epfl-thesis-2145Print copy in library catalog Record created on 2005-03-16, modified on 2017-05-10