Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Toxicity Studies of the Extracts of Parkia biglobosa Stem Bark in Rats

Extracts of Parkia biglobosa stem bark is used in Nigerian traditional medicine (NTM) to treat malaria, diarrhea and pains. To establish the toxicity profile of the medicine such parameters as the lethal dose (LD 50 ) as well as effects on body functions and organs were evaluated in albino Wistar rats. The bioactive constituents of the water and methanol extracts were also evaluated as a link to toxicity. The LD 50 was greater than 5000mg/kg per oral (p.o) for both extracts. No significant (P< 0.05) changes in body weights and vital organs of treated animals. However, at 5000mg/kg of water extract, a significant increase in relative weight of the kidneys and hyper -cholesterolemic effects were observed. The extract also elicited significant increase in blood glucose level. The kidneys and livers of animals treated with P. biglobosa water extract for 14 days revealed histopathological evidence of pathological lesions. The methanol extract did not show any changes in the levels of hepatic and hematological parameters, histopathological evidence of pathological lesions, and serum level of urea, uric acid, bilirubin, creatinine and total protein concentrations. Treatment elicited hypo cholesterolemic effects and significant reduction in blood glucose level occurred in all the groups. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of tannins, flavonoids, saponins, terpenes, cardiac glycosides, phenols and reducing sugars in the methanol extract, the water extract showed the presence of similar constituents with the absence of flavonoids and cardiac glycosides. This study has shown the toxicity characteristics of the methanol and water extracts of the stem bark P . biglobosa in short time treatment with the extracts. Research Article
Corn competition alters the germinability of velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti) seeds

Abstract Velvetleaf is a troublesome annual weed in many cropping systems of the United States and Canada. Differences in the growing environment of parent plants can influence the number, structure, germinability, and viability of seeds produced. Thus, the effects across a range of competitive environments and corn planting dates on velvetleaf seed production, germination, and seed coat weight were examined under field conditions. Seed production of velvetleaf increased with increasing biomass. Total velvetleaf reproductive output was reduced in competition with corn compared with monoculture stands. Corn planting date had no effect on the dormancy status of seeds, but increased competition from corn resulted in up to a 30% decrease in the proportion of seeds that were dormant. Seed and seed coat weights also decreased for plants of velvetleaf grown in competition with corn compared with those grown in monoculture. These findings suggest that velvetleaf plants growing in relatively noncompetitive environments, such as along field edges or in field areas with poor crop stands, are likely not only to produce a greater number of seeds but also a greater proportion of seeds that are dormant. This alteration in the dormancy status of velvetleaf seeds in the absence or presence of a crop provides unique opportunities for effective long-term management of the soil seedbank in this species, especially for velvetleaf individuals bordering fields or growing in fallow areas that might require more stringent control because of increased seed dormancy. Nomenclature: Velvetleaf, Abutilon theophrasti Medic. ABUTH; corn, Zea mays L. ‘Dekalb 520RR’.
Refinement of the crystal structure of aminoffite

Aminoffite, (Ca2.95Mn0.08Pb0.01)(BeOH)2(Si2.95As0.03)O10, is tetragonal, P42/n, a 9.809(1), c 9.844(2) A, V 947.3(3) A 3 , Z = 12. The structure was refined to an R index of 2.9% based on 1265 observed (| Fo | > 5� F) reflections measured with a four-circle single-crystal diffractometer and MoKX-radiation. There are two Si sites and one Be site in the structure of aminoffite, each coordinated by four anions in a tetrahedral arrangement. There are two distinct Ca sites, coordinated by six O-atoms, and one and two (OH) groups, respectively, with distances of 2.467 and 2.436 A. The single H-atom is part of an (OH) group that is part of the (Be� 4) (� : unspecified anion) tetrahedron. The (SiO4) groups link to form linear (Si3O10) trimers that are linked by (Be� 4) groups to form a sheet of tetrahedra parallel to (001). These sheets stack in the (001) direction and are linked together by interstitial Ca atoms and by hydrogen bonding. Details of the sheet topologies in Be minerals with two-dimensional structural units are examined; (Be� 4) tetrahedra show a marked preference for trivalent vertices in two-dimensional nets. Bond-valence considerations show that such (Be� 4) tetrahedra must have a monovalent anion (usually (OH)) at one vertex, and hence most such structures have acid {BeO3(OH)} groups.
Global Agro-ecological Assessment for Agriculture in the 21st Century

In recent years the ability to collect spatial information from volunteers has greatly expanded through the combination of Google Earth, geo-tagged photos and the Internet. A Geo-Wiki has been created to aid in both the validation of existing spatial information and the collection of new information through the powerful resource of crowdsourcing. A case study of a land cover validation Geo-Wiki is described, in which the tool is used to validate existing global land cover products. The potential of such a tool for other applications is also recognized.
Testing for short-run threshold effects in a vector error-correction framework: a reappraisal of the stability of the US money demand

Abstract In this paper we analyze the stability of the money demand system in the US. To this aim, we develop an estimation and testing framework for a threshold vector error-correction model (VECM), where short-run dynamics are regime dependent and are driven by an exogenous, stationary and ergodic threshold variable. We modify a traditional Wald-type test for linearity and derive its asymptotic distribution, which turns out to be non-standard, but similar to the one proposed by Andrews [Andrews, D. 1993. “Tests for Parameter Instability and Structural Change with Unknown Change Point. ” Econometrica 61 (4): 821–856]. Accounting for the diversity of the potential determinants of money holdings, a broad scope of money demand systems is analyzed. The linearity test confirms that money demand is not only suffering from structural breaks, but is driven by regimes governed by business cycles. Moreover, a similar pattern and a robust dating of the regimes is observed no matter the money demand system considered, offering hence a reconciling picture of previous empirical studies. From a policy perspective, our findings supports the implementation of cyclical monetary policy by the Federal Reserve.
In Line or Online? American Voter Registration in the Digital Era

Online voter registration is one of the most recent efforts to stimulate turnout in American elections. Within the past decade, an increasing number of states have begun to allow their residents to register as voters electronically. Like other efforts to increase political participation, though, the actual impact on registration and turnout remains unclear. Although other voting liberalizations have received a fair amount of scrutiny, the peer-reviewed literature does not include a systematic exploration of how voters are responding to online registration. In this paper, I develop an individual-level model that point identifies an estimate for the impact of online registration on the likelihood of both registration and turnout. The results suggest that online registration may be one of the more successful implementations of convenience voting. Perhaps even more importantly, its effects seem to be concentrated most highly among young adults and those who have moved recently, two subgroups that are consistently underrepresented at the polls. I then use the individual-level model to predict changes in state-level aggregate turnout and identify states for which this registration alternative could have influenced the election. Although it is hard to know how the partisan distribution would shift, several states in both the 2008 and 2012 Presidential elections could have experienced different outcomes had they offered online registration. At both the individual and aggregate level, therefore, the introduction of online registration may have significant implications for American elections.
Deconstructing Gravity: Trade Costs and Extensive and Intensive Margins

One of the most robust empirical results in international economics is the existence of a negative relationship between trade flows and distance. More recent research on exporting activity at the firm level has established an apparently equally robust result---few firms export, and exporting firms do not sell in all possible markets. This paper uses data on US exports across 156 countries to decompose exports to each market into the number of firms exporting (the extensive margin) and average export sales per firm (the intensive margin). We show how the effects of distance and a range of other proxies for trade costs have different impacts on the two margins. We find that distance has a negative effect on both margins, but the magnitude of the coefficient is considerably larger and more significant for the extensive margin. Most of the variables capturing language, internal geography, infrastructure and import cost barriers work solely through the extensive margin. We show that these results are consistent with the predictions of a Melitz-style model of trade with heterogeneous firm productivity and fixed costs.
Narcissism Vulnerability as Risk Factor for Alzheimers Disease- A Prospective Study

Introduction: We examine whether broad factors and specific facets of pathological narcissistic personality are associated with increased risk of incident Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in a prospective cohort study. Participants (n=452) were monitored for up to 36 months from a baseline personality assessment with Pathological Narcissistic Inventory (NPI). The results showed that dementia developed in 159 participants. On average, participants in whom dementia developed were mostly female (p<.02), slightly older (p<.04), had lower levels of education (p<.03), lower scores on cognitive test (p<.01), higher scores on narcissistic vulnerability scores (p< .01); but no differences in depression score. Adjusted hazard ratios (AHR) and 95% Confidence Interval (CI) for AD were greater for the following subscales of the PNI: Hiding Self [AHR (95% CI) =1.34 (1.18-1.39)], Devaluation [AHR (95% CI) =1.35 (0.65, 0.98)] and Narcissistic Vulnerability [AHR (95% CI) =1.43 (1.34-1.69)]. Also cognitive status and depression showed robust association with incident AD. The current study indicates that narcissistic vulnerability traits are associated with increased risk of AD, with significant hazard ratios.
To cite this version : Lallemant, Lucile and Roussel, Nicolas and Fantozzi, Gilbert and Garnier, Vincent and Bonnefont, Guillaume and Douillard, Thierry and Durand, Bernard and Guillemet-Fritsch, Sophie and Chane-Ching, Jean-Yves and Garcia-Gutierez, Domingo and Aguilar-Garib, Juan Effect of amount 

SPS-produced a-alumina samples are prepared from powders doped with different amounts of Zr and La cations. Zr cations segregate at grain boundaries. m-ZrO2 particles are formed at 570 but not at 280 cat ppm. A b-alumina LaAl11O18 structure is found at 310 cat ppm when the lanthanum grain boundary solubility limit is exceeded (∼200 cat ppm). 100 cat ppm La is sufficient to block the diffusion path across grain boundaries and inhibit grain growth. Both doping cations disturb the grain boundary diffusion whatever their amount. They delay the densification at higher temperatures while limiting grain growth. The real in-line transmittance (RIT) of a-alumina is improved due to the reduced grain size. Nevertheless, increasing the cation amount leads to an increase in porosity or even the formation of secondary phase particles, both detrimental for optical properties. Finally, optimised amounts of cation of 200 and 150 cat ppm are found for Laand Zr-doped alumina, respectively.
The Impact of Family Planning on Women's Educational Advancement in Tehran, Iran

The literature documenting drastic fertility declines in developing countries has largely focused on investigating the determinants of contraceptive use and the role contraceptives have played in declining fertility rates. In contrast, there has been limited research on the impact of family planning use on women’s social status. Using retrospective data from the 2009 Tehran Fertility Survey, this study examined the impact of contraceptive use on women’s educational advancement as an indicator of women’s empowerment. Multinomial logistic analyses indicated that compared with contraceptive nonusers, women using modern contraceptives before a first birth were more likely to experience a one to two year increase in education level after marriage, when controlling for other factors. Women in the most recent marriage cohorts were more likely to continue their education after marriage, especially those who were using modern contraceptives as opposed to traditional methods. Findings of this research clearly indicate that family planning use after marriage enables women to improve their education by freeing them from reproductive activities. __________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding Author, Amir Erfani, PhD. , amire@nipissingu.ca, Department of Sociology, Nipissing University, 100 College Drive, Box 5002, North Bay, Ontario, Canada, P1B 8L7 December 2012 008-2012-ICRW-FE
High‐frequency water quality monitoring in an urban catchment: hydrochemical dynamics, primary production and implications for the Water Framework Directive

This paper describes the hydrochemistry of a lowland, urbanised river‐system, The Cut in England, using in situ sub‐daily sampling. The Cut receives effluent discharges from four major sewage treatment works serving around 190 000 people. These discharges consist largely of treated water, originally abstracted from the River Thames and returned via the water supply network, substantially increasing the natural flow. The hourly water quality data were supplemented by weekly manual sampling with laboratory analysis to check the hourly data and measure further determinands. Mean phosphorus and nitrate concentrations were very high, breaching standards set by EU legislation. Although 56% of the catchment area is agricultural, the hydrochemical dynamics were significantly impacted by effluent discharges which accounted for approximately 50% of the annual P catchment input loads and, on average, 59% of river flow at the monitoring point. Diurnal dissolved oxygen data demonstrated high in‐stream productivity. From a comparison of high frequency and conventional monitoring data, it is inferred that much of the primary production was dominated by benthic algae, largely diatoms. Despite the high productivity and nutrient concentrations, the river water did not become anoxic, and major phytoplankton blooms were not observed. The strong diurnal and annual variation observed showed that assessments of water quality made under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) are sensitive to the time and season of sampling. It is recommended that specific sampling time windows be specified for each determinand, and that WFD targets should be applied in combination to help identify periods of greatest ecological risk. © 2015 The Authors. Hydrological Processes published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
A multigrid multilevel Monte Carlo method using high-order finite-volume scheme for lognormal diffusion problems

textabstractThe aim of this paper is to show that a high-order discretization can be used to improve the convergence of a multilevel Monte Carlo method for elliptic partial differential equations with lognormal random coefficients in combination with the multigrid solution method. To demonstrate this, we consider a fourth-order accurate finite-volume discretization. With the help of the Matern family of covariance functions, we simulate the coefficient field with different degrees of smoothness. The idea behind using a fourth-order scheme is to capture the additional regularity in the solution introduced due to higher smoothness of the random field. Second-order schemes previously utilized for these types of problems are not able to fully exploit this additional regularity. We also propose a practical way of combining a full multigrid solver with the multilevel Monte Carlo estimator constructed on the same mesh hierarchy. Through this integration, one full multigrid solve at any level provides a valid sample for all the preceding Monte Carlo levels. The numerical results show that the fourth-order multilevel estimator consistently outperforms the second-order variant. In addition, we observe an asymptotic gain for the standard Monte Carlo estimator.
Semantic paraphasias in normal speech : A corpus-based analysis

Semantic paraphasias naturally occurring in Russian normal speech were analysed in terms of word frequency, word length, word association norms, and cooccurrence strength. Frequencies of target words were found to be significantly lower than frequencies of their substitutes; besides, there is a very significant positive correlation between target and error frequency values. Contrary to the view that the frequency effect is located at the stage of phonological encoding, the results suggest that frequency is coded at the earlier stage of lexical selection. Target words appear to have different frequency and length characteristics depending on whether they elicit taxonomically or non-taxonomically related errors. Word length is a significant variable that determines the outcome of the error for non-taxonomically related target-error pairs but not for taxonomically related pairs. At the same time, taxonomically related target-error pairs are characterized by much higher co-occurrence measures and stronger associative links compared to non-taxonomically related pairs. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
In-Vivo Anthelmintic Activity of the Ethanol Extract of Allium Cepa ( Onion ) Against Mixed Gastro Intestinal Helminth Infestations in Dogs

Prevalence of animal diseases is one of the major livestock production constraints in Kenya with high impacts on livelihoods due to related economic losses affecting food security in the country. The use of synthetic drugs for disease management has challenges; this makes the use of medicinal plants for treatment a rational alternative. Helminths of zoonotic importance in dogs in Kenya include Toxocara canis, Ancylostoma caninum and Dipylidium caninum which are commonly found in intestines of dogs and can cause infestation in human beings. This study was designed to evaluate the in-vivo efficacy of ethanol extracts from bulbs of A. cepa against common gastrointestinal helminths of dogs. Fifteen puppies of mixed sexes, aged between 8 and 10 weeks, with an average weight of 2.2 kg were divided into three groups of 5 animals each; Group 1 was treated with the extract, group 2 was given the recommended dose of a commercial anthelmintic while group 3 was given distilled water, all as single treatments. Fecal samples were obtained from each puppy a day before treatment (day 0) and on days 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14 post treatment for determination of eggs per gram (EPG). Anthelmintic efficacy was determined by calculating the percentage fecal egg count reduction (%FECR) using the pretreatment and post treatment EPG counts. Whole blood was collected from each puppy on days 0, 7 and 14 to determine changes in the hematological parameters. Two puppies from each group were then randomly selected and sacrificed for postmortem examination and for collection of intestinal contents for parasitology. There was a percentage fecal egg count reduction of 47% for hookworms and a negligible reduction for ascarid worms. There was a significant drop in WBC (P=0.035) 7 days after treatment and a significant increase in RBC (P=0.04) and HGB (P=0.001) 14 days after treatment. The changes in hematological parameters when compared between the treatment and control groups were significant (P<0.05) 7 days after treatment for WBC, RBC, HGB and HCT, and 14 days after treatment for MCHC. There were no signs of toxicity or behavioural changes after oral administration of the A. cepa ethanol extract at 6mg/kg. The 47% efficacy against hookworms observed in treated puppies was due to the anthelmintic properties of the crude ethanol extract of A. cepa. This is supported by the hematological changes that occurred as a result of administration of the extract.
Mass variation in the Mediterranean Sea from GRACE and its validation by altimetry, steric and hydrologic fields

The seasonal seawater mass variation in the Mediterranean Sea is estimated between April 2002 and July 2004 from GRACE and altimetry data and from hydrologic and oceanographic models. A smoothed spatial averaging kernel is applied to each field, in order to obtain comparable basin averages. The GRACE seawater mass corrected for the leakage of continental hydrology and the filtered steric‐corrected altimeter sea level have similar annual amplitude and phase. To restore the magnitude of the GRACE‐derived water mass signal we apply a scaling factor to the smoothed annual amplitude. The estimated scaled mass signal has an annual amplitude of 52 ± 17 mm peaking in November. We combine the seawater mass variation with the Mediterranean freshwater deficit and obtain a net flow at the Strait of Gibraltar with annual amplitude of 60 ± 25 mm/month (0.06 Sv) and maximum in September.
Crop model validation and sensitivity to climate change scenarios

Field measurements of land surface-atmosphere heat and water exchanges, leaf area index, crop height, dry matter accumulation, and crop yield at Bondville, an agricultural site of the AmeriFlux network located in the USA Midwest, were used to evaluate the performance of the pro- cess-oriented crop model Agro-IBIS under a corn (Zea mays L.)-soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr. ) crop rotation. Simulations of drainage and nitrate/nitrogen leaching and concentration are also dis- cussed. The simulated fertilization effect of carbon dioxide (CO2) on corn and soybean crops was evaluated against results from a recent synthesis of Free Air-CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiments. Two contrasting climate change projections from the Canadian Global Climate Model v.2 (CGCM2) and from the Hadley Centre coupled Model v.3 (HadCM3) were further used to assess the sensitivity of Agro-IBIS simulations of corn and soybean yields to potential climate perturbations. Overall, our results clearly show model strengths and allowed us to identify some model deficiencies. The model was able to reproduce net radiation, latent and sensible heat fluxes within 11, 17 and 2% of observa- tions, respectively. Yields of corn and soybean were underestimated on average by 11 and 10%, respectively. In leaf area index, the model was able to simulate its peak within <10% of observation, but had difficulty accurately simulating its development during the period of leaf senescence. Our results suggest that Agro-IBIS needs to be improved with regard to its simulation of the effect of rota- tion on corn and soybean yields, as well as its estimation of the fertilization effect of elevated atmos- pheric CO2 concentration on soybean yield.