Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diversification of rice (Oryza sativa)-based cropping systems for higher productivity, profitability and resource-use efficiency under irrigated ecosystem of Jharkhand

A field experiment was conducted at Kanke, Ranchi under irrigated condition in 200809 and 200910 to evaluate the production potential, nutrient uptake, resource use efficiency and economics of eight rice (Oryza sa- tiva L.)-based cropping systems. Eight cropping systems viz. ricefallow, ricewheat {Triticum aestivum (L.) emend. Fiori & Paol}, ricemustard {Brassica juncea (L.) Czernj & Cosson}greengram {Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek}, ricerajmash (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)greengram, ricepotato (Solanum tuberosum L.)greengram, ricewheat + mustard (5:1)greengram, ricewheat + rajmash (5:1)greengram, and ricepotato + wheat (1:1) greengram were evaluated in the study. Among the cropping systems, ricepotato + wheat (1:1)greengram crop- ping system recorded highest system productivity (20.39 t REGY/ha), land use efficiency (95.89), production effi- ciency (55.58 kg REGY/ha/day) and employment generation (293 man days/ha) as compared to other cropping systems. Crop sequences with potato as rabi crop resulted in significantly higher N, P and K uptake, while S up- take was significantly higher in ricemustardgreengram sequence. Economic analysis revealed that the maxi- mum net profit (125 103 /ha), benefit:cost ratio (1.61) and monetary efficiency (342.7 /ha/day) were recorded in ricepotatogreengram crop sequence closely followed by ricepotato + wheat (1:1)greengram, which were significantly superior over other cropping systems. Based on study, ricepotato + wheat (1:1)greengram and ricepotatogreengram were found to be the most productive, resource-use efficient and remunerative cropping system under irrigated conditions and can be followed in place of ricewheat or ricefallow systems for higher profitability.
Predictive impact of electrolyte abnormalities on the admission outcome and survival of palliative care cancer referrals.

BACKGROUND AND AIM Electrolyte abnormalities are common among patients with advanced cancer. Our aim was to estimate the prognostic significance of such abnormalities in a palliative care setting. METHODS A retrospective review of the medical records of inpatients with cancer referred to palliative care over a 25-month period. The five electrolytes studied were potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphate. The prognostic impact of related abnormalities on admission outcome and overall survival was estimated in univariate analysis. RESULTS From 866 new cancer referrals, 259 (30%) were eligible for analysis. Abnormalities in sodium, calcium, and magnesium levels were associated with a significant difference in inpatient death rates (p = 0.004, 0.001 and 0.04, respectively) and overall survival (p = 0.0008 and 0.0008, and < 0.0001, respectively). The status of potassium and phosphate had no significant impact on admission outcome or overall survival. The three electrolyte abnormalities associated with the highest inpatient death rate were hypercalcemia, hypernatremia, and hypermagnesemia (69%, 68%, and 62%, respectively). Patients with these abnormalities had the shortest median survival as well (12, 8, and 12 days, respectively). CONCLUSION Some electrolyte abnormalities may be useful as prognostic indicators in the palliative care setting. However, their prognostic value needs to be investigated in prospective studies and adjusted against proven prognostic indicators.
A comprehensive index to assess the sustainability of water and sanitation management systems

A comprehensive sustainability index for the assessment of water and sanitation management systems (WSMS) is presented. The index was based on a conceptual framework that perceives sustainability as a combination of territorial, temporal, and personal aspects. A set of sustainability indicators was selected in agreement within this framework, and the ‘Water and Sanitation Sustainability Index’ (WASSI) was built. The WASSI was used to assess the sustainability of the WSMS of the city of Salta, Argentina. Indicators were calculated from information gathered by several means including literature reviews, questionnaires, visits, and participatory workshops. The index was sensitive to detect variations between different aspects of the local WSMS. It was also relatively independent to the quantity and quality of the information available. The WASSI could be a useful tool to assess and improve sustainability of water and sanitation throughout the management systems.
Diagnosis and treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome in adolescents

Purpose of reviewTo review what is understood about the pathophysiology of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), the diagnostic challenges of PCOS in adolescent women, associated risk factors, as well as the best evidence-based treatment options for adolescence. Recent findingsDiagnosing PCOS in adolescents requires a unique set of criteria for which no single marker currently exists. Adolescents at high risk for developing the syndrome are congenital virilization, low birth weight, premature pubarche, central precocious puberty, large for gestational age girls born to overweight mothers, obesity syndromes, insulin-resistant features, and girls born to parents with PCOS, central obesity, or diabetes in whom PCOS ought to be suspected when associated with irregular menses. Insulin, hyperandrogenemia, and adipocytokines are integral players in the pathophysiology of PCOS. PCOS may be an inheritable trait; however, no gene has yet been identified. Quality of life remains a concern for young women with PCOS. Lifestyle modifications geared to prevent long-term sequelae remain the first-line treatment in conjunction with oral contraceptive pills. SummaryIdentifying PCOS in adolescents remains a diagnostic dilemma, but early intervention and treatment can improve long-term health.
MAPPING OF FUELWOOD MARKETING POINTS AT KIYAWA TOWN, JIGAWA STATE, NIGERIA

Fuelwood is essential resource for the survival of most households in Nigeria because it provides energy to light, heat, and cook. This study was conducted to map out fuelwood marketing points in Kiyawa with a view to providing baseline information for future studies on woody species decline in the area. Garmin GPS (76cxs) was used to collect the coordinates of all fuelwood marketing points in the area while structured interview was used to identify the prevalent fuelwood species. ArcGis 10.2 was used to map out the marketing points while simple percentage was used to analyze the perceptions of the participants on the reason for choice of fuelwood species. This study found a total of 25 major fuelwood marketing points in the area. These serve as pools for stockfiling fuelwood sourced from the surrounding bushes and woodlands in northeastern Nigeria. A total of 16 species were identified at the marketing points out of which 14 are woody. The most prevalent wood fuel species located at the marketing points include Parkia biglobosa (10 locations), Azadirachta indica (7 locations) and Anogeissus leiocarpus (4 locations). The most preferred wood fuel species are Balanites aegyptiaca, Parkia biglobosa, Azadirachta indica and Piliostigma reticulatum . Reasons advance for choice of those species include its availability at the marketing points (50%), cost (28.57%) and wood quality (21.43). This study therefore recommended that policies and programmes should be mounted to combat over-exploitation of the prevalent plants in order to avoid the danger of extinction.
Knowledge creation and application in technology collaboration portfolio: Two cases in China

Purpose – This study aims at developing a better understanding of the different mechanisms that affect technology collaboration portfolio management. How do firms manage their technology collaboration portfolio? Despite some thoughtful scholars have advanced the understanding of the phenomenon of technology collaboration portfolio, there is not much research that has been done in terms of understanding the endeavors of firms when they collectively use a range of actors for the best interests of the firms. Additionally, little attention has been paid to the trade-offs and managing mechanisms for the collaborations between different partners from a portfolio-level perspective, especially in emerging markets. Design/methodology/approach – A multiple-case study of two Chinese high-tech firms, an inductive approach. Findings – The authors identified three primary mechanisms that underlie successful knowledge creation and application in technology collaboration portfolio context: informally mobilizing boundary-.
The Hebrew Communicative Development Inventory: language specific properties and cross-linguistic generalizations

Cultural, linguistic, and developmental evidence was taken into consideration in constructing the HCDI, a Hebrew adaptation of the MCDI. The HCDI was then administered to a stratified sample of Israeli mothers of 253 toddlers aged 1; 6 to 2; 0 (M = 1; 8·18). Hebrew results are presented and compared with scores from the original MCDI sample (Fenson, Dale, Reznick, Bates, Thal & Pethick, 1994). The HCDI is a reliable and sensitive measure of lexical development and emergent grammar, capturing wide variability among Israeli toddlers. In comparison with English, the relation between vocabulary size and age, as well as the shape of the growth curves for nouns, predicate terms, and closed class words relative to size of lexicon, were strikingly similar. These results indicate that conclusions concerning cross-linguistic similarities can be best documented by using parallel methods of measurement. The HCDI results support the claim that early lexical development in Hebrew and in English follow remarkably similar development patterns, despite the typological differences between the two target languages.
Occupational Medicine Practice: One Specialty or Three?

Objective: To characterize education, practice, and skills of occupational physicians and to evaluate subgroups within the profession. Methods: The data for the baseline surveys of the occupational medicine practice research project were collected for a national sample of occupational physicians using paper or on-line instruments. Three subgroups were defined a priori-injury care, clinical specialist, and management/population. Results: Occupational medicine seems to include three distinct subgroups, which differ in characteristics such as patient volume, relevant clinical skills, and income source. Nevertheless, many commonalities were present across all three groups, such as emphasis on communication, OSHA, and workers compensation. Musculoskeletal and workers compensation care were most important, although there were highly significant differences among the three subgroups. Conclusions: Planning for education, certification, and organization of services should acknowledge the distinctions among the three subgroups.
Patterns of cortical input to the primary motor area in the marmoset monkey

In primates the primary motor cortex (M1) forms a topographic map of the body, whereby neurons in the medial part of this area control movements involving trunk and hindlimb muscles, those in the intermediate part control movements involving forelimb muscles, and those in the lateral part control movements of facial and other head muscles. This topography is accompanied by changes in cytoarchitectural characteristics, raising the question of whether the anatomical connections also vary between different parts of M1. To address this issue, we compared the patterns of cortical afferents revealed by retrograde tracer injections in different locations within M1 of marmoset monkeys. We found that the entire extent of this area is unified by projections from the dorsocaudal and medial subdivisions of premotor cortex (areas 6DC and 6M), from somatosensory areas 3a, 3b, 1/2, and S2, and from posterior parietal area PE. While cingulate areas projected to all subdivisions, they preferentially targeted the medial part of M1. Conversely, the ventral premotor areas were preferentially connected with the lateral part of M1. Smaller but consistent inputs originated in frontal area 6DR, ventral posterior parietal cortex, the retroinsular cortex, and area TPt. Connections with intraparietal, prefrontal, and temporal areas were very sparse, and variable. Our results demonstrate that M1 is unified by a consistent pattern of major connections, but also shows regional variations in terms of minor inputs. These differences likely reflect requirements for control of voluntary movement involving different body parts. J. Comp. Neurol. 522:811–843, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Loss of teratogenic response to 2,3,7,8‐tetrachlorodibenzo‐p‐dioxin (TCDD) in mice lacking the Ah (dioxin) receptor

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR or dioxin receptor) is a ligand‐activated transcription factor that is considered to mediate pleiotropic biological responses such as teratogenesis, tumour promotion, epithelial hyperplasia and the induction of drug‐metabolizing enzymes to environmental contaminants usually represented by 2,3,7,8‐tetrachlorodibenzo‐p‐dioxin (TCDD). In contrast to the role of AhR in the regulatory mechanism of xenobiotic‐metabolizing enzymes, there is no direct proof that the AhR is involved in the teratogenic effects of TCDD.
Creating quarter for doing things with language

In this article I deal with language policy as it is aimed at changing the language practice of certain people within a group (Spolsky 2004). I will especially focus on instances of language policy that are meant to have an emancipatory function: policy is aimed at changing the language practice of some people in order for them to function in situations that are considered socially important. I start my account of successes and failures in language policy with an exploration of the concept of language. I will try to make clear that there are two concepts of language which are commonly used, and that these concepts differ from one another in the way the relation between variation and uniformity in language is seen. I will situate these concepts in Realist Social Theory (RST), and will go into the consequences of interpreting language from one of these angles for the effectiveness of language policy.
Isolation and Characterization of a Broad Spectrum Bacteriocin from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens RX7

We isolated a Bacillus strain, RX7, with inhibitory activity against Listeria monocytogenes from soil and identified it as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The inhibitory activity was stable over a wide range of pH and was fully retained after 30 min at 80°C, after which it decreased gradually at higher temperatures. The activity was sensitive to the proteolytic action of α-chymotrypsin, proteinase-K, and trypsin, indicating its proteinaceous nature. This bacteriocin was active against a broad spectrum of bacteria and the fungus Candida albicans. Direct detection of antimicrobial activity on a sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel suggested an apparent molecular mass of approximately 5 kDa. Ammonium sulfate precipitation and anion-exchange and gel permeation chromatography integrated with reverse phase-high-performance liquid chromatography were used for bacteriocin purification. Automated N-terminal Edman degradation of the purified RX7 bacteriocin recognized the first 15 amino acids as NH2-X-Ala-Trp-Tyr-Asp-Ile-Arg-Lys-Leu-Gly-Asn-Lys-Gly-Ala, where the letter X in the sequence indicates an unknown or nonstandard amino acid. Based on BLAST similarity search and multiple alignment analysis, the obtained partial sequence showed high homology with the two-peptide lantibiotic haloduracin (HalA1) from Bacillus halodurans, although at least two amino acids differed between the sequences. A time-kill study demonstrated a bactericidal mode of action of RX7 bacteriocin.
Metropolitan Geography, Electoral Participation, and Partisan Competition

Throughout the developed world and beyond, diversified metropolitan regions have replaced the centuries-old divide between city and countryside. In the varied polities of contemporary democracies, the common geographies of metropolitan regions have given rise to parallel territorial patterns of electoral participation and partisan orientations. This paper, drawing on a pooled eleven-country ecological dataset, presents results from the first systematic international comparative analysis of these patterns. We find that the contextual effects from metropolitan places on voting go beyond what the social and economic composition of those places can explain. Parties from across the partisan spectrum now look to strongholds in particular types of metropolitan settings, and compete for dominance in others. In metropolitanized democracies, stronger electoral mobilization among low-density, affluent and middle class suburbs has skewed electoral competition. Metropolitan geographies thus embed electoral advantages for parties on the Right, and for parties that embrace neoliberal policy agendas.
A re-examination of the exchange rate overshooting hypothesis: Evidence from Zambia

2Dornbusch’s exchange rate overshooting hypothesis has guided monetary policy conduct for many years, despite the fact that empirical evidence on its validity is mixed. This study re-examines the validity of the overshooting hypothesis by using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) procedure. Specifically, the study investigates whether the overshooting hypothesis holds for the United States dollar/Zambian kwacha (USD-ZMK) exchange rate. In addition, the study tests whether there is a long-run equilibrium relationship between the USD-ZMK exchange rate and relevant macroeconomic fundamentals. Using monthly nominal USD/ZMK exchange rates and monetary fundamentals data from January 2000 to December 2012, the study finds no evidence of exchange rate overshooting. The results also show that there is no long-run equilibrium relationship between the exchange rate and the differentials of macroeconomic fundamentals. The implication is that macroeconomic fundamentals are insignificant in determining the exchange rate fluctuations in the long run. This finding is inconsistent with the monetary model of exchange rate determination, which asserts that there is a long-run relationship between the exchange rate and macroeconomic fundamentals.
Lack of endoscopic visualization of intestinal villi with the "immersion technique" in overt atrophic celiac disease.

BACKGROUND The endoscopic appearance of the duodenal folds can predict the presence of celiac disease. However, endoscopic alterations can be minimal and the disease can have a "patchy" distribution histopathologically. The observation that intestinal villi can be better visualized when the duodenum is filled with water led to the development of an endoscopic "immersion technique" to assess celiac disease. METHODS Endoscopy with duodenal biopsies was performed in 20 patients with malabsorption syndrome (positive for antiendomysial antibodies) and in 30 patients with reflux-like symptoms (negative for antiendomysial antibodies). Duodenal hypotonia was induced pharmacologically, water was introduced, and the mucosa was observed for the presence of villi. Photographs were obtained for subsequent analysis. The endoscopic appearance was classified from 1 (folds certainly present) to 4 ("scalloped valvulae"); villous structures were classified from 1 (definitely present) to 3 (definitely absent). RESULTS Celiac disease was confirmed histopathologically in all patients with positive antiendomysial antibodies. The endoscopic appearance of the duodenum with air insufflation alone had a positive predictive value for the diagnosis of celiac disease of 84% and a specificity of 87%. Visualization of villi with the "immersion technique" had a higher positive predictive value (99%) and specificity (99%). CONCLUSIONS A lack of visualization of intestinal villi in the descending duodenum with the "immersion technique" may increase the diagnostic accuracy of endoscopy for celiac disease. This technique could also be useful for targeting duodenal biopsies.
THE CLINICAL UTILITY OF THE MATTIS DEMENTIA RATING SCALE IN ASSESSING COGNITIVE DECLINE IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

The progression of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease (AD) was studied by examining patterns of test performance on successive administrations of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) in a sample of 63 participants who were diagnosed with probable AD. Assessments were performed at intervals ranging approximately from 3 to 38 months apart. Results indicated that the pattern of progression and sequence of neuropsychological decline in AD is influenced by sex and age of disease onset. Results offered support for the clinical staging of AD and further substantiated the clinical utility of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale in staging degree of dementia.
Exchanging fertilizer for votes

Several countries have made targeted input subsidy programs an integral part of their policies for improving food security. Given the programs' often centralized structure and targeting of private goods nation-wide, these may also serve as instruments for garnering electoral support. I investigate to what extent distributions from such a program was altered leading up to the 2009 Malawian presidential election, comparing the allocations of fertilizer vouchers in the last season prior to this relative to other seasons. I do not nd evidence of targeting at the incumbent's core supporters, whereas swing supporters receive on average more fertilizer vouchers in the 2008/09 season relative to other seasons. This increase comes at the expense of the main opponents' core supporters, whom receive on average fewer vouchers. These ndings add to the broader set of questions of whether targeted subsidies is the right approach for improving food security, and if so how.
Regime-switching purchasing power parity in Latin America: Monte Carlo unit root tests with dynamic conditional score

ABSTRACT We suggest a Monte Carlo simulation-based unit root test of the purchasing power parity theory for Latin American countries. Under the null hypothesis, we use a Markov regime-switching (MS) model with unit root in the conditional location and MS volatility dynamics. Under the alternative hypothesis, the proposed test incorporates Markov regime-switching autoregressive moving average (MS-ARMA) plus MS volatility dynamics. Under both the null and alternative hypotheses, one of the volatility models estimated is Beta-t-EGARCH, which is a recent dynamic conditional score volatility model. We use data on real effective exchange rate time series for 14 Latin American countries. For each country, we estimate by Monte Carlo simulation the critical values of the unit root test. We provide an economic discussion of the unit root test results and also study the robustness of MS-ARMA plus MS volatility with respect to smooth transition autoregressive models with Fourier function.